"A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA," agrees Weinstein. The biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection" The Washington Post INNOCENCE ABROAD: THE NEW WORLD OF SPYLESS COUPS, September 22, 1991
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
"Ukraine is the biggest prize" Former Soviet States Stand Up to Russia. Will the US. 26th of September 2013 The Washington Post Carl Gershman, Head of NED
"The silence of the Arab public in the wake of America’s victories in Afghanistan,’ he said, proves that ‘only fear will re-establish respect for the U.S. … We need to read a little bit of Machiavelli… There is so much evidence with respect to his development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles . . . that I consider this point beyond dispute" The Hawk, The Washington Post December 27, 2001, James Woosley (Ex CIA Director)
"We will engage terrestrial targets someday—ships, airplanes, land targets—from space. … We’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space." 1996 the Space Command’s commander in chief, Gen. Joseph Ashy, Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999
"In November 138 nations voted in the UN General Assembly to reaffirm the Outer Space Treaty and its provision that space “shall be for peaceful purposes.” Only the United States and Israel abstained. Assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Keith Hall says, “Space dominance, we have it, we like it and we’re going to keep it.” Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999
"Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States. … America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed. … We must deter and defend against the threat before it is unleashed. … We cannot let our enemies strike first. … To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States wil, if necessary, act preemptively" Full Text: Bush's National Security Strategy
"Q. -- -- and also, is it really worth it to send people to their death for this, to get Noriega?
The President. We had some estimates, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], on the casualties ahead of time, but not in numbers. I mean, it was more general: Look, Mr. President, no way can you do an operation this large and not have American casualties. So, the Defense Department was very up front with us about that, and every human life is precious. And yet I have to answer: Yes, it has been worth it." The President's News Conference
"Leslie Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died (as a result of sanctions against Iraq). I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it." 60 minutes Interview with Madeline Albright 1996 Clinton's secretary of state, commenting on the sanctions on Iraq
"Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections… Mr. Obeidi told Mr. Hage that Iraq would make deals to avoid war, including helping in the Mideast peace process. ''He said, if this is about oil, we will talk about U.S. oil concessions,'' Mr. Hage recalled. ''If it is about the peace process, then we can talk. If this is about weapons of mass destruction, let the Americans send over their people. There are no weapons of mass destruction.''
"Senior members of the Bush administration met several times in recent months with leaders of a coalition that ousted the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, for two days last weekend, and agreed with them that he should be removed from office, administration officials said today… But a Defense Department official who is involved in the development of policy toward Venezuela said ''We were not discouraging people,'' the official said. ''We were sending informal, subtle signals that we don't like this guy. We didn't say, 'No, don't you dare,' and we weren't advocates saying, 'Here's some arms; we'll help you overthrow this guy.' We were not doing that.'' Bush Officials Met With Venezuelans Who Ousted Leader NYT April 16, 2002
As the USAid website used to boast (until the paragraph became too embarrassing and was deleted in 2006): “The principal beneficiary of America’s foreign assistance programmes has always been the United States. Close to 80% of the US Agency for International Development’s contracts and grants go directly to American firms.” Aid has “created new markets for American industrial exports and meant hundreds of thousands of jobs for Americans”. Long before Trump entered the White House, USAid was “putting America first”. As a system, foreign aid is a fraud and does nothing for inequality Kenan Malik The Guardian Sun 2 Sep 2018
"When they bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador and Nicaragua I said nothing because I wasn’t a communist. When they bombed China, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Congo I said nothing because I didn’t know about it. When they bombed Lebanon and Grenada I said nothing because I didn’t understand it. When they bombed Panama I said nothing because I wasn’t a drug dealer. When they bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen I said nothing because I wasn’t a terrorist. When they bombed Yugoslavia and Libya for ‘humanitarian’ reasons I said nothing because it sounded so honorable. Then they bombed my house and there was no one left to speak out for me. But it didn’t really matter. I was dead."
"According to senior military and intelligence sources in Europe and the US the Chinese embassy was removed from a prohibited targets list after Nato electronic intelligence (Elint) detected it sending army signals to Milosevic's forces.
The story is confirmed in detail by three other Nato officers - a flight controller operating in Naples, an intelligence officer monitoring Yugoslav radio traffic from Macedonia and a senior headquarters officer in Brussels. They all confirm that they knew in April that the Chinese embassy was acting as a 'rebro' [rebroadcast] station for the Yugoslav army (VJ) after alliance jets had successfully silenced Milosevic's own transmitters" The Observer. Nato bombed Chinese deliberately Nato hit embassy on purpose Kosovo: special report Sun 17 Oct 1999
"Congressional leaders generally expressed support for the attack on Libya, but a leading Democrat warned that the raid could lead to more violence. [ Page A10. ] French Embassy Reported Hit The French Foreign Ministry said the French Embassy in Tripoli was hit in the bombing raid, but a spokesman said no one was injured.Foreign reporters in Tripoli, after a Government-conducted tour of a residential district today, said that the rear of the French Embassy was heavily damaged, with windows blown out, and that five or six houses in the district were also damaged. A Libyan Government spokesman said an unknown number of civilians had been killed… Mr. Weinberger said American planes were forced to fly a long route to Libya from Britain because France refused to allow the United States to fly over French territory." U.S. Jets Hit Terrorist Centers in Libya; Reagan Warns of New Attacks If Needed The New York Times April 15, 1986
"A deadly poison said to be at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy against Britain led to a dire warning of another al-Qa'ida attack in the West. The Government was swift to act on the fear that such a find generated. But, as Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker report, far from being a major threat, the real danger existed only in the mind of a misguided individual living in a dingy north London bedsit. It was a weapon of mass destruction, a warning that we all needed to be "vigilant and alert". Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, it was presented as the final proof that Saddam Hussein was in league with al-Qa'ida. Anyone wanting to exploit the politics of fear could scarcely conjure up anything more potent than the news that a suspected terrorist cell had been making ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to man, in a north London flat. But there was no ricin - a fact suppressed for more than two years. There was no terrorist cell, just one deluded and dangerous man who killed a police officer during a bungled immigration raid." Ricin: The plot that never was The Independant Sunday 17 April 2005
"Rather: Let me come directly to point. Does Iraq possess nuclear weapons?
Aziz: No. No we do not possess any nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. We are not interested in them. My president has made it clear. We don't have, and we are ready to challenge anybody who makes allegations contrary to what I am saying. But it should be done in a perfect manner, not done by the means of UNSCOM and by the means Mr. Blix is suggesting because they will not report the truth. They will not reach a conclusion about realities. Let us think if the American government is genuinely concerned about that let them come and propose any credible manner to come and inspect and search and then reach the conclusion about the reality. We are ready to discuss with them, with the American government, all reliable efficient means to reach the conclusion." Aziz: Abu Nidal Committed Suicide CBS AUGUST 22, 2002
"And, indeed, in order to make the case absolutely clear that Iraq was no longer in possession of any such…weapons. Iraq accepted to agree to deal with that resolution. That is why, when you talk about such missiles, these missiles have been destroyed. There are no missiles that are contrary to the prescription of the United Nations in Iraq.
These missiles were des - missiles that were proscribed - have been destroyed and are no longer there." Transcript: Saddam Hussein Interview, Pt. 1 CBS 26th of February 2003, Dan Rather interviews Saddam Hussein
"Gen. Hussein Kamel, the former head of Iraq's secret weapons program and a son-in-law of President Saddam Hussein, told a United Nations delegation in a secret meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Aug, 22, 1995, that Iraq had halted the production of VX nerve agent in the late 1980s and destroyed its banned missiles, stocks of anthrax and other chemical agents and poison gases soon after the Persian Gulf War." Iraqi Defector Claimed Arms Were Destroyed by 1995, The Washington Post March 1, 2003
PELLEY : And what did he tell you about how his weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed?
PIRO : He told me that most of the WMD had been destroyed by the U.N. inspectors in the ’90s, and those that hadn’t been destroyed by the inspectors were unilaterally destroyed by Iraq.
PELLEY : He had ordered them destroyed?
PIRO : Yes.
PELLEY : So why keep the secret? Why put your nation at risk? Why put your own life at risk to maintain this charade?" CBS 27th of January 2008 60 minutes Scott Pelly interviewing George Piro (Team Leader and Lead Interrogator of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in 2004) Minute 1:50
"BAGHDAD -- The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein.
Just under 20 percent of the reconstruction package remains unallocated. When the last of the $18.4 billion is spent, U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear, other foreign donors and the fledgling Iraqi government will have to take up what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people.
"The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander overseeing the work, told reporters at a recent news conference. In an interview this past week, McCoy said: "This was just supposed to be a jump-start." U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding Documents Show Much of the Funding Diverted to Security, Justice System and Hussein Inquiry
"And increasingly, we believe that the United States may well become the target of those activities. . . . I think the accurate thing to say is, we don't know when he might actually complete that process. All of the experience we have points in the direction that, in the past, we've underestimated the extent of his program. We've underestimated the speed at which it was developing. . . This just isn't a guy who is now back trying once again to build nuclear weapons. It's the fact that we had also seen him in these other areas — in chemicals, but also especially in biological weapons — increase his capacity to produce and deliver these weapons upon his enemies" With Few Variations, Top Bush Advisers Present Their Case Against Iraq NYT Sept. 9, 2002, Dick Cheyney
"But we must never forget: This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is a -- this is fundamental to the defense of our people." August 17, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
"One of our goals is to stabilize Afghanistan, so it can become a conduit and a hub between South and Central Asia so that energy can flow to the south." Remarks to Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Washington, DC September 20, 2007
"A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it." World: West Asia BBC December 4th 1997, Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline
"The region’s total oil reserves may well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels … From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, leaders, and our company." U.S. Interests in the Central Asian Republics: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, February 12, 1998, Volume 4 Page 18,50. Testifying Unocal representative John Maresca
"Germany's president, Horst Köhler, resigned without warning today, after intense criticism of remarks in which he suggested military deployments were central to the country's economic interests… In a radio interview given on his return from a tour of German military bases in Afghanistan earlier this month, Köhler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, said that the largely pacifist German public was finally coming to terms with the concept that their country could no longer avoid involvement in military missions, which helped "protect our interests, for example, free trade routes, or to prevent regional instability, which might certainly have a negative effect on our trade, jobs and income" German president Horst Köhler quits over Afghanistan gaffe Abrupt resignation over 'misunderstandings' adds to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Guardian Mon 31 May 2010
"Before U.S. warplanes fired missiles into Belgrade's 23-story Socialist Party headquarters in late April, NATO planners bluntly spelled out the risks in a document circulated to President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac.
Next to a photograph of the party headquarters, the document said: "Collateral damage: Tier 3 -- High. Casualty Estimate: 50-100 Government/Party employees. Unintended Civ Casualty Est: 250 -- Apts in expected blast radius."
In short, NATO anticipated that the attack could, in the worst case, kill up to 350 people, including 250 civilians living in nearby apartment buildings.
Officials in Washington and London approved the target, but the French were reluctant, noting that the party headquarters also housed Yugoslav television and radio studios. "In some societies, the idea of killing journalists -- well, we were very nervous about that," said a French diplomat.
One of the myths of the war is that the leaders of NATO's 19 member countries ran the air campaign by committee. But that is not the way the decision-making looked to the alliance's generals and political leaders. Inside the alliance, it was clear that the important choices -- such as whether to bomb targets that had a largely civilian character -- were made by the leaders of three countries: the United States, Britain and France." France Balked at NATO Targets, The Washington Post September 20, 1999
"In October 1978 the Taraki regime issued Decree No. 7. Its main purpose was to reduce indebtedness caused by bride - price and to improve women's status . The decree had three parts : prohibition of bride - price in excess of a mahr of 300 afghanis ( for value of the afghani — see Glossary ) , provisions of complete freedom of choice of marriage partner, and fixation of the minimum age at marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men . In addition, it imposed the penalty of imprisonment for three months to three years for violation of the decree." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 121
"The seventh decree attempted to promote equality between the sexes in married life . It fixed a maximum amount for the bride - price ( mahr ) , established a minimum age for marriage at 18 years for men and 16 years for women , abolished forced marriages , and established legal penalties of imprisonment for violating the decree's provisions" US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986)Page 232
"The effect of Decree No. 7 on women's status was not known as of 1985. The Democratic Women's Organization of Afghanistan ( DWOA ) was organized by Dr. Anahita Ratebzad after the foundation of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan ( PDPA ) . Its function was to educate women , bring them out of seclusion , and initiate social programs . It was still functioning and growing in the mid - 1980s." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 128
"Before the April Revolution Afghanistan had one of the world's highest rates of illiteracy . The new government ranked education high on its list of priorities . The revolutionary regime initiated extensive literacy programs , especially for women , because as of 1978 few women who lived outside of Kabul could read. The school system, which before 1978 had consisted of eight years of primary school and four of secondary, was changed. In 1985 primary school included grades one through five, and secondary education comprised grades six through 10. Textbook reforms were also instituted . The content of the books was changed to include the concept of dialectical materialism, and the number of languages in which the texts were printed was expanded, reflecting Karmal's stated policy that children should be able to learn in their mother tongue." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 130
"The Khalqi policy of encouraging the education of girls, for example, aroused deep resentment in the villages. Local sensibilities were also offended by the secular character of new curricula and the practice of putting girls and boys in the same classroom." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 232
Although both PDPA groups were concerned with changing gender roles and giving women a more active role in politics, women such as Ratebzad, one of the four PDPA members elected to the Wolesi Jirgah in 1965, were more prominent in Parcham" US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 223
"Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni to be published tomorrow.Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears." Haaretz October 25, 2007
"three leading Israeli security experts – the Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad chief, Efraim Halevy, and a former military chief of staff, Dan Halutz – all recently declared that a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel." Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully Jan. 15, 2012
"In addition to influencing Iranian leaders directly, [a US intelligence official] says another option here is that [sanctions] will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways. The intelligence official’s remarks pointed to what has long been an unstated reality of sanctions: Although designed to pressure a government to change its policies, they often impose broad hardships on a population. The official spoke this week on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration assessments." Public ire one goal of Iran sanctions, U.S. official says January 10, 2012 The Washington Post
"For 50 years, we equipped our football team, practiced five days a week and never played a game. We had a clear enemy with demonstrable qualities, and we had scouted them out. [Now] we will have to practice day in and day out without knowing anything about the other team. We won’t have his playbook, we won’t know where the stadium is, or how many guys he will have on the field. That is very distressing to the military establishment, especially when you are trying to justify the existence of your organization and your systems." While Fear of Big War Fades, Military Plans for Little Ones NYT Feb. 3, 1992, Col Dennis Long
"Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department. It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States, and the fax suggested everything was on the table -- including full cooperation on nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups. But top Bush administration officials, convinced the Iranian government was on the verge of collapse, belittled the initiative. Instead, they formally complained to the Swiss ambassador who had sent the fax with a cover letter certifying it as a genuine proposal supported by key power centers in Iran, former administration officials said…. Richard N. Haass, head of policy planning at the State Department at the time and now president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Iranian approach was swiftly rejected because in the administration "the bias was toward a policy of regime change." In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran's Offer of Dialogue Some Officials Lament Lost Opportunity, The Washington Post June 18, 2006
"Leon E. Panetta, the White House pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, on Thursday left open the possibility that the agency could seek permission to use interrogation methods more aggressive than the limited menu that President Obama authorized under new rules … Mr. Panetta also said the agency would continue the Bush administration practice of ‘rendition’ – picking terrorism suspects off the street and sending them to a third country. But he said the agency would refuse to deliver a suspect into the hands of a country known for torture or other actions ‘that violate our human values." Panetta Open to Tougher Methods in Some C.I.A. Interrogation, NYT Feb. 5, 2009
"Approximately 60,000 military personnel were used as human subjects in the 1940s to test two chemical agents, mustard gas and lewisite [blister gas]. Most of these subjects were not informed of the nature of the experiments and never received medical followup after their participation in the research. Additionally, some of these human subjects were threatened with imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth if they discussed these experiments with anyone, including their wives, parents, and family doctors. For decades, the Pentagon denied that the research had taken place, resulting in decades of suffering for many veterans who became ill after the secret testing" Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, ‘Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans’ Health? Lessons Spanning Half a Century,’ December 8, 1994, Page 5
"The Pentagon announced last week that a long-awaited computer model of Khamisiyah estimates that nearly 100,000 U.S. soldiers could have been exposed to trace amounts of sarin gas. The number is five times greater than the Pentagon originally estimated." CIA EXPLORES GULF EXPOSURE TO MUSTARD GAS The Washington Post July 31, 1997
"The hepatitis B virus was responsible for an outbreak of jaundice that struck 50,000 soldiers after they received yellow fever vaccines during World War II, a report today concludes. The virus was long suspected to be the cause of the illness, but this was not confirmed until doctors sampled the blood of veterans two years ago. They estimate that as many as 330,000 soldiers may have been infected with hepatitis B spread by tainted vaccines, making it the biggest such outbreak ever recorded." World War II Hepatitis Outbreak Was Biggest in History
"After a night of heavy explosions and fires, this city was strangely calm early today. Serbs seemed at ease, if angry over the NATO bombing; ethnic Albanians were anxious, even terrified of what was to come…Though Serbs said that much of the damage and fires around the city had been caused by NATO missiles, it was the ethnic Albanians who bore the brunt of the violence overnight, as Serbian forces apparently used the NATO attacks as a pretext to go out and wreak still more havoc… with the NATO bombing already begun, a deepening sense of fear took hold in Pristina [Kosovo’s main city] that the Serbs would now vent their rage against ethnic Albanian civilians in retaliation" CONFLICT IN THE BALKANS: IN KOSOVO; Ethnic Albanians Now Fear Wrath of Serbs
"I am obviously not commenting on any allegations of violations of international humanitarian law supposedly perpetrated by nationals of NATO countries. I accept the assurances given by NATO leaders that they intend to conduct their operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in full compliance with international humanitarian law." Press release from Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour, The Hague, May 13, 1999.
"By holding individuals accountable regardless of their position, the Tribunal has dismantled the tradition of impunity for war crimes. The Tribunal indicted heads of state, prime ministers, army chiefs-of-staff, government ministers and many other leaders from various parties to the Yugoslav conflicts. Thanks to the Tribunal, the question is no longer whether leaders should be held accountable, but rather how best to ensure they will be called to account." Legacy Website of ICTY
Carla del Ponte made her name attacking her own country's habit of accommodating tyrants and gangsters with numbered bank accounts. Now, if she concludes that Nato broke the Geneva Conventions, she will indict those responsible.
"If I am not willing to do that, I am not in the right place: I must give up the mission,' she said last week in an interview after 100 days in the job. 'So I will read it very attentively and I will decide what to do. I must do my job because otherwise I am not independent and the independence of the prosecutor is the most important element." Dossier of Nato 'crimes' lands in prosecutor's lap
"NATO is not under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There is no formal inquiry into the actions of NATO during the conflict in Kosovo. During the past six months, the Prosecutor has met with and received information from a variety of individuals and groups urging an investigation of NATO's actions during the Kosovo conflict, including members of the Russian Duma and several international legal experts. As with any other information provided to the Prosecutor, this information is reviewed by her staff." Statement by Madame Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Hague, 30 December 1999
"One of America's most senior diplomats claimed at the United Nations security council that Muammar Gaddafi is supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape, according to diplomats… A UN diplomat at the closed session on Thursday said: "I was in the room when she mentioned Viagra. The remark did not cause a stir at the time. It was during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels. She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi's forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story." Gaddafi ‘supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape’, claims diplomat US ambassador Susan Rice The Guardian Fri 29 Apr 2011
"The rebels feel no loyalty to the truth in shaping their propaganda, claiming nonexistent battlefield victories, asserting they were still fighting in a key city days after it fell to Qaddafi forces, and making vastly inflated claims of his barbaric behavior." 21st of March 2011 NYT, Hopes for a Qaddafi Exit, and Worries of What Comes Next
"The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would surely have an impact on – and even precedent value for – other parts of the world, especially in Italy; the imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the world balance and our own position in it." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976, VOLUME XXI, CHILE, 1969–1973. 172. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1
"I mean, we’ve got Chávez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others." U.S. orders expulsion of Venezuelan diplomat February 3rd 2006 NBC
"The majority of Cubans support Castro… The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. If the above are accepted or cannot be successfully countered, it follows that every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1958–1960, CUBA, VOLUME VI 499. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom)
"First, we are strengthening re-enforcement of those travel restrictions to Cuba that are already in place. (Applause.) U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure. That law is on the books and it must be enforced. We allow travel for limited reasons, including visit to a family, to bring humanitarian aid, or to conduct research. Those exceptions are too often used as cover for illegal business travel and tourism, or to skirt the restrictions on carrying cash into Cuba. We're cracking down on this deception. I've instructed the Department of Homeland Security to increase inspections of travelers and shipments to and from Cuba. We will enforce the law. (Applause.) We will also target those who travel to Cuba illegally through third countries, and those who sail to Cuba on private vessels in violation of the embargo." For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary
"2. (U) NEWS: USINT is always looking for human interest stories and other news that shatters the myth of Cuban medical prowess, which has become a key feature of the regime's foreign policy and its self-congratulatory propaganda." US embassy cables: US seeks out bad news about Cuban healthcare Fri 17 Dec 2010 The Guardian
"José Wilfredo Salgado says he collected baby skulls as trophies in the 1980s, when he fought as a government soldier in El Salvador's civil war. They worked well as candleholders, he recalls, and better as good-luck charms.In the most barbaric chapters of a conflict that cost more than 75,000 lives, he enthusiastically embraced the scorched-earth tactics of his army bosses, even massacres of children, the elderly, the sick -- entire villages. It was all in the name of beating back communism, Salgado, now the mayor of San Miguel, said he remembers being told.
But as El Salvador commemorates the 15th anniversary of the war's end this month, Salgado is haunted by doubts about what he saw, what he did and even why he fought. A 12-year U.S.-backed war that was defined at the time as a battle over communism is now seen by former government soldiers such as Salgado, and by former guerrillas, as less a conflict about ideology and more a battle over poverty and basic human rights. "We soldiers were tricked -- they told us the threat was communism… But I look back and realize those weren't communists out there that we were fighting -- we were just poor country people killing poor country people." Salgado said he once thought that the guerrillas dreamed of communism, but now that those same men are his colleagues in business and politics, he is learning that they wanted what he wanted: prosperity, a chance to move up in the world, freedom from repression.
All of which makes what they see around them today even more heartbreaking and frustrating. For all their sacrifices, El Salvador is still among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere -- more than 40 percent of Salvadorans live on less than $2 a day, according to the United Nations. The country is still racked by violence, still scarred by corruption. For some the question remains: Was it all worth it? "We gave our blood, we killed our friends and, in the end, things are still bad," said Salgado, who has served three terms as mayor of El Salvador's second-largest city. "Look at all this poverty, and look how the wealth is concentrated in just a few hands." Former Salvadoran Foes Share Doubts on War Fifteen Years Later, Problems of Poverty Remain at Forefront
"When the junta took over in 1967 here the United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the cold war to prevail over its interest – 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" Clinton Tries To Subdue Greeks' Anger At America
NYT Nov. 21, 1999 Bill Clinton
"The whole idea is to kill the bastards! At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!’ The response from one of those present was: ‘Well, you’d better" General Thomas Power, The Atlantic August 2013 (not a primary source)
"AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs – and with fewer side effects – according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot." Research supports medicinal marijuana Feb 13th 2007 NBC
The traditional forces of supply and demand cannot fully account for these increases [in crude oil, gasoline, etc.]. While global demand for oil has been increasing … global oil supplies have increased by an even greater amount. As a result, global inventories have increased as well. Today, U.S. oil inventories are at an 8-year high, and OECD [mainly European] oil inventories are at a 20–year high. Accordingly, factors other than basic supply and demand must be examined. … Over the past few years, large financial institutions, hedge funds, pension funds, and other investment funds have been pouring billions of dollars into the energy commodities markets … to try to take advantage of price changes or to hedge against them. Because much of this additional investment has come from financial institutions and investment funds that do not use the commodity as part of their business, it is defined as ‘speculation’ by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to the CFTC, a speculator ‘does not produce or use the commodity, but risks his or her own capital trading futures in that commodity in hopes of making a profit on price changes.’ The large purchases of crude oil futures contracts by speculators have, in effect, created an additional demand for oil, driving up the price of oil to be delivered in the future in the same manner that additional demand for the immediate delivery of a physical barrel of oil drives up the price on the spot market. … Although it is difficult to quantify the effect of speculation on prices, there is substantial evidence that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices." US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006
"Persons within the United States seeking to trade key U.S. energy commodities – U.S. crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures – now can avoid all U.S. market oversight or reporting requirements by routing their trades through the ICE Futures exchange in London instead of the NYMEX in New York. … To the extent that energy prices are the result of market manipulation or excessive speculation, only a cop on the beat with both oversight and enforcement authority will be effective. … The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC [over-the-counter] electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000." US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006
"There has been no shortage, and inventories of crude oil and products have continued to rise. The increase in prices has not been driven by supply and demand. (Lord Browne, group chief executive of BP, formerly British Petroleum)
...Senator … I think I have been very clear in saying that I don’t think that the fundamentals of supply and demand – at least as we have traditionally looked at it – have supported the price structure that’s there. (Lee Raymond, chairman and CEO, ExxonMobil)
...What’s been happening since 2004 is very high prices without record-low stocks. The relationship between U.S. [oil] inventory levels and prices has been shredded, has become irrelevant. (Jan Stuart, global oil economist, UBS Securities, which calls itself ‘the leading global wealth manager’)" US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006
"In all, the three‐month investigation by The Times found that at least 22 American news organizations had employed, though sometimes only on a casual .basis, American journalists who were also working for the C.I.A. In a few instances the organization's were aware of the C.I.A. connection, but most of them appear not to have been. The organizations, which range from some of the most influential in the nation to some of the most obscure, include ABC and CBS News, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines. The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, The Associated Press and United Press International. Also included were the Scripps‐Howard chain of newspapers. The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, The Louisville Courier‐Journal and Fodor's, a publisher of travel guides. Among the lesser known organizations were the College Press Service, Business International, the McLendon Broadcasting Organization, Film Daily and a defunct underground newspaper published Washington, The Quicksilver Times." C.I.A. Established Many Links To Journalists in U.S. and Abroad NYT Dec. 27, 1977
"Another who acknowledged a connection was Elliott Haynes, with his father a co‐founder of Business International, a widely respected business information service. He said that his father, Eldridge Haynes, had provided cover for four C.I.A. employees in various countries between 1955 and 1960." C.I.A. Established Many Links To Journalists in U.S. and Abroad NYT Dec. 27, 1977
"Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national security advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct?
Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout].
Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it?
B: It wasn’t quite like that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would.
Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t regret any of this today?
B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire.
Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists?
B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?
Q : “Some agitated Moslems”? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today...
B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is t h ere in com m on among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries…" The Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998), University Of Arizona
"Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy." Report says Muslims hate US policies in the Middle East
"REPORTER : The American people are being asked to die and pay for this, and you’re saying that they have no say in this war?
PERINO : I didn’t say that … this President was elected –
REPORTER : Well, what it amounts to is you saying we have no input at all.
PERINO : You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up" White House press briefing, March 20, 2008. Min 4:50
Unverified Sources
"THOMAS : What is really lacking always for us is you don’t give the motivation of why they want to do us harm. … What is the motivation? We never hear what you find out or why.
BRENNAN : : Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents … [They] attract individuals like Mr. Abdulmutallab and use them for these types of attacks. He was motivated by a sense of religious sort of drive. Unfortunately, al Qaeda has perverted Islam, and has corrupted the concept of Islam, so that [they’re] able to attract these individuals. But al Qaeda has the agenda of destruction and death.
THOMAS : And you’re saying it’s because of religion?
BRENNAN : I’m saying it’s because of an al Qaeda organization that uses the banner of religion in a very perverse and corrupt way.
THOMAS : Why?
BRENNAN : I think … this is a long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland.
THOMAS : But you haven’t explained why." White House press briefing, January 7, 2010
‘I have seen no evidence in my 24 years in Congress of one instance where because of American military involvement with another military that the Americans have stopped that foreign army from carrying out atrocities against their own people. No evidence, none.’ Senator Tom Harkin (D.–Iowa) observed in 1999, 20th of September 1999 NYT
"The biggest problem for the United States is not Iran getting a nuclear weapon and testing it, it’s Iran getting a nuclear weapon and not using it. Because the second that they have one and they don’t do anything bad, all of the naysayers are going to come back and say, ‘See, we told you Iran is a responsible power. We told you Iran wasn’t getting nuclear weapons in order to use them immediately.’ … And they will eventually define Iran with nuclear weapons as not a problem." Danielle Pletka
"Now, I am under attack by the biggest force in military history, my little African son, Obama wants to kill me, to take away the freedom of our country, to take away our free housing, our free medicine, our free education, our free food, and replace it with American style thievery, called ‘capitalism,’ but all of us in the Third World know what that means, it means corporations run the countries, run the world, and the people suffer, so, there is no alternative for me, I must make my stand, and if Allah wishes, I shall die by following his path, the path that has made our country rich with farmland, with food and health, and even allowed us to help our African and Arab brothers and sisters to work here with us … I do not wish to die, but if it comes to that, to save this land, my people, all the thousands who are all my children, then so be it. … In the West, some have called me ‘mad’, ‘crazy’. They know the truth but continue to lie, they know that our land is independent and free, not in the colonial grip." Recollections of My Life, written by Col. Muammar Gaddafi, April 8, 2011
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