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Workers Have No Interest in Another Rich Men’s War for Oil

Who’s threatening whom? Dozens of U.S. military bases and 125,000 U.S. troops surround Iran.

“Of course it’s about oil, it’s very much about oil, and we can’t really deny that.” —Four Star General John Abizaid, the former commander of CENTCOM, speaking about the U.S. war on Iraq

“People say we’re not fighting for oil. Of course, we are. They talk about America’s national interest. What the hell do you think they’re talking about? We’re not there for figs.” —Former U.S. Secretary of Defense and Republican Senator Chuck Hagel speaking about the Iraq war in 2007

“I’m interested in Libya if we take the oil. If we don’t take the oil, no interest.” —Donald Trump, one month after the US/NATO bombing of Libya in 2012

“I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like—
we had entire training courses.” —Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at Texas A&M University, April 15, 2019

Beware Of Lies To Justify War on Iran

Lie: In 1964, the U.S. went to war because North Vietnamese small boats fired on a U.S. warship in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Fact: In 2019 it is confirmed this was a total lie to get us to back a war. Former navy pilot James Stockdale reported from the air, “There was nothing there but black water and American fire power.” The result: 3 million Vietnamese and 56,000 U.S. troops dead and thousands of Vietnam veterans left homeless in the streets.

Lie: Iraq attacked the World Trade Center towers. That’s why the U.S. went to war with Iraq.
Fact: The 9/11 commission confirmed that Iraq had nothing to do with the World Trade Center tragedy. The U.S. invaded Iraq and took over the country and its oil fields. After 500,000 Iraqi children died, Bush finally admitted on 9/11 2006 in a TV speech that Saddam Hussein and Iraq had no hand in 9/11.

Lie: Iraq had weapons of mass destruction that threatened the U.S.
Fact: From November 2002 to September 2004, 1,625 US and UN inspectors searched 1,700 sites and found no weapons of mass destruction. It has since been admitted this was a lie to justify the invasion and occupation.

Lie: The U.S. wants democracy in Iran and Iran’s 80 million people want U.S. intervention.
Fact: In 1953, the CIA carried out a coup against the democratic and secular president Mossadegh. They put in power the Shah (means king) who ruled the country with an iron fist until 1979. Iranian people will never forget his reign of terror.

Lie: On June 13, Iran attacked oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman with a mine.
Fact: The Japanese crew of one of the damaged ships stated that this was not true. The crews of both tankers were rescued by Iranians in their territorial waters. On the same day, the Japanese Prime Minister was in Iran for a historic meeting with the leader of Iran, the first meeting of its kind in over forty years. An attack on a Japanese vessel would be the last thing Iran would want to do.

Lie: Iran is a threat.
Fact: Iran has not invaded or attacked another country in 100 years. Over the same time period, the U.S. has carried out over 100 invasions. UN inspectors stated that Iran was not building nuclear weapons and it was the U.S. that pulled out of the nuclear deal, not Iran. The U.S. has recently pulled out of other international arms treaties such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty with Russia. There are 125,000 U.S. troops in bases circling Iran.

Lie: This is about national security.
Fact: This is about oil and selling weapons for profits. The federal budget is being looted by giant war profiteering companies for $1.2 trillion a year. This money could be used to meet people’s needs.

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Secretaries of Defense Make a Killing


On June 18 Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Defense Patrick M. Shanahan stepped down after being exposed as a domestic abuser. Before becoming Secretary of Defense, Shanahan served as Boeing Senior Vice President, Supply Chain & Operations.

Shanahan’s replacement and now acting Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, was previously a senior executive at the Raytheon Company as vice president for Government Relations.

In 2017 Boeing sold $26.9 billion in arms, Raytheon $23.9 billion. These 2 companies are the 2nd and 3rd largest arms manufacturers in the world after U.S.-based Lockheed Martin.

Every year billions of dollars of arms are paid for with U.S. tax-payer money. According to estimates by the Costs of War project at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, the average American taxpayer has spent almost $24,000 on war since 2001.

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U.S. Wars Mean Mega-Profits for Corporations, Not Security

By Jennifer Lin

The US is a relentless war machine hellbent on destroying innocent human lives in its quest for military dominance and profit. The Pentagon has reached a deal with Lockheed Martin to procure over the next three years 478 F-35 stealth war planes (the most expensive US weapons systems in history) for $34 billion. This will be the largest procurement of weapons in US history. The deal will allow Lockheed to maintain its position as the world’s largest military contractor. Lockheed is responsible for some of the most atrocious war crimes. Their fighter jets have formed the backbone of Israel’s brutal attacks on Lebanon and Palestine as well as Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen, which has plunged the country into intense poverty, famine, and disease.

Raytheon is another military contractor that has a history of supplying weapons to Israel and Saudi Arabia. The company has agreed to merge with United Technologies, a corporation that researches and develops aerospace and defense systems. The combined company, Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is expected to rake in $74 billion in annual sales, which would make it the second-largest aerospace and defense contractor after Boeing.

This merger is part of a wider trend in the consolidation of military corporations for the purpose of accumulating more wealth for the capitalist ruling class.

The consolidation of wealth and power among war profiteers, along with banks and oil companies, directly deprives working class people. The lion’s share of our tax dollars are being squandered on deadly weapons instead of being invested in education, healthcare, housing, and much-needed public services that would improve all our lives.

As workers, we must demand an end to U.S. wars. All wars waged by the U.S. serve the interests of the U.S. ruling class, which also wages war against workers daily in the form of capitalist exploitation and oppression. As long as capitalism is allowed to continue, so will wars for profit. Millions of civilians will die, and the planet will continue to be destroyed at an unprecedented rate.

Stopping U.S. imperialist wars must be part of a larger effort to overthrow capitalism. We must continue to educate, agitate, and organize against ALL forms of capitalist exploitation.