http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=2036261n
School of the Amerikas and Honduras Coup
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=cf0_1246491865&comments=1
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2011/02/406483.shtml (video inside is gruesome but I think it's a must see)
Excerpt:
Overview
The International Military Education and Training (IMET) program provides funding to train military and civilian leaders of foreign countries, primarily at schools and facilities in the US. IMET is implemented by the Department of Defense’ Defense Security Cooperation Agency, but funded by the State Department through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. IMET has grown considerably during the administration of George W. Bush, from a budget of $50 million in FY 2000 to $85 million in FY 2008, a 70% increase.
IMET has a long, controversial history of helping to train foreign military personnel at the infamous School of the Americas (SOA), some of whom went on to commit human rights abuses in their home countries. Another, more recent controversial decision involving IMET stems from a Bush administration policy change to provide military training to one of America’s most notorious enemies: the dictator of Libya, Muammar al-Qaddafi.
History
The United States began training military personnel from foreign countries, most of them in Europe, following World War II. At the urging of President Harry Truman, Congress in 1949 authorized the Military Assistance Program (PDF) and the Foreign Military Sales program and set out rules and criteria for its use. The emphasis of these early programs was on containing the influence of the Soviet Union, while training concentrated on skills needed to effectively operate and maintain equipment provided by the US. As Europe recovered from World War II, US security assistance efforts shifted toward developing countries in the Pacific, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.
The School of the Americas (SOA) was founded in 1946 to initially provide technical training to US military personnel. Over time military officers from Latin America were invited to attend SOA, and increasingly they replaced their American counterparts in the school’s classrooms. So dramatic was this shift in focus that English language instruction was eliminated in 1956, and Spanish became the official language of SOA in 1963. During the early 1960s, President John F. Kennedy placed a high priority on counterinsurgency training and programs to combat the growing influence of Communist movements in some Latin American countries. This resulted in even more work for SOA, as Latin American military officers were taught interrogation methods, and, according to critics of SOA, ways to torture rebels back in their home countries. The Argentine military, for example, received $10.6 million in US military training from 1962 to 1976. After deposing the Peronist government in 1976, the military regime “disappeared” between 9,000 and 30,000 people during its “dirty war” against leftists.
In 1976 the International Military Education and Training program was created. Funded by the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (page 15) (PDF), the IMET grant program was established to provide professional, leadership and management training for senior military leaders and selected junior and middle grade officers with leadership potential from other countries. Among the US military schools IMET students attended was the SOA, which was located in Panama until 1984, when it was moved to Fort Benning, GA, in accordance with provisions in the Panama Canal Treaty. SOA became the target of a broad-based, grassroots campaign to end military training for human rights abusers, which prompted the authors of a 1995 study commissioned by the US Army Training and Doctrine Command to recommend that the school be renamed to shed its negative image. In 2000, the SOA was “closed,” reopening on January 17, 2001, under a new name: the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.
As the Cold War came to an end in the late 1980s, security assistance training changed. In 1990 Congress earmarked $1 million in IMET funds to train foreign civilian and military officials in four areas: managing and administering foreign military establishments and budgets; understanding democracy and civilian control of the military; improving military judicial systems; and promoting awareness and understanding of internationally recognized human rights. This program came to be called the Expanded IMET (E-IMET) program because of the inclusion of foreign civilian officials. E-IMET is based upon the premise that active promotion of democratic values is thought to be one of the most effective means for achieving US national security and foreign policy objectives, particularly in emerging democracies and developing countries. The program includes new courses developed to meet Congressional objectives regarding democracy building and human rights, as well as existing courses that focus on other E-IMET goals.
In the early 1990s the US continued to provide IMET training to governments with poor human rights records. The Clinton Administration supported military training for several Sub-Saharan regimes, including Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe, that were guilty not only of human rights abuses against their own people but also of exploiting and exacerbating the regional war being fought in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Robert Mugabe and his Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front received consistent IMET assistance throughout the 1990s despite the regime’s anti-democratic and internationally aggressive policies.
In 1998 the Mugabe government deployed troops to the DRC, fueling conflict in the Congo. A year later, the State Department conceded in its own annual human rights report that Mugabe's human rights record had “worsened significantly” since its last report, citing an intensification of government efforts to silence journalists; killings, torture and beatings committed by police and security forces; and efforts to distort the political process to favor the ruling party. Yet the aid from Washington kept coming. In 2000-2001, the US provided $186,830 in IMET assistance to train 124 members of the Zimbabwean military.
In other cases, the US government began placing restrictions on IMET to certain countries. For example, the Clinton Administration responded to former Nigerian dictator General Ibrahim Babangida's annulment of the June 1993 presidential elections by terminating that country's $450,000 IMET program and expelling the five Nigerian military officers receiving military training at the time. Similarly, after the November 1991 Dili massacre in which 273 people were murdered by the Indonesian military, the US cut off IMET assistance to Jakarta. For FY 1997, Congress denied all IMET funding to Guatemala and Zaire because of human rights abuses.
In the 21st century, some Congressional members have tried unsuccessfully to curtail IMET support to repressive governments. In 2001 Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) introduced the International Military Education and Training Accountability Act (S. 647) (PDF) to require that the State and Defense Departments be more forthcoming with information about the human rights records of IMET alumni. Another bill, HR 1810, was introduced in 2001 to try to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHISC). Both bills failed to pass Congress.
Altogether, between IMET and its predecessor grant programs, the US has trained more than 500,000 students in the past 40 years. Thousands of former IMET students have reached positions of prominence in their countries’ military and civilian sectors. Theoretically, according to the Department of Defense, these well-trained, professional leaders with firsthand knowledge of the United States and its values are expected to make a difference in winning access and influence for both US diplomatic and military representatives in foreign countries.
Center for International Policy: Just the Facts
School of the Americas Watch
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
Over 100 Nations Benefit From U.S. Military Training, Education
(by Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr., Federation of American Scientists)
What it Does
The International Military Education and Training (IMET) program provides funding to train military and civilian leaders of foreign countries, primarily at schools and facilities in the U.S. On occasion, IMET-funded programs are conducted in the recipient country by mobile education and training teams consisting of US instructors. IMET is implemented by the Department of Defense’ Defense Security Cooperation Agency, but funded by the State Department through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. IMET has grown considerably during the administration of George W. Bush, from a budget of $50 million in FY 2000 to $85 million in FY 2008, a 70% increase.
According to the Secretary of State, IMET has three objectives: a) to enhance the capabilities of allied and friendly militaries to participate in peacekeeping operations under the UN or other multinational efforts; b) to promote common understanding with US military forces by exposing IMET students to American military doctrine, strategic planning processes, and operational and logistical procedures; and c) to build positive relationships between civilian and military officials from the United States with counterparts in other countries. This last objective is considered the most important by US officials.
Courses made available to IMET grant recipients are divided into two main categories: Professional Military Education (PME) and technical training. PME is designed to prepare recipients for leadership positions, while technical training courses equip students with the skills required to operate specific weapons systems, or fulfill the demands of a specific military occupational specialty. Examples of E-IMET courses include Advanced Management Program Course (AMP), Civil Military Operations, Democratic Sustainment, Civil Affairs, Law of War and Military Accounting. For a complete list of courses and schools, see the Expanded IMET Handbook (PDF). Almost 120 courses are currently approved by DoD for IMET students
The IMET Process
The initial steps by which countries gain access to the IMET program are coordinated by the local Security Assistance Organization (SAO), which consists of US military personnel assigned to embassies to field such requests, provide specifics about the training programs, their goals, and funding levels, and work with the host government to develop and submit the request. Requests are submitted yearly at the annual Training Program Management Reviews (TPMRs) at which the SAOs submit a budget for the next fiscal year.
According to the DSCA, all IMET applicants are screened rigorously for health problems, human rights violations, and other potential problems. If an applicant satisfies all screening requirements, an Invitational Travel Order (ITO) is issued. Once they arrive in the United States, each new International Military Student (IMS) is assigned an International Military Student Officer (ISMO), who is responsible for coordinating logistics associated with the student's arrival, monitoring their academic progress, and arranging DoD Informational Program (DoDIP) activities, which seek to expose foreign military students to American culture, values and institutions.
In the case of Mobile Training Teams (MTTs) sent to a country, US military and civilian personnel spend up to six months providing training or assessing the training needs of a country.
Types of Training
All International Military Students must achieve a degree of English language proficiency before they can take courses at most of the US training institutions. The Defense English Language Program was created to oversee English language training programs utilized by IMSs to acquire these language skills. MTTs, language training detachments, training for language instructors and various teaching aides are available to foreign governments interested in setting up in-country training.
Flying training includes instruction on how to fly fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft. Compared to other forms of training, flying training is costly, so IMET funded flying training is quite limited.
Observation/familiarization training allows students who are unable or prohibited from engaging in classroom exercises to learn specific skills through observation instead.
On-the-job/Qualification Training allows students to hone and develop the skills they acquire in the classroom in a real-world setting.
Professional Military Education provides leadership training to officers at every level of their professional development. While there are no special restrictions placed on courses for new and mid-level international officers, senior officers must be invited by one of the military services to attend the war or command colleges. Examples include International Officer Logistics Preparation Training, Infantry Officer Basic Training and International Officer Intelligence Advance Training.
Technical training focuses on developing a specific skill or set of skills necessary for operating a particular weapon system or to perform required functions within a military operational specialty.
Schools
Schools that provide training to IMET recipients are divided into the following three categories: Professional Military Education (PME), designed to teach officers specific leadership skills; English Language Training; and Senior Service Schools. The latter offers courses on national security policy and the politico-military aspects of defense to senior foreign military officers and civilians. The Senior Service Schools are the National War College, which is part of the National Defense University, and the Service War Colleges (Army, Navy and Air War Colleges). Additionally, separate schools and programs are tasked with implementing various components of the E-IMET program.
The Naval Justice School offers courses focusing on fundamental principles of military justice, civil and administrative law and procedure. The Center for Civil-Military Relations provides host countries with a five-day course, normally taught abroad, that focuses on addressing the inherent conflict between civilian and military institutions in democracies. The course focuses on this natural tension and the various strategies for ensuring effective civilian control over military institutions. Specific topics covered during the course include the process of promoting officers, the respective roles of the legislators and military officials in the defense budgeting process, and handling disputes between civilian officials and military officers.
Defense Resource Management Institute (DRMI) offers a multi-disciplinary program designed to develop and strengthen the analytical and decision-making skills of mid- and upper-level officials responsible for managing defense resources. While the programs are normally taught at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, the institute also occasionally teaches them overseas and elsewhere in the United States.
IMET Funding by Country
Just the Facts: IMET
Is Expanded International Military Education and Training reaching the right audience? (by Ronald H. Reynolds, DISAM Journal)
Where Does the Money Go
The primary stakeholders of IMET are foreign military and civilian students, schools that offer DoD-sanctioned training and education and the governments of foreign countries that receive IMET funds. The State Department’s IMET Account Summaries lists all countries that received IMET funds from FY 2005 to FY 2008. Some of the top recipients of IMET are Turkey, Jordan, Philippines, Thailand, Poland, Pakistan, Morocco and Tunisia.
DSCA’s Expand IMET Handbook lists all schools in 2001 that offered DoD-approved courses for IMET students. Some of these schools are:
•National Defense University
•Information Resources Management College
•Center for the Defense Leadership and Management Program
•Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
•US Army Special Warfare Center
•US Army Judge Advocate General (JAG) School
•US Army War College
•US Army Command and General Staff College
•US Army Logistics Management College
•US Army Finance School
•US Army Medical Department Center & School
•Defense Resources Management Institute
•Center for Civil-Military Relations
•Defense Healthcare Management Institute
•US Naval Post Graduate School
•US Navy Oceanographic Office
•Defense Institute of International Legal Studies
•US Joint Forces Staff College
•Expeditionary Warfare Training Group, Pacific
•US Naval Supply Systems Command
•Defense Healthcare Management Institute
•Naval Postgraduate School
•Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute
•Defense Institute of Security Assistance Management
•US Air Force Special Operations School
•Inter-American Air Force Academy
•Air War College
•Air Command and Staff College
•Air Force Judge Advocate General School
•US Air Force Institute of Technology
•Defense Acquisition University
•US Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown, VA
•US Coast Guard Training Center Petaluma, CA
•US Coast Guard Regional Fisheries Training Center Gulf; New Orleans, LA
•US Coast Guard Academy Leadership Development Center; New London, CT
Controversies
Bush Administration Helps Dictators
Concerns about human rights and democracy have taken a back seat to immediate strategic interests, as evidenced by President George W. Bush's strategy of rewarding states that cooperate with the US in its Global War on Terrorism campaign. Pakistan currently receives approximately $2 million in IMET funding in spite of President Pervez Musharraf regime’s poor human rights record and anti-democratic practices, placing it among the most flagrant violators of US security assistance eligibility criteria. The Bush administration elected to waive restrictions on foreign assistance to Pakistan both as a reward for siding with the Americans in their military campaign against the Taliban and to ensure its continued support of US operations in the region. In addition to Pakistan, Central Asian countries that lent support to the US during Operation Enduring Freedom, including Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan, are also slated to receive significant IMET assistance, even though all have been accused of human rights violations by the State Department.
Another country that just recently began receiving IMET support under the Bu
http://www.onthelinefilm.com/
http://www.onthelinefilm.com/thefilm.htm
Excerpt:
 |
What happens when a group of activists, priests, celebrities, and students risk arrest to protest U.S. foreign policy in Latin America? ON THE LINE is an inside look at the people behind one of the largest nonviolent movements in America today: the movement to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC, a U.S. Army school that trains Latin American soldiers. In a world where politics, passion, and Constitutional rights collide, protesters discuss their activism, the dark side of U.S. foreign policy, and the challenges of protesting since 9/11. The principal cast includes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Bourgeois http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=7973263Excerpt: Activism 1972-1975 Fr. Bourgeois spent five years in Bolivia aiding the poor before being arrested and deported for attempting to overthrow Bolivian dictator General Hugo Banzer. 1980 Fr. Bourgeois became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America after four American churchwomen, Sister Maura Clarke, Jean Donovan, Sister Ita Ford, and Sister Dorothy Kazel, were raped and killed by a death squad consisting of soldiers from the Salvadoran National Guard. 1990 Fr. Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch or (SOA Watch), an organization that seeks to close the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001, through nonviolent protest. 1998 Fr. Bourgeois testified before a Spanish judge seeking the extradition of Chile's ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet. 2008 In August 2008, Fr. Bourgeois participated in and delivered the homily at the ordination ceremony of Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a member of Womenpriests, at a Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington, Kentucky.[4] Fr. Bourgeois received a 30 days' notice as of October 21, 2008 regarding possible excommunication for this action. He was later latae sententiae excommunicated.[4] On March 18, 2011, Fr. Bourgeois was given a letter from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers notifying him that he had 15 days to recant his support for women's ordination or he would face expulsion from the order.[5] http://www.constitutional-litigation.com/Barrister.html Excerpt: Excerpt: ON THE LINE tells the story of one of America's largest non-violent protests: the movement to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC, a US military establishment that trains Latin American soldiers. In a world where politics, passion, and faith collide, protesters discuss their conversions to activism, the dark side of US foreign policy, and the challenges of protesting since 9/11. Features interviews with Martin Sheen, Susan Sarandon, author John Perkins and many more. Filmmakers Peter Glenn and Jason A. Schmidt explore the nonviolent movement to shut down the School of the Americas in this documentary detailing the challenges faced by protesters in the aftermath of 9/11. Also known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, The School of the Americas is an official Department of Defense facility that has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers since 1946. Critics of the institution argue that graduates of the program are some of the biggest human-rights violators in the world. But what happens when regular Americans gather peacefully to protest a program that's staunchly defended by the U.S. government? Susan Sarandon, Martin Sheen, School of Americas Watch founder F. Roy Bourgeois, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HITMAN author John Perkins, and former U.S. Congressman Bob Barr reveal why some people are willing to face arrest and prosecution in order to challenge their government on a program that may ultimately do more harm than good. This is the only Bob Barr video. Stars also making their debut in this video: Father Roy Bourgeois, Peter Glenn, Jason Schmidt. |
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/torturingdemocracy/interviews/richard_armitage.html
Excerpt:
So would you describe it as torture?
Absolutely. No question.
So how do you explain the recent indecision over whether or not waterboarding is torture?
I cannot believe that my nation is having a discussion on what is torture. There is no question in my mind -- there's no question in any reasonable human being, there shouldn't be, that this is torture. I'm ashamed that we're even having this discussion.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/sep/22/pakistan.usa
Excerpt:
The president of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf in Washington. Photograph: Charles Dharapak/AP
The Bush administration threatened to bomb Pakistan "back to the stone age" after the September 11 attacks if the country did not cooperate with America's war on Afghanistan, it emerged yesterday. In an interview to be aired on CBS television this weekend Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, said the threat was delivered by the assistant secretary of state, Richard Armitage, in conversations with Pakistan's intelligence director.
"The intelligence director told me that (Mr Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the stone age'," Gen Musharraf was quoted as saying. The revelation that the US used extreme pressure to secure Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terror arrived at a time of renewed unease in the US about its frontline ally.
Gen Musharraf told CBS he was stunned at the bluntness of the US approach in the aftermath of the attacks. "I think it was a very rude remark," he said. But he yielded to the request.
Mr Armitage disputes the language used, CBS said, but he did not deny that Pakistan was put on notice to help America's war effort.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=53578
Excerpt:
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age'," Musharraf told CBS' Steve Kroft in an interview that is scheduled to be telecast Sunday evening on the widely watched 60 Minutes program. Asked if he didn't think the threat was insulting, Musharraf tells Kroft: "I think it was a very rude remark."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110503/jsp/frontpage/story_13931924.jsp
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/01/07/60-minutes-musharraf-blames-bhutto-for-her-own-death
http://www.soaw.org/take-action/legislative/grassroots-action-reports/923
Excerpt:
"We trained Osama bin Laden*, and he was not unusual," she said.
Although the U.S. government says people like bin Laden are just a "few bad apples," she said, one study used statistics to show that the amount of time a person spent at the SOA was correlated with the severity of terroristic actions that person performed.
"Either [WHISC is] not teaching them very well, or they're very bad learners," Spenser said.
The United States trains soldiers from many other countries because its leaders like to control other countries, she said.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/KER112A.html
Excerpt:
America's evil actions in the past are backfiring on its own citizens today. The Taliban and bin Laden were the creation of the CIA who in 1979 recruited the most vicious and radical fundamentalist fanatics from Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim countries and utilized the enormous budget allocated by the US Administration to train, arm and finance them.
Brzezinski, who was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor during that era, admitted that the intention was to unleash the mojahedin on the Russians who were supporting the government in Afghanistan. This furthered the Americans' Cold War agenda but resulted in the destruction of Afghanistan. It also illustrates the sheer inhumanity, racism and stupidity of US foreign policy.
These terrorists soon became autonomous of their US masters and almost immediately started pursuing their own fundamentalist vision in North Africa (assassination of Anwar Sadat), Middle East, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kashmir, SE Asia, etc. And then, finally, the World Trade Centre.
There are several reasons why have they turned on their American masters in such a spectacularly horrific way. The first really sore point is their perception that the holiest sites of Islam have been defiled because of the establishment of permanent US military bases in Saudi Arabia. This has been a recurring theme of bin Laden's broadcasts on the Al-Jazeera TV channel.
Another major reason for their anger is the incessant bombing of Iraq and the embargo which has resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children from malnutrition and lack of medicines, and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians. US support for the brutal totalitarian regimes in Arab and Muslim countries which viciously thwart any democratic or progressive economic reforms is also high on the list of grievances. Osama referred to "a long series of crusader wars against the Islamic world" from the occupation of Palestine by the British, US support for the Zionist occupation and excesses in Palestine, to the assault on Bosnia.
This pattern of CIA activity can be traced throughout the Third World and can be extrapolated ad nauseam but is seen most graphically in Latin America.
http://grind365.com/news/news-news/erik-prince-selling-blackwater-with-bank-of-america%E2%80%99s-help/
Excerpt:
John Doe #2, a former Marine, swore in an affidavit that he worked for Prince and Blackwater for four years, and in that time worked for a web of companies created by Prince to obscure and hide “wrongdoing, fraud and other crimes.” According to John Doe #2, Blackwater engaged in money laundering and tax evasion through a company called Greystone.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/blackwaters-world-warcraft
Excerpt:
Nearly all of the 20 or more companies Prince has launched or acquired over the years are U.S. based. Greystone, however, was incorporated in the Caribbean tax haven of Barbados, although it is managed from Blackwater's headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina. (The Barbados address and phone number listed in the federal government's contractor database trace back to a firm that specializes in shielding corporate revenues from U.S. tax authorities.) "As far as I know, they were the same company with different names," notes a contractor who worked for Blackwater in Iraq.
Unlike Blackwater, Greystone has managed to stay almost entirely out of public view, and it remains a mystery even to industry insiders. Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of which Greystone was a member until late last year, couldn't say what the company does. (Blackwater pulled out of the group last October after the IPOA launched an investigation into its conduct; Greystone followed suit in November.)
"The intelligence director told me that (Mr Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the stone age'," Gen Musharraf was quoted as saying. The revelation that the US used extreme pressure to secure Pakistan's cooperation in the war on terror arrived at a time of renewed unease in the US about its frontline ally.
Gen Musharraf told CBS he was stunned at the bluntness of the US approach in the aftermath of the attacks. "I think it was a very rude remark," he said. But he yielded to the request.
Mr Armitage disputes the language used, CBS said, but he did not deny that Pakistan was put on notice to help America's war effort.
http://www.asiamedia.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=53578
Excerpt:
"The intelligence director told me that (Armitage) said, 'Be prepared to be bombed. Be prepared to go back to the Stone Age'," Musharraf told CBS' Steve Kroft in an interview that is scheduled to be telecast Sunday evening on the widely watched 60 Minutes program. Asked if he didn't think the threat was insulting, Musharraf tells Kroft: "I think it was a very rude remark."
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110503/jsp/frontpage/story_13931924.jsp
http://crooksandliars.com/2008/01/07/60-minutes-musharraf-blames-bhutto-for-her-own-death
http://www.soaw.org/take-action/legislative/grassroots-action-reports/923
Excerpt:
"We trained Osama bin Laden*, and he was not unusual," she said.
Although the U.S. government says people like bin Laden are just a "few bad apples," she said, one study used statistics to show that the amount of time a person spent at the SOA was correlated with the severity of terroristic actions that person performed.
"Either [WHISC is] not teaching them very well, or they're very bad learners," Spenser said.
The United States trains soldiers from many other countries because its leaders like to control other countries, she said.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/KER112A.html
Excerpt:
CIA and School of The Americas
by Raymond Ker
Middle East News Online, 3 December 2001 .
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 4 December 2001
Centre for Research on Globalisation (CRG), globalresearch.ca, 4 December 2001
America's evil actions in the past are backfiring on its own citizens today. The Taliban and bin Laden were the creation of the CIA who in 1979 recruited the most vicious and radical fundamentalist fanatics from Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim countries and utilized the enormous budget allocated by the US Administration to train, arm and finance them.
Brzezinski, who was Jimmy Carter's National Security Advisor during that era, admitted that the intention was to unleash the mojahedin on the Russians who were supporting the government in Afghanistan. This furthered the Americans' Cold War agenda but resulted in the destruction of Afghanistan. It also illustrates the sheer inhumanity, racism and stupidity of US foreign policy.
These terrorists soon became autonomous of their US masters and almost immediately started pursuing their own fundamentalist vision in North Africa (assassination of Anwar Sadat), Middle East, Chechnya, Bosnia, Kashmir, SE Asia, etc. And then, finally, the World Trade Centre.
There are several reasons why have they turned on their American masters in such a spectacularly horrific way. The first really sore point is their perception that the holiest sites of Islam have been defiled because of the establishment of permanent US military bases in Saudi Arabia. This has been a recurring theme of bin Laden's broadcasts on the Al-Jazeera TV channel.
Another major reason for their anger is the incessant bombing of Iraq and the embargo which has resulted in the deaths of 500,000 children from malnutrition and lack of medicines, and the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of civilians. US support for the brutal totalitarian regimes in Arab and Muslim countries which viciously thwart any democratic or progressive economic reforms is also high on the list of grievances. Osama referred to "a long series of crusader wars against the Islamic world" from the occupation of Palestine by the British, US support for the Zionist occupation and excesses in Palestine, to the assault on Bosnia.
This pattern of CIA activity can be traced throughout the Third World and can be extrapolated ad nauseam but is seen most graphically in Latin America.
http://grind365.com/news/news-news/erik-prince-selling-blackwater-with-bank-of-america%E2%80%99s-help/
Excerpt:
John Doe #2, a former Marine, swore in an affidavit that he worked for Prince and Blackwater for four years, and in that time worked for a web of companies created by Prince to obscure and hide “wrongdoing, fraud and other crimes.” According to John Doe #2, Blackwater engaged in money laundering and tax evasion through a company called Greystone.
http://motherjones.com/politics/2008/03/blackwaters-world-warcraft
Excerpt:
Nearly all of the 20 or more companies Prince has launched or acquired over the years are U.S. based. Greystone, however, was incorporated in the Caribbean tax haven of Barbados, although it is managed from Blackwater's headquarters in Moyock, North Carolina. (The Barbados address and phone number listed in the federal government's contractor database trace back to a firm that specializes in shielding corporate revenues from U.S. tax authorities.) "As far as I know, they were the same company with different names," notes a contractor who worked for Blackwater in Iraq.
Unlike Blackwater, Greystone has managed to stay almost entirely out of public view, and it remains a mystery even to industry insiders. Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association, a trade group of which Greystone was a member until late last year, couldn't say what the company does. (Blackwater pulled out of the group last October after the IPOA launched an investigation into its conduct; Greystone followed suit in November.)
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