U.S. Communists denounce Trump’s Iran war drive

Following the U.S. drone-strike assassination of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani and the deployment of thousands more U.S. troops to the Middle East, the Communist Party USA condemned the Trump administration’s drive toward war with Iran in a statement released this weekend. The party is calling for a mass public campaign to resist war and remove Trump from office in the 2020 elections.

Connecting the killing of Soleimani to a long list of provocative U.S. actions over the recent period—beginning with Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal—the CPUSA’s statement denounced the president’s action and said the assassination increases “the danger of a full-scale war between the United States and Iran” and risks setting off a general regional war in the Middle East.

The party characterized the assassination as not only a dangerous escalation of the conflict with Iran but also as a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq, where the killing took place. Coming just before Trump’s looming impeachment trial for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the party’s statement also said the president’s unilateral military action further undermines the Constitution and the separation of powers between the branches of the U.S. government.

“The Trump administration has justified the new attacks on Iraq and the likelihood of a war with Iran on the basis of a series of dubious claims about Iranian plans to strike U.S. targets,” the CPUSA statement said, recalling the “lies of the Bush administration” concerning alleged “weapons of mass destruction” that were used as pretext for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Speaking to People’s World following the release of the statement, CPUSA Co-Chair Joe Sims encouraged immediate action to stop a war. “Trump’s drive toward war with Iran must be opposed in every way possible,” Sims said. “Right now, the main thing is to raise a massive public outcry by petitioning, phoning, sending letters to the editor, and passing City Council, union, and community organization resolutions and statements.”

He highlighted a number of the demands put forth in the party statement, including calls for solidarity with the working class and people of both Iran and Iraq, the end of military intervention across the Middle East by the U.S. and its Saudi and Israeli allies, and support for protests against war. CPUSA members were involved in weekend demonstrations in New York, Chicago, Houston, Raleigh, and several other cities across the U.S.

CPUSA Co-Chair Rossana Cambron condemned the moves toward war as “absolutely not in the interest of working people.” She highlighted both the human and financial costs of war, saying it “results in the loss of many innocent lives” and sucks up the resources that could be used to “assist working families struggling to make ends meet.” Cambron called any war against Iran illegal and  encouraged protest against Trump’s actions. “We can increase the public outcry by each one of us taking at least one form of action expressing our opposition.”

Alvaro Rodriguez, the CPUSA’s International Secretary, told People’s World that the attacks on Iran serve as “a distraction from the impeachment proceedings” and constitute “a drive to war on behalf of Trump’s re-election.” He called the military attack on Iran an act of war and said Trump’s failure to obtain Congressional approval “is itself a violation of the Constitution”—on top of the other crimes for which Trump has already been impeached.

Rodriguez also slammed Trump’s explicit threat to target Iranian cultural sites as “international war crimes” if carried out.

In addition to immediate actions aimed at halting the war drive, the Communist Party is also calling for increased pressure on Congress and other elected officials to oppose the foreign policy of the Trump administration generally, which it says is “violent and dangerous.”

The party is demanding that the public resources being spent on the war budget and on the military-industrial complex be redirected “to peaceful uses such as health care for all and the Green New Deal.”

The Communists also extended calls for “a full turnout in the 2020 national elections” to remove Trump and his allies from office, saying a victory at the polls is “an essential element in the fight for world peace.”

The full text of the Communist Party USA’s statement can be read here.