Rogue State a Guide to the World's Only Superpower
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Presents: Rogue State A Guide to the World's Only Superpower A recommended book by sheikh: Osama Bin Laden may Allah bless him Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower was first published in the United Kingdom by Zed Books Ltd, 7 Cynthia Street, London Nl 9JF, UK. First published in the United States by Common Courage Press, Box 702, Monroe, ME 04951 in 2000. New updated edition, 2002 This edition published in South Africa by Spearhead, a division of New Africa Books, PO Box 23408, Claremont 7735. Copyright ｩ William Blum, 2001, 2002 Cover design by Andrew Corbett, Cambridge Printed and bound in the United Kingdom by Cox and Wyman, Reading The right of the author of this book has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 1 84277 220 1 hb ISBN 184277 221 X pb In South Africa ISBN 0 86486 543 0 Pb "Critics will call this a one-sided book. But it is an invaluable correc-tive to the establishment portrait of America as 'the world's greatest force for peace.' Even confirmed opponents of U.S. interventionism can find much in this important book that will both educate and shock them." — Peter Dale Scott, former professor at U.C. Berkeley, poet, and author of Deep Politics and The Death of JFK "Whatever we think we know about U.S. foreign policy, Rogue State makes it clear that we don't know nearly enough. This book's grisly content may seem to require a strong stomach, but reading its words is nothing compared to what has been done—and keeps being done—with our tax dollars and in our names. Whether we read Rogue State as a historical narrative or use it as a reference book, William Blum has put together a horrifying and infuriating piece of work. The footnoted information between these covers is enough to make any awake reader want to scream with rage. This is a truly subversive book because it demolishes the foundations of basic illusions about the United States of America as a world power." — Norman Solomon, author of The Habits of Highly Deceptive Media and winner of the George Orwell Award Never before in modem 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 check in their "McWorld." Der Spiegel, Germany's leading news magazine, 1997 1 The United States is good. We try to do our best everywhere. Madeleine Albright, 1999 2 A world once divided into two armed camps now recognizes one sole and preeminent power, the United States of America. And they regard this with no dread. For the world trusts us with power, and the world is right. They trust us to be fair, and restrained. They trust us to be on the side of decency. They trust us to do what's right. George Bush, 1992 3 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. Nelson Mandela, 1997 4 When I came into office, I was determined that our country would go into the 21st century still the world's greatest farce for peace and freedom, for democracy and security and prosperity. Bill Clinton, 1996 5 Throughout the world, on any given day, a man, woman or child is likely to be displaced, tortured, kitted or "disappeared", at the hands of governments or armed political groups. More often than not, the United States shares the blame. Amnesty International, 1996 6 Contents Author's Foreword: Concerning September 11, 2001 viii Introduction 1 Ours and Theirs: Washington's Love/Hate Relationship with Terrorists and Human-Rights Violators 1. Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States? 29 2. America's Gift to the World—the Afghan Terrorist Alumni 33 3. Assassinations 38 4. Excerpts from US Army and CIA Training Manuals 43 5. Torture 49 6. The Unsavories 58 7. Training New Unsavories 61 8. War Criminals: Theirs and Ours 68 9. Haven for Terrorists 79 10. Supporting Pol Pot 87 United States Use of Weapons of Mass Destruction 11. Bombings 92 12. Depleted Uranium 96 13. Cluster Bombs 100 14. United States Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons Abroad 103 15. United States Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons at Home 113 16. Encouragement of the Use of CBW by Other Nations 120 A Rogue State versus the World 17. A Concise History of United States Global Interventions, 1945 to the Present 125 18. Perverting Elections 168 19. Trojan Horse: The National Endowment for Democracy 179 20. The US versus the World at the United Nations 184 21. Eavesdropping on the Planet 200 22. Kidnapping and Looting 210 23. How the CIA Sent Nelson Mandela to Prison for 28 Years 215 24. The CIA and Drugs: Just Say "Why Not?" 218 25. Being the World's Only Superpower Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry 227 26. The United States Invades, Bombs and Kills for It...but Do Americans Really Believe in Free Enterprise? 236 27. A Day in the Life of a Free Country 243 Notes 274 Index 305 About the Author 310 Author's Foreword: Concerning September 11, 2001 and the Bombing of Afghanistan Shortly after the publication of this book, the momentous events of September 11, 2001 occurred. Four planes were hijacked in the United States and terrorists proceeded to carry out the most devastating attack on American soil in the history of the country. The physical destruction and personal suffering caused by the attacks was immense. In addition to punishing the perpetrators who were still alive, the most pressing mission facing the United States was—or should have been—to not allow what happened to pass without deriving important lessons from it to prevent its recurrence. Clearly, the most meaningful of these lessons was the answer to the question "Why?" It happens that the first chapter in this book is entitled "Why Do Terrorists Keep Picking on the United States?". It argues that terrorists—whatever else they might be—might also be rational human beings, which is to say that in their own minds they have a rational justification for their actions. Most terrorists are people deeply concerned by what they see as social, political, or religious injustice and hypocrisy, and the immediate grounds for their terrorism is often retaliation for an action of the United States. The chapter contains a lengthy list of such US actions in the Middle East, which have taken many lives, from the bombing of Lebanon and Libya to the sinking of an Iranian ship; from the shooting down of an Iranian passenger plane and the unending bombing of the Iraqi people to the support of despotic Middle Eastern regimes and the massive military aid to Israel despite the devastation and routine torture that the country inflicts upon the Palestinian people. As retribution for decades of military, economic and political oppression imposed upon the Middle East and the mainly Muslim population who live there by the American Empire, the buildings targeted by the terrorists were not chosen at random. The Pentagon and World Trade Center represented the military and economic might of the United States, while the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania may well have been on its way to the political wing, the White House. Perspective can be everything. If what the hijackers did is inexcusable, it is by no means inexplicable. It's not just people in the Middle East who have good reason for hating what the US government does. The United States has created huge numbers of potential terrorists all over Latin America during a half-century of American actions far worse than those perpetrated in the Middle East. If Latin Americans shared the belief of many Muslims that they will go directly to paradise for martyring themselves by killing the Great Satan, by now we might have had decades of repeated terrorist horror coming from south of the US-Mexican border. As it is, over the years the region has produced numerous attacks on American embassies, diplomats, US Information Agency offices, and the like. There are also the people of Asia and Africa. Much the same thing applies. The magnitude of the September 11 attack was such that the American media—the serious or passably serious segments—were obliged to delve into areas they normally do not visit. A number of mainstream newspapers, magazines and radio stations, in their quest to understand "Why?", suddenly—or so it seemed—discovered that the United States had been engaged in actions like the ones listed above and countless other interventions in foreign lands over the decades that could indeed produce a great degree of anti-American feeling. This was one positive outcome of the tragedy. This "revelation", however, appeared to escape the mass of the American people, the great majority of whom get their snatches of foreign news from tabloid newspapers, lowest-common-denominator radio programs, and laughably superficial TV newscasts.