The last day of January was marked by the death of the 100th British soldier killed in Iraq, and as Socialist Resistance goes to press the number reached 101. According to CNN, the total number of military fatalities stands at 2,451, mainly American. The huge number of Iraqis killed is not even recorded.
As Phil Hearse points out in this issue, the Iraq war has already cost $440 billion, at least as much as the Vietnam War which lasted for over seven years. There is as yet no end to the horror Iraqis face on a daily basis - not just the house raids and bombings by coalition forces, but the impact of the neo-con agenda.
According to the Washington Post on January 31, cash for reconstruction will have run out by the end of this year. "Iraq's water supply, electrical capacity and oil production - three primary targets of reconstruction - are functioning below pre-war standards, said Stuart W. Bowen Jr, the inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, in a quarterly report to Congress published Monday."
Before the war, Baghdad residents received an average of 16 to 24 hours of electricity a day, now they receive on average 3.7.
The cost of maintaining Let's make the anti war demonstration on March 18 in London the final nail in Blair's coffin "security' against the resistance movement is cited as the main reason for the cash crisis, while the Bush administration has said there will be no further money made available. Bush was not joking when he said in the State of the Union address that the US had changed its approach to the reconstruction of Iraq, although he didn't say it meant no more money.
Much of the $13 billion pledged by the World Bank in 2003 has never materialised, and with the rising cost of fuel on the world market, riots broke out in December when the government announced steep increases in gas prices.
Rather than admitting that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq have been a disaster, Tony Blair recently agreed to send 5000 more troops to Afghanistan, as Piers Mostyn discusses (page 13). George Bush's address heralded the success of the occupation 'however we feel about the decisions and debates of the past.'
Whatever the spin put on by the neocons, the Middle East is now a more dangerous and volatile place than ever before. The swords are being sharpened for possible sanctions, and even the use of military force against Iran, whilst the huge electoral victory for Hamas in Palestine (see p 17) has been met by condemnation by both Israel and the West.
Nevertheless, the tide is turning. Bush and Blair are exposed, and for Blair the crisis is now in parliament.
Rebellious backbenchers can now smell the blood, and have begun voting him down, even on key policy issues such as the 90-day detention of suspected terrorists, and just recently the Incitement to Religious Hatred Bill.
The anti-war movement has always been central to creating this fissure between the people and the rulers. That is why Socialist Resistance is asking all its readers to re-double their efforts to make the anti war demonstration on March 18 in London the final nail in Blair's coffin.