Another US act of war

The Communist Party of Australia condemns in the strongest possible terms the US assassination of Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani and 12 other people in Iraq.

On 2nd January 2020, the Trump Administration recklessly escalated its aggression against Iran by the drone assassination of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani, Commander of Iran Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force. The assassination, ordered directly by President Trump, is a war crime by any definition, violating both Iraqi sovereignty and international law.  This criminal act carelessly risked sparking a wider, catastrophic war that would involve many nations and put millions of lives at risk. 

The US claimed the assassination was an act of pre-emptive self-defence. Tehran called it an act of international terrorism and vowed revenge. Massive demonstrations mourning the death of Soleimani and the Iraqi militia commanders, also killed in this attack, were held in both Iraq and Iran.

The action of the Trump administration takes place when he is on the verge of an impeachment trial in the US Senate for his abuse of power; and Americans have entered into a presidential election year. 

The US has invaded and initiated war on more than a dozen countries since the beginning of this century and has imposed coercive sanctions — economic warfare — on dozens, all in violation of international law. We should recognise that today the US is the greatest threat to peace in the world. The US undertakes regular acts of terrorism to disrupt peaceful development and to advance capitalism and military industrial complex.  

Iraq's Parliament held an extraordinary session on Sunday 5th January, directing the government to end the presence of foreign troops and to lodge an official complaint against the US over the killing of Qassem Soleimani and its citizens. The Prime Minister revealed that he was scheduled to meet with Soleimani the same morning the general was killed in an airstrike in Baghdad. The PM said, that the US assassination was a "flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty" and an insult to the dignity of his country.

The Communist Party of Australia offers its condolences to the people of Iran and Iraq for their losses. 

The CPA demands the Morrison government withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and any support troops from the Straits of Hormuz.

The CPA demands an end to the US military alliance and the end of joint military operations and US bases from Australian soil.

The CPA calls upon all of the progressive, freedom and peace loving people from Australia and across the world, to further their efforts to mobilise world public opinion against the escalation of tensions and the dangerous and lethal military conflicts that could endanger more than just the Middle East region.

No to War on Iran!

Communist Party of Australia, CPA 

10h January 2020