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In announcing his "doctrine" last month President Clinton stated that whenever civilians are attacked anywhere "because of their race, ethnic background, or their religion - and it's within our power to stop it, we will stop it."
That credo was used to justify U.S. occupation of Bosnia and our current occupation of the Kosovo province of Yugoslavia, where civil conflict designed to break up Yugoslavia was largely organized by Washington, with other NATO countries as accomplices. The same precept is the U.S. justification given for the near-daily bombing of Iraq - supposedly to defend Kurds in the north and a religious faction in the south.
The Wall Street Journal commented:
"But the Russians and some European allies worry that Mr. Clinton is pledging to deputize the U.S. military as a global cop." (7/6/99)
Their fears are certainly valid: the "cop" could be used against any of them. Clinton's advisers are preparing a presidential speech for the fall in which he will precisely define the doctrine. The list of previous "doctrines" makes clear that each new one continues and builds on earlier ones. Thus, the anti-working class, anti-Communist essence of earlier pronouncements will continue.
The Monroe Doctrine of 1823 was taught in every history class when I went to school. Posing as a defense against European intervention, it really declares U.S. capitalism's determination to control the entire Western Hemisphere. Under it, the United States waged war against and dispossessed all Native American peoples; we seized more than half of Mexico's land area. To avoid U.S. military appropriation, large areas were given to or sold cheaply to America by Spain, France and Russia. By the end of the 19th century, the United States occupied many Central American and Caribbean countries.
The Truman Doctrine, under the pretense of "containing" Soviet influence, was actually a declaration of war against the Greek people, who were winning a revolution for socialism. Using the full weight of its military power, the U.S. forces finally defeated the Greek revolutionary armies.
The Eisenhower Doctrine covered the conversion of Israel into a mini-imperialist surrogate for U.S. imperialism in the Middle East.
The Nixon Doctrine used South African racist forces to wreck the economies of Mozambique and Angola, and to prevent consolidation of their socialist-oriented societies.
The Carter Doctrine placed the U.S. fleet in the Persian Gulf to insure the shift of a large part of British and French oil holdings into the hands of U.S. Standard Oil monopolies.
The Reagan Doctrine imposed CIA-organized fascist dictatorships in Latin America and conflicts to overthrow progressively oriented regimes in Africa. Simultaneously, it accelerated the arms race, announcing as its goal forcing the USSR to do likewise at the expense of peaceful development.
All the post-World War II doctrines were implemented with extreme cruelty - mass torture and murders - by U.S. trained deputies and mercenaries. Now the Clinton administration, goaded by the Republicans to be even tougher, continues its determination to completely smash Yugoslavia and Iraq, and to impose on them governments chosen by Washington. The 2000 elections may make enforcement of these doctrines more murderous: George W. Bush is regarded as even more belligerent and expansionist than Clinton or Gore.
Now Colombia is becoming a major focus. Washington annually doubles the financing and the military to fight the revolutionary forces, headed by FARC, which has the support of much of the peasantry and has won control over an area approximately the size of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. FARC is fighting against the Clinton Doctrine, which tries to disguise its intervention as "drug suppression."
The actuality was exposed when the wife of the U.S. colonel in charge of the intervention was arrested for wholesale narcotics importation and sale in the United States. What a farce!
The most heavily armed fascists and neo-fascist forces can be beaten, as the Soviets defeated Hitlerism in World War II and the Vietnamese defeated its U.S. would-be conquerors - with assistance from the U.S. peace movement. Our peace forces today actively oppose U.S. aggression in the Americas: the militant actions against the "School of the Assassins" in Georgia; movements in support of liberation struggles in Central America, etc. U.S. trade unions are involved in some of these efforts. But, as yet, there is little awareness among peace forces of the significance of the Colombian struggle. Surely it will come.
Most urgently is the need for a much stronger peace movement in the United States, with the active, strong participation of the trade unions.