ON SENATOR KERRY'S REMARKS-THE CLASS ISSUE IN THE IRAQ WAR

COMMENTARY

THE CASUALTY LISTS DO NOT LIE-THIS WAR IS FOUGHT BY THE WORKING CLASS AND MINORITIES-EDUCATED OR NOT

Forget the elephants, donkeys and greens-BUILD A WORKERS PARTY

After spending the past several months lambasting Massachusetts Senator John Forbes Kerry for his presidential pretensions and political ambitions I finally have a momentary point of solidarity with him. Do not worry. When he goes back to form I will kick him and the other capitalist politicans around-and enjoy it. But, fair is fair.

And what is this flap all about? Earlier this week, the week of October 30, 2006, Kerry made what was, as always for him, an ill-fated attempt to poke fun at President Bush and his alleged possession of an I.Q. However, the way that it came out in his West Coast junior college presentation Kerry appeared to be offering the students a cautionary note that if they fell down on the academic job they would wind up as 'cannon fodder' in Bush's misbegotten war in Iraq. As usual, his attempt at humor got him in more trouble than anticipated and the Republicans were waiting. Can this guy ever get out of the cardboard costume?

Notwithstanding that little problem, what Senator Kerry inadvertently blurred out was the deep, dark unspoken secret of American politcal life- the working class, the rural poor, and minorities are the main elements fighting the war in Iraq. A cursory look any day of the week at the casualty lists in the newspaper confirms this graphically. Read the personal profiles of the dead and wounded. Junior colleges, unlike the elite schools Kerry is more familar with, represent for many young working class and minority youth the last shot at obtaining some kind of socially usable skill. And, yes, if one fails there the prospects ARE bleak in an increasingly technologically driven world. Thus, no one should be surprised that between the pressures from military recruiters, home pressures and the brutal facts of an "economic" draft for many poor or minority families that the poor and minorities form a disproportionate part of the armed services. It was true in Vietnam, with even more deadly consequences. It is true in Iraq.

The filthy rich, the super rich and the merely rich would like to pay their fair share for the war but their tax advisors have advised them of the adverse effects on their tax shelters if they do so. Furthermore they would not dream of having their children play with guns. Their servants or their servants' children, yes, but not their own. The middle class, especially the upper middle class, may pay for the war but still shelter their children from the traumas of war. But the working class and minorities pay for the war AND provide the 'cannon fodder' for it. THOSE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS BETTER GET EDUCATED FAST TO ORGANIZE THEMSELVES TO GET THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ NOW. NOT ONE PENNY, NOT ONE PERSON FOR THIS WAR!

That said, Senator Kerry, despite his inadvertant insight, should still not be left off the hook. And that brings up the most important question of this parliamentary election season. As always the question to be put to every politican by anti-war militants is-Will you vote against the war budget? YES OR NO. That is the only meaningful parliamentary opposition to the war. On that note I can comfortably go back to lambasting the ill-starred Kerry.

Revised: November 3, 2006