The Resist US-Led War Movement demands an end to the build up to another regional war in West Asia and North Africa. The continuing Israeli assault and genocide on Gaza and the Palestinian people is inflaming tensions throughout the whole region, tensions deeply rooted in the long history of foreign intervention. US leaders are deliberately stoking the fires of their war machine, and so only a united international anti-war movement has the power to demand they stop.
This region of the world has been in a constant state of war for over one hundred years, and since 1945 it has been the US that has led, financed, advised or otherwise encouraged wars in order to protect its profit-making influence. Over the years, these have killed tens of millions of people, destroyed critical infrastructure, caused mass starvation and destruction of food and water systems and other crimes against humanity. The genocidal assault on Gaza with US-provided weapons is part and parcel with this history. The US sent Secretary of State Blinken, Secretary of Defense Austin and even Biden himself to meet with the Zionists and promise them full support. Biden then went on TV decrying the killing of US-Israeli citizens in the October 7th military strike by Palestinian resistance fighters, saying nothing about the killing of US-Palestinian citizens by Israeli forces in Gaza. Biden also had the gall to openly support the Israeli government’s claim that the bombing of the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza that killed over 500 seeking refuge and medical help, was an accident caused by the Palestinian side. Upon this announcement, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas as well as the leaders of Egypt and Jordan canceled a meeting with him, demonstrating the diplomatic isolation that the US is pushing itself into in its continued support for Israeli war crimes. US shipments of further weapons to Israel are escalating geopolitical tensions to new heights, provoking Iran to respond by pledging its own intervention if an Israeli ground invasion of Gaza occurs. The US responded by sending a second aircraft carrier to the region. Following this act, US military bases in Iraq and Syria were hit with missile and drone attacks and a missile was fired from Yemen, all countries where armed groups in alliance with Iran exist. This shows that Iran’s promises are not empty, and that the people of West Asia, regardless of religious or political affiliation, stand against the Israeli assault on Gaza. The US has pledged $105 billion in emergency military spending, the largest single purchase in US history. This would include $14 billion for Israel but also $60 billion for Ukraine, $7 billion for Taiwan and $14 billion for US-Mexico border militarization. This shows how desperate the US-led war machine has become, and how profit-hungry the weapons companies have become. Instead of condemning its allies' war crimes, the US deliberately covers them up and asks US citizens to keep funding them through their tax dollars. Instead of negotiating with its rivals, like Iran, Russia or China, the US seizes on military options given that it is still the most powerful military in the world. But despite this last fact, it has isolated itself further from the rest of the world more so than ever before by its own actions. The rise of its regional rivals, in this case Iran, is a sign that if the US continues on its path of supposed military dominance of the world it will, this time, lead not only to the continued genocide of the Palestinian people, but also an expanding and devastating conflict that will drag millions into what may become the beginnings of a third World War. The anti-war movement must unite and take to the streets, demanding the US end its march to World War Three. The people united is the only chance for a just and lasting peace around the world.
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The Resist US-Led War Movement condemns yet another promise of military aid to the Zionist state of Israel to wage what will undoubtedly be another brutal campaign of indiscriminate violence against the Palestinian people.
In reaction to Operation “Al-Aqsa Flood” by Hamas and the people of Gaza, in which Palestinian fighters carried out coordinated attacks against Zionist military targets throughout occupied Palestine, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu declared all-out war on Hamas, the elected governing party and military of Gaza. US President Biden pledged full support to the Israeli military. This is at a time when support for continuing the over $75 billion in weapons to Ukraine is at an all-time low and the UN, led by the US, is considering a full-on military invasion of Haiti. All of this comes as Netanyahu’s own government is facing harsh criticism by Israeli citizens due to its corruption and political repression of Party rivals. War is meant to distract from the actual problems facing the Zionist society, largest of all being the occupation itself. Despite only Hamas being named in this declaration, history has shown that Israeli military operations deliberately target civilians while using very little precision when targeting actual military targets. This is due to racist stereotypes of Palestinians as “terrorists” and even “vermin” and “snakes” constantly touted from Israeli leaders themselves to instill racial hatred into the minds of soldiers and citizens alike (often the same, given Israeli mandatory military service). Over 5,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza alone from Zionist airstrikes since 2006 in the name of “war on Hamas,” and there is nothing to suggest it will be any different this time. The state of Israel is the largest recipient of US military aid in the world, with around $260 billion estimated since the Zionist occupation started in 1948. This is often in the form of money used to invest in domestic weapons development that is then advertised as “battle tested” to other militaristic states looking to purchase them. This “testing” is done through the constant killing of Palestinian civilians, making all states who provide support for and purchase these weapons complicit in this violence, most of all the US. Many governments and humanitarian organizations have accused the state of Israel of war crimes, crimes against humanity and violation of international humanitarian law. Peace-loving people of the US and around the world must take the evidence presented seriously and do whatever necessary to end the US support for the Zionist occupation of Palestine. The Palestinian offensive from Gaza is the resistance of a people with no other option than to fight against a military occupier. The violence started with Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and it will only end when it is done. With the unwavering vision of a just and lasting peace in the world one day in the future, the Resist US-Led War Movement calls on its members and all peace-loving people of the world to struggle for it by rejecting another unjust war on the Palestinian people and demanding an end to the US-Zionist occupation of Palestine. Once again, a political showdown in the US Congress has led to threats of a government shutdown, impacting the livelihood of millions of people. From work furloughs to stopped paychecks to suspensions of services, the shutdown would force people to go without food, medical treatment, or a roof over their heads until Congress reaches a compromise on 12 spending bills to fund the agencies which run the government. In the United States Congress, current spending laws expired on Sept. 30. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate passed a 45-day continuing resolution Saturday to stave off a government shutdown with less than three hours to spare.
But when the smoke clears, we’ll see how at least one spending category will have grown instead of shrunk: the military budget. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), is the largest spending bill passed annually by the US Congress, which will fund the many current sprawling military operations of the US, with over 1400 military installations worldwide. The proposed FY24 NDAA authorizes a whopping $886.3 billion for national defense discretionary programs, an increase of $28 billion over the FY23 enacted level. Attempting to wear a progressive mask, Democrats waned and waxed poetic on the Republican threats to rescind the Pentagon’s program reimbursing service members who must travel to obtain reproductive health care, limit access to gender-affirming care for transgender troops, and end various diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at the Defense Department Despite the grandstanding on social issues, driving the appearance of major political differences, there is a solid bipartisan agreement to carry on the profit-oriented and war-driven economy of the US. This means that Congress will choose to cut the budget for safety nets and human services, while raising its funding for high tech weapons and nukes that are fueling insecurity and jeopardizing our safety, Instead of investing in long term solutions to the climate crisis, Congress will increase funding for space programs to hunt for resources that are in short supply in the US. The truth is neither Democrats or Republicans truly care about bodily autonomy of women or gender oppressed people, as demonstrated by the utter disregard for human life and ruthless murder, displacement and violence against civilians perpetuated by the US Military operations overseas and domestically. The proxy war in Ukraine has claimed well over 100,000 lives and led to thousands of displaced people and refugees. 150,000 have been killed in airstrikes in Yemen and over 227,000 have died from blockade-imposed famine and destroyed medical facilities in the US-backed Saudi war in Yemen. The use of drones of mass destruction, notably in Kurdistan, Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Pakistan, the Philippines and across Western and Northern Africa have killed countless unarmed civilians, as well as targeted and destroyed agriculture. The unilaterally enacted economic, financial, trade and other sanctions on individuals, organizations and over 40 countries as a means to force their compliance with US policies have led to mass hunger, disease, and destabilization. We don’t want a “woke military” that will improve diversity, equity and inclusion among its forces just to improve their lethality; we want to end all wars of aggression and support the true and genuine peace that will come from the self determination and liberation struggles of the oppressed people of the world. The budget further extends the “Pacific Deterrence Initiative to enhance U.S. deterrence and defense posture in the Indo-Pacific region. It funds the initiative at $9.7 billion, an increase of $600 million over Biden’s budget request. This primary front of US led war is on a quick path of escalation to World War III, with US provocation in the region– a war whose build up has already begun with the deployment of nuclear powered submarines to Australia, storage facilities and base expansion in the Philippines and further military alliances brokered, including a tri-lateral agreement between Korea, Japan and the US on US defense interests. The reality we must face as anti-war activists, here in the US and around the world, is that the budget for defense and the lengths to which the US will go to extend and expand its military operations all across the globe, will always give the basis to build a militant anti-war movement. We must be in the streets, demanding an end to the ludicrous spending and war policy of both Parties while struggling against endless militarism, and redirect spending priorities to meet the many social needs of the people–housing, healthcare, education and basic food and livelihood assistance programs among them. More importantly, the Resist US-led War Movement will continue to march arm in arm with the people’s resistance, especially those on the receiving end of the drones, bombs and sanctions, to end all wars of aggression and build a just peace. |
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