US PRESIDENT George W Bush yesterday warned of the ‘Iranian threat’ during his speech in Abu Dhabi.
While speaking about the role of the United States in allegedly introducing the Arab world to freedom, liberty and democracy, Bush made it very plain that he was in town to prepare for future military action against Iran because of its determination to develop its nuclear power programme.
He said that Iran ‘threatens the security of nations everywhere’, and that the US was rallying friends to confront it ‘before it’s too late’.
The irony is that Iran is a parliamentary democracy, whereas the states of the Gulf, including Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are feudal absolute monarchies.
In Saudi Arabia, women are not even allowed to drive cars, while women who are raped are liable to be sentenced to be lashed for being alone in the company of a male stranger.
Another irony is that while eleven of the perpetrators of the September 11 2001 plane attacks on the New York World Trade Centre were Saudis, and its architect was another Saudi, Osama bin Laden, Iran, the alleged ‘great danger’ to the world had absolutely no connection with that terrorist attack.
There are due to be elections in Iran, where the Iranian people can choose to remove the president and his administration and replace them if they wish.
The feudal absolute monarchies of the Gulf and Saudi Arabia can only be removed by revolutions.
Where the US has intervened to ‘bring liberty and democracy’ the mass of the people have been thrown back to the dark ages, whether by the destruction of the country’s infrastructure and education system, or by sectarian attacks.
Hundreds of women have been murdered in ‘democratic Iraq’ because they were not sufficiently veiled up to satisfy religious ‘authorities’.
Millions of people have been made into internal refugees because they were members of religious minorities.
Up to two million people have been forced to go to Syria and Jordan to escape from gangs of sectarian assassins, who support the US-sponsored puppet government, and are dedicated to killing scientists, teachers, doctors and journalists who they regard as supporters of the former government.
Bush was not greeted like a conquering hero in the Gulf states. The streets were deserted, there was a demonstration of opposition in Bahrain and the masses of the people and even their rulers are determined not to be forced into a war with Iran.
Bush could not resist, during his visit to Bahrain, meeting the US sailors from the three destroyers who were said to have been threatened by three Iranian speedboats in the Strait of Hormuz last week.
Meanwhile, while the US is threatening war with Iran because it says that it has a right to develop nuclear power, the French government is about to tour the Gulf to sell the latest nuclear technology to the Gulf feudalists.
Nobody is demanding just why these oil-rich states need to have nuclear power, although the same question is being directed at the Iranian government every day.
France has already made nuclear agreements with Algeria and Libya, and President Sarkozy has confirmed that he will sign a nuclear co-operation deal with the United Arab Emirates this week
Sarkozy said the Arab world should have the same rights to civilian nuclear programmes as enjoyed by others. Sarkozy is travelling onto Saudi Arabia, and Qatar from the United Arab Emirates and all three Gulf states are expected to sign nuclear contracts.
What’s good enough for Saudi Arabia and Kuwait is good enough for Iran.
Iran has the right to have nuclear power. Workers everywhere must support this right and demand the withdrawal of all imperialist forces from the Gulf. There must be no war on Iran!