Stop the Bombing of Iraq!
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• AUSTRALIA $2.00 • BARBADOS $2.00 • BELGIUM BF60 • CANADA $2.00 • FRANCE FF10 • ICELAND Kr150 • NEW ZEALAND $2.50 • SWEDEN Kr12 • UK £1.00 • U.S. $1.50 INSIDE Canadian government expands military forces — PAGE 4 SOCIALIST NEWSWEEKLY PUBLISHED IN THE INTERESTS OF WORKING PEOPLE VOL. 57/NO. 4 January 29, 1993 Stop the bombing of Iraq! Washington Protest at unleashes White House three strikes hours after in five days first bombs BY GREG McCARTAN BY DEREK BRACEY WASHINGTON, D.C. — One hundred The United States launched three major people assembled outside the White House attacks on Iraq in five days starting January here within several hours o f the January 13 13. In the most significant attack, U.S. war bombing o f Iraq by U.S. warplanes. ships in the Persian G ulf and the Red Sea Sponsored by the Washington Peace fired 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles January Center, the demonstration called on the 17 at an industrial complex eight miles from Bush administration to end its attacks and downtown Baghdad, Iraq’s capital. threats o f further military assaults on the The missile attack came four days after Iraqi people, demanded an end to the sanc U.S., British, and French warplanes bombed tions against Iraq, and called for the with sites in southern Iraq. Another group of drawal o f U.S. ground troops from the planes bombed the same site on the morning region. o f January 18. Youth from several area campuses turned The cruise missiles caused damage in out and helped lead spirited chants of, “ Stop the war, we want peace, U.S. out o f the Middle East,” and “ B ill and George — See editorial, page 14 bring ’em back, stop the bombing o f Iraq.” The protesters marched from the White Baghdad itself. The Associated Press news House to the headquarters o f President-elect Wreckage at Rashid Hotel in Baghdad, struck by U.S. missile. Three people were killed agency reported three known deaths and B ill Clinton’s transition team where chant and several injured in Baghdad as result of attack on nearby industrial plant. accounts o f injuries in several parts of the ing continued followed by brief remarks by city. One of the Tomahawks struck the demonstration organizers. Rashid Hotel, often used by international wreckage. Viewers could read the marking that seals had been placed on some o f the In addition to calling on “ U.S. and Allied journalists, leaving a crater 10 feet deep and “ Williams International, Jacksonville, Flor machines to prevent them from being used military forces [to] immediately halt the air 20 feet across in front o f the hotel. The ida,” as well as its serial number. Williams without detection. strike against Iraq,” a statement issued by hotel’s power was knocked out and several International Corp. makes the turbofan en The Bush administration had been pre local groups called for an emergency session inches of water flooded the floor. Two o f the gine for Tomahawk missiles. The Pentagon paring the missile attack for several days. It o f the United Nations Security Council to hotel’s workers were killed. later admitted that some o f the missiles were was initially intended to happen on January “ review the validity o f the U.S.-French- The Pentagon initially denied that the routed over Baghdad and that one may have 15 but was called o ff after hesitations by British ‘no fly zones’ in Northern and South missiles hit anything except the intended hit the hotel. British prime minister John Major. Major ern Iraq.” target and said the hotel was probably hit by The targeted industrial complex, the and others in the United Nations Security Iraqi antiaircraft fire. Reporters from the multibillion-dollar Zaafaraniya industrial Council wanted to give Iraq another chance television news channel CNN, however, park, had two dozen buildings which to follow their dictates. Mounting deaths filmed a piece o f metal pulled from the housed advanced machinery. Bush admin In a previous attack January 13, U.S., istration officials claim that the complex French, and British planes carried out a of Somalis from was part o f a nuclear weapons develop 30-minute bombing raid in southern Iraq. ment program. More than 80 strike aircraft and 30 support U.S. shootings Gary M ilhollin, director o f the Wisconsin planes participated in the attack on four Project on Arms Control, said attacking the missile batteries and four communication BY BRIAN WILLIAMS complex had more political than military and radar centers. Initially the Pentagon The U.S. military is continuing its cam significance. M ilhollin said the equipment claimed that all targets were hit. Two days paign of harassment o f Somalis, while wor in the complex could be used for civilian or later it announced that only one o f four rying about the ability o f a United Nations military purposes. targeted surface-to-air missile units was force to replace the nearly 24,000 U.S. R olf Ekeus, chairman of the United Na hit. troops on the ground in Somalia. tions commission that is overseeing demo Iraq reported that the January 13 raids hit Meanwhile, the heads of Somalia’s feud lition o f Iraqi weapons, said that inspectors mostly nonmilitary targets and that 19 peo- ing armed gangs have finally signed a had visited the plant four times. Ekeus added Continued on Page 11 “ peace agreement” designed to promote im- perialist-style law and order. With many o f their forces concentrated in the capital city of Mogadishu, U.S. marines Clinton reneges on have been carrying out raids on market areas , in search o f weapons. Nearly 1,000 U.S. troops backed by helicopter gunships con will forcibly return refugees ducted a day-long assault January 11, seal ing o ff an extensive area o f market stalls that sell a wide variety o f items from guns to BY BRIAN WILLIAMS destroy their boats, and return them to Haiti. cherry tomatoes. Backtracking on a promise made during Twelve Coast Guard cutters, five smaller Several days earlier 450 marines carried his campaign for U.S. president, B ill Clinton patrol boats and at least Five Navy ships out a similar attack on a market area in stated January 14 that he w ill continue, and along with airplanes are expected to be in northern Mogadishu. in fact reinforce, the policy begun by Pres place o ff the shores of Haiti by January 20. Some o f the items of equipment seized ident George Bush of forcibly returning all This amounts to a dramatic increase from were obsolete or broken weapons. These Haitians fleeing military repression in their the three U.S. cutters that have been sta arms are a legacy of the vast arsenal shipped country. tioned o ff Haiti for the past several months. to Somalia by the Soviet Union in the 1970s The U.S. military is planning to surround and by the U.S. government from 1977-90, Haiti with an armada o f Navy and Coast ‘A barricade around Haiti’ to support the corrupt dictatorship o f M o Guard vessels in what amounts to a virtual “ They’re putting a barricade around Hai hammed Siad Barre who ruled the country blockade aimed at halting what is expected ti,” stated Daniella Henry, director of the from 1969 until January 1991. to be a surge in the number o f refugees Haitian American Community Council in “ Many Somalis appeared to welcome the fleeing the island. U.S. forces w ill continue Del Ray, Florida. “ For what? So that people operation,” the Washington Post reported. to seize Haitians in international waters, Continued on Page 10 Continued on Page 12 IN BRIEF_______________________________________ Over 100 killed in S. Africa jails 1991 as linked to toxic chemical exposure At least 117 South Africans died while in tests to which U.S. soldiers were subjected police custody in 1992, according to the during World War II. Human Rights Commission. Tsepo Len- More than 60,000 soldiers and sailors gwati, a 27-year-old man, was “ shot dead were exposed to chlorinated mustard gas by unknown gunmen while handcuffed and and an arsenic-laden chemical called Lew alone” in jail. John Cele, a trade union o ffi isite at military research facilities in the cial, “ allegedly shot himself during interro United States, and then sworn to secrecy. gation.” In many cases the police have not An estimated 4,(XX) were exposed to as released the name or cause o f death. much gas as they would have encountered After pathologist Jonathan Gluckman in a full-scale chemical attack. The tests spoke out against the many deaths occurring were not publicly acknowledged until June in prison, the South African minister o f law 1991. and order in July 1992 promised a report on the causes o f all deaths in police custody in Domestic partner rights extended the previous two years. That report has not A new executive order by New York City yet been published. mayor David Dinkins allows unmarried heterosexual and homosexual couples in Honduras banana workers strike that city to register as “ domestic partners,” More than 6,(XX) workers employed by becoming eligible for some o f the rights Chiquita Brands International Inc. went on extended to married couples. These include strike in Honduras January 8, paralyzing hospital and jail visitation rights and some production. The banana workers are protest benefits for partners o f city employees, but ing company plans to close four plantations not health insurance.