Uniting for peace

The world watches powerlessly as the American and British military unleash their full force on Iraq. The bombers pound Iraqi cities as the world takes stock of spirited Iraqi resistance to the aggression.

The world must seriously consider the call by the Arab League and Non-Aligned Movement member states, who make up more than two-thirds of the UN, for an emergency session of the General Assembly under the "Uniting for Peace" resolution.

The UN must be seen and respected as a democratic forum. The vast majority of its members have condemned the assault on Iraq as an illegal act of aggression. Efforts to convene the UN General Assembly to challenge this aggression must not be side-lined. The UN's credibility is now at stake. The world body's well-being is being put to the test.

Nor should we forget that this is not the first Western aggression against Iraq. Its possession of vast resources has, ironically, proved its undoing, since they have for almost a century attracted the attention of imperialist powers. Since the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, in which the British sought to monopolise control of Iraqi oil, Iraq has been targeted by Western powers intent on keeping its people divided, backward and poor.

Britain controlled the Iraqi Petroleum Company, resorted to regicide and appointed puppet kings, launched military campaigns galore, established military bases, ruthlessly suppressed popular uprisings and massacred entire villages. The Americans took over the Western drive to subjugate the Iraqi people after World War II, forcing the country into neo-colonial status under the Baghdad Pact. History must not repeat itself. A vassal post-Saddam Hussein regime superimposed by brutal force will never be accepted by the Iraqi people, the Arab world or the international community.

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 27 March - 2 April 2003 (Issue No. 631)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/631/ed.htm