DSA 2003 National Convention

RESOLUTION ON THE OCCUPATION OF IRAQ

The prosecution of the War in Iraq and the subsequent occupation of Iraq completely validate the objections raised by those who opposed this war. Only the speedy restoration of Iraqi sovereignty to an independent and legitimate Iraqi government can end this quagmire.

To facilitate this, Democratic Socialists of America calls for the immediate withdrawal of the U.S.-British “coalition” forces from Iraq and simultaneous transfer of administration of Iraq to the United Nations, including the appointment of a UN High Commissioner. A UN-controlled peacekeeping force should maintain security during the period of UN administration while an Iraqi force is being developed and sovereignty is restored.

The Bush administration has failed to provide for even the most minimal needs of the Iraqi population. While corporations such as Halliburton and Bechtel are profiteering from no-bid contracts, U.S. citizens are paying for an old-fashioned colonial occupation in which U.S. troops—assigned to state-building duties for which they have no training—are being routinely killed. Iraqi civilians, too, are being killed in armed attacks by U.S. soldiers, by insurgents, and by common criminals taking advantage of the breakdown in social order. The Iraqi people are also suffering and dying due to their lack of sufficient clean water, electricity, and medical care. Its infrastructure destroyed, Iraq is being ravaged, and ethno-nationalist and reactionary Islamist forces are on the rise. DSA condemns the wholesale privatization of the Iraqi economy carried out unilaterally by the U.S. occupying forces. Only a sovereign and democratic Iraqi government can implement legitimate structural and economic reforms. DSA supports the efforts of organizations such as U.S. Labor Against the War that seek to protect workers’ rights and support an independent trade union movement in Iraq.

The Bush administration called for the creation of a UN-endorsed multilateral military force to join the U.S. occupation force in Iraq, to be commanded by an American and accountable to the Pentagon’s strategic control. As Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies noted, the plan did “not envision Washington even sharing authority and decision-making with the UN itself or with the governments sending international contingents, let alone ending its occupation and turning over full authority to the UN to oversee a rapid return to Iraqi independence.” We reject the administration’s arrogance.

We further demand that the U.S. and British meet their moral and legal responsibilities under international law by providing for the humanitarian costs of their unilateral intervention. Washington and London must pay the continuing costs of Iraq's reconstruction, including much of the cost of UN humanitarian and peacekeeping deployments. The Bush administration must immediately make public a realistic estimate for the cost of reconstruction in Iraq and turn over funds to UN authority, beginning with the $87 billion dollars allegedly appropriated for reconstruction (but the majority of which is aimed at supporting the military costs of United States occupation). Reconstruction funds would be far cheaper than the costs incurred by continuing the inhumane and counter-productive United States unilateral occupation of Iraq.