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Top 21 Pieces of Evidence that Show Iraq is only the First Step to 'Reshaping the Middle East': A Reference for Seekers of Truth
08/02/04
Have you ever wondered what would happen if George W. Bush is sent back to the White House in November? What do you think this administration would do as an encore to the invasion of Iraq?
There are several sources that offer some insight into that question. In particular we can shed some light with a short search into 1) the 9/11 Commission’s final report, 2) The self-described neoconservative agenda, and 3) quotes from, and documents authored by various members of the Bush administration.
First, the release of the 9/11 commission’s final report has provided mixed fodder for neoconservatives across the globe.
On the one hand, by excluding any mention of Iraq as an element in the ‘War on Terror’, the commission has effectively reduced the invasion to a question mark and a sigh in the heart of America. Obviously a devastating blow to the credibility and effectiveness of the neoconservative agenda.
On the other hand, the Commission did neoconservatives a tremendous favor by mentioning ties between Iran and al Qaeda, and in particular the 911 hijackers.
Now, never mind that these connections were ‘Murky’ and that there was no evidence of a ‘close working relationship’ between Iran and the terrorist group. Such nuances are easily downplayed and ignored by an apathetic media and a fear-stricken electorate.
Indeed, this single reference alone could serve as the launching pad for the next neoconservative foreign policy initiative...'reshaping' the Middle East.
As you will see, the invasion of Iraq was merely a stepping stone toward this greater objective. In fact, the plan is described in some detail by a neoconservative think tank whose membership at one time included Dick Cheney, Richard Perle and Paul wolfowitz, just to name a few.
It all began long, long ago in a land not so far away...
1) Flashback to spring of 2003. John R. Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, was asked about speculation that Syria and Iran could be America's next targets after the war in Iraq. He responded:
"We are hopeful that a number of regimes will draw the appropriate lesson from Iraq that the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction is not in their national interest."
He called the pursuit of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons programs a terrorist threat and said it "will remain our priority to achieve a peaceful elimination of these programs so that supporters of terrorism cannot use them against innocent people." No, he wasn't referring to the US... and no, he wasn't referring to MOAB "collateral damage".
He continued by slipping a little warning to Syria:
"This is a wonderful opportunity for Syria to forswear the pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and, as with other governments in the region, to see if there are not new possibilities in the Middle East peace process."
And so a methodic course of foreshadowing an unending future of preemptive strikes was set in motion. Unambiguously implied, Iran and Syria are next on the administration's hit list.
2) To some this comes as no surprise. Certainly in beltway circles, plans for further invasions are no secret. in March of 2003 George McGovern claimed that Bush intends to invade North Korea and Iran after finishing with Iraq.
"Even now, these wars are being planned by the current administration... I'm positive, based on conversations with people close to the White House, that plans are in place for the next invasions."
3) And don't think for a minute that the premonition of invasion comes only from the left. While progressives cite with outrage the probability of future preemptive invasions, Administration hawks and the influential right-wing media have boastfully warned of their desire for Middle East conquest.
Also in March of 2003, at a meeting of the hawkish, right-wing American Enterprise Institute, the focus was squarely on their "bold vision of the postwar agenda: radical reform of the UN, regime change in Iran and Syria, and 'containment' of France and Germany."
Speaker Bill Kristol, editor of the US magazine, the Weekly Standard asserted that:
"The failure of the first Bush Administration to finish the job in 1991 had resulted in 'a lack of awe for the US' in the Middle East, an absence of respect that fostered contempt of the US among Arabs and encouraged the rise of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. This war would redress those mistakes. The fall of Mr. Hussein would be an 'inspiration' for Iranians seeking to be free of their dictatorial mullahs."
Actually, the only thing surprising about hearing this from Bill Kristol's mouth was that he blamed Bush Sr. and not Bill Clinton.
4) Pat Buchanan, an isolationist and rare conservative dove outed the neocons:
"On Sept. 20, forty neoconservatives sent an open letter to the White House instructing Bush on how the war on terror must be conducted. Signed by Bennett, Podhoretz, Kirkpatrick, Perle, Kristol, and Krauthammer, the letter was an ultimatum. To retain the signers' support, Bush was told, he must target Hezbollah for destruction, retaliate against Syria and Iran if they refuse to sever ties to Hezbollah, and overthrow Saddam. Any failure to attack Iraq, the signers warned Bush, 'will constitute an early and perhaps decisive surrender in the war on international terrorism.'"
5) In a separate article, Buchanan singles out influential conservative columnist Norman Podhoretz:
"Podhoretz... claims that Bush's mission is 'to fight World War IV - the war against militant Islam.' Podhoretz' enemies... 'are not confined to ... the axis of evil (Iraq, Iran, North Korea). At a minimum, the axis should extend to Syria and Lebanon and Libya, as well as 'friends' of America like the Saudi royal family and Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, along with the Palestinian Authority'... Podhoretz believes... that Bush 'must find the stomach to impose a new political culture on the defeated' Islamic world, just as we did on Germany and Japan..."
6) In February, during a visit to Israel (Scroll down to story below the EU article), U.S. Undersecretary of State John Bolton said...
...that he has "no doubt America will attack Iraq, and that it will be necessary to deal with threats from Syria, Iran and North Korea afterwards."
Part of Bolton's visit included a meeting with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon who expressed his concern about the security threat posed by Iran:
"It's important to deal with Iran even while American attention is turned toward Iraq."
7) The Boston Globe brought it all together when it revealed the truth about the Administration's vision for the future:
"As the Bush administration debates going to war against Iraq, its most hawkish members are pushing a sweeping vision for the Middle East that sees the overthrow of Saddam Hussein of Iraq as merely a first step in the region's transformation.
The argument for reshaping the political landscape in the Middle East has been pushed for years by some Washington think tanks and in hawkish circles. It is now being considered as a possible US policy with the ascent of key hard-liners in the administration - from Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith in the Pentagon to John Hannah and Lewis Libby on the vice president's staff and John Bolton in the State Department...
Iraq, the hawks argue, is just the first piece of the puzzle. After an ouster of Hussein, they say, the US will have more leverage to act against Syria and Iran, will be in a better position to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and will be able to rely less on Saudi oil."
8) But even this wasn't the whole truth. The fact of the matter is that this Middle-East conquest began long ago with Paul Wolfowitz, Dick Cheney and Richard Perle. It involved a basic restructuring of the entire Mideast, not because of the terrorist threat to the United States, but rather to secure Middle-Eastern oil for the US and ultimate security for Israel.
"A 1996 paper for the Israeli right wing by a group including Richard Perle argued that Israel should scrap the peace process, work to subdue its neighbors by force, and overthrow the Iraqi government in order to reshape the region's dynamics."
This paper, of which Perle was the architect, was titled...
"'A Clean Break, a New Strategy for the Realm' and it argued that the best way to secure Israeli security is through the changing of some of these regimes beginning with Iraq and also including Syria. And that's since been expanded to include Iran."
And...
9) Back in 1992, Perle joined forces with his buddies Paul Wolfowitz and Dick Cheney and formed a group called the Project for the New American Century. In a document authored three years ago, the Project pondered that what was needed to assure US global power was...
"... some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor"
The document noted that, while the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides immediate justification for intervention...
"... the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein"
10) Former CIA Director James Woolsey, who had been named as a possible candidate for a key position in the reconstruction of a postwar Iraq, said:
"... the US is engaged in World War IV (WWIII having been the Cold War), and that it could continue for years... He said the new war is actually against three enemies: the religious rulers of Iran, the 'fascists' of Iraq and Syria, and Islamic extremists like al Qaeda... that all three enemies have waged war against the US for several years but the US has just 'finally noticed.'"
He singled out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and the leaders of Saudi Arabia when he said:
"We want you nervous. We want you to realize now, for the fourth time in a hundred years, this country and its allies are on the march and that we are on the side of those whom you -- the Mubaraks, the Saudi Royal family -- most fear: We're on the side of your own people."
Despite Bush Administration rhetoric, their intentions are clear. Iraq is but the first step in a long list of conquests. Indeed, they've already begun laying the groundwork for the next phase of "Operation Iran and Syria Freedom". As with the Iraq invasion, the Administration will rely on a complex web of distortions, exaggerations and outright lies in order to sell the need for invasion to the American public. (The rest of the world will never bite. Fool me once...)
Developing a Rationale for the Next Invasion
Admittedly, there are many nations whose government holds legitimate ties to terrorist groups. The U.S. is a member of this group. Of course only in extremist fantasyland do any of these connections warrant an outright invasion and occupation of the country (Taliban-led Afghanistan the lone exception).
Ironically, part of the rationale that will be used to convince the nation to drive further into the Middle-East will be derived from evidence that was at first pushed as false proof of a Saddam-terrorism connection.
11) For example, in one of the many bogus attempts to link Iraq to Al Qaeda, Colin Powell asserted that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the "missing link" between Iraq and Al Qaeda. However, extensive information obtained from individuals close to al-Zarqawi, shows no links to Iraq, but extensive links to Iran. To illustrate, 40 al Qaeda members fled from Afghanistan into Iran, and then tried to get to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, U.A.E. and Australia - but not Iraq. Also, Al-Zarqawi was in Iran in April 2002, where he plotted terrorist attacks against a Jewish target in Germany.
12) Of course the ties between Iran and Syria to the terrorist group Hezbollah are well known, but from here on, the line between fact and speculation becomes increasingly blurred.
For instance, Ariel Sharon shared the following with NY Times columnist William Safire in October of 2002:
"The Syrians, together with the Iranians, are playing a double game, escalating tension on our northern border....the Iranians have supplied those terrorists with 9,000 to 10,000 rockets, maybe including a new one with a 200-mile range. If war [with Iraq] comes, we'll see what Syria-Iran-Hezbollah are preparing: they'll be surrogates for Saddam, opening a second front to help him.'"
Is this believable? Iran working for Saddam? Well, it certainly hasn't happened to date. Tellingly, when Sharon includes such telling words as "maybe" and "we'll see" and then speculates that they are "surrogates" for the enemy, you can bet that he's setting-up someone else as future targets.
Even then, the outright fabrications, speculation, exaggerations, and distortions were hastily rolling forward. They would serve as the basis for the Iraq invasion.
Of course any fabrication has but a limited lifetime... in most worlds. With the Bush administration, any fabrications disproved or otherwise clarified to reflect reality merely offer another opportunity to assert the original, faulty claim with even greater force. This was the strategy used when administration officials continued to cite an alleged meeting between an Iraqi agent and September 11 hijackers, Mohammed Atta in Prague in April 2001 after Both Czech President Vaclav Havel and Czech intelligence refuted this report.
13) Recall that Donald Rumsfeld was quick to chime in with the first blatant lie, hastily attempting to tie Syria to Saddam, much the same as he attempted to tie Saddam to Osama. Rumsfeld suggested that Syria was responsible for the shipment to Iraq of defense-related goods:
"We have information that shipments of military supplies have been crossing the border from Syria into Iraq, including night vision goggles."
"These deliveries pose a direct threat to the lives of coalition forces. We consider such trafficking as hostile acts and will hold the Syrian government accountable for such shipments."
The CIA said that they have no evidence to support Rumsfeld's claim. In addition, Brigadier General Vincent Brooks, during the Centcom Briefing on Operation "Iraqi Freedom" (March 31, 2003, 7-8:00 am CNN, FOX, MSNBC, etc), said, without qualification, that they have seen NO evidence whatsoever that the Iraqis have night vision goggles or that Syrians were at any point attempting to smuggle them to Iraqi troops.
14) Colin Powell, citing Rumsfeld's lie, further laid the groundwork for Syrian invasion by accusing Syria of providing...:
"... direct support for terrorist groups and the dying regime of Saddam Hussein... Syria bears the responsibility for its choices, and for the consequences."
15) Rumsfeld then followed up this lie with the unsubstantiated charges that "hundreds" of armed Iraqi Shiite Muslim from Iran are now in Iraq and would be viewed as "combatants."
16) To summarize the coming fabrication/propaganda campaign, veteran defense issues commentator John Stanton predicted:
"Between April of 2003 and November 2004, the US, UK and Israel will accelerate instability operations in Iran and engage in global disinformation campaigns to belittle the political and military leadership there. They will take to the airwaves to portray to Americans a country beset by internal strife and dissension. Corporate media will revisit the Iranian Hostage Crisis and display for war-hungry Americans footage from the 1978-80 timeframe. That will include images of Khomeni's henchmen hanging and executing the Shah's secret police. Movies such as Sally Field's Not Without My Child portraying many Iranians as 'evil doers' will be broadcast by all the networks."
17) Of course the Administration is clever in it's invasion campaigns. They know it will take more than lies and speculation to sell a takeover of the Middle-East. Indeed, even though the US and allies put Saddam in power (way back when he was only 26 years old), sold him biochemical weapons, and then supported him even as he used them, the US government has cited all these things as evidence of the necessity of an Iraq invasion.
It seems that the Administration is following the same path in the rest of the Middle-East. In its effort to buy the loyalty of various Middle-Eastern nations, the White House lifted its long-standing arms embargoes against Iran, Syria, and Pakistan.
It's a pretty safe bet that the Administration will cite those weapons that Syria and Iran have attained as a result of this "lift" in sanctions as "evidence" of wrongdoing. It's the old "Bush set 'em up and knock 'em down" technique. Recall that it was Reagan and Bush Sr. who built the Taliban and Osama bin Laden even as he was selling weapons illegally to Iran in order to support South American terrorists. Is there any surprise that the world under Bush Jr. is heading in the direction that it is?
18) Anyway, the Administration's campaign of lies is incomplete without a little provocation to stoke the flames. Nothing a few "errant" cruise missiles can't take care of.
The first provocation was conspicuous at best. Three missiles fired by U.S. jets taking part in attacks in Iraq landed over the border in southwestern Iran. U.S. and British military jets violated the Islamic Republic's airspace several times [over a two day period] during operations against targets in southern Iraq. In two cases, rockets from American planes hit the area of Maniuhi, close to the border with Iraq. Another rocket hit an oil refinery depot in the city of Abadan, about 30 miles east of the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
Just for a bit of perspective, accidentally hitting an oil refinery in Iran with a missile is about as likely as accidentally smacking a hole-in-one on a par 5.
Provocation in Syria? You bet. US cluster bombs annihilated a passenger bus entering Syria from Iraq. Sure, maybe coalition forces speculated that enemy forces were on board. Regardless, the bus was an official civilian target and the bombing was in direct violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions related to the protection of civilians during war time. In any event, an unmistakable message was sent.
19) So the intent has been established, plans have been made, fabrications and propaganda have begun. What's next. Well, using Iraq once again as the model, tossing out a few threats would be the next obvious step. And what do you know. On cue, the threats started rolling right from the top. The NY Times reports:
"Shortly after Donald H. Rumsfeld issued a stark warning to Iran and Syria last week (April 2003), declaring that any 'hostile acts' they committed on behalf of Iraq might prompt severe consequences, one of Bush's closest aides stepped into the Oval Office to warn him that his unpredictable defense secretary had just raised the specter of a broader confrontation. Mr. Bush smiled a moment at the latest example of Mr. Rumsfeld's brazenness, recalled the aide. Then he said one word - 'Good' - and went back to work. It was a small but telling moment on the sidelines of the war. For a year now, the president and many in his team have privately described the confrontation with Saddam Hussein as something of a demonstration conflict, an experiment in forcible disarmament. It is also the first war conducted under a new national security strategy, which explicitly calls for intervening before a potential enemy can strike."
In the same article, Administration political mastermind Karl Rove was quoted as saying:
"Iraq is not just about Iraq."
In a series of speeches to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), John Bolton said U.S. officials hope that a decisive toppling of Saddam may give pause to other nations with secret weapons programs and "that some of these states will back off."
Mindset of the Madmen
To understand the mindset of these people, the Prospect notes the arrogance with which the neocon hawks flaunt US military power as their personal agenda enforcer:
"In the Middle East, impending 'regime change' in Iraq is just the first step in a wholesale reordering of the entire region, according to neoconservatives - who've begun almost gleefully referring to themselves as a 'cabal.' Like dominoes, the regimes in the region - first Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, then Lebanon and the PLO, and finally Sudan, Libya, Yemen and Somalia - are slated to capitulate, collapse or face US military action. To those states, says cabal ringleader Richard Perle, 'We could deliver a short message, a two-word message: 'You're next.'''
Nevertheless, don't expect any of the Administration members to stand up and say, "yes, we are going into Iran and Syria [and others]."
20) Indeed, Powell is already hard at work constructing a feeble facade of denial:
"Iraq should be ruled by its own people and American forces will not invade Syria and Iran after liberating Baghdad... Nobody in the American administration (has) talked about invading Iran or Syria... It seems that there is a constant desire by everybody to accuse us of invasion operations. That didn't, and won't, take place."
Wrong! As sourced above, Dick Cheney, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle and others have been talking about invading Iran and Syria for years.
As always, it is the Administration's actions that must be watched like... well... like a hawk. Their words have proven worthless a thousand times.
21) It must be noted that one of Bush's appeals-du-jour for an Iraq invasion was to "liberate the Iraqi people" from the brutal dictator. Iran, however is a democracy (Including a rather moderate, pro-west faction among its people), so it will be interesting to see what nonsense he cooks up in support of an invasion of this country. Even Iran-Contra criminal Richard Armitage admits that the strategy will have to take a different PR slant:
"... I would note there's one dramatic difference between Iran and the other two axes of evil, and that would be its democracy. [And] you approach a democracy differently."
From this, despite the multiple references to a dozen or so sovereignties, it seems quite obvious that Iran and Syria will be the Administration's next targets.
So the question is, When?
The answer is unclear but there are a few clues. First, Blair has already unambiguously stated that Britain will have no part in such further conquests. I believe that to be true since his political career would be terminated immediately upon any announcement of further actions in the Middle-East. However, who knows what "reasons" could conveniently appear in the near future that would offer fodder for further UK actions. Until then, however, let's assume that Blair is out of the picture, essentially canceling any ghost of a coalition that existed for "Operation Iraqi Oil". This along with the exposed truth about Iraq's AWOL WMD and fictional ties to al Qaeda puts Bush in a far less politically tenable situation.
Nevertheless, it takes an IQ barely higher than your shoe size to understand that the clearest indication of timing for "Operation Syria and Iran Freedom" is the 2004 Election.
The next invasion will not happen until after that election. To do so beforehand would be too politically incomprehensible for the Administration. In the meantime, Bush will claim victory in Baghdad, boast of the liberation of the Iraqi people, deny that either Syria or Iran are on the Administration's radar, overrule domestic issues by distracting america's attention with the perpetual 'war on terror', claim the economy is the best in a century and all due to his tax cuts, blah, blah, blah.
Once the presidency is again stolen, then... all of a sudden... the tables will turn and focus will realign to the Middle-East.
So which one will be first? Syria seems a much easier target, however, invading Syria first gives Iran a much longer time-frame with which to develop its admitted Nuclear weapons program. In addition, North Korea will constantly remind the American populace that nuclear weapons programs (which have found new life since Bush began his sabre-rattling and ABM treaty abandonment) are a reality, keeping the focus on Iran rather than Syria.
Remember, however, that Iran and Syria are just the next step in a long line of invasions to come. Indeed, Washington lists 13 countries with active biological weapons programs, including Cuba, Libya and Syria, and 16 currently producing chemical weapons, including Pakistan, the former Yugoslavia and Sudan.
Also remember that, as we steamroll through Syria and Iran, we will simultaneously be engaged in occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq. The need for troops will increase on and around the Korean peninsula. And lets not forget that we will always have need for some troops to stay at home to protect our borders.
So when people wonder, "Why does the Administration seem so unconcerned about an exit strategy from Iraq after the toppling of Saddam?" The answer is, "Because we won't be leaving." Having conquered Iraq, the US will create 'permanent' military bases in that country from which to proceed with the 'reshaping' of the Middle-East.
The bottom line: Can you say...
"Reinstate the Draft?"
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It will be entertaining to see america fall on it's face for all it's murderous,wacky ideas in the middle east.She will be bankrupt from all these demented dreams of empire,just wait and see what the world has in store for these fairytales.
This Nation is a Great Nation: Do NOT Confuse ‘Bush’ with ‘America’
Do NOT confuse 'America' with the extremist agenda of its current leadership.
History is wrought with examples of a kinder, smarter nation than the illusion pushed by radical and temporary 'leaders'.
The Bush administration lost the 2000 election...by a half million popular votes AND by electoral calculations (had all votes been counted.)
The Bush administration was installed. They do not represent this nation in its traditional sense and they do NOT represent me.
The American public believes rightly that they should be able to trust their leadership. Unfortunately, we have been betrayed.
And, if you think the average man or woman has even the slightest desire for 'empire' you are seriously mistaken, incredibly naïve, or grossly ignorant.
The only reason that there is any support for this administration is because people have been manipulated by fear and propaganda.
This is MY country and if you think that I will let my beloved nation fall on its face because of the actions of a microscopic (albeit powerful) minority... a mere blip in its historic record, then you can burn in Hell.
I have no time and no patience for anti-American scum or those who seem incapable of differentiating between a neoconservative, extremist agenda and the true desires of the American people.
So get it straight. This country is the greatest country on the planet. The current leadership is among the worst on the planet. Only one of these things will change, and it shall be the latter.
Except that the US is not the greatest country on the planet any more than whites are the greatest race or the Yankees are the greatest baseball team.
So what is there to "get straight?" The American public's dissatisfaction with its politicians? We get that already, and we are waiting for citizens like you to actually do something about those two corrupt parties.
America is the greatest country in the world in the sense that it has the most potential to set a positive and influential example for other societies to follow.
The failing, of course, comes not from the ideals of the masses, but rather from the corrupt minds of those who control the country.
The purpose of sites like this is to fight that inconsistency by attempting to set the record straight and to let others know that it is okay to say no to corrupt leadership.
It is but a tiny piece of a growing 'revolution' that has been made possible by online publishing.
Indeed, there is not a sovereignty on this planet that has not had to struggle with a deceitful, cowardly, manipulative, corrupt 'leader' at some point.
To broadly assert that 'America' is the problem, is as unfair as saying that the Iraqi people were somehow responsible for the acts of Saddam Hussein, or as simplistic as "Your either with us or against us."
...and what kind of person would say something like that?
so the future sucks...
so i'll probably be drafted...
so let's first send the sons and daughters of those that voted for and support this George Bush (if that's his real name) and his war plagued agenda, let them have their way and see what will occur. (that's my idea about doing something about this administration, however futile it may be)...
or vote Kerry next november (quicker and less painful)...
that goes for you too hopeless/helpless independent, do not ruin this election and the next four years for OUR country again, stop dreaming and take action, get real! America will never be Independent so go with what's best for OUR country NOW...
PS: anyone else seen those "No Iran War" or "No Syrian War" posters?...I wanna get a head start...
Mr Bush, since he lacks information in just about every sense of the term, blindly follows the foreign policy advice of the Neocons.
To Bush, what matters is his imperialist foreign policy;--its creation, not its consequences.
'The greatest country in the world'.. This is partly what pisses off the rest of the world. No other country could ever be 'as great'? Even you guys, purportedly so against the Bush gang, can't get that out of your systems it seems. You're no different to anyone else - try reading this recent Robert Kagan article for the Washington Post you can find at http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6606.htm - Get real, get a history and join the rest of the planet.
Our government is in Tel Aviv. It serves their bidding, not the interests of the American peopole. Security of Israel, domination of the middle East and the ongoing brutal military occupation of Palestinian land is the keystone to our middle East policy. When enough Americans finally come to realize this, they may well ask, what can be done about this wrong-headed policy? The answer is simple, and it is establish congressional time limits in office. What say? No congressperson or senator can affort the political suicide of offending Israel. If they do not vote pro-Israel, they are not re-elected. Period. Speaking out against Israel guarentees their next opponent for office will receive massive funding from the Israeli lobby, which is the second largest in Washington (after AARP). But if time limits are imposed, those legislators in their final term will be able to speak and vote as their minds and morality dictates. Right now, Israel controls congress, and the prez can do little without congressional consent. Time limits will loosen the throttlehold that Israel has on congress. This will eventually return control of our government to the people. It is our only hope.
Greatest country? Greatest pirate country. The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. (1)
CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition. First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal: "We'll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us." The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination. These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing dictator. The CIA trains the dictator’s security apparatus to crack down on the traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder. The victims are said to be "communists," but almost always they are just peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses follow.
This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious "School of the Americas." (It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.) Critics have nicknamed it the "School of the Dictators" and "School of the Assassins." Here, the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including the use of interrogation, torture and murder.
The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an "American Holocaust."
The CIA justifies these actions as part of its war against communism. But most coups do not involve a communist threat. Unlucky nations are targeted for a wide variety of reasons: not only threats to American business interests abroad, but also liberal or even moderate social reforms, political instability, the unwillingness of a leader to carry out Washington’s dictates, and declarations of neutrality in the Cold War. Indeed, nothing has infuriated CIA Directors quite like a nation’s desire to stay out of the Cold War.
The ironic thing about all this intervention is that it frequently fails to achieve American objectives. Often the newly installed dictator grows comfortable with the security apparatus the CIA has built for him. He becomes an expert at running a police state. And because the dictator knows he cannot be overthrown, he becomes independent and defiant of Washington's will. The CIA then finds it cannot overthrow him, because the police and military are under the dictator's control, afraid to cooperate with American spies for fear of torture and execution. The only two options for the U.S at this point are impotence or war. Examples of this "boomerang effect" include the Shah of Iran, General Noriega and Saddam Hussein. The boomerang effect also explains why the CIA has proven highly successful at overthrowing democracies, but a wretched failure at overthrowing dictatorships.
The following timeline should confirm that the CIA as we know it should be abolished and replaced by a true information-gathering and analysis organization. The CIA cannot be reformed — it is institutionally and culturally corrupt.
1929
The culture we lost — Secretary of State Henry Stimson refuses to endorse a code-breaking operation, saying, "Gentlemen do not read each other’s mail."
1941
COI created — In preparation for World War II, President Roosevelt creates the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI). General William "Wild Bill" Donovan heads the new intelligence service.
1942
OSS created — Roosevelt restructures COI into something more suitable for covert action, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Donovan recruits so many of the nation’s rich and powerful that eventually people joke that "OSS" stands for "Oh, so social!" or "Oh, such snobs!"
1943
Italy — Donovan recruits the Catholic Church in Rome to be the center of Anglo-American spy operations in Fascist Italy. This would prove to be one of America’s most enduring intelligence alliances in the Cold War.
1945
OSS is abolished — The remaining American information agencies cease covert actions and return to harmless information gathering and analysis.
Operation PAPERCLIP – While other American agencies are hunting down Nazi war criminals for arrest, the U.S. intelligence community is smuggling them into America, unpunished, for their use against the Soviets. The most important of these is Reinhard Gehlen, Hitler’s master spy who had built up an intelligence network in the Soviet Union. With full U.S. blessing, he creates the "Gehlen Organization," a band of refugee Nazi spies who reactivate their networks in Russia. These include SS intelligence officers Alfred Six and Emil Augsburg (who massacred Jews in the Holocaust), Klaus Barbie (the "Butcher of Lyon"), Otto von Bolschwing (the Holocaust mastermind who worked with Eichmann) and SS Colonel Otto Skorzeny (a personal friend of Hitler’s). The Gehlen Organization supplies the U.S. with its only intelligence on the Soviet Union for the next ten years, serving as a bridge between the abolishment of the OSS and the creation of the CIA. However, much of the "intelligence" the former Nazis provide is bogus. Gehlen inflates Soviet military capabilities at a time when Russia is still rebuilding its devastated society, in order to inflate his own importance to the Americans (who might otherwise punish him). In 1948, Gehlen almost convinces the Americans that war is imminent, and the West should make a preemptive strike. In the 50s he produces a fictitious "missile gap." To make matters worse, the Russians have thoroughly penetrated the Gehlen Organization with double agents, undermining the very American security that Gehlen was supposed to protect.
1947
Greece — President Truman requests military aid to Greece to support right-wing forces fighting communist rebels. For the rest of the Cold War, Washington and the CIA will back notorious Greek leaders with deplorable human rights records.
CIA created — President Truman signs the National Security Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Council. The CIA is accountable to the president through the NSC — there is no democratic or congressional oversight. Its charter allows the CIA to "perform such other functions and duties… as the National Security Council may from time to time direct." This loophole opens the door to covert action and dirty tricks.
1948
Covert-action wing created — The CIA recreates a covert action wing, innocuously called the Office of Policy Coordination, led by Wall Street lawyer Frank Wisner. According to its secret charter, its responsibilities include "propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures; subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in threatened countries of the free world."
Italy — The CIA corrupts democratic elections in Italy, where Italian communists threaten to win the elections. The CIA buys votes, broadcasts propaganda, threatens and beats up opposition leaders, and infiltrates and disrupts their organizations. It works -- the communists are defeated.
1949
Radio Free Europe — The CIA creates its first major propaganda outlet, Radio Free Europe. Over the next several decades, its broadcasts are so blatantly false that for a time it is considered illegal to publish transcripts of them in the U.S.
Late 40s
Operation MOCKINGBIRD — The CIA begins recruiting American news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a major CIA player. Eventually, the CIA’s media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press, United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley News Service and more. By the CIA’s own admission, at least 25 organizations and 400 journalists will become CIA assets.
1953
Iran – CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.
Operation MK-ULTRA — Inspired by North Korea’s brainwashing program, the CIA begins experiments on mind control. The most notorious part of this project involves giving LSD and other drugs to American subjects without their knowledge or against their will, causing several to commit suicide. However, the operation involves far more than this. Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations, research includes propaganda, brainwashing, public relations, advertising, hypnosis, and other forms of suggestion.
1954
Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.
1954-1958
North Vietnam — CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using all the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem. These efforts fail to win the hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed to true democracy, land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA’s continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in the Vietnam War.
1956
Hungary — Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by broadcasting Khruschev’s Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. This aid fails to materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a major Soviet invasion. The conflict kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000 Hungarians.
1957-1973
Laos — The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. The problem is the Pathet Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition government. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an "Armee Clandestine" of Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers numerous defeats, the U.S. starts bombing, dropping more bombs on Laos than all the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will eventually become refugees, many living in caves.
1959
Haiti — The U.S. military helps "Papa Doc" Duvalier become dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the "Tonton Macoutes," who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over 100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal human rights record.
1961
The Bay of Pigs — The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to invade Castro’s Cuba. But "Operation Mongoose" fails, due to poor planning, security and backing. The planners had imagined that the invasion will spark a popular uprising against Castro -– which never happens. A promised American air strike also never occurs. This is the CIA’s first public setback, causing President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen Dulles.
Dominican Republic — The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo, a murderous dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have begun competing with American business interests.
Ecuador — The CIA-backed military forces the democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its own man.
Congo (Zaire) — The CIA assassinates the democratically elected Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba’s politics runs so high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of political turmoil follow.
1963
Dominican Republic — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Juan Bosch in a military coup. The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta.
Ecuador — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the 1964 elections, and begins abusing human rights.
1964
Brazil — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in history. General Castelo Branco will create Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police who hunt down "communists" for torture, interrogation and murder. Often these "communists" are no more than Branco’s political opponents. Later it is revealed that the CIA trains the death squads.
1965
Indonesia — The CIA overthrows the democratically elected Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA has been trying to eliminate Sukarno since 1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor, General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of being "communist." The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects.
Dominican Republic — A popular rebellion breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader. The revolution is crushed when U.S. Marines land to uphold the military regime by force. The CIA directs everything behind the scenes.
Greece — With the CIA’s backing, the king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece.
Congo (Zaire) — A CIA-backed military coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu exploits his desperately poor country for billions.
1966
The Ramparts Affair — The radical magazine Ramparts begins a series of unprecedented anti-CIA articles. Among their scoops: the CIA has paid the University of Michigan $25 million dollars to hire "professors" to train South Vietnamese students in covert police methods. MIT and other universities have received similar payments. Ramparts also reveals that the National Students’ Association is a CIA front. Students are sometimes recruited through blackmail and bribery, including draft deferments.
1967
Greece — A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government two days before the elections. The favorite to win was George Papandreous, the liberal candidate. During the next six years, the "reign of the colonels" — backed by the CIA — will usher in the widespread use of torture and murder against political opponents. When a Greek ambassador objects to President Johnson about U.S. plans for Cypress, Johnson tells him: "Fuck your parliament and your constitution."
Operation PHEONIX — The CIA helps South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders operating in South Vietnamese villages. According to a 1971 congressional report, this operation killed about 20,000 "Viet Cong."
1968
Operation CHAOS — The CIA has been illegally spying on American citizens since 1959, but with Operation CHAOS, President Johnson dramatically boosts the effort. CIA agents go undercover as student radicals to spy on and disrupt campus organizations protesting the Vietnam War. They are searching for Russian instigators, which they never find. CHAOS will eventually spy on 7,000 individuals and 1,000 organizations.
Bolivia — A CIA-organized military operation captures legendary guerilla Che Guevara. The CIA wants to keep him alive for interrogation, but the Bolivian government executes him to prevent worldwide calls for clemency.
1969
Uruguay — The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. Whereas right-wing forces previously used torture only as a last resort, Mitrione convinces them to use it as a routine, widespread practice. "The precise pain, in the precise place, in the precise amount, for the desired effect," is his motto. The torture techniques he teaches to the death squads rival the Nazis’. He eventually becomes so feared that revolutionaries will kidnap and murder him a year later.
1970
Cambodia — The CIA overthrows Prince Sahounek, who is highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, who immediately throws Cambodian troops into battle. This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the Khmer Rouge, which achieves power in 1975 and massacres millions of its own people.
1971
Bolivia — After half a decade of CIA-inspired political turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President Juan Torres. In the next two years, dictator Hugo Banzer will have over 2,000 political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped and executed.
Haiti — "Papa Doc" Duvalier dies, leaving his 19-year old son "Baby Doc" Duvalier the dictator of Haiti. His son continues his bloody reign with full knowledge of the CIA.
1972
The Case-Zablocki Act — Congress passes an act requiring congressional review of executive agreements. In theory, this should make CIA operations more accountable. In fact, it is only marginally effective.
Cambodia — Congress votes to cut off CIA funds for its secret war in Cambodia.
Wagergate Break-in — President Nixon sends in a team of burglars to wiretap Democratic offices at Watergate. The team members have extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E. Howard Hunt and five of the Cuban burglars. They work for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP), which does dirty work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering Nixon’s illegal campaign contributions. CREEP’s activities are funded and organized by another CIA front, the Mullen Company.
1973
Chile — The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador Allende, Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist leader. The problems begin when Allende nationalizes American-owned firms in Chile. ITT offers the CIA $1 million for a coup (reportedly refused). The CIA replaces Allende with General Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in a crackdown on labor leaders and the political left.
CIA begins internal investigations — William Colby, the Deputy Director for Operations, orders all CIA personnel to report any and all illegal activities they know about. This information is later reported to Congress.
Watergate Scandal — The CIA’s main collaborating newspaper in America, The Washington Post, reports Nixon’s crimes long before any other newspaper takes up the subject. The two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, make almost no mention of the CIA’s many fingerprints all over the scandal. It is later revealed that Woodward was a Naval intelligence briefer to the White House, and knows many important intelligence figures, including General Alexander Haig. His main source, "Deep Throat," is probably one of those.
CIA Director Helms Fired — President Nixon fires CIA Director Richard Helms for failing to help cover up the Watergate scandal. Helms and Nixon have always disliked each other. The new CIA director is William Colby, who is relatively more open to CIA reform.
1974
CHAOS exposed — Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh publishes a story about Operation CHAOS, the domestic surveillance and infiltration of anti-war and civil rights groups in the U.S. The story sparks national outrage.
Angleton fired — Congress holds hearings on the illegal domestic spying efforts of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s chief of counterintelligence. His efforts included mail-opening campaigns and secret surveillance of war protesters. The hearings result in his dismissal from the CIA.
House clears CIA in Watergate — The House of Representatives clears the CIA of any complicity in Nixon’s Watergate break-in.
The Hughes Ryan Act — Congress passes an amendment requiring the president to report nonintelligence CIA operations to the relevant congressional committees in a timely fashion.
1975
Australia — The CIA helps topple the democratically elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Edward Whitlam. The CIA does this by giving an ultimatum to its Governor-General, John Kerr. Kerr, a longtime CIA collaborator, exercises his constitutional right to dissolve the Whitlam government. The Governor-General is a largely ceremonial position appointed by the Queen; the Prime Minister is democratically elected. The use of this archaic and never-used law stuns the nation.
Angola — Eager to demonstrate American military resolve after its defeat in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola. Contrary to Kissinger’s assertions, Angola is a country of little strategic importance and not seriously threatened by communism. The CIA backs the brutal leader of UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi. This polarizes Angolan politics and drives his opponents into the arms of Cuba and the Soviet Union for survival. Congress will cut off funds in 1976, but the CIA is able to run the war off the books until 1984, when funding is legalized again. This entirely pointless war kills over 300,000 Angolans.
"The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence" — Victor Marchetti and John Marks publish this whistle-blowing history of CIA crimes and abuses. Marchetti has spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an intelligence official in the State Department.
"Inside the Company" — Philip Agee publishes a diary of his life inside the CIA. Agee has worked in covert operations in Latin America during the 60s, and details the crimes in which he took part.
Congress investigates CIA wrong-doing — Public outrage compels Congress to hold hearings on CIA crimes. Senator Frank Church heads the Senate investigation ("The Church Committee"), and Representative Otis Pike heads the House investigation. (Despite a 98 percent incumbency reelection rate, both Church and Pike are defeated in the next elections.) The investigations lead to a number of reforms intended to increase the CIA’s accountability to Congress, including the creation of a standing Senate committee on intelligence. However, the reforms prove ineffective, as the Iran/Contra scandal will show. It turns out the CIA can control, deal with or sidestep Congress with ease.
The Rockefeller Commission — In an attempt to reduce the damage done by the Church Committee, President Ford creates the "Rockefeller Commission" to whitewash CIA history and propose toothless reforms. The commission’s namesake, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, is himself a major CIA figure. Five of the commission’s eight members are also members of the Council on Foreign Relations, a CIA-dominated organization.
1979
Iran — The CIA fails to predict the fall of the Shah of Iran, a longtime CIA puppet, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalists who are furious at the CIA’s backing of SAVAK, the Shah’s bloodthirsty secret police. In revenge, the Muslims take 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
Afghanistan — The Soviets invade Afghanistan. The CIA immediately begins supplying arms to any faction willing to fight the occupying Soviets. Such indiscriminate arming means that when the Soviets leave Afghanistan, civil war will erupt. Also, fanatical Muslim extremists now possess state-of-the-art weaponry. One of these is Sheik Abdel Rahman, who will become involved in the World Trade Center bombing in New York.
El Salvador — An idealistic group of young military officers, repulsed by the massacre of the poor, overthrows the right-wing government. However, the U.S. compels the inexperienced officers to include many of the old guard in key positions in their new government. Soon, things are back to "normal" — the military government is repressing and killing poor civilian protesters. Many of the young military and civilian reformers, finding themselves powerless, resign in disgust.
Nicaragua — Anastasios Samoza II, the CIA-backed dictator, falls. The Marxist Sandinistas take over government, and they are initially popular because of their commitment to land and anti-poverty reform. Samoza had a murderous and hated personal army called the National Guard. Remnants of the Guard will become the Contras, who fight a CIA-backed guerilla war against the Sandinista government throughout the 1980s.
1980
El Salvador — The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar Romero, pleads with President Carter "Christian to Christian" to stop aiding the military government slaughtering his people. Carter refuses. Shortly afterwards, right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson has Romero shot through the heart while saying Mass. The country soon dissolves into civil war, with the peasants in the hills fighting against the military government. The CIA and U.S. Armed Forces supply the government with overwhelming military and intelligence superiority. CIA-trained death squads roam the countryside, committing atrocities like that of El Mazote in 1982, where they massacre between 700 and 1000 men, women and children. By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans will be killed.
1981
Iran/Contra Begins — The CIA begins selling arms to Iran at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. President Reagan vows that the Sandinistas will be "pressured" until "they say ‘uncle.’" The CIA’s Freedom Fighter’s Manual disbursed to the Contras includes instruction on economic sabotage, propaganda, extortion, bribery, blackmail, interrogation, torture, murder and political assassination.
1983
Honduras — The CIA gives Honduran military officers the Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual – 1983, which teaches how to torture people. Honduras’ notorious "Battalion 316" then uses these techniques, with the CIA’s full knowledge, on thousands of leftist dissidents. At least 184 are murdered.
1984
The Boland Amendment — The last of a series of Boland Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the last one cuts it off completely. However, CIA Director William Casey is already prepared to "hand off" the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally continues supplying the Contras through the CIA’s informal, secret, and self-financing network. This includes "humanitarian aid" donated by Adolph Coors and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms sales.
1986
Eugene Hasenfus — Nicaragua shoots down a C-123 transport plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, Eugene Hasenfus, turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots. The airplane belongs to Southern Air Transport, a CIA front. The incident makes a mockery of President Reagan’s claims that the CIA is not illegally arming the Contras.
Iran/Contra Scandal — Although the details have long been known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media’s attention in 1986. Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after the scandal are purely cosmetic.
Haiti — Rising popular revolt in Haiti means that "Baby Doc" Duvalier will remain "President for Life" only if he has a short one. The U.S., which hates instability in a puppet country, flies the despotic Duvalier to the South of France for a comfortable retirement. The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in political turmoil for another four years. The CIA tries to strengthen the military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses popular revolt through torture and assassination.
1989
Panama — The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator of its own making, General Manuel Noriega. Noriega has been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, and has been transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s, Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington… so out he goes.
1990
Haiti — Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the vote. After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. As popular opinion calls for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the courageous priest as mentally unstable.
1991
The Gulf War — The U.S. liberates Kuwait from Iraq. But Iraq’s dictator, Saddam Hussein, is another creature of the CIA. With U.S. encouragement, Hussein invaded Iran in 1980. During this costly eight-year war, the CIA built up Hussein’s forces with sophisticated arms, intelligence, training and financial backing. This cemented Hussein’s power at home, allowing him to crush the many internal rebellions that erupted from time to time, sometimes with poison gas. It also gave him all the military might he needed to conduct further adventurism — in Kuwait, for example.
The Fall of the Soviet Union — The CIA fails to predict this most important event of the Cold War. This suggests that it has been so busy undermining governments that it hasn’t been doing its primary job: gathering and analyzing information. The fall of the Soviet Union also robs the CIA of its reason for existence: fighting communism. This leads some to accuse the CIA of intentionally failing to predict the downfall of the Soviet Union. Curiously, the intelligence community’s budget is not significantly reduced after the demise of communism.
1992
Economic Espionage — In the years following the end of the Cold War, the CIA is increasingly used for economic espionage. This involves stealing the technological secrets of competing foreign companies and giving them to American ones. Given the CIA’s clear preference for dirty tricks over mere information gathering, the possibility of serious criminal behavior is very great indeed.
1993
Haiti — The chaos in Haiti grows so bad that President Clinton has no choice but to remove the Haitian military dictator, Raoul Cedras, on threat of U.S. invasion. The U.S. occupiers do not arrest Haiti’s military leaders for crimes against humanity, but instead ensure their safety and rich retirements. Aristide is returned to power only after being forced to accept an agenda favorable to the country’s ruling class.
EPILOGUE
In a speech before the CIA celebrating its 50th anniversary, President Clinton said: "By necessity, the American people will never know the full story of your courage."
Clinton’s is a common defense of the CIA: namely, the American people should stop criticizing the CIA because they don’t know what it really does. This, of course, is the heart of the problem in the first place. An agency that is above criticism is also above moral behavior and reform. Its secrecy and lack of accountability allows its corruption to grow unchecked.
Furthermore, Clinton’s statement is simply untrue. The history of the agency is growing painfully clear, especially with the declassification of historical CIA documents. We may not know the details of specific operations, but we do know, quite well, the general behavior of the CIA. These facts began emerging nearly two decades ago at an ever-quickening pace. Today we have a remarkably accurate and consistent picture, repeated in country after country, and verified from countless different directions.
The CIA’s response to this growing knowledge and criticism follows a typical historical pattern. (Indeed, there are remarkable parallels to the Medieval Church’s fight against the Scientific Revolution.) The first journalists and writers to reveal the CIA’s criminal behavior were harassed and censored if they were American writers, and tortured and murdered if they were foreigners. (See Philip Agee’s On the Run for an example of early harassment.) However, over the last two decades the tide of evidence has become overwhelming, and the CIA has found that it does not have enough fingers to plug every hole in the dike. This is especially true in the age of the Internet, where information flows freely among millions of people. Since censorship is impossible, the Agency must now defend itself with apologetics. Clinton’s "Americans will never know" defense is a prime example.
Another common apologetic is that "the world is filled with unsavory characters, and we must deal with them if we are to protect American interests at all." There are two things wrong with this. First, it ignores the fact that the CIA has regularly spurned alliances with defenders of democracy, free speech and human rights, preferring the company of military dictators and tyrants. The CIA had moral options available to them, but did not take them.
Second, this argument begs several questions. The first is: "Which American interests?" The CIA has courted right-wing dictators because they allow wealthy Americans to exploit the country’s cheap labor and resources. But poor and middle-class Americans pay the price whenever they fight the wars that stem from CIA actions, from Vietnam to the Gulf War to Panama. The second begged question is: "Why should American interests come at the expense of other peoples’ human rights?"
The CIA should be abolished, its leadership dismissed and its relevant members tried for crimes against humanity. Our intelligence community should be rebuilt from the ground up, with the goal of collecting and analyzing information. As for covert action, there are two moral options. The first one is to eliminate covert action completely. But this gives jitters to people worried about the Adolf Hitlers of the world. So a second option is that we can place covert action under extensive and true democratic oversight. For example, a bipartisan Congressional Committee of 40 members could review and veto all aspects of CIA operations upon a majority or super-majority vote. Which of these two options is best may be the subject of debate, but one thing is clear: like dictatorship, like monarchy, unaccountable covert operations should die like the dinosaurs they are.
America has the most corruptible parliamentary system on earth. When the only prerequisites for entering government are being a millionaire and having the right lobbyists as friends, it's no wonder that a minority can hijack foriegn and domestic policy, whilst having the media, owned by the in crowd, tout every lie as gospel. America is the scariest country on earth, its the school bully without a conscience. God help the rest of the world.
We should have met with the United Nations, before going to war with Iraq.
Sincerely,
Russell J. Novkov
My primary question mark, having thus far only skimmed what is a very long, fascinating, and complex document, is to wonder if the US military now has the means to go on beyond Iraq. The strategies of the neocons did not allow for getting bogged down in Iraq. They had figured that they and the Brits would be welcomed with open arms. Instead, the US military has done a brilliant job of ensuring that just about every Iraqi wants to kill them.
The military are over-stretched just with Iraq. The morale of the grunts on the ground is at rock-bottom. It is all very well to blow the hell out of a country with hitek weapons. Then what? Do they reckon the Iranians would welcome them in? The Syrians? Hell no! Wherever they try and go, they are going to face insurrection. The strategy is one thing. The implementation and follow-up is another. Brutal reality has given these folks a blood nose.
Let us hope that those who actually run the show - the faceless puppeteers - would prefer to give Kerry a go. He shows every sign of playing according to the rules. With the US electoral system thoroughly corrupted, the result will have little to do with the wishes of the voters
I have lost faith in America, and Americans. Never before have the murderous lies of an administration been so open and obvious. Never before has a presidency so flouted the norms of international law, even stooping so low as to institute legalized extrajudicial detention and even torture.
All of this information is open and available to the American public, in full technicolor ... and yet nearly 50 percent of the voting public still support George W. Bush.
Conclusion? At least that percentage of Americans support torture, oil-driven warfare, and the destruction of time-honored international institutions and conventions. No people are mystically or ontologically superior to anyone else. Perhaps it is not right to 'equate' Bush with America, rather only half of America? In the final analysis, the American people are accountable for the actions of this lunatic, and they are complicit in his crimes.
"and yet nearly 50 percent of the voting public still support George W. Bush. "
Such polls are paid for by those in charge. They cannot be unbiased. Recently I read by those who conduct such polls that bias is the name of the game.
Agreed.
The USA is the world's most despicable country. It is a bloodthirsty monster which has been pursuing Empire for 50 years. The defense of a "great country" temporarily stolen, along with the notion that most Americans are good is pure rubbish. No longer will the world endure this bloated, stupified population. They have failed humanity again and again, and even now, as the USA still has its fangs soaked with the blood of innocent people, close to 50% of its citizens are supporting Bush, and only recently voted for muscle-man Arnold Schwarzenegger for the position of Governor of California. Americans are stupid and ignorant beyond belief. They are greedy, spoiled, loathsome sex maniacs who care only about their own cold beer, enormous cars, and masturbating to the sex lives of their favourite movie stars. The USA is nothing more than a putrid sewer of sloth, thievery, and wanton indulgence. Any real American (if there are any left) would shut his pie hole, curl up in a corner and weep for what his country and people have descended to. No other comment from Americans needs to be tolerated. They have not the moral right of entitlement to issue anything more than a fart. Therefore, if you are about to defend the notion of "America," you need to stifle yourself, shut up, and be quiet. Your bombs have already done your talking for you. Go back to watching "Reality TV," eschewing true news reports and genuine reality. Go back to laughing...braying like donkeys as you watch a Billionaire pretend to fire people. Howl with laughter and stuff yourselves with your sacred fast-food as the rest of the world dies screaming. Fuck the USA. Period.
I can only agree that the detestable actions of the US government should not go unpunished.I find it hard to believe the degree of apathy and unconcern of the people of America. America has long ago ceased to be an honorable nation with freedom and democracy as it's guidon. I am one American that does not subscribe to the inhumanity of it's own government but looking at the big picture I can clearly see that it has become policy for the administration of the United States regardless of party affiliation. ergo real American.
I agree, and I'm not the least bit insulted by the harshest criticisms of American culture in general, for example those of Bob. We need to stop whining and being defensive when the rest of the world accuses us of guilt by association with the genocidal crimes of our government, who protects only the fundamental interests of the American ruling elite. We need to hear more of it, and even we in the progressive and anti-war movements who failed to stop the invasion of Iraq, we need to hear more of it. Who cares how the polls that show Bush's popularity might be a little inaccurate. The fact is is that millions upon millions of people in this country have no interest in learning about or taking action to stop the extreme violence the CIA and Pentagon insist on exporting to the third world. We have a relatively free press and there's tons of places on the internet like this site where you can find accurate information about what's going on behind the scenes and hype, but sadly most people would rather watch t.v. and escape reality. But reality will undoubtedly hit home again in the future, because I have a feeling the world's people are getting pretty tired of being instructed on how to be "free," and it's not long before they'll get more sophisticated and start asserting themselves. If we truly support a world with more democracy and less coercive violence, we'd work to hasten the fall of U.S. imperialism and all imperialism as well. Not only that, but we'd work with the rest of the world to arrange some better system in its place. Reach out to ordinary people with the truth, but don't get burned out on trying to convince your most right wing friends. They are a minority of the world's people who might be the last to come around. For people who aren't too butt-hurt to abandon stubborn ideas about patriotism and American righteousness, the time has come to start making common cause with the rest of the human species in whatever way you can. There is absolutely nothing stopping the Democrats from continuing most of the goals of the neocons. Let's face it, Clinton's policy in Iraq killed many more people than Bush junior's, and even after the Soviet Union fell, military spending remained extremely high. And why wouldn't it? There is NO major opposition at home that's militant enough to change this for the better. I personally think it's PATHETIC that half of the anti-war movement is gonna turn out to vote for John Kerry, a candidate who, even though polls show a slim majority of people thinking the war was a bad idea and liberals REALLY hate Bush, is still saying we need to "stay the course" in Iraq and send 40,000 more fucking troops over there. While people are under the illusion that the next imperialist will be nicer, people in Iraq are dying in higher numbers than at any month since the beginning of this unjust war. If many of Kerry's voters are people are against wars of aggression, it would be much more effective for them to be out in full force holding
"NO DRAFT" and "NO WAR ON SYRIA, IRAN, etc." signs. That would give the movement a head start, and it would send the message that progressives won't be wooed by a man who criticizes the war from the standpoint of saying it has been mismanaged, poorly executed, angered our allies, etc. I'm thankful for this site. I've learned much, now I need to learn how to organize more effectively. The only thing stopping us from burying imperialism is us.
The USA is my country or origin. Australia my country of choice. I migrated to Australia during the Reagan years because of disgust at what my country of origin was doing, and the realisation that at that time American's didn't want to know the truth about what their country was doing in the world. It was easier to believe the 'Mom, God and Apple Pie' rubbish, and the same excuses for warmongering, CIA atrocities, etc that are occurring now. The USA, as the world's hyperpower, has the ability to improve the world. Instead, they're doing what they have done for years, especially when under the control of the radical right and the Neo-Cons, allow the power to corrupt them absolutely, in their quest for world domination. At present, I'm disgusted that our weak PM, who many of us call Bonsai (little bush) is Bush's poodle. I can only hope and pray that the American people come to their senses and vote Bush, that horrible evil man, out of the White House. Otherwise, God help the USA, and the world.
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