Readers are invited to submit letters to The Guardian.
Letters may be e-mailed to guardian@cpa.org.au.
Letters of 300-400 words are preferred.

Letters to the Editor:

Iraq possibilities open up

The possibility of the establishment of a democratic 
government in Iraq depends not only on the democratic and 
patriotic forces in Iraq but on world politics.

The military and political position of the Bush leadership is 
much weaker now than when it launched the massive air and ground 
attack on Iraq.

Militarily, it has failed to subdue the opposing forces and even 
suffered defeat at Fallujah where it pleaded for a truce.

Jack Fairweather reported in Telegraph Group London that 
US officers said that Fallujah was handed to the insurgents. "All 
we have succeeded in doing is paying the mujahideen to stop 
shooting us."

US thumbed its nose at UN when launching the war, but now has to 
accept UN Resolution 1546 that in the estimate of the Iraqi 
Communist Party "consolidated the steps taken on the path to end 
the occupation and regain full sovereignty".

Key nations in UN, France and Russia, had their own reasons to 
weaken the US in Iraq and to welcome an independent Iraqi 
government committed to work for a united democratic pluralistic 
federal Iraq.

The Governing Council appointed by US administrator Bremer had 
early shown some independence. It forced Bremer to agree to 
override its decisions, which included the refusal to allow 
permanent US bases in Iraq; that the oil industry be a state 
asset; that large scale privatisation be shelved.

By consensus it passed the Law of Iraq State Administration in 
the Transitional Period to lay the basis of a democratic regime.

It set elections by January 2005 for a transitional national 
assembly.

The US is not accepting these decisions.

In Guardian June 30, 2004, Ruth Russell, a human shield in 
Baghdad, stated that the US is building 14 permanent military 
bases in Iraq.

The strong support for Bush at the beginning of the war has 
crumbled.

The West Australian, May 17, reported a Newsweek 
poll that found 57 per cent disapproved of the handling of 
the Iraq war. The Weekend Australian quoted a Pew Research 
Centre poll finding after the exhibition of the torture photos 
that only 33 per cent thought the US was on the right track in 
Iraq.

Spain threw out the pro-US government and withdrew Spanish 
troops.

Washington Post July 18, 2003 was concerned that "the 
Federal budget deficit would be a stomach-turning $455 billion 
this year and increase to $475 billion in 2004."[$650/$680 
billion A$.]

The US Government has gone further in the hole by the cost of the 
Iraq war. These costs have been hidden but the Center of 
Strategic Budgetary Assessment found Congress had passed $100 
billion just to keep troops in Iraq till September 2004, and 
Rumsfeld was asking for another $25 billion. The other disaster 
for the US, caused mainly by the war, was oil at $40 a barrel 
with the US importing two thirds of its oil.

There are forces inside and outside Iraq that are hostile to the 
project of a democratic government of Iraq. The remnants of the 
Saddam Hussein forces that have cut the US supply lines and 
ambushed troops are violently opposed to a democratic government 
that was selected from organisations struggling against the 
Hussein regime. They are still attacking the US army, but 
directing even more of their attack against the supporters of the 
interim government.

Religious extremists among the Shiites and Sunnis want a Muslim 
state in Iraq. They have support from surrounding countries with 
Muslim states who do not want a democratic secular Iraq. This 
would give encouragement to their own internal democratic forces.

We can assist the Iraqi democratic movement with direct financial 
help, by helping their refugees, by understanding and explaining 
the situation. But the most important action we can take to help 
them is to defeat of the Howard Government. Such a victory would 
further isolate and weaken the Bush regime that is aiming for a 
puppet Iraqi Government.

Vic Williams
Perth, WA  

In his review of Socialism Betrayed (Guardian 
June 23) Peter Symon says that Gorbachev was responsible for 
the demise of the Soviet Union. It is difficult to understand why 
he stops there. One purpose of studying history is to seek the 
cause of events in order to use the knowledge in our practice and 
so avoid making the same mistakes.

If Gorbachev had become an arch-enemy of socialism in his youth, 
as Comrade Peter asserts, two questions arise. What were the 
shortcomings of a Communist Party that welcomed that kind of 
person into its ranks, and what were the shortcomings of the 
leaders, including Andropov, as Marxists, if they were not only 
unable to see the vipers in their midst, but actually encouraged 
their advance to leadership positions?

What is the lesson to be drawn from accepting that Gorbachev was 
responsible? Surely that it is pointless to struggle for a better 
world, because our achievements are at the mercy of fickle human 
nature.

We need to delve deeper and examine what made it possible for 
Gorbachev to become a leader and what enabled him to have such 
unbridled power. I think it began when a distorted democratic 
centralism, one more centralist than democratic, became the 
driving organisational principle of the Communist Party of the 
Soviet Union.

This was the fatal deviation from the Leninist principles of 
party organisation which individuals were able to exploit to gain 
the power and to impose policies that created problems and 
eventually led to a tragic outcome.

Bob Saltis
Adelaide, SA 

A woman rang me to say she was being harassed by Job Network 
to go on Work for the Dole. She has a mental illness and the 
relevant doctors' papers but Job Network are still harassing her 
to do work for the dole.

She says she is even more stressed out by the continuing 
harassment. They do not understand that she cannot perform work 
for many hours because of her mental condition.

She rang me because she did not know where to turn for support. I 
put her in touch with Welfare Rights. I only hope they will be 
able to help her soon.

People like this woman are being pushed to suicide by the Job 
Network.

Mary Jenkins
Underemployed People's Union WA