IF ANYONE was in any doubt, the revelations concerning the Iranian arms deal have confirmed that beneath US 'secret diplomacy' lies a hornets nest of lies, illegal activity, and imperialist aggression. The exposures have already claimed the heads of Lt Col Oliver North and Admiral John Poindexter whilst at least half a dozen of Reagan's closest 'advisors', not to say the president himself, look increasingly insecure.
When 'Doctor Death' David Owen wrote in the Daily Telegraph last week that the 'rapid restoratior of Mr Reagan's authority is in all ot our interests behalf of the SDP. 1s deep tear withın world imperialist circles that the PlESES illd become Ronald Reagan's 'Watergate' Over the coming weeks there'll be a rallying round to try to keep the lid on any further exposures. But the truth will out. the truth is: • that the administration has lied about its actions and policy WIL clu tu Iran and to Nicaragua. • that the administration was shipping arms to Iran whilst arms dealer Herbert Smith gets sentences to 10 years imprisonment by a York court tor tempting to sell military heliconters to lehran. • that money from the Iranian deal Wah shipped to the Nicaraguan contras; and that because, at the time, the US Congress had ruled that such Conura ait was eco ut money was first 'launderea via the gnomes of Zurich. • that the same people who processed the contra aid, the staff of the US NaTOna SeCr old— known as 'White House Luwouys people inplicated ( LeSuHONV of Eugene Hasenfus, the US pilot Icccly shot down over Nicaragua and now serving a 30-year jail sentence there.
The intricate webb of falsehood woven hide these basic trucas the US which anyway confirm the Dus vIciUll ui dly clk lle ps son. What is less clear ministration should to have dealings with Iran. Didn't Reagan, after all, come to office on the back of his attacks on president Carter's failure to confront 'Iranian terrorists' as Washington hypocritically cals ine peopie wno camne to power with the revolutionary overthrow of the shah?
The reality is that has not turned soft. As he himself continually insists the arms deal had nothing to do WElla concern for 'hostages' though Reagan is concerned that the hostage question doesn't become for him what he helped make it for Carter. tory Advisor Nauona Security Robert McFarlane who as head OT the White House Cowboys' was involved in the affair from the start and whose resignation last year went unexplained, hinted what was involved in a recent speech he made in Atlanta, Georgia.
"The United States' he said 'has vital security interests in the Middle wast that are entirely compatible with the security interests in Iran.' Oil and a common fight against the soviel Union was clearly what he had in mind.
This nas always been the US's attitude toward the region. Until 1979, the Us rulers had it entirely their OWIl way. The IraSildu MOndICuv installed in 1953 through a coup sponsored the CIA and the British secret SCL VICe rrom then on the shah ruled in close concert governments.
Close Was the the day. So much allily HITICn tanks than British artorn by the JE assive imperialists' military Hiatull 45,000 US advisors' big interests The gains exploited The Khomeint came lo us biọt hostile to but alist made serious on ing adopted a USSR. The LOWaLUS produced by itself, the war, serious Sutall Ing DaLV.
some allies succeed HulUllall SOCaRCI Los o cal aDenocauc - behind his secret diplomacy lies a hornet's nest of lies, illegal activity and imperialist aggression. aimed at achieving exactly objectives. sallic Imperialism is in fact playing totally hypocritical role in the area. First incited and financed Iraq to attack lran in 1980 i an at tempt to overturn the revolution there Imperialism has continued to arm Irac Now it is clear that the US, as well as the Israelis, have been supplying alilis IO Iran. The Iran-Iraq war itself has become a totally reactionary both sides.
The Labour Party NEC unfortunately allowed itself to be stampeded into de. nouncing arms sales to Iran applying no such criteria to Iraq. I'he rea issue in the area is the continuea domination by the United States, and its allies such as Britain, of the entire gulf area. Reagan has simpiv got cauaht out in one ot the manoeuvres to maintain this. But the impact in the United States precisely because it reveals the lying and hypocrisy of the whole of US policy, is going to be very great. time the ropes were too short.
argued. tying' solidarity. They've been out for months now against an them.
results wCIC thousands of people.
monthly JaDCI Workers Union.
Liverpool.
Another paper strikers' case is Workers. The UFCW trusteeship La.fR Hormel strikers SPEAKING IN Sheffield last month, Tony Benn told a parable about a young lad who'd fallen down a well. Three people came with ropes in successive rescue attempts. But each "Tie the ropes together' the boy shouted from the dark and damp distance. The labour movement has to tie the ropes together in the same way, Benn He got the story from Jim Guyette, leader of the strikers at the Spam-producing Hormel company in the US. Guyette had led a strike support tour to Britain at the time of the Labour Party conterence and lony Benn was prominent in drumming up support. Benn was also amongst a group of Labour MPs who wrote to the strikers expressing backing for their 'historic campaign for justice'.
The strikers are certainly in need of such "rope• nearly 1c employer hell-bent on union busting. Over that 16 months they've had to "face the wrath of the national guard, the courts and the media who have all pitched in against Their two week British tour is certainly yeilding able speak literally Their message has been printed in a number of labour movement papers.
The latest is the mass circulation T&G Record, of the Transport General 'Spurn spam from USA' urges its November issue. The article follows a meeting between Jim Guyette and a TGWU national officer. The TGWU organises workers in a Hormel subsidiary in to recently publicise the Tribune. In its 24 October issue, Carol Rees tells the Hormel story in a major Rees details the company attacks, the appalling 'safety' record and the workers fightback. She explains how the struggle has been sabotaged by the strikers' union, the United Food and Commercial instructed the strikers to return to work and placed their branch under SUPPORT silentnicht -TRIKERS