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Meanwhile, the Bush regime is building up
the Colombian dictatorship with all manner of materiel, training, weaponry,
communication technologies, US troops, and US mercenaries. The buildup is
accelerating as if some kind of deadline is being aimed at and expanding into a
broad array of military capabilities.
Published: Sunday, June 12, 2005
You can bet on it, the US imperialists are dreading, but looking for an X-File VHeadline.com guest commentarist Arthur Shaw writes: A little while ago, Niccolo Machiavelli ... a very sharp fellow ... made some rather enduring observations about the state: "the chief foundations of all states, whether old, new, or mixed, are good laws and good arms. And as there cannot be good laws where there are not good arms, and where there are good arms there must be good laws, I will not discuss laws, but will speak of arms." Mr. Machiavelli went on and spoke about methods of fighting: "there are two methods of fighting ... one by law, the other by force: the first is the method of men, the second of beasts; but as the first method is often insufficient, one must have recourse to the second." The present relationship between the United States and Colombia seems to be an instance of good arms, bad law and a taste for the method of the beasts.
Lenin, another sharp fellow, said a revolution is worthless, if it cannot defend itself. The military alliance between the right-wing, death-squad regime in Colombia and the imperialist United States has to be a matter of growing concern by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean. Few believe that billions of dollars of acknowledged US military aid to Colombian genocidal dictatorship are solely for defensive purposes for either the US or for Colombia ... clearly, the Colombia people were a decade ago the presumed target of the US "aid" or the "cooperation." Today, the homicidal Colombia regime and oil-craving and oil-stealing US imperialists seem to be establishing a handy base to conduct or threaten military operations against all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, especially Venezuela, under the pretext of "monitoring the quality of the democracies" of the region.
A growing concern of the Bush regime is that the Venezuelan government more and more is seen by Latin American voters as a model and as an alternative to many of the existing comprador/neo-liberal regimes through which the US imperialism, either directly or through IMF, robs the region. Bolivia and Nicaragua seem to be causing a lot of worry for major US investors. Thus, US corporations are pressuring the Bush to stop the left-leaning trend ... in other words, the imperialists are watching more than just Venezuela ... although Venezuela, to be sure, is the most watched. Although Bolivia and Nicaragua are obvious spots where left-leaners seem to have certain prospects, imperialism is too experienced to overlook the "X-File," the chaotic element in dialectics. For example, before Chavez appeared on stage, Venezuela ... with its oil money, its record of "stability," its predominance of compradors in the capitalist class and the absolute submissiveness of its compradores to the US bourgeoisie ... was the very last spot that the imperialists expected a left-leaner to rise or to perform if he arose. You can bet on it, the US imperialists are dreading, but looking for an X-File. Meanwhile, the Bush regime is building up the Colombian dictatorship with all manner of materiel, training, weaponry, communication technologies, US troops, and US mercenaries. The buildup is accelerating as if some kind of deadline is being aimed at and expanding into a broad array of military capabilities. Further, the imperialist military buildup is not limited to Colombia. Every US whore in the region is being enlisted to provide some kind of assistance to the beasts in Washington, DC. Very little of the build-up seems related to the fight against the revolutionary Colombian guerrillas or to the drug dealers. After all, most of the top drug dealers have close ties with US troops deployed in Colombia and with the bloodthirsty Uribe dictatorship. The guerrillas provide the imperialists with a handy pretext for their presence and build-up. This does not imply that the imperialists will withdraw from Colombia if the guerrillas stop fighting the dictatorship in Bogota. After all, there really aren't any guerrillas to speak of in Ecuador, but the US imperialists are putting together a military base there anyway. Displaying the malignant hypocrisy that is characteristic of the Bush regime, the imperialism steps up its military buildup in Colombia at the same time it impedes and tries to block the purchase by Venezuela of small arms which are readily available at local gun stores to almost every US citizen in the United States. It's curious that some of the most effective US automatic rifles were originally designed and built by semi-literate farmers working part time in their barns. If a corps of military officers who hold college degrees in engineering can't make a device as simple as AK 47 ... which is just a little stick ... then they should forget about getting a "big stick" to fight with. Even if a small AK47 plant can only turn out 300 rifles a week, that's still something. Before Chavez, the United States trained the Venezuelan military to be easily defeated by the United States ... that is, the US trained Venezuelan military forces to engage the enemy in mass so that the US could conveniently wipe them out, if necessary, in a few minutes.
Luis Posada Carriles, initially trained by Fulgencio Baptista's police and later by the CIA, was a trainer and motivator for Venezuelan government death squads under the bourgeois democracy before Chavez. Lately, the "peoples' war" doctrine of the Giap and Che have pushed aside the stupidities that the US has served up to the Venezuelan military for decades. The switch in strategy and tactics from the self-serving US stupidities to the genius of Giap and Che implies that the Colombia military which is only good at death squad operations against unarmed children, old people, and defenseless civilians could not last two weeks if it ... on its own ... were to imprudently engaged its neighbor the East. The present day viability ... after almost a half century of armed struggle ... of the revolutionary guerillas in Columbia attests irrefutably to the absolute incompetence of the Colombian military in everything save death squad operations where it excels.
Bush, Rumsfeld, and, especially, the mad dog US generals are outraged by the growing Venezuelan interest in the "obsolete" ideas of Giap and Che. In their minds, Chavez has messed up everything.
The US military doctrine has always included the mass-extermination of civilians as witnessed by the genocide perpetrated on 21 million Native Americans during a 250-year war. During the 250-year US-Native American War, the American motto or guiding principle became "the only good Indian is a dead Indian" ... and about 95% of the Native Americans became good. The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, was adopted by the UN General Assembly December 9, 1948. Article 2 defines the crime:
It took the United States forty years to sign and to "ratify" the Convention ... on November 23 1988, the Convention was "ratified" by US with the "reservation and understanding" that no international court of law shall have any jurisdiction over a case in which the United States is accused of the crime of genocide nor is the Convention binding on any US court. In other words, the US ... and only the US ... will decide whether US has committed the crime of genocide. Still the US insists on making judgments ... and enforcing them ... with respect to other countries even on matters less grave than genocide. If the Bush regime knew that it could be dragged before the International Criminal Court for such crimes, it might hesitate to commit them.
The point is that US imperialism, as "shock and awe" and Fallujah today attest, will attack the civilian population regardless of the strategy and tactics used by its adversaries. During "shock and awe" -- March 18 to March 20, 2003 -- US imperialism dropped 5,000 bombs and missiles on the cities, towns, and villages of Iraq within 48 hours. Imperialism said it shocked and awed the Iraqis to end the war quicker so that "reconstruction (that is, stealing oil)" ... of all things ... could commence as soon as possible. Yeah, I 'll bet. To return to Latin America, the maxim, the fundamental proposition, and divine gospel of US military posture toward the region is "speak softly and carry a big stick." That one came from "Teddy" Roosevelt. Thank you "Teddy." First, Latin America can forget that stuff about speaking softly ... nobody is louder than an American when he has a big stick. Second, since Teddy, the stick has gotten a lot bigger and the American imperialists a lot louder. Third, the only time that an American with a big stick speaks softly is when he sneaking up on you (like April 2002). Fourth, the US imperialists don't want anybody else to have a big stick. Fifth, the imperialists demand Latin Americans speak softly when they are in the presence of the big stick. Giap and Che demonstrate that military doctrine is a big stick for the third world. Of course, doctrine alone can't win anything. You need a big stick or, at least, a whole lot of little sticks. Further, the strategic side of the doctrine seems less important than the tactical side. Apparently, tactics is the application of strategy to a given engagement under particular circumstances, all of which must be taken into account. But tactics are acquired as a result of prolonged training and experience which may be costly. Present-day US military doctrine includes a disarmament component. The US imperialists will send in its whores disguised as the OAS or the UN to look around for big sticks and count the number of little sticks. If the pro-imperialist whores report back to Bush that there are no big sticks and a limited number of little sticks, then ...FOR SURE ... Bush and his whores (now called "allies") will invade. If the they report that they found a big stick and a lot of little sticks, Bush will negotiate. If they report that they found nothing but little sticks, Bush will ask "why can't the Colombians handle this?" Another eye-catching feature of present US military doctrine is strike first ... this is hardly anything new for US imperialists. In the over 350 interventions, invasions, occupations, US-backed coups, assassinations, and de-stabilizations in Latin America during only 200 years, the United States has always struck first. The only difference between first strike today and yesterday is that US imperialism makes sure that it's first strike today will shock and awe ... the whole world. Arthur Shaw Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM Yahoo! Groups Links
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