This myth was blown apart recently when British troops launched an assault on a prison in Basra. The images in the press which saw British troops forced to flee burning tanks after they were set alight by protesters says much about the relationship between the British army and local Iraqis.
The simple fact is that a British occupation can be just as brutal as that by the US. And recent events highlight the increasingly unstable relationship between the occupying forces and the Iraqi authorities. These events have dashed the hopes of the British government to significantly reduce their troop numbers in the near future.
The situation in Iraq goes from bad to worse for the occupying forces. Recent reports claim that $1 billion has been stolen from Iraq’s defence ministry. The theft is mired in the network of corrupt ministers and other functionaries appointed by US officials. It is symptomatic of the inability of the US to rebuild the country while at the same time seeking control of the vast oil reserves.
The demand to end the war and occupation of Iraq is one that must be carried forward in the coming months with as much determination and vigour as in the past. Thousands are set to march in Britain and the US against the war as we go to press. This must be used as a springboard to build further support for the Stop the War Coalition and anti-war groups throughout the country.
In November of last year, there was a brief moment of light amid the darkness that was 2020. Scotland became the first country in the world to make period products free for all. Just as the weekend and the eight-hour-day are now regarded by many as a given, future generations may be in disbelief that...
On 4 November last year, when many of us were watching the aftermath of the American presidential election, the US formally left the Paris Climate Agreement. Written in 2015 at the United Nations’ COP21 climate conference in Paris, the agreement is often considered to be the most significant document of international climate cooperation. Back then,...
To say 2020 was dramatic would be an understatement. The world situation has been completely transformed by the Covid-19 pandemic and the inadequacy of governmental and state responses. As we head into 2021 it feels like we are entering uncharted territory. To make specific predictions would be unwise. But the Covid-19 crisis raises fundamental questions...
The 2020 crisis we’ve endured isn’t an aberration of the system but, as Alex Callinicos argues, an aspect of its permanent crisis.
