And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Khwe, Another issue totally ignored in the op-ed piece below is the fact that the right wing paramilitary groups (funded and armed by the US, trained in the School of the Americas) have been responsible for maintaining the oil pipelines and expansionism of resource exploiting corporations in the region, in opposition to the indigenous tribal people, the U'wa who have announced they will mass suicide if their land continues to be exploited by these corporations. I would be very curious concerning the human rights abuses in this region. A recent report concerning the investigation of abuses in Guatemala revealed that over 97% of the abuses there are attributable to the US backed military, and CIA operatives. US reports tend ignore US involvement when it does not further the agenda of market expansion, they also tend to compartmentalize US agenda so that the people do not become aware of the overall agenda. First Nations people on the other hand have not seen a change in policy, only methods, when dealing with land and mineral resources beneath their reservation lands. In the twentieth century it has not been feasible to exterminate outright indigenous people in the US, instead extermination has taken the form of legal extinguishment, utilizing courts, rather than military (in most cases..there have been exceptions)... The following quote as to US policy still applies: (posted at) http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Transnational_corps/TransnationalCorps.html " Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process." Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, 1907 Date: Wed, 24 Mar 1999 10:32:50 -0500 From: LISN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Organization: League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations of the Western Hemisphere Subject: [league] FW: Miami Herald: Ben Gilman Op-Ed This is, of course, quite biased since it comes from Gilman. It also has false statements like saying that the human rights community has not condemned FARC. It's an interesting piece though because it makes the long-standing US point linking guerrillas to drugs. This opens the door for US military aid which is used for counterinsurgency rather than counternarcotics operations (of course, the US would like everyone to believe that these are one and the same). The result invariably is an escalation of the dirty war where innocent civilians get killed or displaced. The Colombia human rights community is against US military aid because there is no guarantee that it will be used for for what it's intended. Instead, there is plenty of evidence that it is used for what is not intended. -----Original Message----- From: Adam Isacson, CIP [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Wednesday, March 24, 1999 05:38 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Miami Herald: Ben Gilman Op-Ed US m 990323 Published Tuesday, March 23, 1999, in the Miami Herald REP. BENJAMIN GILMAN Don't legitamize terrorist groups Tragically, three kidnapped Americans were brutally executed this month by the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC). Their bullet-ridden bodies were found in Venezuela. Last December Secretary of State Madeleine Albright dispatched two midlevel diplomats ``to meet'' secretly with the FARC. Now it has delivered a very blunt response to the United States and Colombia on the deteriorating peace process. At the highest levels, the Clinton-Albright State Department signed off on negotiating with the FARC, though the State Department designates it a terrorist organization. And the United States was the only country to send an ambassador (other countries that attended sent low-level representatives) to the first sit-down negotiation between FARC and the Colombian government. When U.S. officials meet with terrorists, it sends confusing signals to both friend and foe alike. Colombia, Latin America's oldest democracy, has been embroiled in a bitter civil conflict that has spanned four decades and cost nearly 40,000 lives. The new president, Andres Pastrana, has tried to meet the FARC terrorists more than halfway. Regrettably, he is dealing from a weak position with a narco-terrorist organization that is better armed and trained and financed by millions in illicit drugs. He has ceded an area of his country the size of Indiana to the control of FARC, labeling it a demilitarized zone. The Colombian National Police cannot conduct counternarcotics operations in this ``off-limits'' region, which is home to several major cocaine-producing laboratories, clandestine airstrips and more than 30,000 acres of coca crops. The FARC makes money protecting narco-traffickers. It pulls in more than $1 billion annually from narco-traffickers and its other illicit businesses, extortion and kidnaping for ransom. Since 1993 at least 18 Americans have been kidnapped. Eight have been murdered. This is obviously a terrorist group and the State Department should not negotiate with it. A phone intercept by the Colombian military identified the FARC's German Briceno Suarez, brigade commander of the 45th and 10th FARC fronts and the brother of FARC Commandante Jorge Briceno, as having made the following statement to a subcommandante: ``Hey, brother, I thought all three were guys . . . But, son of a bitch, let that bitch die . . . she wasn't part of our family. Take them to the other side of the river and blow them away.'' If this intercept is accurate, the FBI, which has extra-territorial jurisdiction in such cases, ought to be taking any and all measures to indict the FARC leadership and those who pulled the triggers. We have asked FBI Director Louis Freeh to do just that. These recent deaths are reminders that the FARC has held three other Americans hostage since January 1993. They are Dave Mankins, Mark Rich and Rick Tenenoff, the longest-held American hostages in the world. Congressional calls for the State Department to do something about these hostages were falling on deaf ears until Secretary Albright shamelessly used them to justify the December meeting with the FARC. So far, human-rights organizations have not denounced the FARC for its brutal atrocities. However, we have asked them to join us in requesting the FARC to release all American hostages and the 136 Colombian police officers whose mission is counternarcotics, not counterinsurgency. Those in the State Department who blurred the longstanding U. S. policy of not dealing with terrorists have -- unfortunately -- legitimized the FARC and undermined the Colombian peace process. They should be held accountable. The executions of three Americans should serve as a wake-up call to the United States. The Clinton administration should end the confusion created and reestablish a clear and unequivocal policy of refusing to deal with terrorists, especially those who wantonly murder Americans abroad. ----------------------------------------------- Adam Isacson Associate, Demilitarization Program Center for International Policy 1755 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Suite 312 Washington, DC 20036 [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.ciponline.org/demilita.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
