THE AMERICAN WAY I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." --Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America "One of the delightful things about Americans is that they have absolutely no historical memory." --Chou En-lai, former Chinese premier ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- You can't help but notice is that ANYTHING the United States does involves "furthering democracy" of "ensuring freedom," up to and including terrorizing and killing civilians in other countries, testing biological and chemical weapons, and otherwise destroying people's lives. We never hear about it in the media, but there's a reason for it: if the American people knew what was being carried out in their names, they'd definitely want to put the nation through some serious changes. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A SWELL RACKET" The state exists to serve and protect propertarian interests, and there is ample evidence to show this. Below is a telling quote from an eyewitness and active participant: "I spent thirty-three years and four months in active service in the country's most agile military force, the Marines. I served in all ranks from 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 the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. "I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all members of the military profession I never had an original thought until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of the higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. "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 boys to collect revenue in. I helped in the raping of half-a-dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers and Co. in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras "right" for American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. "During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. I was rewarded with honors, medals, and promotion. Looking back on it, I feel that I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate a racket in three city districts. The Marines operated on three continents." --General Smedley Butler, 1935 If only more of today's military personnel would realize that they are being used by the owning elites as a publicly-subsidized capitalist goon squad. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Nothing scares those in government more than democracy--it scared the Founding Fathers, and continues to alarm policy makers today. Following contains material excerpted from Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions since WWII by William Blum, Common Courage Press, 1995. ISBN 1-56751-052-3. Definitely give it a read if you get the chance. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- COUNTING COUPS Ever since the end of World War II, when the US was in the enviable position as the only superpower untouched by war (contrasted by Europe, Asia, and Russia, which had been ravaged), what did the self-appointed 'world policeman' and defender of freedom and liberty set out on doing? Well, first and foremost the US collaborated with "former" Nazis and Fascists to help fight the threat posed by socialism. Anticommunism really determined US foreign and domestic policy for the next 50 years and cost countless people their lives, their liberty, and their pursuit of happiness. I will attempt to document these incidents, but it is up to the readers to research them on their own if so inclined, as there are so many wrongs carried out by the US in the name of 'democracy' and 'freedom' that I can't hope to give them a full treatment here or do justice to the victims. The best I can do here is at least bring these shadow campaigns out in the open; in the US, information which contradicts official policy proclamations is simply ignored by the "free" press, "unworthy" of getting attention in the press (contrasted with extensive coverage of "important" news like the O.J. Simpson trial) Assuming the track record of the US is not brushed aside any further than it already has been, history will not look kindly on the "American way", and the American people with any sense will be properly outraged at the manifold crimes perpetuated in their name. THE CAMPAIGNS (1945-94) First off, let's see who has been the on the receiving end of American subversion and outright military assault. Note, that I can't hope to be thorough in this; but if you're interested, check out Blum's book, and do your own research. * China (1945-60s) * Italy (1947-48) * Greece (1947-50s) * The Philippines (1940s and 50s) * Korea (1945-53) * Albania (1949-53) * Eastern Europe (1948-56) * Germany (1950s) * Iran (1953) * Guatemala (1953-54) * Costa Rica (mid-1950s) * Syria (1956-57) * The Middle East (1957-58) * Indonesia (1957-58) * Western Europe (1950s and 1960s) * British Guiana (1953-64) * Soviet Union (late 1940s to 1960s) * Italy (1950s to 1970s) * Vietnam (1950-73) * Cambodia (1955-73) * Laos (1957-73) * Haiti (1959-63) * Guatemala (1960) * France/Algeria (1960s) * Ecuador (1960-63) * The Congo (1960-64) * Brazil (1961-64) * Peru (1960-65) * Dominican Republic (1960-66) * Cuba (1959 to 1980s) * Indonesia (1965) * Ghana (1966) * Uruguay (1964-70) * Chile (1964-73) * Greece (1964-74) * Bolivia (1964-75) * Guatemala (1962 to 1980s) * Costa Rica (1970-71) * Iraq (1972-75) * Australia (1973-75) * East Timor (1975) * Angola (1975 to 1980s) * Zaire (1975-78) * Jamaica (1976-80) * Seychelles (1979-81) * Grenada (1979-84) * Morocco (1983) * Suriname (1982-84) * Libya (1981-1989) * Nicaragua (1981-90) * Panama (1969-91) * Bulgaria (1990) * Iraq (1990-91) * Afghanistan (1979-92) * El Salvador (1980-94) * Haiti (1986-94) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AMERICA'S GREATEST HITS (1949-1991) The following leaders have either been assassinated or America attempted to assassinate them. You will notice some familiar names in the following, so a clarification is necessary: the US government (using the CIA as the actual agency that carries these assassinations out) has historically assassinated (or attempted) two types of leaders in foreign nations: 1) client rulers who step out of line ('line' being 'obedience to US directives); 2) popular leaders favored by their people. The US reacts with lethal aggression against any nationalist movements, even those which are not even leftist in nature (leftists are automatically attacked and undermined in US foreign policy). In US "national security" speak, a "leftist" is anyone who deviates from US policy. It was in this way that even anti-communists who dared step "out of line" (e.g., put their nations' interests over obedience to the US) were whacked! The question you need to ask is what do assassinations and coups have in common with democracy??? "Democracy" in the US sense of the word means "capitalism." Anything that deviates from pursuing a capitalist agenda is "antidemocratic" in the US sense of the word. Example: The average arable land distribution in the Third World is this: 3% of the populace (the ruling elite) own 80% of arable land. That means that 97% of the populace of the Third and Fourth World nations are effectively deprived. Not surprisingly, land reform (in the true sense of the word, meaning "bringing about needed change") is one of the biggest issues in the Third and Fourth World nations. All socialist movements address this very real problem, hence their popularity with the people. Now, the propertarians (e.g., capitalists) of the regimes in question oppose ANY change in land ownership, because it would cut into their profit, privilege, and power base--nothing threatens a ruling elite like equality and justice! So, when socialists (or even moderate nationalists) try to bring about land reform to alleviate the crushing poverty of their people, this immediately gets the attention of the US, which then intervenes with deadly force to defend the "freedom" of the landowning elites of the world to enjoy their profits without fear of expropriation. The US defines that 3% landowning elite as "the people" and ignores the other 97% of the populace. That's how the US policymakers can pretend that they are defending "democracy" and "freedom"--they only count the ruling elite as the populace; this is because, in capitalist society, only those who own property matter! The rest of us are fodder! The gross disparity of land ownership is unnatural. Thus, the US supports genocidal fascist regimes to terrorize the 97% of the populations into submission; some more recalcitrant people need to be outright pulverized (Vietnam's 2 million + dead at our hands is the biggest, but not only, example) for them to stay "in their place". It is for this reason that the US provides 43% of the world's arms (we are the largest arms dealer in the world). The client regimes around the globe are not popular (e.g., not supported by the majority of the people), but are elitist, and the democratic spirit of the peoples in question can only be held at bay through constant and brutal use of force. The "New World Order" is held together with blood, razorwire, and lots of guns in the defense of wealthy ruling elites at the expense of most of the world's people. This is what passes for "democracy" in American policy. Does this match your own thoughts as to what "democracy" is and should be? THE TARGETS *note that this only notes our attempts; not all were successful, although, in Castro's case, the US kept trying! 1. 1949: Kim Koo, Korean opposition leader 2. 1950s: CIA/Neo-Nazi hit list of numerous political figures in West Germany 3. 1955: JosŽ Antonio Remon, President of Panama 4. 1950s: Chou En-lai, Prime Minister of China (several attempts) 5. 1950s: Sukarno, President of Indonesia 6. 1951: Kim Il Sung, Premier of North Korea 7. 1950s (mid): Claro M. Recto, Philippines opposition leader 8. 1955: Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India 9. 1957: Gamal Abdul Nasser, 10. 1959 and 1963: Norodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia 11. 1960: Brigadier General Abdul Karim Kassem, leader of Iraq 12. 1950s and 1970s:JosŽ Figueres, President of Costa Rica (two attempts on his life) 13. 1961: Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, leader of Haiti 14. 1961: Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of Congo (Zaire) 15. 1961: General Rafael Trujillo, leader of Dominican Republic 16. 1963: Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam 17. 1960s: Fidel Castro, President of Cuba (many attempts on his life) 18. 1960s: Raœl Castro, high official in government of Cuba 19. 1965: Francisco Caama–o, Dominican Republic opposition leader 20. 1965: Pierre Ngendandumwe, Prime Minister of Burundi 21. 1965-6: Charles de Gaulle, President of France 22. 1967: Che Guevera, Cuban leader 23. 1970: Salvador Allende, President of Chile 24. 1970: General Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army, Chile 25. 1970s, 1981: General Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama 26. 1972: General Manuel Noriega, Chief of Panama Intelligence 27. 1975: Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire 28. 1976: Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica 29. 1980-86: Muammar Quaddafi, leader of Libya (several plots and attempts on his life) 30. 1982: Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran 31. 1983: General Ahmed Dlimi, Moroccan Army commander 32. 1983: Miguel d'Escoto, Foreign Minister of Nicaragua 33. 1984: The nine comandantes of the Sandinista National Directorate 34. 1985: Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanese Shiite leader (80 people killed in the attempt) 35. 1991: Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW WORLD ORDURE A key part of American-style bourgeois "democracy" involves supporting fascist strongmen who can keep a country "in line" (meaning, under US control) in the interests of foreign investors. Since these strongmen are supported by elites, and have no broad, and thus, democratic, mandate, it is "necessary" for these dictators to be propped up by generous US military aid. It is important to note that these despots are not "allies" of the US so much as pawns. Thus, when they no longer are useful or become troublesome (as Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein recently demonstrated), the US will not hasten to oust or assassinate them (or attempt to do so). Ask yourself what supporting fascists can POSSIBLY have to do with democracy?! The reason behind this insane policy is business: it's easier to plunder nations under the rule of petite dictators (and give them their cut, their "piece of the action") than it is to deal with developing nations looking after their own interests. The "freedom" the US is defending is the freedom to pillage, loot, and plunder Third and Fourth World nations at the expense of their native populations! Since this policy devastates the nations in question, only elite, militaristic fascist rulers can keep the people of these nations from acting in their own best interests! Thus, the US spends enormous sums of taxpayer money propping these unpopular dictators. Below is a partial list of neo- or outright fascists that the US has funded and supported in defense of property: (the US has supported so many, it's going to take me time to list them all!) * Tiburcio Andino (Honduras) * Carlos Castillo Armas (Guatemala) * Fulgencio Batista (Cuba) * Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnam) * "Papa Doc" Duvalier (Haiti) * King Fahd (Saudi Arabia) * King Hussein (Jordan) * Saddam Hussein (Iraq) * Chiang Kai-shek (China) * Ferdinand Marcos (Phillippines) * Joseph DŽsirŽ Mobutu (Congo/Zaire) * Manuel Noriega (Panama) * Mohammed Riza Pahlavi (the Shah of Iran) * The Somoza Family (Nicaragua) * Suharto (Indonesia) * Rafael Trujillo Molina (Dominican Republic) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------