On 30th January 2005 American – British imperialist aggressors held a farce of ‘elections’ in Iraq. The widespread boycott of this by Iraqi people threw these elections into the dustbin. Leaving aside a few areas the elections became a military exercise of the occupying force in entire Iraq. In order to cover up the irrelevance of these elections, a drama was enacted of allowing voting in Arab countries with pro-American governments. Queues were shown outside booths there, whereas within Iraq in most areas people were against these elections.

The drama of elections only a move by American imperialism to justify its colonial occupation of Iraq before the world people. Prior to the elections, the American administration had made it quite clear that they would have no bearing on the continuation of presence of American forces in Iraq. American forces would continue to occupy Iraq even if the people who won elections did not desire this. Anyway, with the majority of Iraqis boycotting the elections, it was not possible to elect genuine representatives of the people. The few people who took part in the elections under the influence of clergy in Shia areas will also come forward to take part in the national struggle seeing the real intentions of the American imperialist aggressors.

The farce of elections can be exposed by the small fact that the ballot papers were not even sent to those areas that were centres of struggle against American occupation. Despite the boycott by the Iraqi people the American military rulers were not ready to take any chances. Not only the opponents of elections, even the US appointed Prime Minister Allawi, whose Party fared very poorly, reminded his opponents to keep in mind that most of the Iraqi people had not voted in these elections. His purpose in making this statement was obviously to ask the victorious alliance for share of power, but nonetheless it was an admission of what has been apparent to the world people.

This drama of elections has once again exposed the pro-imperialist character of the United Nations. Some years earlier when sovereign Iraq, a member of UN, had asked the UN to send its observers to elections in Iraq, the UN had declined. But this time UN had sent its observers for the electoral drama held by the American military rulers. Even this fact was forgotten that American administration had militarily occupied Iraq against the UN charter and without the permission of the Security Council.

20th March 2005 will mark two years of American attack on Iraq. In these two years the national struggle of the people of Iraq has become widespread and stronger. Broad sections of people are taking part in it. Entire cities have been destroyed by the occupying American forces in a bid to crush the national struggle and demoralize the Iraqi people. The destruction of Falluja, symbol of Iraqi national resistance, is a living example of the barbaric nature of American imperialism. Despite it, the national war of Iraqi people is continually intensifying. America’s Defence Secretary, Rumsfield, was forced to acknowledge that the day is far off when Iraq will be ‘secure’ without American forces. Actually this day is continually receding and eventually Iraq will be the graveyard of the colonial occupation of American imperialism.

In order to Iraqize the imperialist war, America wants to set up an army of agents in Iraq, so that Iraqi people kill each other in mutual conflicts and American and British forces control oil sources and supplies. These efforts of the American imperialists are the special targets of the Iraqi national fighters and military recruitment centres are attacked almost daily. America keeps its forces in special security areas and they venture out only with a lot of destructive weapons and they are trying to terrorize and bribe Iraqis to act as human shields. However, the breadth of the national struggle and the self-sacrifice of the nationalist fighters is frustrating this American plan. Their efforts in the same direction in Indochina had failed miserably, and the fate of their efforts in Iraq will be no different.

The national fighters in Iraq are also targeting those NGOs which are run with foreign money and are trying to give a ‘human face’ to the imperialist occupation. The people of Iraq want these NGOs, nurtured by imperialist money, to leave Iraq because under their cover and in their name the imperialist aggressors want to spread their web throughout Iraq. But these NGOs are not willing to leave Iraq as their imperialist masters want them to stay. Many of these NGOs participate in opposing American occupation in order to fool people. They exhibit this opposition outside Iraq, not in Iraq. There they are playing the role of assistants of imperialist occupiers. Organizations supporting the struggle of people of Iraq should expose the pro-imperialist role of NGOs and should demand that they cease their operations in Iraq as demanded by the Iraqi national fighters. Representatives of these NGOs should not be allowed to masquerade as opponents of US imperialism while they are but the agents of imperialism.

The so-called ‘elections’ in Iraq will not succeed in blunting the national struggle of Iraqi people. Despite elections, the puppet government of Karzai in Afghanistan is hemmed into Kabul, and dependent on imperialist army for its existence. The anti-imperialist national struggle in Iraq is far broader and more intense.

A note in passing on the attitude of Congres led Govt. at the Centre supported by CPM led 'Left' Front. While they had refused to send officials of Election Commission to Iraq, they offered to train the personnel from Iraq for conducting these elections. This is the limit to which CPM, CPI are willing to exert their influence for they too do not want to oppose US imperialism beyond a point. Rather their opposition comes from the lack of consensus among imperialist powers on Iraq. 

The two years since 20th March 2003 are symbolic of the barbarism of American-British imperialism. They are symbolic of the sacrifices being given by the citizens of an ancient civilization and proud country for their freedom. They symbolize the breadth and intensification coming to the anti-imperialist struggles of the world people. The nationalist fighters of Iraq are real claimants of the support and help of forces fighting for national freedom against imperialism world over and of workers fighting against attacks of MNCs.