American Atrocities - Nothing New
The revelations that US troops have tortured and murdered Iraqi prisoners has shocked and concerned many people around the world. However, the revelations really shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.
American atrocities started when the nation was first formed with the genocide against Native Americans and torture has been an integral but mostly secret part of US policy since the second world war. After the war the US protected the worst Nazis so that it could learn from them and adopt their torture techniques.
Shortly after the CIA was officially formed it made torture part of its policy and exported its use around the world. In 1953 the CIA started Operation Phoenix, a program of torture and murder of civilians in Vietnam. Around the same time the US overthrew Iran's democratic government and put the Shah in power. The CIA created, trained and managed Iran's dreaded SAVAK secret police which tortured and murdered countless people. After the country of Chile dared to embrace democracy and elect a President not chosen by the US, the US was quick to install the brutal dictator Pinochet who tortured and murdered tens of thousands. CIA controlled death squads in Central America brutally tortured and murdered over 200,000 people during the 80's. Millions of others have been killed around the world as a direct result of US policy.
Torture was widely taught in the US School of the Americas to people who came to be known as some of the world's most monstrous violators of human rights. Amnesty International cites the United States as the largest international supplier of electro-shock weapons to governments that practice electro-shock torture. $3 million worth of electro-shock devices were sold to Saudi Arabia in 1990.
However, it is not only the CIA & military that has been guilty of conducting torture. The Chicago police department used brutal torture techniques against non-white prisoners up until the mid 80's. Throughout the US prison system, torture and rape are routine. In fact, the situation has been so bad that in 2000 the UN delivered a severe public rebuke to the United States for its record on preventing torture and degrading punishment. Amnesty International has repeatedly denounced U.S. police forces for "a pattern of unchecked excessive force amounting to torture."
The so-called 'War on Terror' is being used to create a culture of brutality from the highest level. Mass media has suggested that torture is necessary to protect American lives. The January 2001 cover of The Atlantic Monthly asked in large print, "MUST WE TORTURE?" Terrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman from Rand Corporation suggested that torture is necessary to protect American interests. It has been suggested by many Americans that torture be legalized.
The reality is that torture is not a good method of extracting information. Information obtained under torture is not reliable and a person who is tortured will make up whatever information is wanted just to stop the torture. A skilled interrogator can get the information they need without torture. Even the CIA's own "Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual-1983:" says:
"Intense pain is quite likely to produce false confessions, fabricated to avoid additional punishment. This results in a time-consuming delay while an investigation is conducted and the admissions are proven untrue. During this respite, the subject can pull himself together and may even use the time to devise a more complex confession that takes still longer to disprove."
Despite attempts by the US government to redefine torture, the use of torture and other forms of physical and psychological coercion against any detainee to extract confessions of intelligence related information is a gross violation of international humanitarian law. According to the Third (Art. 17, 87, 99) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (Art. 5, 31, 32), evidence that has been obtained through coercion can never be used as such.
The advanced intelligence
gathering technique of remote
viewing can obtain information from a distance. This technique was used
extensively to identify bombing targets in the first attack of Iraq and to probe
the plans and intentions of Saddam Hussein in a daily basis. Non-harmful mind
control techniques can also be used to extract information. Trained Intuitives
can extract information from a person's consciousness energy field. From a technical
aspect, torture is simply not necessary.
The brutality against the Iraqis isn't even about extracting information, it is merely brutality for its own sake. The question is why does the US government allow and promote torture?
Making Enemies
Most people are peaceful and more concerned with their own well-being
than with invading another country. Lacking any real enemies, American foreign
policy has intentionally created enemies and conflict to support the defense
industry and further the goals of the ruling elite for the last 50 years.
Vietnam - The Vietnamese war was a good example of how the US creates enemies to further its own agenda. During WWII , Ho Chi Minh lead the resistant on behalf of the Allied Powers against the Japanese under an agreement that Vietnam be given its freedom from French domination after the war ended. Ho Chi Minh kept his side of the bargain and on August 17, 1945 he broadcast:
"We were fighting Japs on the side of the United Nations. Now Japs Surrendered. We beg the United Nations to realize their solemn promise that all nationalities be given democracy and independence. If United Nations forget their solemn promise and don't give Indochina full independence, we will keep fighting until we get it."
On September 2, 1945 a band marched through Hanoi playing the Star Spangled Banner. Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnamese Independence and began his speech with "All men are created equal." Yet, the dream of Vietnamese democracy was not to be. The country was divided and South Vietnam was given back to the French. The US betrayed the Vietnamese and supported French oppression. The US even offered the French atomic weapons to use against the Vietnamese, which the French fortunately declined. It was only after the betrayal by the US that Ho Chi Minh turned to Russia for the help needed to defeat the French and truly became 'communist'. The US had effectively turned an ally into an enemy and destroyed democracy in 'Indo China'.
By 1954 the US was paying for 78% of the French war against the Vietnamese. After the French were defeated in May 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, the Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh's Vietminh ceded the North, and French puppet Bao Dai's regime granted the South. The accords also provided for elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The US opposed the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh, and refused to sign the Geneva accords - further denying the Vietnamese the possibility of democracy.
As the French left, the US stepped in to control the South. The CIA's Phoenix Operation began almost immediately after the US takeover in 1954. Under US management the South Vietnamese secret police dished out live burnings, garroting, rape, torture, sabotage - much of which was blamed on the Vietcong. Over 50,000 civilians were tortured and murdered at the hands of the CIA & military intelligence. In all, over two million Vietnamese were killed. The land mines, unexploded ordinance and death from chemical contamination have killed and crippled countless more. Richard Nixon admitted in his final days that he had escalated the war against Vietnam merely for the defense industry to sell more weapons.
It was in the early days of the fighting in Vietnam that a Vietcong officer said to his American prisoner: "You were our heroes after the War. We read American books and saw American films, and a common phrase in those days was 'to be as rich and as wise as an American'. What happened?"
Iraq - US involvement in Iraq goes back several decades and parallels British domination of the country early in the century. In 1958 the CIA hired Saddam Hussein to assassinate the President of Iraq - Abdel Karim Qassim. It wasn't until 1963 that Hussein and the US were successful in overthrowing the Iraqi government. In the process 5,000 were killed. Immediately after the coup Saddam rounded up and murdered another 800 people on a list prepared by the CIA of potential opponents. However, the new Ba'athist regime had little popular support and was replaced by rival army officers 9 months later. With more CIA help Saddam regained control and was kept in power until the US invaded Iraq in 2003.
In his book "October Surprise", Presidental Analyst Gary Sick details how Bush-Reagan used arms and cash to bribe the Iranians to keep the American hostages until after the election to prevent Jimmy Carter from being re-elected 1980. The Iranians kept their part of the deal and the hostage's release was announced the day Reagan was sworn into office. The US continued to clandestinely supply Iran with weapons to help pay for its illegal war against democracy in Nicaragua in what came to be known as Iran-Contra. At the same time it supplied Iraq with its chemical and biological weapons to use against Iran. In 1986 Reagan sent Saddam a secret message via Donald Rumsfeld telling him that he should step up his bombing of Iran. Iran is suing the US & Germany for supplying Iraq with the illegal chemical and bio weapons used against them in the CIA directed war of 1980-1988.
Up until Iraq's US approved invasion of Kuwait, the US Department of Defense training manuals sang the praises of Saddam Hussein, noting how he had vastly improved education, medical care, and the standard of living of his people. His regime was called one of the most enlightened, progressive governments in the region.
As Iraq massed it troops on the Kuwaiti border in preparation for invasion, the US watched on in complete silence. Ever loyal to US interests and his CIA handlers, Saddam invaded Kuwait to support the administration of George Bush and ensure support for long-term military bases in the Middle East. After killing 500,000 Iraqis, the US then setup Saddam's opponents so that Saddam could eliminate any opposition to his brutal regime.
To further the suffering of the Iraqi people and create the anger and suffering necessary for future events, the brutal and meaningless sanctions were imposed. At the International Court On Crimes Against Humanity, US, British and UN officials were charged with 'causing the deaths of more than 1,500,000 people including 750,000 children under five, and injury to the entire population of Iraq by genocidal sanctions.' While the Iraqis were suffering and dying for no good reason, Saddam lived in unimaginable luxury.
The hatred of the Iraqi people towards the US, who put Saddam in power and kept him in power for over 25 years is only being deepened by US actions. There was never any intention of "winning Iraqi hearts and minds". The 'revelations' leaked by the US military about it torturing Iraqis is merely a way to fan the flames of hatred against Americans.
"We have heard that a half million children have died," said "60 Minutes" reporter Lesley Stahl, speaking of US sanctions against Iraq. "I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And -- and you know, is the price worth it?" Her guest, in May 1996, U.N. Ambassador Madeleine Albright, responded: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price -- we think the price is worth it."
Other countries - Throughout the world the US has overthrown democracies, installed dictators, setup brutal secret police and death squads, and created conflict where none existed. Anywhere true democracy might rear its ugly head, the US is there to quickly chop it off and put one of its brutal puppets in place. Wherever brutality and corruption exists the US is usually somewhere behind the scenes manipulating events. In the process, the US has caused unimaginable suffering and deprived the world of hope.
The negative impact of US foreign policy is so great that the path of human evolution has been altered. The covert CIA coups and wars have deprived entire continents of the opportunity to climb out of poverty and eliminated generations of potential humane leaders. The environment is being destroyed with projects approved by US puppet governments with money loaned by the IMF and World Bank and then stolen by US Corporations, leaving the impoverished public to pay off the debt. Global warming is very real and causing billions in damage every year, yet the US continues to suppress alternative energy and worship the dark god of oil.
The Great Lie
I was raised to believe that America is the "Bastion of Democracy".
I was seriously misinformed. America
has subverted and destroyed democracy around the world. American mass media
continues to project an image of the US as the "leader of the free world"
- yet, few people other than Americans believe it any more.
The Real Agenda
Just as past American atrocities have created wars and conflicts,
the current atrocities will result in more conflict, loss of life and environmental
destruction. The preparations for the war against 'terrorism' have been going
on for at least 20 years. In partnership with the Saudi ruling family, the global
ruling elite has radicalized Islam through mind control facilities disguised
as religious schools. In these schools they create the 'terrorists' needed for
an enemy. Without the CIA, Saudi 'schools' and Israeli abuse of Palestinians
there simply wouldn't be a threat from muslim 'terrorists'. If the US had not
stolen democracy from so many countries in the first place, muslim fundamentalism
wouldn't have grown to the level it is now.
This time there is no adversary capable of standing up the US. The continued war will be one against freedom, democracy and life as the American military empire and its minions expand control steadily over more of the globe in the name of 'fighting terrorism' and the creation of a global corporate police state.
Why You Should Care
The media always lets us know how many Americans have been killed,
but how many Iraqis
have been killed and how many of them are civilians? How many people have
been killed to rid Afghanistan of the US created Taliban so that a gas pipeline
could be built and the heroin supply restored? How many of those killed are
women and children? If we know how many Americans have been killed why don't
we know how many people Americans have killed?
The reality is that America is directly responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people and the suffering of countless others. In Vietnam the US was responsible for over 2 million deaths, in Iraq the death count also exceeds 2 million when counting those killed by the first attack and the deaths from sanctions.
If you "support our troops" you share in the responsibility for their actions. How much blood is on your hands? Even if you don't care about America's foreign victims you should care about the ultimate impact on America. Eventually the world's oppressed will really start targeting Americans and the payback will be a bitch. The cost for your lack of action now will be paid for by your children. Do you really want them to have to pay for the sins of your tax dollars?
What to do?
There is
no justification for US involvement in Iraq. The US was always in control of
Saddam Hussein and could have removed him from power at any time without waging
war. It could have chosen to not help him eliminate the democratic opposition. Iraq posed no threat to the US or any other country. The actions of US
troops are illegal and those who send them to kill and be killed are war criminals.
Don't "support our troops" and their atrocities. Just because you
share nationality with someone it doesn't mean that you have to support their
actions. If one of your neighbors was a child molester would you support them
because they were your neighbor?
Tell the soldiers that they are wrong and to put down their weapons. Stop being an American sympathizer. Weapons only kill when someone pulls the trigger or pushes the button. If you support US troops you are an accessory to murder and all their crimes.
Cut your consumption of oil - Iraq has suffered for nearly a hundred years because of foreigner's lust for it's oil. One of the primary reasons for the US invasion of Iraq is to steal it's oil. If you want to start washing the blood from your hands, buy a hybrid car and/or take public transportation. At least drive something more fuel efficient and reduce the amount your drive. If you have a diesel vehicle buy bio-diesel.
Stop paying for war - Immediately stop paying Federal taxes. There are enough loop-holes that you can legally avoid (not evade) paying most Federal income tax or at least get most that you pay back. Most rich people don't pay a lot of taxes because they have the courage to take advantage of the loopholes.
One way to reduce or eliminate tax liability is to legally operate behind a corporation. Corporations are treated by the IRS with more respect and leniency than individuals. It's easy to establish a corporation yourself and you can do it online for less than a $100 in most states. Once you have a certificate of incorporation you can apply for a Federal Tax ID number (FIN). With the FIN you can open a corporate bank account and then you are in business. Use the corporation to make money or 'invest' your pay in the corporation. Pay yourself nothing from the corporation but per diem (travel expenses such a meals & lodging). File tax returns every year but always file late to reduce your chances of being audited. Keep good corporate records. Keep in mind that most tax accountants are loyal to the 'spirit of taxation' and won't help you find the real loopholes. Be sure to check the latest IRS regulations to keep yourself out of trouble and 'legal' (the IRS has no legal right to tax individuals but does so anyway).
Educate yourself - then educate others - Do some research, learn the truth and tell everyone you know. Avoid the social engineering of mass media and pseudo-liberal media such as NPR (NPR confessed to employing CIA interns). Support truly independent & sane media.
Sources:
. http://www.lossless-audio.com/usa/index0.php (Forgotten History)
. http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com
. Ariigo, Jean Maria (2003, January 30) Consequentialist Argument against Torture Interrogation of Terrorists. Joint Services Conference on Professional Ethics
. Solomon, Alisa. (2001, December 4). The case against torture. The Village Voice
. McLaughlin, Abraham. (2001, November 14). How far Americans would go to fight terror. The Christian Science Monitor, pp. 1 & 4
. Blum, William (1995) Killing Hope
. http://mediafilter.org/guest/Pages/September.21.1996.23.26.32
. (April 1997). Psychological Torture - CIA-Style. Harpers Magazine
. Fahim, Kareem. (March 30, 2004). The Invisible Men. [Electronic version.]. The Village Voice
Not copyrighted.