6 U.S. Soldiers Killed In Explosion----Iraq

[Red Terror Doctor]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22575906/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080109/ts_nm/iraq_dc

[Sky]

Unless the occupying soldiers are prepared to turn their guns against their senior officers and generals and help transform the imperialist war into a class struggle against the monopolists and their henchmen, the appropriate punishment for them is death at the hands of the resistance.

The illegal occupation of Iraq by the United States, its brutal repression of the Iraqi people and its repeated acts of aggression and destabilization of neighboring sovreign States, including Iran, constitute a serious threat to international peace. The Iraqi people are fulled supported in their just and legitimate struggle for liberation by all available means, including armed struggle.

[jake williams]

I'll just say, as a matter of principle, that it's always a bad thing when someone dies.

That said, in specific cases, it can be the least horrible option. This isn't the case for convicts for really almost any crime. It is arguably the case for people involved in military operations, but I don't think you can just blanketly say "All the soldiers should die", and even if it's ultimately justified, it's still horrible.

That said, relative to virtually everything that happens in the world, or even any given day in Iraq, it's just so trivial when an American soldier dies, for several reasons.

[BobKKKindle$]

Unless the occupying soldiers are prepared to turn their guns against their senior officers and generals and help transform the imperialist war into a class struggle against the monopolists and their henchmen, the appropriate punishment for them is death at the hands of the resistance.

Although I support any struggle against Imperialist subjugation, I feel unable to simply brush aside the deaths of occupying soldiers, and instead feel that these soldiers rarely join the military because they enjoy abusing civilians and imposing force on others, but because they are unable to find any other of employment in the civilian sector with sufficient pay, often due to a lack of academic qualifications, and so are essentially forced to join the military. The British military actually draws a large part of it's personnel from countries in which citizens face dire economic hardship, due to colonialism and newer forms of economic control, such as Nepal.

It should be noted that many Soldiers who have returned from Iraq have spoken about their experiences and, in some cases, have joined the anti-war movement - so clearly there is the potential for radicalization, even amongst those that directly serve the interests of imperialism through military conquest, and by celebrating the deaths of soldiers, we run the risk of alienating an important group, the support of which could prove useful in demanding the withdrawal of the remaining troops.

This is, in my view, the best way to view the issue. Moreover, some troops in Iraq are beginning to challenge the authority of the military command - not by fighting against their officers, but through more subtle forms of resistance, such as remaining in one isolated position when they are supposed to be patrolling a large area, and even by deserting, in some sections of the British army:

(http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=9502)

August 2006: "Figures released by the ministry of defence this week show that the number of soldiers deserting the army has more than doubled since the start of the Iraq war"

[Sky]

The British military actually draws a large part of it's personnel from countries in which citizens face dire economic hardship
That is an overstatement. Only 5 percent of the British Armed Forces are drawn from ethnic minorities. The idea that the military in the United States is composed largely of the poor has been challenged by right-wing Washington think tanks:
To fully understand the nature of military enlistment, one must take a comprehensive approach and employ statistics that include the entire recruit population. What makes the comprehensive data so impressive is that for every two recruits who came from the poorest 20 percent of neighborhoods in 2003, three came from the richest neighborhoods.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/NationalSecurity/wm922.cfm


It should be noted that many Soldiers who have returned from Iraq have spoken about their experiences and, in some cases, have joined the anti-war movement
And it should likewise be noted that many soldiers oppose Iraq not on the basis of morality or international law but only on the basis of expediency. The argument is that the occupation of Iraq distracts from the "true enemy" in Afghanistan.


This is, in my view, the best way to view the issue. Moreover, some troops in Iraq are beginning to challenge the authority of the military command
Such isolated incidents are inadequate. In the prelude to the October Socialist Revolution a staggering 2 million men had deserted from the imperial army.

[Zurdito]

Such isolated incidents are inadequate. In the prelude to the October Socialist Revolution a staggering 2 million men had deserted from the imperial army.

Those things happen in revolutionary situations.