>States, which could discourage a military coup in Latin America with >a frown, did nothing. > > >Nineteen months later, a revolt broke out which promised to put the >exiled Bosch back into power. The United States sent 23,000 troops to >help crush it. > > >Cuba 1959 to present: Fidel Castro came to power at the beginning of >1959. A U.S. National Security Council meeting of 10 March 1959 >included on its agenda the feasibility of bringing "another >government to power in Cuba." There followed 40 years of terrorist >attacks, bombings, full-scale military invasion, sanctions, embargos, >isolation, assassinations ... Cuba had carried out The Unforgivable >Revolution, a very serious threat of setting a "good example" in >Latin America. > > >The saddest part of this is that the world will never know what kind >of society Cuba could have produced if left alone, if not constantly >under the gun and the threat of invasion, if allowed to relax its >control at home. The idealism, the vision, the talent, the >internationalism were all there. But we'll never know. And that of >course was the idea. > > >Indonesia 1965: A complex series of events, involving a supposed coup >attempt, a counter-coup, and perhaps a counter-counter-coup, with >American fingerprints apparent at various points, resulted in the >ouster from power of Sukarno and his replacement by a military coup >led by General Suharto. The massacre that began immediately -- of >communists, communists sympathizers, suspected communists, suspected >communist sympathizers, and none of the above -- was called by the >New York Times "one of the most savage mass slayings of modern >political history." The estimates of the number killed in the course >of a few years begin at half a million and go above a million. > > >It was later learned that the U.S. embassy had compiled lists of >"communist" operatives, >from top echelons down to village cadres, as >many as 5,000 names, and turned them over to the army, which then >hunted those persons down and killed them. The Americans would then >check off the names of those who had been killed or captured. "It >really was a big help to the army. They probably killed a lot of >people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands," said one >U.S. diplomat. "But that's not all bad. There's a time when you have >to strike hard at a decisive moment." > > >Chile, 1964-73: Salvador Allende was the worst possible scenario for >a Washington imperialist. He could imagine only one thing worse than >a Marxist in power -- an elected Marxist in power, who honored the >constitution, and became increasingly popular. This shook the very >foundation stones upon which the anti-communist tower was built: the >doctrine, painstakingly cultivated for decades, that "communists" can >take power only through force and deception, that they can retain >that power only through terrorizing and brainwashing the population. > > >After sabotaging Allende's electoral endeavor in 1964, and failing to >do so in 1970, despite their best efforts, the CIA and the rest of >the American foreign policy machine left no stone unturned in their >attempt to destabilize the Allende government over the next three >years, paying particular attention to building up military hostility. >Finally, in September 1973, the military overthrew the government, >Allende dying in the process. > > >Thus it was that they closed the country to the outside world for a >week, while the tanks rolled and the soldiers broke down doors; the >stadiums rang with the sounds of execution and the bodies piled up >along the streets and floated in the river; the torture centers >opened for business; the subversive books were thrown to the >bonfires; soldiers slit the trouser legs of women, shouting that "In >Chile women wear dresses!"; the poor returned to their natural state; >and the men of the world in Washington and in the halls of >international finance opened up their check-books. In the end, more >than 3,000 had been executed, thousands more tortured or disappeared. > >Greece 1964-74: The military coup took place in April 1967, just two >days before the campaign for national elections was to begin, >elections which appeared certain to bring the veteran liberal leader >George Papandreou back as prime minister. Papandreou had been elected >in February 1964 with the only outright majority in the history of >modern Greek elections. The successful machinations to unseat him had >begun immediately, a joint effort of the Royal Court, the Greek >military, and the American military and CIA stationed in Greece. The >1967 coup was followed immediately by the traditional martial law, >censorship, arrests, beatings, torture, and killings, the victims >totaling some 8,000 in the first month. This was accompanied by the >equally traditional declaration that this was all being done to save >the nation from a "communist takeover." Corrupting and subversive >influences in Greek life were to be removed. Among these were >miniskirts, long hair, and foreign newspapers; church attendance for >the young would be compulsory. > >It was torture, however, which most indelibly marked the seven-year >Greek nightmare. James Becket, an American attorney sent to Greece by >Amnesty International, wrote in December 1969 that "a conservative >estimate would place at not less than two thousand" the number of >people tortured, usually in the most gruesome of ways, often with >equipment supplied by the United States. > >Becket reported the following: > >Hundreds of prisoners have listened to the little speech given by >Inspector Basil Lambrou, who sits behind his desk which displays the >red, white, and blue clasped-hand symbol of American aid. He tries to >show the prisoner the absolute futility of resistance: "You make >yourself ridiculous by thinking you can do anything. The world is >divided in two. There are the communists on that side and on this >side the free world. The Russians and the Americans, no one else. >What are we? Americans. Behind me there is the government, behind the >government is NATO, behind NATO is the U.S. You can't fight us, we >are Americans." > >George Papandreou was not any kind of radical. He was a liberal anti- >communist type. But his son Andreas, the heir-apparent, while only a >little to the left of his father had not disguised his wish to take >Greece out of the cold war, and had questioned remaining in NATO, or >at least as a satellite of the United States. > >East Timor, 1975 to present: In December 1975, Indonesia invaded East >Timor, which lies at the eastern end of the Indonesian archipelago, >and which had proclaimed its independence after Portugal had >relinquished control of it. The invasion was launched the day after >U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had >left Indonesia after giving Suharto permission to use American arms, >which, under U.S. law, could not be used for aggression. Indonesia >was Washington's most valuable tool in Southeast Asia. > >Amnesty International estimated that by 1989, Indonesian troops, with >the aim of forcibly annexing East Timor, had killed 200,000 people >out of a population of between 600,000 and 700,000. The United States >consistently supported Indonesia's claim to East Timor (unlike the UN >and the EU), and downplayed the slaughter to a remarkable degree, at >the same time supplying Indonesia with all the military hardware and >training it needed to carry out the job. > >Nicaragua 1978-89: When the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza >dictatorship in 1978, it was clear to Washington that they might well >be that long-dreaded beast -- "another Cuba." Under President Carter, >attempts to sabotage the revolution took diplomatic and economic >forms. Under Reagan, violence was the method of choice. For eight >terribly long years, the people of Nicaragua were under attack by >Washington's proxy army, the Contras, formed from Somoza's vicious >National Guardsmen and other supporters of the dictator. It was all- >out war, aiming to destroy the progressive social and economic >programs of the government, burning down schools and medical clinics, >raping, torturing, mining harbors, bombing and strafing. These were >Ronald Reagan's "freedom fighters." There would be no revolution in >Nicaragua. > >Grenada 1979-84: What would drive the most powerful nation in the >world to invade a country of 110 thousand? Maurice Bishop and his >followers had taken power in a 1979 coup, and though their actual >policies were not as revolutionary as Castro's, Washington was again >driven by its fear of "another Cuba," particularly when public >appearances by the Grenadian leaders in other countries of the region >met with great enthusiasm. > >U.S. destabilization tactics against the Bishop government began soon >after the coup and continued until 1983, featuring numerous acts of >disinformation and dirty tricks. The American invasion in October >1983 met minimal resistance, although the U.S. suffered 135 killed or >wounded; there were also some 400 Grenadian casualties, and 84 >Cubans, mainly construction workers. What conceivable human purpose >these people died for has not been revealed. > >At the end of 1984, a questionable election was held which was won by >a man supported by the Reagan administration. One year later, the >human rights organization, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, reported >that Grenada's new U.S.-trained police force and counter-insurgency >forces had acquired a reputation for brutality, arbitrary arrest, and >abuse of authority, and were eroding civil rights. > >In April 1989, the government issued a list of more than 80 books >which were prohibited from being imported. Four months later, the >prime minister suspended parliament to forestall a threatened no- >confidence vote resulting from what his critics called "an >increasingly authoritarian style." > >Libya 1981-89: Libya refused to be a proper Middle East client state >of Washington. Its leader, Muammar el-Qaddafi, was uppity. He would >have to be punished. U.S. planes shot down two Libyan planes in what >Libya regarded as its air space. The U.S. also dropped bombs on the >country, killing at least 40 people, including Qaddafi's daughter. >There were other attempts to assassinate the man, operations to >overthrow him, a major disinformation campaign, economic sanctions, >and blaming Libya for being behind the Pan Am 103 bombing without any >good evidence. > >Panama, 1989: Washington's mad bombers strike again. December 1989, a >large tenement barrio in Panama City wiped out, 15,000 people left >homeless. Counting several days of ground fighting against Panamanian >forces, 500-something dead was the official body count, what the U.S. >and the new U.S.-installed Panamanian government admitted to; other >sources, with no less evidence, insisted that thousands had died; >3,000-something wounded. Twenty-three Americans dead, 324 wounded. > > >Question from reporter: "Was it really worth it to send people to >their death for this? To get Noriega?" > >George Bush: "Every human life is precious, and yet I have to answer, >yes, it has been worth it." > >Manuel Noriega had been an American ally and informant for years >until he outlived his usefulness. But getting him was not the only >motive for the attack. Bush wanted to send a clear message to the >people of Nicaragua, who had an election scheduled in two months, >that this might be their fate if they reelected the Sandinistas. Bush >also wanted to flex some military muscle to illustrate to Congress >the need for a large combat-ready force even after the very recent >dissolution of the "Soviet threat." The official explanation for the >American ouster was Noriega's drug trafficking, which Washington had >known about for years and had not been at all bothered by. > >Iraq 1990s: Relentless bombing for more than 40 days and nights, >against one of the most advanced nations in the Middle East, >devastating its ancient and modern capital city; 177 million pounds >of bombs falling on the people of Iraq, the most concentrated aerial >onslaught in the history of the world; depleted uranium weapons >incinerating people, causing cancer; blasting chemical and biological >weapon storages and oil facilities; poisoning the atmosphere to a >degree perhaps never matched anywhere; burying soldiers alive, >deliberately; the infrastructure destroyed, with a terrible effect on >health; sanctions continued to this day multiplying the health >problems; perhaps a million children dead by now from all of these >things, even more adults. > >Iraq was the strongest military power amongst the Arab states. This >may have been their crime. Noam Chomsky has written: It's been a >leading, driving doctrine of U.S. foreign policy since the 1940s that >the vast and unparalleled energy resources of the Gulf region will be >effectively dominated by the United States and its clients, and, >crucially, that no independent, indigenous force will be permitted to >have a substantial influence on the administration of oil production >and price. > >Afghanistan 1979-92: Everyone knows of the unbelievable repression of >women in Afghanistan, carried out by Islamic fundamentalists, even >before the Taliban. But how many people know that during the late >1970s and most of the 1980s, Afghanistan had a government committed >to bringing the incredibly backward nation into the 20th century, >including giving women equal rights? What happened, however, is that >the United States poured billions of dollars into waging a terrible >war against this government, simply because it was supported by the >Soviet Union. Prior to this, CIA operations had knowingly increased >the probability of a Soviet intervention, which is what occurred. In >the end, the United States won, and the women, and the rest of >Afghanistan, lost. More than a million dead, three million disabled, >five million refugees, in total about half the population. > >El Salvador, 1980-92: Salvador's dissidents tried to work within the >system. But with U.S. support, the government made that impossible, >using repeated electoral fraud and murdering hundreds of protestors >and strikers. In 1980, the dissidents took to the gun, and civil war. > >Officially, the U.S. military presence in El Salvador was limited to >an advisory capacity. In actuality, military and CIA personnel played >a more active role on a continuous basis. About 20 Americans were >killed or wounded in helicopter and plane crashes while flying >reconnaissance or other missions over combat areas, and considerable >evidence surfaced of a U.S. role in the ground fighting as well. The >war came to an official end in 1992; 75,000 civilian deaths and the >U.S. Treasury depleted by six billion dollars. Meaningful social >change has been largely thwarted. A handful of the wealthy still own >the country, the poor remain as ever, and dissidents still have to >fear right-wing death squads. > > >Haiti, 1987-94: The U.S. supported the Duvalier family dictatorship >for 30 years, then opposed the reformist priest, Jean-Bertrand >Aristide. Meanwhile, the CIA was working intimately with death >squads, torturers and drug traffickers. With this as background, the >Clinton White House found itself in the awkward position of having to >pretend -- because of all their rhetoric about "democracy" -- that >they supported Aristide's return to power in Haiti after he had been >ousted in a 1991 military coup. After delaying his return for more >than two years, Washington finally had its military restore Aristide >to office, but only after obliging the priest to guarantee that he >would not help the poor at the expense of the rich, and that he would >stick closely to free-market economics. This meant that Haiti would >continue to be the assembly plant of the Western Hemisphere, with its >workers receiving literally starvation wages. > > >Yugoslavia, 1999: The United States is bombing the country back to a >pre-industrial era. It would like the world to believe that its >intervention is motivated only by "humanitarian" impulses. Perhaps >the above history of U.S. interventions, can help one decide how much >weight to place on this claim." JC > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
