ONLINE: Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990

Instruments of Statecraft: U.S. Guerilla Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and Counterterrorism, 1940-1990 was published in 1992 by Pantheon Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

Informed by recently declassified and previously unpublished documents, Instruments of Statecraft is an authoritative study of American covert, unconventional warfare waged against ideological adversaries, from the Truman administration up to the recent war in the Persian Gulf.

Since World War II, assassination, sabotage, kidnaping, torture, the overthrow of foreign governments, and other terroristic activities have been intrinsic to our national defense policy. These have been justified time and again as necessary to combat communist insurgency and, more recently, terrorism-as the only effective response to the barbarism ascribed to, or projected onto, our enemies- be they Sandinistas or the PLO.

So it is that America has maintained forces -including the OSS, the CIA, the Green Berets, and the Delta Force-that have specialized in dirty warfare with impunity, in Nicaragua, Lebanon, Laos, Vietnam, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Guatemala, Africa, Cuba, Central America, and Greece, among other places.

Michael McClintock gives a fascinating and alarming expose of the dark side of American foreign policy, while examining its tactical roots-from the pronouncements of Clausewitz and Raymond Aron, to its ideological basis in the Monroe Doctrine, Theodore Roosevelt's "Big Stick" foreign policy, and Woodrow Wilson's post-colonialist crusade.


Michael McClintock was born in Ohio and holds a bachelor's degree from Ohio University and a master's degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin. He has been a human rights monitor for the past sixteen years, traveling extensively throughout all of Central America, as well as in Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, Thailand, and the Philippines. He is the author of The American Connection, a study of U.S. covert activities in Latin America.

America's Other War: Terrorizing Colombia (Paperback)

Editorial Reviews
Review
"Colombia is the worst humanitarian catastrophe in the hemisphere. The sources are deeply rooted in Colombia's own history, and in policies of the hegemonic power that are no less deeply rooted in its own history and institutions. This study provides a uniquely perceptive analysis of the tragic interaction, and its far-reaching implications for understanding the past and the evolving global order."--Noam Chomsky

"US administrations keep finding new excuses for intervening in Latin American affairs. Colombia is the most blatant example, as Doug Stokes' trenchant account of the US's shifting agenda--from Cold War, to guerrillas, then the drug trade, and now the 'war on terror'--so forcefully shows. Whether called imperialism or technical assistance, the consistent result is state terror and human suffering on a vast scale."--James Petras, Professor of Sociology (retired), Binghamton University, New York

"The two great turning-points of the last few years have, or so we've been told, been the end of the Cold War and 9/11. Not so argues Doug Stokes in this most challenging of volumes. Now, as before, the United States pursues the same hegemonic project simply using different cover stories--first communism, then drugs and now terrorism--to justify intervention in Colombia. For those looking for reassurance this is not the book for them: for those however seeking to peel back the layers of officialese and get to the heart of things this is a must read."--Michael Cox, London School of Economics and Editor of International Politics

"Doug Stokes shows that there is depressingly little 'new' about the growing U.S involvement in Colombia's conflict. With very thorough research and a highly readable narrative, the book goes beyond the liberal-conservative debate over Plan Colombia, the 'war on drugs' and the 'war on terror', reminding us of the central role played by the often brutal pursuit of economic interests."--Adam Isacson, Director of Programs, Center for International Policy, Washington


Book Description
This controversial book maintains that in Colombia the US has long supported a pervasive campaign of state violence directed against both armed insurgents and a wide range of unarmed progressive social forces. While the context may change from one decade to the next, the basic policies remain the same: maintain the pro-US Colombian state, protect US economic interests and preserve strategic access to oil. Colombia is now the third largest recipient of US military aid in the world, and the largest by far in Latin America. Using extensive declassified documents, this book shows that the so-called "war on drugs", and now the new war on terror in Colombia are actually part of a long-term Colombian "war of state terror" that predates the end of the Cold War with US policy contributing directly to the human rights situation in Colombia today.

AUGUSTUS CHENEY

At the above left, you'll see the map which Cheney showed to oil, gas, and electricity men (including Enron's Ken Lay) in March, 2001. He touted the "blocks" on the West side of Iraq as virgin, unexplored territory chock full of oil and gas. They probably then divvied up those blocks based upon the dictates of Mr. Quid, Mr. Pro, and Mr. Quo, and nothing has so far abrogated whatever secret deals were made. The map is part of 7 pages of documents turned over by the Commerce Department under a March, 2002 court order handed down from Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against Cheney's Energy Task Force. Cheney was able to keep these seven docs in the dark until March of this year, and the proceedings are still secret. Using the charts, it's not too hard to connect the dots if you accept Robert's Rules of Order and combine them with human nature. In addition to maps of Iraq''s oilfields, pipelines, terminals and refineries, the documents include a list of "foreign suitors" for Iraq's oil. The game was how to keep foreign suitors out of a purported treasure trove. This meant walling off Russia militarily, and keeping China's nouveau riche suitors black-balled in the MidEast oil majors club.

Here is Engdahl's Cheney dissection, and in his boil-down we begin to glean how reality-based historians will approach the subject of the Bush Administration's ill-chosen moves:

...disregard for its allies as well as its foes. That reckless policy has been
associated with former Halliburton chief executive officer and now vice
president, Dick Cheney, more than any other figure in Washington.

The "Cheney presidency", which is what historians will no doubt dub the
George W Bush years, has been based on a clear strategy. It has often been
misunderstood by critics who had overly focussed on its most visible
component, namely, Iraq, the Middle East and the strident war-hawks around
the vice president and his old crony, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

The "Cheney strategy" has been a US foreign policy based on securing direct
global energy control, control by the Big Four US or US-tied private oil
giants - ChevronTexaco or ExxonMobil, BP or Royal Dutch Shell. Above all, it
has aimed at control of all the world's major oil regions, along with the
major natural gas fields. That control has moved in tandem with a growing
bid by the US for total military primacy over the one potential threat to
its global ambitions - Russia. Cheney is perhaps the ideal person to weave
the US military and energy policies together into a coherent strategy of
dominance. During the early 1990s under father Bush, Cheney was also
secretary of defense.

**Thanks to Adored By Hordes

Challenging Late Capitalism, Neoliberal Globalization, & Militarism (Paperback)

Posted by Carl Davidson

Book Review

Harry Targ

Challenging Late Capitalism, Neo-Liberal Globalization & Militarism: Building A Progressive Majority

ChangeMaker Books, 2006

Reviewed By Mark Solomon

What committed progressive would not want to have a powerful handbook that bares the sources of today's real evil and how to defeat it? a handbook for his or her own enlightenment as well as a tool to pass on to others for educating and activating?

That's exactly what Harry Targ's Challenging Late Capitalism delivers. This briskly written book opens with an insightful, devastating critique of the Bush regime's failure to extend succor to Katrina's victims. It concludes with a powerful exploration of the need to build coalitions grounded in concrete programs. Along the way, the reader is given a clear and insightful analysis of the root causes of today's multi-faceted crises along with an illuminating path to forging a winning progressive majority.

Through a Marxist materialist prism, 'Challenging Late Capitalism' reveals the causes of inequality rooted in the capitalist system built upon the exploitation of labor.Exploitation inevitably engenders class struggle that in turn foments a broad political culture carrying the seeds of transforming change.

The book then moves to an analysis of present-day 'late capitalism' ? defining its characteristics,especially the enormous concentration of capital while describing the disastrous consequences of a global system based upon 'neo-liberal' exploitation of countries of the Global South as well as its systematic destruction of social services and labor's rights in both developed and developing countries. The alleged advantages of 'free trade' are exposed as a myth; the emergence in the world system of a highly regressive 'virtual economy' driven by speculation and paper exchanges is described; the negative impact of neo-liberalism upon employment and the general well being of workers is documented; a militarized economy and its impact upon social well being is summed up; intensified racism, sexism and homophobia is underscored; the conjunction of corporate capital and religious fundamentalists merged into a powerful right wing political movement is identified as the principal threat to progress today.

The final chapters of Challenging Late Capitalism explore the historic and present day character of resistance to the oppressive nature of contemporary corporate-dominated society. Various movements from single-issue reform campaigns to transforming multi- issue struggles are surveyed in order to provide a sound starting point and foundation for drawing various strands of battle for justice,peace and democracy into a vibrant progressive majority.

This book offers a sound basis for fighting back and turning this county and globe towards a peaceful, just and sustainable world. It deserves to be read widely and to be utilized in that greatest of battles for the liberation of all humankind.

[Mark Solomon, historian, is the author of The Cry Was Unity: Communists and African Africans, 1917-1936, University Press of Mississippi, 1998.]

THE LAST THOMAS FRIEDMAN YOU WILL EVER NEED TO READ

Get ready for a special tour of a renowned outlook, conjured from the writings of syndicated New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. As the leading media advocate of “free trade” and “globalization,” he is expertly proficient at explaining the world to the world. If we could synthesize Friedman’s brain waves, the essential messages would go something like this:

Silicon chips are the holy wafers of opportunity. From Bangalore to Bob’s Big Boy Burgers, those who understand the Internet will leave behind those who do not.

I want to tell you about Rajiv/Mohammed/George, now doing awesome business in Madras/Amman/Durham....

BUSH'S ASS

Thanks to Latin America News Review

GOD SAVE THE KING

Not that public opinion cared or even took much note, but today was the most important milestone in the history of this country.

The republic effectively ended today with the signing of the "Military Commissions Act."

With this new law the country became a place in which the president/commander in chief can classify whomever he likes as an enemy combatant beyond the reach of habeas corpus. This means that the executive branch can arrest and hold without trial anyone in the world (including American citizens). He can also hold that prisoner indefinitely without confronting the detained with the case against him/her or the evidence involved.

You are now "subjects" and not citizens.

If you watched Generals Hayden and Pace who were artfully positioned behind the sovereign at the signing, you saw a lot of blinking. They know what they have done, and so does Senator Warner.

The legislation also set the standards under which you can be tortured.

Anyone who thinks this is for someone in another country should think again. The GWOT is a false metaphor. The neoconservatives real enemies are in this country and it is up to them to say who those enemies are.

President George W. Bush looks up as he signs the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington, October 17, 2006. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld (C) and Vice President Dick Cheney listen to U.S. President George W. Bush speak before signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington October 17, 2006. The legislation sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)

U.S. President George W. Bush shakes hands after signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington October 17, 2006. The legislation sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks before signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington October 17, 2006. With Bush from left are Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)

U.S. President George W. Bush speaks before signing the Military Commissions Act of 2006 in the East Room of the White House in Washington October 17, 2006. With Bush are (from L) CIA Director Michael Hayden, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES)

President Bush looks towards lawmakers as he gets ready to sign the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which sets new standards expediting the interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2006. Looking on, from left are: Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah; Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind.; Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.; Sen. John Warner, R-Va. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Theatre Goal: Iraq

The open threats against the Iraqi government underscore the fraudulent character of the Bush administration’s claims to be establishing “democracy” in Iraq. From the outset, Washington’s aim was to create a pliable client state that would open Iraq’s vast oil and gas reserves to US-based energy conglomerates and allow its territory to be used for permanent US military bases. The White House operates with open contempt for any notion that Iraq is a sovereign state.

Gary Leupp Quote: US Strategic Goal

U.S. needs to acquire hegemony over Southwest Asia to control the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea, encircle rising China, cow allies and future foes alike with a string of military bases in the region, and maybe make the neighborhood friendlier to Israel…the whole project and international reactions to it should be understood in the context of inter-imperialist competition, rather than mere lust for petrol.

Gary Leupp

Democrats & republicans are united on the necessity–and the strategy–for U.S. world hegemony spelled out a decade ago by democrat Zbigniew Brzezinski in the GLOBAL CHESSBOARD, codified in the current NSS of the U.S.:

Hizb Allah, Party of God

Over 1 million Lebanese gathered in a vast square in a southern Beirut suburb on Sept. 22 to celebrate their country’s largely successful campaign against Israel. Seyid Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of Hizballah, risked his life by appearing in public after Israeli leaders had sworn to kill him, and spoke to his adoring supporters in Lebanon and around the world.

Surveying this massive crowd of boisterous people—the men and women, the teenagers and the small children, celebrating their identity and their steadfastness together with music—I knew this was not the stuff of religious fundamentalism or terrorism. I was struck by how the reality of Hizballah differed from its distorted image in the West. For although Hizb Allah, the Party of God, is undoubtedly of Shia origin, it is in fact a secular movement, addressing real temporal issues, its leaders speaking in a nationalist discourse, avoiding sectarianism and religious metaphors. They participate in politics, compromising and negotiating, and do not seek to impose Islamic law on others. Proof of this is readily available in Hizballah strongholds, where many of their followers are secular, supporting Hizballah because it represents their political interests and defends them.

PHOTO

Two young Lebanese women sport T-shirts emblazoned with the image of Hizballah leader Seyid Hassan Nasrallah, who became perhaps the most popular leader in the Middle East in the wake of Israel’s 33-day war with Hizballah this summer. They are pictured here at a Sept. 22 Hizballah victory rally in a southern Beirut suburb.

Michael Parenti on Race, Gender & Class Struggle

Click photo for video

Borat's speech on Kazakhstan's new media ads

From Publishers Weekly
America's post-9/11 policy of idealistic military adventurism has a long history, argues this incisive study. NYU historian Grandin (The Blood of Guatemala) sketches the vexed course of U.S. relations with Latin America, but focuses on the Reagan administration's involvement in Central America during the 1980s, when it backed the Salvadoran government in a brutal civil war against left-wing insurgents and the Nicaraguan Contras against the Sandinista regime. Then as now, Grandin contends, Washington justified a militarist stance by citing a threat to America (Communists advancing on the Rio Grande) and championing democracy and human rights. America did not send troops but did sponsor native death squads in El Salvador, and the author notes recent press reports that the U.S. military is sponsoring similar death squads in Iraq. Grandin's conception of American imperialism—covering everything from outright invasion to corporate investment and Fed interest-rate hikes—is too broad, and he overstates the importance of Central America in the making of the American New Right. But this timely book offers an analysis of the ideological foundations of today's foreign policy consensus and a cautionary tale about its dark legacy. (May 8)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Christian Faith and the Truth Behind 9/11

Probing disturbing questions that beg for a response from the Christian community, distinguished scholar of religion and popular writer David Ray Griffin provides a hard-hitting analysis of the official accounts of the events of September 11, 2001. A tireless investigator, Griffin has sorted through enormous amounts of government and independent data and brought to the surface some very unsettling inconsistencies about what really happened. In this, his latest book, he analyzes the evidence on 9/11 and then explores a distinctively Christian perspective on these issues, taking seriously what we know about Jesus' life, death, and teachings. Drawing a parallel between the Roman Empire of antiquity and the American Empire of today, he applies Jesus' teachings to the current political administration, and he explores how Christian churches, as a community intending to be an incarnation of the divine, can and should respond.

David Ray Griffin is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Theology at Claremont School of Theology, Professor of Religion Emeritus at Claremont Graduate University, and Codirector of the Center for Process Studies. He is the author of numerous books, including the popular bestsellers The New Pearl Harbor: Disturbing Questions about the Bush Administration and 9/11 and The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions.

The War On Truth: 9/11, Disinformation And The Anatomy Of Terrorism (Paperback)

The thesis that Western power continues to connect with al-Qaeda in the pursuit of strategic and economic interests in the key regions mentioned, flies in the face of everything we are force-fed by the official narrative sponsored by governments and mass media. But consider the fact that my research in The War on Truth has been endorsed by people like Robert D. Steele, a retired Marine Corps infantry and intelligence veteran who worked as an operations officer in all four CIA Directorates. Apart from that, Steele was responsible for founding and setting-up the newest US intelligence facility, the Marine Corps Intelligence Center. He described The War on Truth as

“… consistent with both my years of experience as a clandestine case officer, and my extensive reading on national security misadventures. ... I find the author’s speculation that the US, the UK, and France, among others, have been actively using terrorists, nurturing terrorists, as part of a geopolitical and economic strategy… to be completely credible.”