US troops are worse than scabs

by peon in the US Sunday, Dec. 07, 2003 at 3:34 PM

A working class perspective on the US anti-war movement's adaptation of the slogan "Support Our Troops"

Scabs cross picket lines during strikes. They bust unions and take workers jobs, causing economic hardship for the union workers and their families. They say they do it because they need jobs and that they don’t realize the harm they do. What could be worse than scabs?

US troops:
1) Cross international borders and slaughter workers and their family members.
2) Take women and children as hostages.
3) Torture and murder prisoners.
4) Assassinate labor leaders so as to undermine the labor movements in third world countries.
5) Seize public land, resources and assets and turn it over to foreign investors.
6) Poison the environment with toxic substances like depleted uranium.
7) Bomb homes, schools, hospitals, water treatment facilities, food storage facilities and TV stations.
8) Shoot journalists, ambulances with the wounded and civilians trying to flee.

Many anti-war activists in the US have adopted the ‘Support Our Troops’ slogan - the same slogan the imperialists war mongers use. How can peace activists support murderous imperialist troops in an illegal invasion and occupation?

They say US troops are members of the working class who joined the military because they needed jobs. They say young people who join the US military don’t realize the harm they’re doing. Does this sound familiar? These are exactly the same excuses the scabs use! In other words, their argument for supporting US troops is a scab argument.

The irony of it is that these same anti-war activists claim they support the labor movement!

Who would ever think of carrying a placard that reads ‘Support Our Scabs’ during a strike? What strike was ever won by employing such a strategy? Workers have nothing but disdain for scabs. Workers remind scabs that what they are doing is shameful, dishonorable and cowardly. Scabs are not our working class brothers and sisters, rather they are collaborators, traitors to the working class.

Why should we treat US troops, who do the dirty work for the imperialist bosses and who are far worse than scabs, any different? Their conduct in Iraq up to this point in time does not merit our support, i.e., they are not collectively organizing a mutiny and/or disobeying orders like the US troops did in Vietnam. They are, for the most part, following orders and doing their job, i.e., murdering, torturing, kidnapping and raping Iraqis.

The "scabniks" need to be flushed-out so we can build a real anti-war movement here in the US, one that’ll attract all sectors of the population, not just middle and upper class whites - one that doesn’t cling to imperialist patriotism and its rotten slogans. In short we need an anti-imperialist peace movement in the US.