Iraqi Communist Party joins Washington's puppet administration in Baghdad

Iraqi Communist Party joins Washingtons puppet administration in Baghdad

by Peter Symonds


There is no shortage of wretched betrayals in the annals of Stalinism. But the decision of the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) to join the Governing Council hand picked by the Bush administration to provide a façade for its neo-colonial subjugation of the country is without precedent.

The very fact that Washington invited the ICP to join its puppet administration in Baghdad testifies to the depth of the crisis that the US confronts in Iraq. Three months after the invasion, US troops are subject to daily guerrilla attacks and face growing opposition from a hostile population that lacks basic essentials such as food, clean water and electricity.

Yet as crowds of Iraqis take to the streets to demand an end to the US occupation, the ICP has joined what is widely reviled as a quisling administration. At its first meeting on July 13, ICP leader Hamid Majid Mousa took his seat alongside the squalid assortment of Iraqi exiles, businessmen, clerics, political charlatans and outright criminals, such as convicted embezzler Ahmed Chalabi, that comprise the Governing Council.

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There is no doubt that the ICP’s treachery will compound the prevailing political confusion in Iraq and enable, in the short term at least, reactionary Islamic fundamentalist trends to capitalise on the growing opposition to the US occupation. For Iraqis seeking an end to US rule and a progressive solution to the country’s deep political and economic crisis, it is crucial to critically examine the history of the ICP.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2003/jul2003/iraq-j29.shtml

A very good article to read for insight into the history of Stalinism and it's betrayel of the Iraqi working class.

I found it surprising at first to see them, along with the Shi'i radical parties like SAIRI & al-Dawa, on the puppet council, but I guess it makes sense considering their background. The Worker-Communist Party of Iraq appears to have stayed off, however.

Dispatches from the Front

"Christopher Hitchens, a decidedly non-credulous international journalist, told Fox News, 'It's quite extraordinary to see the way American soldiers are welcomed. To see the work that they're doing - and not just rolling up these filthy networks of Ba'athists and jihadists - but building schools, opening soccer stadiums, helping connect to the Internet, there is a really intelligent political program as well as a very tough military one.' Because the daily lives of Iraqis are improving and political stability is increasing, Wall Street Journal editor Paul Gigot reports from Najaf that, 'The majority aren't worried we'll stay too long; they're petrified we'll
leave too soon.'"

- Washington Times, 7/29/03

When he has to sober up, maybe during hospitalization for liver trouble, reality is going to be a living hell for him.

Well, I guess I'll wait while they work out the fine print.