Coups Arranged or Backed
by the USA
Since 1945, the USA has been responsible either directly or indirectly of helping remove dozens of governments, many democratically elected, around the world. Sometimes the events are kept secret for years and only slowly come out. Other times, the events are the cause of demonstrations, anger and resentment at the time they occur.
Whenever, an event like this occurs there are two reasons to be considered.- Reason 1: The reason given by the USA, its media and its friends around the world. Reasons like Communism, Terrorism, Human Rights, Freedom, Liberation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, etc.
- Reason 2: The actual reason. This is usually hidden from the general public and has to be looked for in quotes by under-reported officials or subsequent events on the ground. Often, the victims of the change of government know the real reasons better than the populations of the Western countries. Real reasons are many but usually include Business Interests, Access to Resources, Markets, Military Bases, Strategic Value, or Political Support.
Year | Country | Reason Given | Actual Reason |
---|---|---|---|
1949 | Syria | Communism | Elected government against USA political interests and pro-Palestinian. |
1949 | Greece | Communism | Elected government against USA political and economic interests. |
1952 | Cuba | None | Elected government against USA business interests. |
1953 | Iran | None | Elected government against USA oil interests. |
1953 | British Guyana | None | Access to sugar and bauxite. |
1954 | Guatemala | Communism | Elected government against USA business interests. |
1955 | South Vietnam | Communism | French backed leader replaced by USA backed leader. |
1957 | Haiti | Haiti is near the USA | Previous government against USA business interests. |
1958 | Laos | None | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1959 | Laos | None | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1960 | South Korea | Communism | Previous leader not strong enough for USA. |
1960 | Laos | None | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1960 | Ecuador | Communism | Previous government too independent in foreign policy. |
1963 | Dominican Republic | Business Interests | Elected government against USA business interests. |
1963 | South Vietnam | None | Previous leader's policies led to televised suicides. |
1963 | Honduras | Communism | Pro-USA government and access to resources. |
1963 | Guatemala | Communism | Military government was about to allow elections. |
1963 | Ecuador | None | Elected government too independent. |
1964 | Brazil | Communism | Access to resources and cheap labour. |
1964 | Bolivia | Communism | Previous government too independent in foreign policy. |
1965 | Zaire | None | Access to cobalt, copper and diamonds. |
1966 | Ghana | None | Previous government too independent in foreign policy. |
1967 | Greece | None | Military bases. |
1970 | Cambodia | None | Previous king against USA political interests. |
1970 | Bolivia | None | Country took ownership of its oil and tin. |
1972 | El Salvador | Communism | Elected leader against USA business interests. |
1973 | Chile | Communism | Elected government against USA business interests. |
1975 | Australia | None | Elected government had unsuitable foreign policy. |
1979 | South Korea | None | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1980 | Liberia | Democracy | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1982 | Chad | None | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1983 | Grenada | Democracy | Pro-USA government wanted. |
1987 | Fiji | Democracy | Previous elected government supported nuclear-free Pacific. |
2002 | Venezuela | None | Disagreed with foreign policy of elected government. |
2004 | Haiti | Fraudulent elections | Disagreed with economic policy of elected government. |
2009 | Honduras | Attempted to Change Constitution | Disagreed with economic and foreign policy of elected government. |
William Blum, USA writer from the book, "Rogue State":
"From 1945 to the end of the [20th] century, the USA attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the USA caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair".Michael Krenn, quoting the USA chargé d'Affairs in 1929;
"Until the Venezuelan people could be trusted to make the right decisions concerning their political and economic direction - and that time was deemed to be in the very distant future - it was best for all concerned that they be kept safe from democracy."
CIA document, dated 10 September 1973 about Chile:
"The coup attempt will begin September 11. All three branches of the armed forces and the Carabineros are involved in this action. A declaration will be read on Radio Agricultura at 7 A.M. on 11 September."
Jack Kubisch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State. Testimony before the USA House Subcommittee on Inter American Affairs 20 September 1973 about the Chilean coup:
"Gentlemen, I wish to state as flatly and as categorically as I possibly can that we did not have advance knowledge of the coup that took place on September 11."
Pentagon's Planning Guidance for the Fiscal Years 1994 - 1999, a USA planning document:
"Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival... we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."
Bill Clinton, USA president, speaking in Greece;
"When the junta took over in 1967 here the United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the Cold War to prevail over its interests - I should say its obligation - to support democracy, which was, after all, the cause for which we fought the Cold War. it is important that we acknowledge that."
USA Invasions, Bombings,
Military Aid, Political Interventions
and Sanctions
When the USA is not actively removing governments it disapproves of, it is normally very busy interfering in other nations' affairs. The interference may be financial, military, overt (out in the open) or covert (under-cover, secret).
Whenever the event, there are two reasons to be considered.- Reason 1: The reason given by the USA, its media and its friends around the world. Reasons like Communism, Terrorism, Human Rights, Freedom, Liberation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, etc.
- Reason 2: The actual reason. This is usually hidden from the general public and has to be looked for in quotes by under-reported officials or subsequent events on the ground. Real reasons are many but usually include Business Interests, Access to Resources, Markets, Military Bases, Strategic Value, or Political Support.
All of this assumes that the USA has the unilateral right to dictate to other countries how they should run their political, religious, economic and cultural affairs. This is an assumption that is never challenged in the Western media.
The USA frequently interferes in nations' elections. At the same time it is against the law to interfere in USA elections. The USA often insists on countries having United Nations inspections for weapons programs while denying access for its own extensive chemical, nuclear and biological armoury. The USA will use the international legal system when it suits but ignore its resolutions if they go against the USA. This behaviour is reported around the world leading to much anger and resentment at the USA. Little of this gets reported to the USA public however.
The USA has, by far, bombed more countries than any other nation. Sometimes the United Nations approves. If it does not, the USA will bomb anyway. Many countries are subject to unilateral economic sanctions by the USA. Cuba is a good example. The USA will not only impose sanctions but often cajoles and bullies other countries to follow it. Again, the United Nations is used if possible, and ignored if not.
Much of the world feels like there is one law for the USA and its friends, another law for everyone else.
Year | Country | Action | Reason Given | Actual Reason |
---|---|---|---|---|
1947 | France | Election Finance; Economic Coersion | Communism | Wanted pro-USA government and French recolonisation of Vietnam. |
1947 | Italy | Election Finance; Economic Coersion | Communism | Wanted pro-USA and pro-business government. |
1947 | Greece | Military Backing | Communism | Wanted pro-USA government and military bases. |
1947 | Philippines | Election Finance | None | Military bases. |
1948 | Peru | Military Backing | None | Control of government. |
1948 | Vietnam | Military Backing | Communism | Support for French recolonisation. Fear of independent Vietnam. |
1948 | Nicaragua | Military Backing | None | Pro-USA government and access to plantations. |
1949 | China | Arms Sales; Bombing | Communism | Access to a pro-USA and pro-business government. |
1950 | Colombia | Food Aid | Humanitarian | Destruction of an agricultural rival. |
1950 | Korea | Killing Civilians | None | Unknown. |
1950 | Puerto Rico | Military Action | None | To crush independence movement. |
1953 | Philippines | Election Finance | None | Wanted pro-USA government and military bases. |
1954 | Vietnam | Military Backing | Communism | Fear of united and powerful independent country. |
1955 | Europe | Election Finance | None | Wanted united pro-USA, pro-NATO and anti-socialist Europe. |
1956 | Egypt | Sanctions | Communism | Country took ownership of its Suez Canal and opposed USA Middle East policy. |
1957 | Jordan | Military Training | None | Wanted strong pro-USA government. |
1958 | Lebanon | Military Action | None | Removal of anti-West dissidents. |
1958 | Indonesia | Election Finance | None | Government is against USA business interests. |
1958 | Japan | Election Finance | None | To keep pro-USA governments in power. |
1959 | Haiti | Military Action | None | To crush rebellion against pro-USA government. |
1959 | Nepal | Covert Action | None | To help pro-USA government win power. |
1960 | Congo | Assassination | None | Wanted to remove popular and nationalist leader; access to minerals. |
1960 | Cuba | Trade Embargo | Communism | Country using its resources for its own people. |
1960 | Iraq | Destabilisation | None | Leader founds and supports OPEC. |
1961 | Cuba | Secret Invasion | None | Country using its resources for its own people. |
1961 | Dominican Republic | Assassination | None | Unknown. |
1962 | Vietnam | Military Action | Communism | Country wanted unity and independence. |
1962 | Cuba | Economic Sabotage | None | Country using its resources for its own people. |
1962 | Brazil | Election Finance | None | Wanted pro-business government. |
1962 | Dominican Republic | Political Coersion | None | Unknown. |
1963 | Iraq | Assassination; Intelligence | Communism | Previous government against USA oil interests; removal of dissidents. |
1963 | El Salvador | Advisors | Communism | Removal of anti-USA dissidents. |
1964 | North Vietnam | Bombing | None | Removal of independent government. |
1964 | South Vietnam | Torture Training | Communism | Suppression of independence movements. |
1964 | Panama | Military Action | Law and Order | Suppression of movement demanding return of canal. |
1965 | Vietnam | Military Action | Communism | To keep the country from uniting. |
1965 | Dominican Republic | Intervention | Communism | To keep elected leader from returning to power. |
1965 | Indonesia | Intelligence | Communism | Removal of dissidents. Helping a pro-business regime. |
1965 | Laos | Destabilisation; Bombing | Communism | Denial of support for Vietnam. |
1965 | Thailand | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government; military bases. |
1965 | Peru | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1966 | Vietnam | Village Clearing; Bombing | Communism | Political control of the country. |
1966 | Laos | Bombing | None | Denial of support for Vietnam. |
1966 | Central Africa | Finance | None | Access to uranium. |
1966 | Bolivia | Election Finance | None | Access to minerals and oil. |
1967 | Vietnam | Military Action | Communism | Political control of the country. |
1967 | Cuba | Assassination | None | Removal of popular leader. |
1968 | Vietnam | Village Clearing; Bombing | Communism | Political control of country. |
1969 | Cambodia | Secret Bombing | None | Denial of support for Vietnam. |
1969 | Vietnam | Military Action | Communism | Political control of country. |
1970 | North Vietnam | Bombing | None | Control of country. |
1970 | Uruguay | Torture Training | None | To keep opposition from taking power. |
1970 | Oman | Military Assistance | None | Unknown. |
1971 | Laos | Invasion | None | Control of country. |
1971 | Vietnam | Military Action | None | Control of country. |
1972 | North Vietnam | Blockade; Bombing | None | Control of country. |
1972 | Nicaragua | Troops | Business interests | Support for business and pro-USA government. |
1972 | Australia | Election Finance | None | Did not like Labour Party foreign policy. |
1972 | Iraq | Aid to Kurds | Humanitarian | To destabilise Iraq as it had a quarrel with USA ally, Iran. |
1973 | Cambodia | Bombing | None | Control of country. |
1974 | Vietnam | Trade Embargo | Communism | The Vietnamese were winning against the USA. |
1974 | Zaire | Military Aid | None | Control of resources. |
1974 | Portugal | Election Finance | None | Did not want socialist government to take power. |
1975 | Vietnam | Economic Attack | Communism | To stop country developing as a model for the region. |
1975 | East Timor | Support of Invasion | None | Did not want a new independent state; oil. |
1975 | Iraq | Change of Support | None | Kurdish rebels no longer of use. |
1975 | Morocco | Support of Invasion | None | Morocco grants use of military bases in return. |
1976 | Indonesia | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1976 | Philippines | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1977 | Pakistan | Military Aid | None | Support for unelected pro-USA government. |
1977 | Egypt | Economic Coersion | None | To remove Egypt from the anti-Israel camp. |
1977 | Zaire | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1977 | Indonesia | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1978 | Guatemala | Military Aid; Economic Aid | None | Support for unelected pro-USA government. |
1979 | Iran | Habouring Dictator | None | New government wants control of its resources, especially oil. |
1979 | Central Africa | Economic Aid | None | Support for pro-business government. |
1979 | Afghanistan | Military Aid | Repel USSR | To repel USSR and break their economy. |
1979 | Cambodia | Aid to Khmer Rouge | None | To please new ally China; to antagonise Vietnam. |
1979 | Vietnam | Economic Blockade | Communism | To stop country developing as a model for the region. |
1979 | Yemen | Military Aid | None | To please ally, Saudi Arabia. |
1980 | El Salvador | Military Aid | Communism | Stop opposition to pro-USA government. |
1980 | Honduras | Troops | Communism | Protect resources and create anti-Nicaragua bases. |
1980 | Iraq | Military Aid | Islamic Iran | Wanted to destabilise new anti-USA government of Iran. |
1980 | Cambodia | Military Aid | None | To destabilise Vietnamese backed government and to please new ally, China. |
1980 | Italy | Terrorism | None | To discredit socialist election candidates and to heighten fear of the USSR. |
1980 | South Korea | Military Aid; Political Support | None | Suppress opposition to pro-USA government. |
1981 | Tanzania | Economic Coersion | Communism | Wanted the country to change its economy to suit USA companies. |
1981 | El Salvador | Military Aid | Communism | Stop opposition to pro-USA government. |
1981 | Libya | Provocation | Terrorism | To destabilise an anti-West government. |
1981 | Indo-China | Economic Coersion | Communism | To stop the independent development of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. |
1982 | Lebanon | Troops | Humanitarian | To help Israel remove Palestinians. |
1982 | Guatemala | Military Aid | None | To suppress opposition to pro-USA government. |
1982 | South Africa | Financial Aid | Terrorism | To help South Africa destabilise the region. |
1982 | Afghanistan | Military Aid | Communism | To replace USSR backed government by the USA backed government. |
1982 | Iraq | Military Aid | Islamic Iran | To support Iraq's war against the anti-USA government of Iran. |
1983 | Lebanon | Troops; Bombing | Peace Keeping | To ensure pro-USA factions won the civil war. |
1983 | Nicaragua | Blockade; Arming Rebels | Communism | To replace government with pro-USA regime. |
1983 | Zimbabwe | Economic Coersion | None | Government had too independent foreign policy. |
1984 | Mozambique | Economic Coersion | Communism | To stop support for democracy in South Africa. |
1985 | Lebanon | Car Bomb | Assassination | To remove anti-Israel and anti-USA dissidents. |
1985 | New Zealand | Economic Coersion | None | Country backed nuclear free Pacific. |
1985 | Chad | Military Aid; Financial Aid | None | Support for non-elected pro-USA regime. |
1985 | Honduras | Military Aid; Training | Communism | To destabilise elected government of Nicaragua. |
1986 | Nicaragua | Military Aid | Communism | To destabilise elected government. |
1986 | Libya | Bombing | Terrorism | To destabilise the country. |
1987 | Iran | Provocation | Terrorism | To destabilise the country. |
1988 | Iran | Provocation | Terrorism | To destabilise the country. |
1988 | Iraq | Military Aid | Islamic Iran | Support for Iraq in its war against Iran. |
1988 | Colombia | Military Aid | Drugs | Support for pro-USA government. |
1988 | El Salvador | Military Aid | Communism | Support for pro-USA government. |
1988 | Turkey | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA government. |
1989 | El Salvador | Military Aid | Communism | Support for pro-USA government. |
1989 | Panama | Invasion; Diplomatic Violation | Drugs | To ensure control over the Panama Canal. |
1989 | Cambodia | Military Aid | None | To destabilise Vietnamese backed government and to please China. |
1989 | Libya | Provocation | Terrorism | To destabilise the country because it is anti-USA and pro-Palestinian. |
1990 | Nicaragua | Election Finance | Communism | To ensure that a pro-USA government was elected. |
1990 | El Salvador | Military Training | Communism | Support of the pro-USA government. |
1990 | Guatemala | Military Aid | Communism | Support for the pro-USA government. |
1990 | Bulgaria | Election Finance | Communism | Did not want a socialist government in power. |
1990 | Germany | Document Theft | None | Unknown. |
1991 | Iraq | Invasion; UN Violation; Sanctions | Free Kuwait | To ensure that Iraq became less powerful. |
1991 | Philippines | Disinformation | None | Military bases. |
1992 | Somalia | Invasion | Humanitarian | To ensure that a pro-West government took control. |
1992 | Colombia | Military Aid | Drugs | To remove anti-USA elements. |
1992 | Albania | Election Finance | Communism | Did not want a socialist government in power. |
1992 | Angola | Military Aid | Communism | Wanted access to oil and diamonds. |
1993 | Iraq | Bombing | UN Violations | To ensure that Iraq does not flood the oil market, lowering the price. |
1993 | Cuba | Trade Embargo | Communism | Country using its resources for its own people. |
1994 | Haiti | Troops; Document Theft | Democracy | To ensure that a pro-west government is elected. |
1994 | Jordan | Financial Aid | Humanitarian | To obtain agreement with Israel's view that Palestinian refugees do not have a right of return. |
1994 | Colombia | Military Aid | Drug Trafficking | To suppress opposition to pro-USA government. |
1995 | Turkey | Military Aid | None | To keep a pro-USA government happy while it attacks Kurds. |
1995 | Iraq | Sanctions; Bombing | UN Violations | To ensure that Iraq does not flood the oil market, lowering the price. |
1995 | Mexico | Military Aid | Drug Trafficking | To crush opposition to USA business interests. |
1995 | Iran | Sanctions | Terrorism | Country using its resources for its own people. |
1996 | Iraq | Sanctions; Bombing | UN Violations | To keep the country weak and to destabilise the government. |
1996 | Mongolia | Election Finance | Communism | To help elect a pro-USA government that would allow electronic monitoring of China. |
1997 | Rwanda | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-West government. |
1997 | Iraq | Sanctions | UN Violations | To replace the government with one that is more pro-West. |
1998 | Afghanistan | Bombing | Terrorism | To destroy terror camps built by the USA to fight the USSR and now suspected of being used against the USA. |
1998 | Iraq | Sanctions; Bombing | UN Violations | To replace the government with one that is more pro-West. |
1998 | Sudan | Bombing | Terrorism | Unknown. |
1998 | Turkey | Military Aid | None | Support for pro-USA NATO country. |
1998 | Guatemala | Military Aid | None | Suppression of opposition to pro-USA government. |
1998 | South Korea | Food Aid | Humanitarian | To make the country dependent on USA produced food. |
1999 | Yugoslavia | Bombing | Humanitarian | European business interests. |
1999 | Iraq | Bombing | UN Violations | To destabilise independent Arab regime. |
1999 | Guatemala | Military Aid | None | Suppression of opposition to pro-USA government. |
2000 | Israel | Military Aid; Economic Aid; Political Support | Terrorism | Support for a strongly pro-West country in the Middle East. |
2000 | Kyrgyzstan | Financial Aid | Humanitarian | To gain influence in oil rich Central Asia. |
2001 | Colombia | Military Aid | Drug Trafficking | To protect USA oil companies from dissidents. |
2001 | China | Provocation | Communism | To obtain secrets and intimidate independent country. |
2001 | Israel | Military Aid; Economic Aid; Political Support | Terrorism | Support for a strongly pro-West country in the Middle East. |
2001 | Iraq | Sanctions; Bombing | UN Violations | To replace the government with one that is more pro-West. |
2001 | Afghanistan | Bombing; Invasion | Terrorism | To replace the government with one that is more pro-West. |
2002 | Afghanistan | Bombing; Invasion | Terrorism | To gain influence and control over oil rich Central Asia. |
2002 | Angola | Intelligence | Terrorism | To remove their no longer needed former client. |
2003 | Iraq | Invasion | Banned Weapons | To gain control of oil rich country and impose a government friendly to the USA. |
2007 | Somalia | Bombing; Support of Invasion | Terrorism | To install a pro-USA government. |
Madeleine Albright, former USA Secretary of State to the United Nations:
"[The USA will] behave, with others, multilaterally when we can and unilaterally as we must."
Thomas Friedman from "What the World Needs Now" in the New York Times (USA) and Illustrated by an American Flag on a fist:
"For globalism to work, America can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist...McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."
USA Defence Secretary William Cohen in remarks to reporters prior to his speech at Microsoft Corporation in Seattle as reported by Associated Press:
"[T]he prosperity that companies like Microsoft now enjoy could not occur without having the strong military that we have. ... conflicts in faraway lands such as Bosnia, Korea and Iraq have a direct effect on the U.S. economy. The billions it costs to keep 100,000 American troops in South Korea and Japan, for example, makes Asia more stable--and thus better markets for U.S. goods. The military's success in holding Iraq in check ensures a continued flow of oil from the Persian Gulf."
George Kennan, Cold War Planner for the USA in 1948:
"We have 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation, our real job in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which permit us to maintain this position of disparity. To do so, we have to dispense with all sentimentality...we should cease thinking about human rights, the raising of living standards and democratisation."
Arundhati ROY, Indian writer:
"Terrorism is the symptom, not the disease. Terrorism has no country. It's transnational, as global an enterprise as Coke or Pepsi or Nike. At the first sign of trouble, terrorists can pull up stakes and move their 'factories' from country to country in search of a better deal. Just like the multi-nationals."
New Republic, USA magazine:
"Operation Enduring Freedom is not a humanitarian intervention. If we leave behind a country in chaos that can no longer serve as a base of operations against us, then we will have accomplished a necessary objective [and should] lose the obsession with nation-building".
Abdul Haq, Afghan envoy executed by the Taliban in Afghanistan:
"[The USA] is trying to show its muscle, score a victory and scare everyone in the world. They don't care about the suffering of the Afghans or how many people we will lose. And we don't like that. Because Afghans are now being made to suffer for these Arab fanatics, but we all know who brought these Arabs to Afghanistan in the 1980s, armed them and gave them a base. It was the Americans and the CIA. And the Americans who did this all got medals and good careers, while all these years Afghans suffered from these Arabs and their allies. Now, when America is attacked, instead of punishing the Americans who did this, it punishes the Afghans."
RAWA, Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan:
"[The] Taliban should be overthrown by the uprising of Afghan nation. Again, due to the treason of fundamentalist hangmen, our people have been caught in the claws of the monster of a vast war and destruction. America, by forming an international coalition against Osama and his Taliban collaborators and in retaliation for the 11th September [2001] terrorist attacks, has launched a vast aggression on our country. Despite the claim of the USA that only military and terrorist bases of the Taliban and Al Qieda will be struck and that its actions would be accurately targeted and proportionate, we have witnessed for the past seven days leaves no doubt that this invasion will shed the blood of numerous women, men, children, young and old of our country."
George Bush, USA president during the bombing of Iraq:
"What we say goes."
Cardinal Paulo Evarista Arns of Sao Paulo (Brazil) after the USA bombing of Iraq:
"[In the Arab countries] the rich sided with the USA government while the millions of poor condemned this military aggression. [Throughout the Third World] there is hatred and fear: When will they decide to invade us and on what pretext?"
Noam Chomsky, USA writer:
"Overwhelming dominance is necessary for well-known technical reasons. Even Ballistic Missile Defense requires nullification of the anti satellite weapons of a potential adversary. The USA must therefore achieve 'full spectrum dominance', ensuring that even this much simpler technology will not be available. An iron fist is needed for other reasons. USA military planners share the assessment of the intelligence community and outside experts that what is misleadingly called 'globalization' will lead to a widening divide between the 'haves' and the 'have nots' - contrary to doctrine, but in accord with reality. And it will be necessary to control unruly elements: by inspiring fear, or perhaps by actual use of highly destructive killing machines launched from space, probably nuclear powered and on hair trigger alert with automated control systems, thus increasing the likelihood of what in the trade are called 'normal accidents': the unpredictable errors to which all complex systems are subject."
Der Spiegal, news magazine from Germany (1 September 1997):
"Never before in modern history has a country dominated the earth so totally as the United States does today... America is now the Schwarzenegger of international politics: showing off muscles, obtrusive, intimidating... The Americans, in the absence of limits put to them by anybody or anything, act as if they own a kind of blank cheque in their 'McWorld'".
Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa after the USA had tried to stop him from visiting Libya in 1997 (quoted in the Washington Post):
"How can they have the arrogance to dictate to us where we should go or which countries should be our friends? Gadhafi is my friend. He supported us when we were alone and when those who tried to prevent my visit here today were our enemies. They have no morals. We cannot accept that a state assumes the role of the world's policeman."
Rupert Cornwall, writing in the UK newspaper, The Independent about the treatment of Afghan prisoners by the USA:
"[The USA] believes it is conducting a righteous war to rid the world of a deadly enemy that will stop at nothing to achieve its fiendish ends. Europe, through, increasingly sees an arrogant superpower on the loose - one that after a brief, tactical flirtation with cooperation in the early stages of the war is back to its old unilaterist ways, safe in the knowledge that its power is unchallengeable. Donald Rumsfeld the [USA] Defence Secretary, makes clear that America will do this its way, whether the world likes it or not."
A Study of Assassination, a CIA document written in 1954 and released in 1997:
"For secret assassinations... the contrived accident is the most effective technique. When successfully executed, it causes little excitement and is only casually investigated. The most effective accident... is a fall of 75 feet [23m] or more onto a hard surface. Elevator shafts, stair wells, unscreened windows and bridges will serve... The act may be executed by sudden, vigorous grabbing of the ankles, tipping the subject over the edge. If the assassin immediately sets up an outcry, playing the 'horified witness', no alibi or surreptitious withdrawal is necessary."
"Drugs can be very effective. If the assassin is trained as a doctor or nurse and the subject is under medical care, this is an easy and sure method. An overdose of morphine administered as a sedative will cause death without disturbance and is difficult to detect. The size of the dose will depend upon whether the subject has been using narcotics regularly. If not, two grains will suffice. If the subject drinks heavily, morphine or a similar narcotic can be injected at the passing out stage, and the cause of death will often be held to be acute alcoholism."
"Edge weapons: any legally obtained edge device may be successfully employed. A certain minimum of anatomical knowledge is needed for reliability. Puncture wounds of the body cavity may not be reliable unless the heart is reached. The heart is protected by the rib cage and is not always easy to locate. Absolute reliability is obtained by severing the spinal chord in the cervical region. This can be done with the point of a knife or a light blow of an axe or hatchet. Another reliable method is the severing of both jugular and cartoid vessels on both sides of the windpipe."
Counterintelligence Interrogation, a CIA document written in 1963 for the war in Vietnam:
"The effectiveness of most of the non-coercive techniques depends on their unsettling effect. The interrogation situation is in itself disturbing to most people encountering it for the first time. The aim is to enhance this effect... [and to create] a traumatic or sub-traumatic experience which explodes, as it were, the world that is familiar to the subject as well as his image of himself in the world. usually his own clothes are taken away because familiar clothing reinforces identity and thus the capacity of resistance. The following are the principal coercive techniques of interrogation: arrest, detention, deprivation of sensory stimuli through solitary confinement or similar methods, threats and fear, debility, pain, heightened suggestibility and hypnoses, narcosis and induced regression."
Dick Gregory:
"What we're doing in Vietnam is using the black man to kill the yellow man so that the white man can keep the land he took from the red man".
George Keenan, USA historian:
"It is not Russian military power that is threatening us, it is Russian political power".
Marine Corps Gazette, USA military magazine (May 1900):
"The underdeveloped world's growing dissatisfaction over the gap between rich and poor nations will create a fertile breeding ground for insurgencies. These insurgencies have the potential to jeopardize regional stability and our access to vital economic and military resources."
Patrick Leahy, USA Senator:
"Foreign aid must do much more to strengthen American economic competitiveness abroad. [Aid] is not some international charity or welfare program. Properly designed, it can be an investment in new trading partners, growing export markets, and more jobs in our export industries here at home."
Dimitri Simes, senior associate of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writing in the USA newspaper, New York Times (27 December 1988):
"The apparent decline of the Soviet threat... makes military power more useful as a United States foreign policy instrument... against those who contemplate challenging important American interests."
Jiri Valenta, economic writer:
"[USA] national security interests in the Caribbean [and elsewhere in the hemisphere] have rested on powerful economic investments."
Robert Tucker, author of The purpose of American Power in USA government publication, Foreign Policy (Winter 1980/1):
"[The USA should be prepared to use force to bar threats] from developments indigenous to the Gulf [that might endanger] our rights of access [or our] economic well-being and the integrity of [the nation's] basic institutions."
Robert Pastor, director of Latin American and Caribbean Affiars on the USA National Security Council:
"The [USA] did not want to control Nicaragua or the other nations in the region, but it also did not want to allow development to get out of control. It wanted Nicaragua to act independently, EXCEPT when doing so would affect [USA] interests adversely."
Gioconda Belli, Nicaraguan writer and former member of the Sandinista government:
"The reality, of course, is the American foreign policy is run like a corporation. It is totally self interested - Americans only for themselves. Even the use of the word 'American' is unfair. Are we not Americans too?"
Tariq Ali, UK writer:
"There are 189 member states of the UN. There is, according to USA Defense Department figures, a USA military presence in 120 countries today."
Noam Chomsky, USA writer:
"Cluster bombs are much more dangerous than mines. They are vicious anti-personnel weapons that send out flechettes that tear people to shreds. They just sit there and if a child picks one up, or a farmer hits one with a hoe, it explodes."
"In Afghanistan nobody is going to clear these things. So in addition to the mines, there will be cluster bombs unexploded and very little ability to bring in food or blankets or to provide shelter. Many people will disappear and no one will even know what happened to them. No one is going to do a careful census of Afghanistan to find out what the effects were of the bombing and of the threat of bombing."
"The same is happening in many places. The estimates are that in northern Laos there are probably thousands of deaths a year, 30 years after the bombing. In Laos the Pentagon would not even provide instructions on how to defuse them to a volunteer British de-mining group that was working there. In Kosovo as well, the USA refused to remove cluster bombs."
Use of the Veto on
United Nations Resolutions
by the USA
In the United Nations, five countries (called the Permanent Members of the Security Council) can veto a United Nations Security Council resolution. These five are the USA, the UK, France, Russia (USSR before 1990), and ChinaTaiwan before 1971). (
This is a list of these resolutions vetoed by the USA as well as resolutions in the General Assembly of the United Nations where the USA vote is against the majority of the world. The USA used its veto over 70 times during the 20th century. On the majority of occasions, the USA vetoed resolutions that were favoured by the majority of the world's nations.Very little of the USA's voting patterns is reported in the Western media. When other countries consider voting against a resolution put forward by the USA, they are usually demonised in the Western media and the whole basis of the United Nations called into question.
The United Nations and its voting system was set up at the end of World War II by the victorious nations from that conflict. There is, perhaps, an argument to modify the United Nations voting system and make it more representitive of the modern world.
Even with its faults, the United Nations is not a few people in an office - it is the world community. It is the rest of the world - the 94% of the world's population that is not from the USA. By damning and ignoring the United Nations, the USA is snubbing the majority of the world's population. This will not make the USA more popular around the world.
As one commentator on USA baseball in the UK noted: "Only the USA could have a World Series and not invite the rest of the world". This is the political equivalent.
Year | Resolution Vetoed by the USA | Resolutions | For-Against |
---|---|---|---|
1972 | Condemns Israel for killing hundreds of people in Syria and Lebanon in air raids. | ||
1973 | Afirms the rights of the Palestinians and calls on Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories. | ||
1976 | Condemns Israel for attacking Lebanese civilians. | ||
Condemns Israel for building settlements in the occupied territories. | |||
Calls for self determination for the Palestinians. | |||
Afirms the rights of the Palestinians. | |||
1976 | Condemns South Africa's attempts to impose apartheid on Namibia. | ||
1976 | For the admission of Vietnam to the United Nations. | (from 1975) | |
1977 | Condemns the apartheid situation in South Africa. | ||
1978 | Urges the permanent members (USA, USSR, UK, France, China) to insure United Nations decisions on the maintenance of international peace and security. | ||
Criticises the living conditions of the Palestinians. | |||
Condemns the Israeli human rights record in occupied territories. | |||
1978 | Calls for developed countries to increase the quantity and quality of development assistance to underdeveloped countries. | ||
1979 | Calls for an end to all military and nuclear collaboration with the apartheid South Africa. | ||
Strengthens the arms embargo against South Africa. | |||
Offers assistance to all the oppressed people of South Africa and their liberation movement. | |||
Concerns negotiations on disarmament and cessation of the nuclear arms race. | |||
Calls for the return of all inhabitants expelled by Israel. | |||
Demands that Israel desist from human rights violations. | |||
Requests a report on the living conditions of Palestinians in occupied Arab countries. | |||
Offers assistance to the Palestinian people. | |||
Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Arab territories. | |||
Calls for protection of developing counties' exports. | |||
Calls for alternative approaches within the United Nations system for improving the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. | |||
Opposes support for intervention in the internal or external affairs of states. | |||
For a United Nations Conference on Women. | |||
To include Palestinian women in the United Nations Conference on Women. | |||
Safeguards rights of developing countries in multinational trade negotiations. | |||
1980 | Requests Israel to return displaced persons. | ||
Condemns Israeli policy regarding the living conditions of the Palestinian people. | |||
Condemns Israeli human rights practices in occupied territories. | 119-2 117-2 | ||
Afirms the right of self determination for the Palestinians. | |||
1980 | Offers assistance to the oppressed people of South Africa and their national liberation movement. | ||
1980 | Attempts to establish a New International Economic Order to promote the growth of underdeveloped countries and international economic co-operation. | ||
Endorses the Program of Action for Second Half of United Nations Decade for Women. | |||
Declaration of non-use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states. | |||
Emphasises that the development of nations and individuals is a human right. | |||
Calls for the cessation of all nuclear test explosions. | |||
Calls for the implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. | |||
1981 | Promotes co-operative movements in developing countries. | ||
Affirms the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of its people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes. | |||
1981 | Condemns activities of foreign economic interests in colonial territories. | ||
Calls for the ending of all test explosions of nuclear weapons. | |||
Calls for action in support of measures to prevent nuclear war, curb the arms race and promote disarmament. | |||
Urges negotiations on prohibition of chemical and biological weapons. | |||
Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development, etc are human rights. | |||
Concerns changes to the United Nations accounting methods. | |||
1981 | Condemns South Africa for attacks on neighbouring states, condemns apartheid and attempts to strengthen sanctions. | 124-1 136-1 129-2 126-2 139-1 138-1 | |
1981 | Condemns an attempted coup by South Africa on the Seychelles. | ||
1981 | Demands that Israel cease excavations in areas of East Jerusalem considered by the United Nations to be part of the occupied territories. | ||
Condemns Israel for bombing Iraqi nuclear installations. | |||
Condemns Israeli policy regarding living conditions of the Palestinian people. | 111-2 | ||
To establish a nuclear weapon free zone in the Middle East. | |||
To establish rights for the Palestinian people. | 119-3 | ||
To clarify the status of Jerusalem. | |||
Discusses Palestinian refugees in the Gaza Strip. | |||
Concering the rights of displaced Palestinians to return to their homes. | |||
Concerning revenues from Palestinian refugees' properties. | |||
Establishment of the University of Jerusalem for Palestinian refugees. | |||
Concerning Israeli human rights violations in occupied territories. | |||
Condemns Israel closing of universities in occupied territories. | |||
Opposes Israel's decision to build a canal linking the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. | |||
Discusses sovereignty over national resources in occupied Palestine and other Arab territories. | |||
Affirms the non-applicability of Israeli law over the Golan Heights. | |||
1982 | Condemns the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. | (1982-1983) | |
1982 | Condemns the shooting of 11 Muslims at a shrine in Jerusalem by an Israeli soldier. | ||
Calls on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights occupied in 1967. | |||
1982 | For the ratification of the convention on the suppression and punishment of apartheid. | ||
To promote international action against apartheid. | |||
Condemns apartheid in sports. | |||
Calls for the cessation of further foreign investments and loans for South Africa. | |||
1982 | Calls for the setting up of a World Charter for the protection of the ecology. | ||
Sets up a United Nations conference on succession of states in respect to state property, archives and debts. | |||
Nuclear test bans and negotiations and nuclear free outer space. | 114-1 138-1 | ||
Supports a new world information and communications order. | |||
Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons. | |||
Development of international law. | |||
To prevent the exclusion of certain United Nations employees. | |||
Protects against products harmful to health and the environment. | |||
Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development are human rights. | |||
Implementation of the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States. | |||
Concerning the adequacy of facilities of the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. | |||
Development of the energy resources of developing countries. | |||
Restructuring international economic relations towards establishing a new international economic order. | |||
1983 | Afirms the right of every state to choose its economic and social system in accord with the will of its people, without outside interference in whatever form it takes. | ||
Resolutions against apartheid South Africa. | 149-1 140-1 145-1 | ||
Prevention of an arms race in outer space. | |||
Declares that education, work, health care, proper nourishment, national development are human rights. | |||
Concerning international law. | |||
Concerning the Transport and Communications Decade in Africa. | |||
Prohibition of manufacture of new weapons of mass destruction. | |||
Reversing the arms race. | |||
Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons. | |||
Requests a study on the naval arms race. | |||
Concerning disarmament and security. | |||
Strengthening the United Nations to respond to natural and other disasters. | |||
1984 | Condemns support of South Africa in its Namibian and other policies. | ||
International action to eliminate apartheid. | |||
1984 | Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon. | ||
1984 | Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States. | ||
Condemns Israeli attack against Iraqi nuclear installation. | |||
On the elimination of racial discrimination. | |||
Affirms the rights of the Palestinian people. | |||
For the convening of a Middle East peace conference. | |||
Prohibition of new types of weapons of mass destruction. | |||
Prohibition of chemical and bacteriological weapons. | |||
Concerning the law of the sea. | |||
Concerning Israeli human rights violations in occupied territories. | |||
Condemns assassination attempts against Palestinian mayors. | |||
Condemns Israel for failing to place its nuclear facilities under international safeguards. | |||
Concerning a nuclear test ban. | |||
To study military research and development. | |||
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. | |||
Proposing economic assistance to the Palestinian people. | |||
Support for the United Nations Industrial Development Organsiation. | |||
Concerning the Industrial Development Decade for Africa. | |||
Questions regarding the Economic Commission for Western Asia. | |||
1985 | Condemns Israel for occupying and attacking southern Lebanon. | ||
Condemns Israel for using excessive force in the occupied territories. | |||
1985 | Resolutions about cooperation, human rights, trade and development. | 130-1 133-1 | |
Measures to be taken against Nazi, Fascist and neo-Fascist activities. | |||
1986 | Calls on all governments (including the USA) to observe international law. | ||
1986 | Condemns Israel for its actions against Lebanese civilians. | ||
Calls on Israel to respect Muslim holy places. | |||
Condemns Israel for sky-jacking a Libyan airliner. | |||
1986 | To set up a zone of peace and cooperation in the South Atlantic. | ||
To eliminate existing imbalances in the information and communications fields. | |||
To Strengthen of international security. | |||
Dialogue to improve the international situation. | |||
For the establishment of a comprehensive system of international peace and security. | |||
Declaration on the right to development. | |||
Measures to improve the situation and ensure the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers. | |||
Protection against products harmful to health and the environment. | |||
1987 | Calls on Israel to abide by the Geneva Conventions in its treatment of the Palestinians. | ||
Calls on Israel to stop deporting Palestinians. | |||
1987 | Condemns Israel for its actions in Lebanon. | ||
Calls on Israel to withdraw its forces from Lebanon. | |||
1987 | Cooperation between the United Nations and the League of Arab States. | ||
Calls for compliance in the International Court of Justice concerning military and paramilitary activities against Nicaragua and a call to end the trade embargo against Nicaragua. | 94-2 | ||
Measures to prevent international terrorism, study the underlying political and economic causes of terrorism, convene a conference to define terrorism and to differentiate it from the struggle of people from national liberation. | |||
Resolutions concerning journalism, international debt and trade. | 154-1 131-1 | ||
Opposition to the build up of weapons in space. | |||
Opposition to the development of new weapons of mass destruction. | |||
Opposition to nuclear testing. | 137-3 | ||
Proposal to set up South Atlantic "Zone of Peace". | |||
1988 | Condemns Israeli practices against Palestinians in the occupied territories. | (1988-1989) | |
1989 | Condemns USA invasion of Panama. | ||
Condemns USA troops for ransacking the residence of the Nicaraguan ambassador in Panama. | |||
1989 | Condemns USA for shooting down 2 Libyan aircraft. | ||
1989 | Condemns USA support for the Contra army in Nicaragua. | ||
Condemns illegal USA embargo of Nicaragua. | |||
Opposing the acquisition of territory by force. | |||
Calling for a resolution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on earlier UN resoltions. | |||
1990 | To send three UN Security Council observers to the occupied territories. | ||
1995 | Afirms that land in East Jerusalem annexed by Israel is occupied territory. | ||
1997 | Calls on Israel to cease building settlements in East Jerusalem and other occupied territories. | ||
1999 | Calls on the USA to end its trade embargo on Cuba. | 88-4 101-2 117-3 138-2 143-2 157-2 155-2 | |
2001 | To send unarmed monitors to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. | ||
Condemns Israel for acts of terror against civilians in the occupied territories. | |||
To set up the International Criminal Court. | |||
2002 | To renew the peace keeping mission in Bosnia. | ||
2002 | Condemns the killing of UK worker for the United Nations by Israeli forces. Condemns the destruction of the World Food Programme warehouse. | ||
2003 | Condemns a decision by the Israeli parliament to "remove" the elected Palestinian president, Yasser Arafat. | ||
Condemns the building of a wall by Israel on Palestinian land. | |||
2003 | To end the USA's 40 year embargo of Cuba. | ||
2004 | Condemns the assassination of Hamas leader, Sheik Ahmad Yassin. | ||
2004 | Condemns the Israeli incursion and killings in Gaza. | ||
2004 | Production and processing of weapon-usable material should be under international control. | 179-2 | |
2006 | Calls for an end to Israeli military incursions and attacks on Gaza. | 13-1 | |
2006 | Calls for an end to the financial embargo against Cuba. | ||
2007 | Calls for peaceful uses for outer space. | ||
Calls for a convention against female descrimination. | 132-2 154-1 | ||
Concerning the rights of children. | |||
Concerning the right to food. | |||
On the applicability of the Geneva Convention to the protection of civilians in time of war. | |||
Calls for the protection of the global climate. | |||
Calls for Indian Ocean to be declared a zone of peace. Calls for a nuclear weapon free South East Asia. | 174-1 | ||
2007 | Calls for the right of self determination for the Palestinian people. Other resolutions regarding the Palestinians and their rights. | 171-6 170-6 93-8 165-7 156-7 164-1 176-2 109-8 110-8 161-8 161-7 160-6 111-6 | |
2008 | Calls for progress towards an arms trade treaty. | 131-1 130-1 | |
Banning the development of new weapons of mass destruction. | |||
Assuring non-nuclear states they will not be attacked or threatened with nuclear weapons. | (2007-2008) | 122-1 | |
Prevention of the development of an arms race in outer space and transparency in outer space activities. | (2007-2008) | 178-1 177-1 180-1 | |
Calls to decrease the operational readiness of nuclear weapons systems and to ban nuclear weapons. | 165-4 166-5 173-4 130-3 | ||
Calls to end the use of depleted Uranium in weapons. | |||
Concerning the trade in illicit small arms. | 176-1 181-1 | ||
Calls for a nuclear free Central Asia and a nuclear free Southern Hemisphere. Prevention of proliferation in the Middle East. | 171-3 169-5 | ||
Calls for a comprehensive (nuclear) test ban treaty. Calls for a nuclear weapon free world. | (2007-2008) | 175-1 | |
2008 | Calls for a treaty on children's rights. | ||
Condemns Racial Descrimination. | |||
Affirms the soverignty of Palestinians over the occupied territories and their resources. | |||
Affirms the right of the Palestinians to self determination. | |||
Calls on Israel to pay the cost of cleaning up an oil slick off the coast of Lebanon caused by its bombing. | |||
Calls for a new economic order. | |||
Calls for a right of development for nations. | |||
Calls for a right to food. | |||
Respect for the right to universal freedom of travel and the vital importance of family reunification. | |||
Concerning developments in IT for international security. | (2007-2008) | 175-1 | |
2008 | Resolutions concerning Palestine, its people, their property and Israeli practices in Palestine, including settlements. | 172-6 172-6 173-6 94-8 173-6 171-6 165-8 179-2 177-3 177-3 | |
2009 | Calls for an end to the 22 day long Israeli attack on Gaza. |
"I do not believe that the United States should be bound by the same rules as the smallest African nation. Life isn't like that."
Madeleine Albright, former USA Secretary of State to the United Nations:
"[The USA will] behave, with others, multilaterally when we can and unilaterally as we must."
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, USA ambassador to the United Nations writing in his book, A Dangerous Place:
"The [USA] Department of State desired that the United Nations prove utterly ineffective in whatever measures it undertook. This task was given to me and I carried it forward with no inconsiderable success."
George Bush, USA president during the bombing of Iraq:
"What we say goes."
Edward S Herman, USA writer on the Middle East:
"Thus, instead of having to leave the occupied territories Israel continues to push out the locals by force, uproot their trees, steal their water, beggar them by 'closures' and endless restrictions, and it suffers no penalties because it has USA approval, protection, and active assistance. The partners also deny Palestinians any right to return to land from which they were expelled, so 140+ contrary United Nations votes, and two Security Council Resolutions (both vetoed by the United States) have no effect; and in a remarkable Orwellian process of doublethink - and double morality - Israel is free to expel more Palestinians in the same time frame in which their protector spent billions and great moral energy in a campaign to return worthy victims in Kosovo."
"Another remarkable Orwellian process is this: the abused and beggared Palestinian people periodically rebel as their conditions deteriorate and more land is taken, homes are demolished, and they are treated with great ruthlessness and discrimination. Many are among the hundreds of thousands expelled earlier, or who have still not forgotten their relatives killed and injured by Israeli violence over many years - and Palestinian deaths by Israeli arms almost surely exceed Israeli deaths from 'terrorism' by better than 15 to 1. And after this long history of expulsion and murder they are still under assault. In this context, if they rise up in revolt at their oppressors this is not 'freedom fighters' or a 'national liberation movement' in action, it is 'irrational violence' and a return to 'terrorism,' and both Israeli and USA officials (and therefore the mainstream USA media) agree that the first order of business is to stop this terrorism."
"But in the definitional system of oppressor and patron this is TERRORISM, horrifying and intolerable. What Israel has done making this people desperate is not terror. As [USA] State Department PR man James Rubin explained after another spate of Israeli demolitions of Palestinian houses, this was 'a wrong signal' for a delicate stage in peace talks. Not bad in themselves and a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, just a wrong signal. Madeleine Albright called on the Israelis to refrain from 'what Palestinians see as the provocative expansion of settlements, land confiscation, house demolitions and confiscation of IDs'. Only 'the Palestinians' see these actions as 'provocative;' Albright does not find them objectionable in themselves or illegal. In fact, under Clinton the United States finally rejected the international law and almost universal consensus on the occupation, declaring the territories not 'occupied Palestinian lands' but 'disputed territories' (Albright). By USA fiat Palestinian lands became open to settlement by force by the ethnic cleanser who the United States has armed to the teeth, and who has aggressively brutalized while creating 'facts on the ground' during the 'dispute,' which will not be settled until the victims end their terrorism."
"And Albright has stressed that there is 'No moral equivalency between suicide bombers and bulldozers' (Newsweek, Aug. 18, 1997). Clinton, standing next to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres as the latter defended a blockade of the Palestinians that was adding to their misery, put the blame on Hamas who were allegedly 'trying to make the Palestinians as miserable as possible' (Phila. Inquirer, March 15, 1996). There was not the slightest hint that Israel was contributing to Palestinian misery despite massive expropriations and 300 devastating "closures" after 1993."
"So it is not Israeli policy, which amounts to a continuous and illegal assault on and displacement of the Palestinians, that is ultimately at fault and that must be changed to resolve this conflict. Albright can't recognize that decades of 'bulldozers' necessarily produce suicide bombers, although she was quick to find that much less repression in Kosovo produced 'freedom fighters;' nor can she distinguish between systematic policy (i.e., bulldozers) and uncontrollable outbursts from victims that do NOT constitute policy. The inability of these USA officials to see Israel's hugely discriminatory and brutal expulsions, demolitions, mistreatment and plain exploitation as seriously wrong in themselves, illegal, or causal manifests a complete identification with and apologetic for the ethnic cleansers. Five years ago a senior Clinton White House official declared that 'We are not going to second-guess Israel'. [Later] Colin Powell assured the Jewish lobbying group AIPAC that 'We are dedicated to preserving this special relationship with Israel and the Israeli people...[and] a secure Israel with internationally-recognized borders remains a cornerstone of the United States foreign policy.' In short, now as in the past, and with only rare exceptions, as in the case of the unauthorized Israeli attack on Egypt in 1956, Israel will get strong USA support for whatever it does, and the ethnic cleansing of its unworthy victims can proceed as required."
"One of the triumphs of [the] Oslo [Agreement] was its buying off of Arafat, making him into a second class client and an enforcer of the pathetic 'settlement,' with USA and Israeli funds and training exchanged for his commitment to keep his people in line and control 'terrorism.' The formula for the wholesale terrorists (Israel) has always been: whatever violence we perpetrate is 'retaliation' and it is up to the retail terrorists (Palestinians) to stop terrorizing and then we might 'negotiate' with them in a 'peace process.' Israeli leaders say 'You can't ask us to stop expanding existing settlements, which are living organisms' (Netanyahu), as if this were not in violation of UN resolutions, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and even the 1993 Oslo agreement itself."
"USA officials can never bring themselves to say that what Israel is doing is wrong - at worst it may send 'a wrong signal,' etc. And they follow closely the Israeli party line that 'terrorism' (Palestinian, not Israeli) must be stopped first, so that the 'peace process' can be put back on track. For Albright, 'security' is primary, and she told Arafat that 'she needed a commitment and action on the subject of security' before she could make a credible approach to Israel on other issues. 'Security' always means Israeli security, not Palestinian, for Albright - or for Colin Powell - just as for Israeli officials. Here as elsewhere these high USA officials internalize the Israeli perspective and the idea of 'security' for the unworthy victims doesn't arise, any more than the notion that Israeli insecurity arises from the much greater Palestinian insecurity that inevitably results from Israeli policies. In his visit to Jerusalem in March 1996, Clinton spoke of 'the awful persistence of fear' - but only in reference to Israelis, not to Palestinians. This is an internalized racist bias that has characterized USA official statements and media and expert opinion here for decades."
"Why does the United States support Israel's ethnic cleansing? Broadly speaking, the reasons boil down to two factors. One is Israel's role as a USA proxy in the Middle East and its integration into the USA security system, which encompasses not only keeping the Arab world in line, but also providing services like supplying arms to the Somoza regime in Nicaragua, the Pinochet government of Chile, Mobutu, Idi Amin, apartheid South Africa, and the Guatemalan and Argentinian terror states. Because of these services, Israel's victims are not merely unworthy, they also become 'terrorists' and part of the 'Islamic threat' for the USA political elite and mainstream media."
"The second factor is the exceptional power of the pro-Israel lobby, which for many years has bought and bullied politicians and the media, so that they all vie with one another in genuflections to the holy state. This bullying is especially strong and effective in Canada and the United States, but it applies widely, and the distinguished British reporter Robert Fisk, describing the abuse he has suffered in reporting on the Middle East, says that 'the attempt to force the media to obey Israel's rules is now international'."
"These factors feed into the intellectual and media culture in complex ways that institutionalize the huge bias, with pro-Israeli and anti-Palestinian perspectives internalized and / or made obligatory by potential flak and pressure from above and without. This is extremely important, as there is no reason to believe that the USA public would support a massive and brutal ethnic cleansing program if they were given even a modest quantum of the ugly facts, if the main victims rather than the ethnic cleansers were humanized, and if the media's frames of reference were not designed to apologize for Israeli expropriation and violence. However, the ongoing media and intellectual biases do very effectively complement the national policy of support for the ethnic cleansing state, just as they helped cover up national policy supporting Indonesia's murderous occupation of East Timor, and just as they roused the public to a pitch of frenzy over the unapproved Yugoslav violence in Kosovo."
Der Spiegal, news magazine from Germany (1 September 1997):
"Never before in modern history has a country dominated the earth so totally as the United States does today... America is now the Schwarzenegger of international politics: showing off muscles, obtrusive, intimidating... The Americans, in the absence of limits put to them by anybody or anything, act as if they own a kind of blank cheque in their 'McWorld'".
NoControllingLegalAuthority, from a post on a forum about the USA's role in the United Nations:
"The UN is headed for the dust bin of history. It has no moral authority. It is dominated by cowards, scoundrels and thieves. It's participants do not even obey the laws of the city of New York. Many of us are ready to help UN personnel pack and to drive them to the airport for a one-way trip out of our country. Today would not be soon enough. Good riddance to the self-serving human debris."
Reuel Marc, former (USA) CIA covert operator in February 2003:
"The tougher Sharon becomes, the stronger our image will be in the Middle East".
Involvement of USA Companies
USA companies are usually the beneficiaries of USA foreign policy.
Governments that propose economic policies that keep control of resources by the state or the people are usually demonised, attacked, sanctioned and often removed. Only governments that set up economic systems compatible with USA interests are tolerated. The assumption that the USA has the right to attack governments on economic grounds is rarely challenged in the Western media.The USA supports governments that allow free reign to USA companies. These companies are helped by having lax (or non-enforced) safety or pollution laws, beneficial tax regimes (that is, beneficial to the companies rather than the populations) and sometimes military help in controlling the work force. Some examples are indicated in the table below. In many countries child and slave labour is used to make goods cheaply which are then sold at a huge profits.
Year | Company | Country | Involvement |
---|---|---|---|
pre 1945 | ITT Corporation Ford Motor Company General Motors DuPont Standard Oil Davis Oil Company Chase National Bank | Nazi Germany | Supply of military materials to Nazi Germany. This government was responsible for large scale genocide against Jewish, Slavic and Roma populations as well as against political dissidents. |
1954 | United Fruit Coca Cola | Guatemala | Taking advantage of military regime's lax laws and cheap labour. |
1984 | Union Carbide | India | 14,419 killed in explosion with little compensation. |
1988 | Unocal Pepsi Total Oil | Burma | Taking advantage of military regime's lax laws and forced labour. |
1995 | Unocal | Afghanistan | Entertains Taliban leaders in order to get a pipeline across the country. |
1997 | Exxon Mobil | Indonesia | Colludes with government to suppress dissent about oil extraction. |
1997 | McDonalds | China | Use of child labour to produce toys given away with food sales. |
1998 | Ethyl Corporation | Canada | Uses WTO rules to force the country to reverse a ban on its petrol additive. |
1998 | Monsanto W R Grace | India Bangladesh | Attempt to force use of non seeding crops and to patent local plants. |
1998 | Unocal Texaco Johnson & Johnson Federal Express | Burma | Taking advantage of military regime's forced labour. |
1999 | Chiquita Del Monte Dole | Europe | Attempt to force Europe to buy more of its bananas via a WTO ruling. |
2001 | Occidental Petroleum | Colombia | Taking advantage of military protection. |
2001 | Nike | Vietnam China Indonesia Thailand Taiwan South Korea Pakistan Bangladesh Cambodia | Abuse of cheap labour. Use of child labour |
2001 | ExxonMobil Chevron | Chad | Colluding with oppressive government to build a pipeline. |
2001 | Halliburton | Burma | Taking advantage of military regime's lax laws and forced labour. |
2002 | Anglo-American | Botswana | Mining in tribal lands occupied for 20,000 years. |
2002 | Boeing | China | Installing spying equipment in Chinese president's aircraft. |
2002 | Computer companies | Asia | Using Asia's lax environmental laws to recycle computer components. |
2002 | Kraft Procter & Gambol Sara Lee Corp | Coffee growing countries | Colluding with Western governments to keep out fair competition and high retail prices in the West. |
2002 | Many | Many | Tabulated list of selected Western companies trading in countries with dubious human rights records. |
2003 | Monsanto DuPont | Many | Non-sustainable genetically modified crops sold to poorer countries. |
2003 | 70 companies | Iraq | Traded with the regime of Saddam Hussein between 1980 and 1989. |
2003 | Halliburton and others | Iraq | Halliburton awarded contract by USA government to repair Iraqi oil installations before USA-led invasion and without Iraqi consent. Other contracts awarded to USA companies that have donated to the USA administration. |
Thomas Friedman from "What the World Needs Now" in the New York Times (USA) and Illustrated by an American Flag on a fist:
"For globalism to work, America can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist...McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps."USA Defence Secretary William Cohen in remarks to reporters prior to his speech at Microsoft Corporation in Seattle as reported by Associated Press:
"[T]he prosperity that companies like Microsoft now enjoy could not occur without having the strong military that we have. ... conflicts in faraway lands such as Bosnia, Korea and Iraq have a direct effect on the U.S. economy. The billions it costs to keep 100,000 American troops in South Korea and Japan, for example, makes Asia more stable--and thus better markets for U.S. goods. The military's success in holding Iraq in check ensures a continued flow of oil from the Persian Gulf."
George Kennan, Cold War Planner for the USA in 1948:
"We have 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation, our real job in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which permit us to maintain this position of disparity. To do so, we have to dispense with all sentimentality...we should cease thinking about human rights, the raising of living standards and democratisation."
Pentagon's Planning Guidance for the Fiscal Years 1994 - 1999, a USA planning document:
"Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival... we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."
USA: Nuclear, Biological
and Chemical
The USA has the largest military expenditure of any nation. It has an extensive nuclear armoury, some of it based in other countries. In addition, there is a large chemical and biological program. Although not the only country with nuclear weapons, the USA is the only country to have used these weapons. The USA has tested its weapons on other peoples' territory.
Less well remembered is the fact that the USA has used chemical and biological weapons.It frequently votes against United Nations resolutions that will monitor and curb such weapons. The USA often insists on countries having United Nations inspections for weapons programs while denying access for its own extensive chemical, nuclear and biological armoury. The USA will use the international legal system when it suits but ignore its judgements if they go against the USA. This behaviour is reported around the world leading to much anger and resentment at the USA. Little of this gets reported to the USA public however.
Some weapons regularly used by the USA are barely legal but of dubious morality (e.g. napalm, cluster bombs, depleted Uranium).
Much of the world feels like there is one law for the USA and its friends, another law for everyone else.
Year | Country | Details |
---|---|---|
1946 | Japan | Obtained results of wartime biological experiments from Japan after promising immunity from prosecution. |
1950 | Bahamas | Spraying of toxic bacteria for testing. |
1951 | Marshall Islands | Testing of Hydrogen Bomb. |
1952 | Korea | Biological (plague, anthrax and encephalitis) and chemical (napalm) warfare. |
1953 | Canada | Chemical tests (zinc cadmium sulphide) in city. |
1954 | Marshall Islands | Testing of Hydrogen Bomb. |
1958 | Turkey Greece | Nuclear weapons installed in a country bordering the USSR. |
1962 | Vietnam | Use of Agent Orange, a defoliant which contains dioxin which is carcinogenic (cancer producing). |
1962 | Cuba | Use of chemical contaminants to sabotage the country's sugar and turkey exports. |
1965 | Vietnam | Use of agent orange (cancer producing defoliant) and flesh burning napalm. |
1968 | Vietnam | Use of flesh burning napalm. |
1968 | Marshall Islands | Human aftermath of nuclear testing. |
1969 | Korea | Agent Orange (carcinogenic defoliant) used extensively; Chemical training given to other countries. |
1970 | Vietnam | Agent Orange used extensively; CS Gas sprayed, killing thousands; cyanide, arsenic, napalm and naphthalene used. |
1970 | Laos | Sarin nerve gas used against villages - also affects USA soldiers. |
1971 | Cuba | Pigs infected with African Swine Fever. |
1975 | Vietnam | Human aftermath of Agent Orange used. |
1980 | Cuba | Attempt to infect Cuba with bacteria. |
1988 | Iraq | Export of biological and chemical agents to a regime that gasses civilians. |
1989 | Panama | Village sprayed with gas during invasion. |
1991 | Iraq | Deliberate bombing of nuclear facilities; use of weapons tipped with depleted Uranium, a hard but radioactive metal; civilians napalmed; use of sarin nerve gas. |
1994 | USA | USA soldiers exposed to nuclear, biological and chemical agents around the world. |
1996 | Cuba | Anti-crop insect sprayed over Cuba. |
1997 | USA | Refusal of USA to sign a treaty banning chemical weapons (signed by over 100 countries). |
1998 | South Africa | Encouragment of South Africa's apartheid regime to develop chemical and biological weapons. |
1999 | USA | Refusal of USA to sign a treaty banning nuclear tests. |
1999 | Panama | USA military tests chemicals like Agent Orange, mustard gas, VX, sarin and cyanide in Panama. |
2001 | Iraq | Human aftermath of 96,000 depleted Uranium shells dropped on Iraq since 1991. |
2001 | USA | Unilateral USA withdrawal from missile and biological treaties. |
2003 | Iraq | Effects of depleted Uranium used in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. Declaration that it will be used again in the 2003 invasion. |
2003 | Iraq | Use of depleted Uranium. |
2003 | Iraq | Use of napalm near Baghdad. |
2003 | USA and others | Storage of nuclear weapons in the USA and other countries. |
2003 | Colombia | Toxic spraying. |
2004 | Iraq | Use of napalm in Fallujah. |
2005 | Vietnam | Legal case about the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam. |
Civilian Victims of
USA Foreign Policy
Up to 2009
USA victims of terrorism are extensively publicised in the Western media. Their photos are shown, their relatives interviewed, their lives mourned. On 11 September 2002, the first anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington, people in London (UK) were instructed by our government to observe 2 minutes of silence.
This web site has no problem with mourning and honouring innocent victims of violence. However, we believe that the majority of the world's victims of violence are ignored. Their pictures are never shown, their names often unknown, their lives and deaths ignored.This page is part of the section that attempts to answer the question
This list does not include the victims of colonial powers such as the UK, France or the Netherlands. It does not include oppression by countries not under USA control (the Soviet Union and its allies, countries like Syria, Iran after 1979, South Africa in its internal policies) or of groups like the IRA (UK), ETA (Spain) or the PLO (Israel).
The latter is not evidence of anti-Semitism. Indeed, the Arabs are a Semitic people like the Jews. Israel obtains money, arms and political support from the USA. Most of the weapons used against Palestinian civilians are of USA origin. The Palestinians get no political or military support from the USA. Israel is in control of the territory and as the occupying power has governmental responsiblities.
These pages do not attempt to offer a solution but merely to provide information.
Period | Country | USA Policy Details | Civilians Killed |
---|---|---|---|
1945 | South Korea | Support for massacre of dissidents on Cheju Island. | 100,000 + |
1948 | Vietnam | Support of French efforts to recolonise. | thousands |
1950 | Bahamas | Biological tests (with Canada and UK). | unknown |
1950 | Korea | Stopping refugees crossing the front line. | hundreds |
1952 | Cuba | Support for military coup and death squads. | thousands |
1952 | Korea China | Biological warfare. | unknown |
1954+ | Guatemala | Organisation of military coup; arming and training of government death squads. | 100,000 + |
1957+ | Haiti | Support for brutal dictatorship. | 60,000 |
1962 | Cuba | Attack on industrial facility. | 400 |
1963 | Iraq | Supplying military government with lists of dissidents to be eliminated. | thousands |
1964 | North Vietnam | Blanket bombing. | unknown |
1964 | Brazil | Support for brutal dictatorship. | 75,000 + |
1965 | Indonesia | Supplying government with lists of dissidents to be eliminated. | thousands |
1965 to 1973 | Laos | Blanket bombing. | hundreds of thousands |
1965 | Peru | Setting up military camps to eliminate dissidents. | unknown |
1967 | Vietnam | "Friendly Fire". | 80 |
1968 | Vietnam | My Lai Massacre by USA troops | over 200 |
1970 | Vietnam | Chemical warfare. | thousands |
1970 | Laos | Chemical warfare. | Over 100 |
1971 | Vietnam | Military action. | 5,000 |
1972 | Vietnam | Blanket bombing. | unknown |
1972 | Lebanon Syria | Air attacks by Israel supported by the USA. | hundreds |
1973 | Chile | Organisation and support of military coup and its follow-up actions. | 5,000 |
1969 to 1973 | Cambodia | Blanket bombing, mostly in secret. | 600,000 |
1964 to 1975 | Vietnam Laos | Blanket bombing. | 2,500,000 + |
1939 to 1975 | Spain | Financial support for brutal dictatorship. | 192,684 |
1975 to 1979 | Cambodia | Khmer Rouge auto-genocide resulting from five years of secret bombing. | 2,500,000 + |
1975 to 1999 | East Timor | Support and arming of Indonesian invasion and genocide (with UK and Australia). | 200,000 |
1975 | Iraq | Abandoning of former Kurdish allies. | unknown |
1976 | Nicaragua | Massacre of dissidents by supported and armed un-elected government. | thousands |
1978 | Lebanon | Supporting of invasion by Israel. | 700 |
1978+ | Guatemala | Arming, training and support of government death squads. | 20,000 |
1953 to 1979 | Iran | Support and finance for unelected, brutal government put in place by USA and UK. | unknown |
1979 | Nicaragua | Support and arming of unelected, brutal government put in place by USA. | 30,000 |
1980 to 1992 | El Salvador | Training, arming and financial backing for government death squads. | 75,000 |
1980 to 1990 | Iran | Support and arms for invasion by Iraq. | 1,000,000 |
1980 | Italy | Support and finance for urban terrorists. | 86 |
1980 | South Korea | Massacre of dissidents by military government armed and supported by USA. | thousands |
1981 | Lebanon | Support of bombing raids by Israel. | 320 |
1982 | Lebanon | Support for invasion by Israel including use of UN veto. | 17,500 + |
1982 to 1990 | Chad | Training and arming of military regime. | thousands |
1982 to 1986 | Guatemala | Support and arming of brutal, military regime. | 50,000 + |
1983 | Grenada | Invasion to remove leader. | 500 |
1976 to 1984 | Argentina | Support and finance for military regime. | 30,000 |
1986 | Nicaragua | Support and arming of former government troops for destabilisation. | 50,000 |
1986 | Libya | Military attack on oil installations. | 70 + |
1987 to 1992 | Palestinian Territories | Support and finance for occupation and settlement building by Israel. | 1000 + |
1983 to 1987 | Lebanon | Support and arms for military action by Israel and CIA sponsored terrorism. | 50,000 + |
1988 | Iran | Shooting down of commercial passenger airliner. | 286 |
1988 | Iraq | Support (with UK), finance and arms for regime which uses poison gas on its Kurdish population. | 6,000 |
1989 | Panama | Invasion to remove leader. | 4,000 + |
1991 | Iraq | Invasion (with UK and other countries). | 200,000 |
1992 | Somalia | Invasion. | 7,000 |
1974 to 1992 | Angola | Arming and support for rebels destabilising country. | 650,000 + |
1986 to 1994 | Colombia | Finance (with UK oil companies) and support for regime that kills dissidents. | 20,000 + |
1995 to 1998 | Turkey | Arms and finance for regime that kills dissidents and its Kurdish population. | 27,000 + |
1995 | Mexico | Military aid to supress dissidents. | unknown |
1996 | Lebanon | Arms and support for Israel in its occupation. | 120 |
1996 | Palestinian Territories | Arms and finance for Israeli occupation. | 80 + |
1997 | Rwanda | Arms and finance for regime that kills dissidents. | 6,000 |
1965 to 1997 | Indonesia | Arms, support and finance for brutal dictatorship. | 1,000,000 |
1990 to 1997 | Iraq | Pressure on UN to impose and maintain sanctions and bombing raids (with UK support). | 1,200,000 + |
1998 | Afghanistan | Finance (with UK) for brutal Taliban government. | 2,000 + |
1998 | Sudan | Bombing. | unknown |
1986 to 1998 | Guatemala | Support, finance and arms for regimes that kill dissidents. | 200,000 |
1999 | Yugoslavia | Bombing (with other NATO countries). | thousands |
1999 | Iraq | Bombing (with UK support). | hundreds |
1991 to 1999 | Kuwait Iraq | Unexploded cluster bombs. | 1,620 |
2000 | Palestinian Territories | Support, arms and finance for occupation and settlement building by Israel. | hundreds |
2001 | Colombia | Arms and training for regime that kills dissidents. | 18 |
2001 | Palestinian Territories | Support, arms and finance for occupation and settlement building by Israel. | hundreds |
2001 | Palestinian Territories | Ethnic cleansing. | 100 + |
2001 | Afghanistan | Bombing (with UK). | 3,760 + |
1995 to 2001 | Peru | Helping military shoot down aircraft suspected of drug running. | unknown |
2002 | Palestinian Territories | Political support, finance and arms. | hundreds |
2002 | Angola | Intelligence. | unknown |
2002 | Iraq | Bombing (with UK). | unknown |
2002 | Yemen | Missile attack on vehicle. | 6 |
2003 | Afghanistan | Support for war lords. | 300 + |
2003 | Algeria | Finacial and military support for unelected government. | hundreds |
2003 | Iraq | Invasion (with UK). | 17,000 + |
2003 | Bolivia | Support for government that is crushing economic dissent. | 40 |
1976 to 2003 | Indonesia | Support for government suppressing minorities in Aceh province. | 12,000 + |
2003 | Palestinian Territories | Political support, finance and arms. | hundreds |
2003 | Uzbekistan | Support for dictator. | unknown |
2004 | Palestinian Territories | Political support, finance and arms. | 1,400 + |
2003 to 2007 | Iraq | Invasion and Occupation (with UK). | 655,000 + |
2006 | Palestine, Lebanon | Political support and arms. (with UK). | 1,300 + (to August) |
2006 | Haiti | Removal of elected government. (with France). | 8,000 + (to September) |
2007 | Somalia | Removal of government. (with Ethiopia). | 2,000 + |
2008 | Palestine | Political support for siege and killings. | 700 + |
2009 | Palestine | Political support and arms. | 1,300 + |
"Throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child is likely to be displaced, tortured, killed or 'disappeared', at the hands of governments or armed political groups. More often than not, the United States shares the blame."
Alfredo Vásquez Carrizosa, president of the Colombian Permanent Committee for Human Rights:
"Violence [in Colombia] has been exacerbated by external factors. In the 1960s the United States, during the Kennedy administration, took great pains to transform our regular armies into counterinsurgency brigades, accepting the new strategy of death squads."
"[These initiatives] ushered in what is known in Latin America as the National Security Doctrine, not defence against an external enemy, but a way to make the military establishment the masters of the game [with] the right to combat the internal enemy, as set forth in the Brazilian doctrine, the Argentine doctrine, the Uruguayan doctrine, and the Colombian doctrine: it is the right to fight and to exterminate social workers, trade unionists, men and women who are not supporters of the establishment, and who are assumed to be communist extremists. And this could mean anyone, including human rights activists such as myself."