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| Smoke billows from the Bab al-Aziziya compound in Tripoli as Libyan rebels battle loyalists on August 24, 2011. Fighting raged near Moamer Kadhafi's Bab al-Aziziya compound a day after it was captured by rebels, as loyalist troops staged a fightback and the strongman boasted he went walkabout.- Getty Image |
by Shenali Waduge
(August 25, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Wars are today considered “commercial opportunities” for economic success & define political power in today’s competitive political climate. It was these American MNCs that turned US into a great power so naturally all successive American governments end up governing the most liberal country according to the dictates of the businessmen who run the foreign affairs of mighty USA!
The first regime change by the US took place in 1893 with the overthrowing of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii. Since then the US has indirectly & directly been involved in coups, invasions, regime changes in Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954, British Guyana 1953-64, Cambodia 1955-70, Laos 1958-60, Ecuador 1960-63, Congo 1960, Brazil 1962-64, Dominican Republic 1963, Bolivia 1964, Indonesia 1965, Ghana 1966, Chile 1964-73, Greece 1967, Bolivia 1971, Australia 1973-75, Portugal 1974-76, Jamaica 1976-80, Chad 1981-82, Grenada 1983, Fiji 1987, Libya 1980s & present, Nicaragua 1981-90, Panama 1989, Bulgaria 1990, Albania 1991, Iraq 1963, 1991 & 2003, Afghanistan 1980s & 2001, Ecuador 2000, Venezuela 2002, Haiti 2004 & Cuba from 1959 to present where over 300 attempts have been made to overthrow Castro.
American Intervention era
Under the Monroe Doctrine Europe was excluded from colonization in the America’s & intervening in Western hemisphere. In 1904 President Roosevelt enunciated the Corollary to that doctrine permitting US to intervene anywhere to prevent intervention by European powers. Thus the Panama Canal was built for strategic, military & commercial gains & why Columbia became a target of regime change.
Secret documents written in 2000 by Project for the New American Century & titled Rebuilding America’s Defenses reveal how US planned to attack Iraq even before invading it in 2001. The documents reveal of the plan to take military control of the Gulf region & establish security for itself. Overthrowing Saddam was a necessity as was the removal of all other “obstacles”. The gameplan is to continue regime change & increase presence of American forces in Southeast Asia & to encourage democratization in China. The blueprint acknowledges Libya, Syria, North Korea & Iran as dangerous regimes. US has occupied a third of the “axis of evil” only North Korea & Iran remain threats to US interests. It is easy to know who the next targets will be.
The game is to save the world’s economic system established in 1913 with the Federal bank, in 1944 with the World Bank & International Monetary Fund & the 5 banks that planned WW 1 to abolish kingdoms, & banks that backed Hitler in WW2 to control oil & to finance Muslim brotherhood to drive Europe out of the Arab world. To these bankers nationalism is the enemy but they fund leaders that use nationalism as propaganda to gain power so long as they function as puppets of capitalism thereafter.
Regime change influenced by Commercial interests
The reasons for regime change are simple & often prompted by corporate lobbyists. Corporates didn’t want to pay export duties in Hawaii so it was overthrown, United Fruit Co didn’t want to loose out to nationalism in Guatemala, so the government was overthrown, loss of copper stakes to US elites meant the overthrow of Chile’s government, Iran’s case was oil while US lumber & mining companies did not like the Nicaraguan leader & Honduras joined the list of regime changes because the American banana magnates decided so. In Kosovo the US wanted to establish a military base in the Balkans & tap its oil, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia all are perfect for advancing US geopolitics & future strategies. Therefore, there is no reason to be surprised when the ICC, UNHRC or any such international bodies meet & endorse resolutions & agree to “unanimous” trade embargoes, freeze on assets etc…these are all part of the gameplan to zero in on countries that have been targeted on paper. Foundations are only laid to ensure that the internationally accepted “excuses” for invasions or international actions are justified. International bodies & their statutes become artfully interpreted tools.
Need we give more examples of America’s bullying? America has shown it has the power to dislodge the gentlest leader to the most corrupt. America has overthrown democratically elected leaders & replaced them with downright murderers & ironically dislodged these very stooges leaving these countries defenseless against their own. The US is responsible for creating monsters, keeping them in power so long as they allowed the countries natural resources to be divided amongst Western elites. Dethrowning them no sooner they act beyond western dictates has been the blueprint being used & reused over the past century. The world has set up international courts to take to trial political leaders but why are those trials ignoring the biggest perpetrator – the US?
Americans being fooled by false propaganda
Americans have been fooled over the years by their politicians & more importantly the supposed “independent” media. Americans have fallen for the “saving humanity” brining “democracy” “human rights’ clichés which have been excuses to totally ruin nations. What Americans are guilty of is blindly accepting & believing all that its Government & its media has fed them. To most Americans, the invasion of Iraq was acceptable for they were totally clueless about the history, about the truth of US involvement vis a vis regime changes & support of terrorism & most importantly very few Americans even knew that Saddam Hussein was previously a CIA agent. How many Americans know that the US supported not only Saddam Hussein but dictators like General Pinochet, Ferdinand Marcos, General Suharto, Anastascio Somoza, Pol Pot who killed 1.5million people? All these dictators were supported by the US directly or indirectly. How many knew that Osama bin Laden was a man nurtured by the US & who had financial interests in the US? Similarly Americans remain clueless about all other clandestine activities that its Governments have been involved with over the centuries & its media have ensured Americans have been kept in the dark as well. Had Americans known the truth, Americans would certainly have demanded answers from US legislatures for 1million Iraqi deaths & thousands more even after US occupation.
The outcome of these “military invasions”
These regime changes are often described as “catastrophic victories” – victories to the US & allies but catastrophic to the people of the nations that end up suffering. Iraq today is far worse than it was under its “dictator” Saddam. There are more deaths, more destruction, more patients suffering from the forbidden weapons used by US & UK troops than when Saddam was ruling. Afghanistan is no better & its people are suffering not only from the Taliban but also from Allied & NATO fires. Kosovo after 9 years of military occupation has over 60% unemployment. The only source of employment is by working for US/NATO or UN agencies. It is the center of international drug trade & prostitution. Its mines, mills, refining centers, railroads all sit silent. Its rich resources have become privatized & sold to western MNCs. Dick Cheney’s Halliburton was given the contract to build Camp Bondsteel, the US military base. US is guarding all oil & transportation lines while over 250,000 Serbians, Romani’s & including Albanians have been driven out of the Serbian province. Is this the “democracy” that these people sought & was promised by the US & the West? Libyans need to seriously think before taking to the streets in jubilation & spare a minute to wonder what their fate is likely to be…it certainly will be far worse than Gaddafi. All these regime changed nations have found too late that the known devil was afterall better than the unknown angel that came to them as their savior!
How US deposed elected leaders
The first instance of deposing a foreign leader was in 1909 when President William Taft ordered the overthrow of Nicaraguan President Jose Santos Zelaya. The excuse was to protect American security & promote democratic principles. The real reason was to protect American companies to operate as they liked in Nicaragua. The 1981-90 Nicaragua Contra revolution was directed by the CIA to overthrow Sandinista. Though it was illegal to fund the contras under the Boland Amendment the CIA continued to do so leading to the Iran-Contra scandal.
Taking aid from USSR & annoying the Belgiums, the corproates & CIA became reason enough to overthrow Patrice Lumumba of Congo in 1960.
In Ecuador (1960-63), its democratically elected President Velasco was forced to resign under regime change orchestrated by the US same fate occurred in the Dominican Republic in 1965.
While Chile (1964-73) one of the most stable countries in Latin America fell due to Americans viewing President Allende Gossens as a communist & for his attempts to control the giant MNCs (Pepsi, Kennecott Corp, Anaconda Mining, International Telephone & Telegraph Co – which all had US interests). These corporates succeed to strike the Government with a credit squeeze, hired people to strike, engineered public protests & with internal governmental apparatus corrupt as in most developing nations it was easy to create the chaos needed to depose President Allende. President Allende committed suicide inside the Presidential palace refusing a safe passage out of the country. Chile became a nation silenced & ruined by the US,UN MNCs & US banks. In 1973, US brought in the dictator Pinochet which resulted in over 50,000 deaths. Pinochet was extradited from Spain in 1990 to stand trial for these murders. Few international media cared to question US & its direct involvement in bringing Pinochet into power. Another complicity in mass murder that the US escapes from.
The Spanish-American War in 1899 was launched by US President McKinley to bring Cuba, Puerto Rico, Philippines under US control. Invasion of Philippines resulted in over 4000 US troop deaths, 16000 guerillas & 20,000 civilians. In Cuba, America wanted to protect over $50million of its investment in agriculture yet Cuba remains the only country that has been able to withstand US regime change programs. Over 600 regime change attempts against Castro has taken place to date. Voluntary organizations working closely with the CIA are now being used. Thus the Cuban National Foundation receiving US$390,000 for anti-Castro activities.
Even the former British colony of Grenada (1983) became a target of regime change with 6000 US troops landing without informing the Brits & Prime Minister Bernard Coard overthrown.
Panama became the target in 1989 under orders of President George Bush & leader Noriega was captured & put on trial in the US. Incidentally, Noriega had been an agent of the CIA for over 30 years.
Haiti experienced a military coup in 1991 & leader Aristide was overthrown but in 1994 US troops invaded Haiti & reinstalled Aristide.
In 1986, Libyan leader Gaddafi was targeted for a regime change when US bombed his residence killing his daughter & wounding 2 sons. Libya has almost but fallen despite numerous attempts on Gaddafi’s life since 1986 by the US & allies who have gone so far as to even arm rebels.
In 1964, PM Nkrumah was overthrown by a CIA backed coup in Ghana. Nkrumah was voted Africa’s man of the millennium by listeners of BBC World Service in 2000.
In 1976, Isabel Peron of Argentina was overthrown & replaced with a US supported military junta headed by General Videla till 1983.
The CIA went on to overthrow Guatemala leader Jorge Elias & replace him with Ramio Carpio simply to satisfy United Fruit Co who owned one-fifth of the countrys arable land through a 99 year land lease agreement tax free. Guatemalans formed guerilla bands & murder & mayhem followed with countrymen killing their own for no reason at all. This repression killed more than 200,000 Guatemalans & the US stands accused for creating the anarchy that prevailed & international media is guilty of not reading between the lines to depict the truth.
In 2002 Washington is said to have approved & supported a coup against the democratically elected Venezuelan Government. These memos titled “Last Phase of Operation Pincer” are supposed to reveal how US embassy & CIA coordinated the overthrow. Similarly, President Chavez was quick to point fingers at the US when Honduras military woke President Zelaya & forced him out of the country in 2009. The Honduras military & US have longstanding ties & it is one of the US top trading partners & the plotters were said to be promoters of the “free trade agreements” & will show that at whatever costs capitalism will never be allowed to fall.
If US complains that Iran is a country of fundamentalists, the US may like to ponder why it deposed in 1953 Mossadegh Iran’s democratically elected Prime Minister. Mossadegh was loved by his people & his vision was to set up a lasting democracy & strengthen nationalism. This equated to throwing out the UK oil company – Anglo Iranian Oil which had been making 170million pounds profit annually. Thus, the British & CIA coordinated regime change with Mossadegh soon to be portrayed as a communist (which he was not) & then the “revolution” using hired thugs to create anarchy in Tehran resulting in the ouster of Mossadegh & the reinstating of the Shah by US. The reward was 40% shares in oil to Standard Oil, Texaco & Mobil corp. Today, Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon are the spiritual heirs of the Ayatollah & protégés of the radical Iranian clerics. These same groups are sponsoring terror globally simply to humiliate the US. Did the US err is overthrowing Mossadegh? We all know that Pinochet, Suharto, Pol Pot, Gaddafi, Saddam, Osama were all darlings of the US & that perhaps is one reason why they needed to be “silenced” forever.
Media’s role in crimes against humanity & infiltrating civil society
The US stands guilty of using unethical means to invade nations, influence international media & even align with foreign governments to promote a wrong notion that they are helping to “democratize” countries from “dictators”. Media helps to promote US & allies as “saviors” & creates the local euphoria to back invasion attempts. The surprising aspect of these regime change programs is that the same blueprint is used but US citizens seem totally oblivious to the realities that prevail. They keep falling for the same bait given by the US governments as well as international media.
Media has played a crucial role in portraying the wrong information & creating the foundation need for the invasions to take place. Media portrayed Guatemala as falling to communists, media showcased only the ugly side of Saddam, little did media pay attention to the atrocities carried out by American, UK or allied troops in Iraq, Afghanistan or any of the other nations that these “military invasions” took place not even the illegal ammunition they used. All the while the televisions & other print media was concentrating on only portraying all those against the US & the West as the wrong doers & enticing readers to think along that version only. Social network channels, bloggers & twitters have become the latest means of invisibly creating the fear psychosis & people power necessary to create mayhem in countries. This is how Egypt fell & steamrolled the spate of public uproar thereafter across the Middle East in people’s movements that the West claimed was to demand “democracy” & required the assistance of the West. A perfect ploy to provide the excuse & the basis for the West to enter these regions. So bloggers, twitters are all handled perfectly by these regime change proponents & most of them are even funded by the West & tasked to create the ground situation through the voice of locals.
The next question is why there is no dissent in Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia or Morocco – these are obviously US client states & the fact that the US abandoned regime change & opted to maintain the military presence in Bahrain clearly shows double standards of the US. The US however failed in Yemen because it did not take into consideration that Yemen was already regionally & tribally divided.
Most regime change programs start off by diplomatic & commercial isolation, trade embargoes, acts of terror, military support to rebels, assassination plots, ties with internal political opposition, tapping of “intellectuals, academics & reputed” civil society personages & getting them to carry message through speeches, writings etc. We all know who these “academics” & “civil society” personages are in Sri Lanka who are paid to promote the change of opinions. Then come the NGO agencies who are funded by the West & who are able to slowly penetrate into civil society providing change from a different angle. These NGOs use their websites to reach out to locals and it is their version that is accepted by international media against local governments at all times. Strikes, street protests, civil unrest are all part of these programs (in 1964 strikes & arson promoted by the CIA led to the overthrowing of the Guyanian government, in Ecuador it provoked 2 military coups) So when Hugu Chavez of Venezuela faces opposition, it takes little to wonder who are behind these! The US has a long history of blowing up airliners & sinking ships & blaming countries to justify invasion & war. A good example is the 1985 bombing of Air India flight 182 when Rajiv Gandhi said India would not become a political ally of the US. Rajiv was assassinated in 1991 & many believe that the killing was more than an order given by LTTE leader Prabakaran
It is not difficult to conclude that regime change is the norm of US foreign policy & will be used to overthrow governments that are hostile to US interests (governmental or corporate). US has international allies including NATO – no international body stopped the bombing of democratically elected Yugoslav President Milosevic’s residence in1999, nor the illegal bombing of Serbia in 1999, no international body stopped the invasion of Macedonia, or stopped the invasion of Iraq & Afghanistan & the crimes against humanity that ensued thereafter. Where were the international humanitarian laws to demand why the US killed an unarmed man – even if he was Osama bin Laden a one time friend of the US but a man who knew too many secrets of the US?
The 2003 regime change in Iraq differs for it was not a covert operation & the US did not justify or rationalize its decision to invade. That it was advocated openly & without apology to international laws or diplomacy spell alarming dangers & should awaken sleeping international bodies as it is pointless accepting international designations if they simply watch atrocities take place & even sign decrees authorizing such.
In all of these instances, regime change & intervention has been prompted when leaders of nations have attempted to redistribute land or nationalize or sought assistance of countries the West claim to be their enemies. All these coups, revolutions & invasions have been prompted by the fact that the US has feared or distrusted these governments. President Rajapakse was referred to as a “hawk” no sooner he became elected thus signaling that he is included into the “distrust” list & spells the need for caution.
In such instances, diplomacy will be tied to rewards for governments & government leaders that support American interests, which turns to threats of retaliation if US offers are refused, retaliation comes in the form of funding & creating uprisings, supporting coups, revolts, mass protests, trade union backing, unrest & civil disobedience movements. From Hawaii to Libya & now Syria the modus operandi is clear. In Tunisia & Egypt, the US replaced their own puppet regimes while in Libya & Syria the US is attacking resisting governments & attempting to replace them with US puppets. This is why the scenario in Libya & Syria is taking the shape of a “war”. The US regime change for Syria started with the false flag terror campaign to tarnish the image of popular President Bashar-al Assad through hired street protests & paid carnage. In 2007, Syria was bombed on unsubstantiated claims that it had nuclear weapons while Israel has been using white phosphorus against civilians in Gaza violating Geneva Conventions & US & UK troops used depleted uranium in Iraq &Yugoslavia & the world stays mum.
Regime change is wrong – the simple logic is that western politicians cannot dictate how people of other nations should lead their lives. They cannot simply crush traditions, cultures & lifestyles that have prevailed for centuries.
The US has deposed democratic leaders & placed autocrats or dictators, they have used direct & indirect covert practices, even funded, armed & trained insurgents. Sri Lanka need not go too far to wonder why LTTE prevailed for 30 years. Then with the soft war campaigners who take over the media campaign to portray a “failed state” phenomena & need for intervention in the form of a R2P, the civil groups alongside the NGOs are next funded to help execute the regime change. These are all part of a chain that has become a very powerful means to tap natural resources & completely disturb & destroy civilizations.
US in all these attempts to take over nations has forgotten its own financial status & the developing countries have rallied to make BRIC – Brazil, Russia, India & China who hopefully will use the nations resources to benefit the people rather than the economic elite format followed by the US & Europe. Divide & rule & sucking out natural resources whilst ruining the lives of its citizens must see the end of day.
Capitalism is the belt that countries must wear or face “terrorism” of US & allies. Until Americans ask their Governments the logic behind spending money on drone attacks against people they assume are guilty without evidence the crimes against humanity that are taking place will continue unabated watched & even endorsed by international bodies that are meant to protect humans, & internationally relayed by media channels preferring to cash in on the news without questioning the ethics of what is taking place.
The patterns of regime changes are easy to understand & Sri Lanka needs to be cautious all the while for Sri Lanka doesn’t need to do wrong or even right, explanations of allegations are really a waste of time for the allegations are part of a bigger gameplan & it is the countering of that which matters above the explanations given to the allegation. To a great extent China has shielded Sri Lanka & we have harbored the best resistance for any developing nation targeted for regime change.
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