That they set up a one million strong anti-war march that will force the government to bow to its will, at least according to the mass e-mail they’ve sent out. Ending the “criminal and despised war” as they call it isn’t their only demand however, they also want to extradite an anti-communist Cuban to Castro’s waiting death squad and dismantle the LAPD. Of course you don’t have to explicitly want to support those campaigns as well, just showing up is enough for A.N.S.W.E.R. to be happy, they can work around you.

You say you want a revolution:

Historically, wars come to an end either because one side wins and one side loses, or the people rise in revolution (usually as a result of a military defeat or pending defeat), or both sides exhaust each other over a protracted period.

What is the military situation in Iraq? The US cannot achieve military victory in Iraq. Its multiple opponents in Iraq are not militarily strong enough to decisively defeat the US military in the short term. If the Iraqi population, however, were able to overcome sectarian divisions introduced with the US occupation it is possible that Iraq could witness a repeat of a nationwide uprising such as the 1958 Revolution that drove the British military out of Iraq. But the flames of division are being whipped up every day and function as a deterrent to such a spontaneous national uprising against the occupiers. Finally, the US military is stretched thin but is clearly able to continue the occupation for some time, and the anti-U.S. opponents in Iraq are not exhausted yet by the protracted conflict. If anything they are gathering strength and energy as the occupation forces cannot take the strategic initiative away from guerrilla forces.

Given this complex reality, or realities, we believe that the U.S. antiwar movement must take strategic and bold initiatives that change the political climate in this country. To succeed, these initiatives must be based on a correct assessment of where we are.

The ANSWER Coalition wants to offer its own brief assessment of the political equation in the United States. We are also offering a proposal to all of the major anti-war coalitions and groups and to all of those organizations that function on a local level

Assessment of the political situation as it regards the Iraq war

1) The people of the country have turned decisively against the continuation of the war. Most recognize that the war was based on lies and most no longer believe the president and the generals when they assure them that victory is still possible.
2) The military situation is worsening rather than improving in light of the so-called surge. The number of US war dead in May 2007 spiked to the third highest month since the initial invasion in 2003. The numbers of Iraqi dead is about 3,000 each month. Two million Iraqis have fled the country and another two million are internal refugees.
3) The US is unable to secure its political control over the region as is evident by what is happening in Lebanon, Iran and Syria and its intensified destabilization campaign towards the Palestinian people.
4) The Bush administration is increasingly isolated, at home and abroad, because of its failure in Iraq and its inability to regain the military initiative even with tens of thousands of more troops. The Pentagon anticipates occupying Iraq for decades, as it has Korea and other countries.
5) More and more U.S. soldiers, marines, veterans and the families of service members are either disillusioned or completely opposed to the continuation of the war and occupation.
6) The Democratic-controlled Congress voted overwhelmingly to extend and finance the war and occupation. The calculation of the Democratic Party leadership and the vast majority of its elected officials in Congress is based on avoiding at all costs taking responsibility for a pullout from Iraq which will be perceived as a defeat for the United States in this strategic oil-rich region. They believe that they can secure an electoral advantage in 2008 by having the war drag on and have the public hold the Republicans responsible for the war. Moreover, the Democratic Party is feeding from the same corporate financing trough as the Republicans and they share the Bush government’s broad objective of U.S. domination in the Middle East. Congress, under the current circumstances, is completely committed to not ending the war in Iraq in the next two years and probably for much longer than that.

That’s just a taste of what A.N.S.W.E.R. is selling. Communist rhetoric masquerading as peace and justice. The glorious 1958 revolution they speak of is the one that turned Iraq into a close Soviet ally. From Global Security:

…In March 1959, a group of disgruntled Free Officers, who came from conservative, well-known, Arab Sunni families and who opposed Qasim’s increasing links with the communists, attempted a coup. Aware of the planned coup, Qasim had his communist allies mobilize 250,000 of their supporters in Mosul. The ill-planned coup attempt never really materialized and, in its aftermath, the communists massacred nationalists and some well-to-do Mosul families, leaving deep scars that proved to be very slow to heal.

Throughout 1959 the ranks of the ICP swelled as the party increased its presence in both the military and the government. In 1959 Qasim reestablished diplomatic relations between Iraq and Moscow, an extensive Iraqi-Soviet economic agreement was signed, and arms deliveries began. With communist fortunes riding high, another large-scale show of force was planned in Kirkuk, where a significant number of Kurds (many of them either members of, or sympathetic to, the ICP) lived in neighborhoods contiguous to a Turkoman upper class. In Kirkuk, however, communist rallies got out of hand. A bloody battle ensued, and the Kurds looted and killed many Turkomans.

Why would A.S.W.E.R. want Iraq to relive this bloody chapter in history? Also note the immediate hijacking of the anti-war protest for their other agendas, like replacing the Democratic party with organizations more in tune with their ideology, and linking anti-Zionism with the anti-war movement.

A.N.S.W.E.R. has used the anti-war movement as a cover for their anti-American platform since it’s inception. They have hijacked the political agenda of moderates and center leftists in an attempt to start their “revolution” in America. This proposed rally will be no different, except it will be bigger, louder and if A.N.S.W.E.R. gets their way, more violent.