Socialist Viewpoint

Passed by the Executive Board, Local 5, International Longshore Workers Union, Portland, OR Nov. 14, 2002

Whereas, UN-imposed and the U.S.-led genocidal sanctions have killed more than a million people and caused great suffering and pain for the Iraqi people, and

Whereas, the U.S. war on Iraq will lead to further massive destruction of Iraqi society, the death and suffering of many more people, and

Whereas, only the Iraqi people, not the U.S. government, have the right to end Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime, and

Whereas, President bush’s ever-expanding “War on Terrorism” has been cynically used to justify a $48 billion hike in the military budget, resulting in further cuts in vital services to workers, cuts that will only be made worse by a war on Iraq, and

Whereas, the Bush administration has used the USA-Patriot Act, the 1996 Anti-terrorism Act, and other unconstitutional means to detain without charge thousands of immigrants, assaulting the civil rights of all, an assault that will be greatly intensified in the event of a war, and

Whereas, the Bush administration’s assault on civil rights has expanded to attack the International Longshore Workers Union (ILWU) as an opening wedge against the right to strike and the entire labor movement,

Therefore, be it Resolved that we join the growing movement in opposition to any U.S. war against Iraq, and call on the unions and the AFL-CIO at all levels and all worker, student, immigrant and community organizations to publicly oppose this war and join in mass protest against it; and be it further

Resolved that we demand an immediate end to sanctions against Iraq; and be it further

Resolved that we demand the repeal of the USA-Patriot Act and the 1996 Anti-terrorism Act and the immediate release of all detainees who are being held without charge in the United States and at Guantanamo Bay; and be it further

Resolved that we demand that the billions now wasted on the production of armaments and preparations for bloody wars be re-directed to the expansion of essential public services and to a vast public works program to rebuild our housing, schools, hospitals and cities, both in the United States and abroad, creating millions of new jobs and filling the basic human needs of working people.