>>Mike from Barcelona recently posted a comment from someone in the US military (I can't remember his name or rank) who talked about his role in protecting US corporate interests as being the primary goal of US foreign policy when he was part of the military. (sorry I am paraphrasing, I think this was the gist of his comments...maybe Mike would like to post this again). Debra Shea<<
Sure, Debra, I'm always willing to help with info if I can. Here's the quote again. Here's a quote from the life of General Smedley D. Butler, cited in Eduardo Galeano's "Open Veins of Latin America", which in turn gives the source as Leo Huberman 'Man's Wordly Goods' (NY: Monthly Review Press, 1952, p.265) "I spent 33 years and 4 months in active service as a member of our country's most agile military force- the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from a second lieutenant to major-general. And during that period I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street, and for the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer for capitalism. Thus I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank to collect revenues in. and I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras 'right' for American fruit companies in 1903." mike BTW I thoroughly recommend ALL the work of Eduardo Galeano. The above extract is from 'Open Veins Of Latin America' which is a wonderful, and depressing, account of the rape of that continent at the hands of colonialist powers. Also highly recommended is his trilogy 'memory of fire' in 3 volumes (natch) called 'genesis', 'faces and masks', and 'century of the wind'. A really beautiful history of the Americas, told in a poetic way but thoroughly grounded in historical fact (if that's not oxymoronic). His shorter works are mostly 'viqetas' (vignettes? what do we say in English?) some of it political, some of it socio-cultural, some of it artistic, ALL of it beautifully written. I think I'll post a couple of short ones, just to give you an idea of it.
