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The War Crimes Times Limitations Warcrimestimes.Org on War Crimes Winter Edition “News a Press There is That’s Free no statute of Would Print” The War Crimes Times limitations WarCrimesTimes.org on war crimes. Vol. II No. 1 Winter 2010 Free (as the press should be) EMPIRE STRIKES AGAIN Troop surge speech short on facts, long rekindle the fear that his prede- on fear cessor employed so success- fully to advance his agenda: President Barack Obama, “[T]he American people were in announcing the latest viciously attacked from Af- American troop surge in an ghanistan, and remain a target occupied foreign country, for those same extremists who claimed that America doesn‟t are plotting along its border. To seek global hegemony: “For abandon this area now… unlike the great powers of old, [would] create an unacceptable we have not sought world risk of additional attacks on our domination. Our union was homeland and our allies.” founded in resistance to op- pression. We do not seek to His opening statements set occupy other nations.” the tone: “[I]t is important to recall why America and our But the facts belie his as- allies were compelled to fight a sertions. According to the war in Afghanistan in the first Centre for Research on Glob- The world divided into U.S. military commands (Source: U.S. Department of Defense) place…. On September 11, alisation, the U.S. has military 2001, 19 men hijacked four bases in 63 countries with an airplanes and used them to The Black Light on the Hill: White House underlying land surface of 30 murder nearly 3,000 people…. million acres. These sites assassinations, massacres, and They took the lives of innocent “include a total of 845,441 men, women and children….” Foreign Policy Hypocrisy torture in other countries. different buildings and equip- Through the overt and covert ments.” According to official The President failed to by Donald Gutierrez be; or have been deluded by encouragement of “our SOB” Pentagon data, in 2005 there mention that none of the al- the myths about the unique- dictators, they have done so leged perpetrators of the Sep- He may be an SOB and a were 737 bases on foreign ness and excellence that most either directly (Vietnam, Iraq, tember 11 attacks was from dictator, but he is our SOB… societies and their ruling class lands. There are more than Afghanistan, Panama, Nicara- 255,000 U.S. military troops Afghanistan—or Pakistan or —Robert Simmons, former CIA officer manufacture about themselves Iraq—and that the invasion in gua, Grenada, Pakistan) and/ deployed across the world. America is the “city on the to maintain social coherence or indirectly (Nicaragua, Gua- October of 2001 was illegal Obama also attempted to hill,” the light to a benighted and domination. temala, El Salvador, Chile, under international law. world, a country whose states- Yet, if one looks at the re- Argentina, Indonesia, Leba- men proclaim that America cord of our government‟s be- non, South Africa, East Timor, abominates torture, that it has havior abroad, it should be Cambodia) with an astound- always stood for freedom, lib- painfully clear that our gov- ing force of money, ordnance, erty, decency, and so on. One ernment representatives— intelligence, communications all too frequently hears these particularly our Presidents and equipment and technology. self-admiring nationalistic their Cabinets—have often The extent and depth of mis- clichés uttered by politicians, behaved criminally in policies ery, grief, agony, and excruci- media commentators, editori- pursued abroad. As writers, ating, lingering dying and vio- alists, and historians, and can analysts, numerous interna- lent death the White House has conclude only three things: tional and national Truth Com- brought about is colossal. either these publicly conspicu- missions, and organizations Saddam ous individuals are ignorant of like Amnesty International and For years the American America‟s foreign policy and Human Rights Watch have public had been told by their history; aren‟t, and therefore thoroughly and cogently political leaders how horrible a are lying to win popularity, shown, Washington has com- monster Saddam Hussein was office and its retention, or ac- mitted war crimes, crimes as a motivation to remove him ceptance by the powers that against humanity, genocide, from power. When all the ar- guments for removing Saddam Inside: exclusive interview with Gitmo lawyer were proven to be false, Frank Goldsmith; articles by Penny Coleman, wrong, and dishonest, the Peace activist led away during protest of President Obama’s Dahlia Wasfi, John Pilger...poems, cartoons... myth-making machine in the West Point announcement of further escalation in Afghanistan (See HYPOCRISY on page 2) 2 Winter 2010 The War Crimes Times • WarCrimesTimes.org moral arguments for attacking a Cooperation) pro- Hypocrisy sovereign nation like Iraq—and vides vivid exam- (Continued from page 1) now Iran?--shown up for the ples of the deliber- White House/Pentagon Inner massive international crime it ateness of Washing- Sanctum produced its final ar- really is. ton‟s foreign policy gument: bringing Democracy to Torture being oriented to- Iraq (and to the “unstable” and Historian and critic Noam wards proxy meth- undemocratic Mideast) and thus Chomsky writes, “Hideous tor- ods of terror carried the need to remove The Tyrant. ture has become standard prac- out by Third-World The neo-con position always tice in the U.S. client fascist governments obli- seemed to circle back to Sad- states... horrendous details of gated to Washington dam Hussein and to the murder- torture are documented by many and American cor- ousness of his regime. But in the thousands of human beings in porate power. The past half century alone there Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uru- SOA, first located in have been other leaders, rulers, guay, Paraguay, Guatemala, Panama, then later at and dictators just as bad, if not Nicaragua, Indonesia, U.S.- Ft. Benning, Geor- considerably worse, than Sad- Occupied South Vietnam up to gia, is a school for dam. Washington has not just 1975, Iran, and in quite a few torturers. Latin tolerated but supported, encour- other U.S. client states….much American military aged, financed, and even created of the electronic and other tor- and police officers these dictators. The regimes in ture gear is U.S. supplied, and are taught, among power were both worse than great numbers of client state other things, how to Saddam and fully supported by police and military interrogators torture by American American presidents through the are U.S trained.” military instructors. torturing Salvadorans claimed to commodating to corporations CIA and other agencies covertly The United States School of Torture consequently became have learned their ABCs of like United Fruit whose mo- and illegally. The staggering the Americas (now euphemisti- the quintessence of state terror- “depth questioning” from the nopolistic interests were hypocrisy of our government cally titled the Western Hemi- ism policy in a number of Latin SOA in Panama. Salvadoran threatened by Guatemalan po- should be fully exposed and its sphere Institute for Security -American countries. Innumer- security forces worked closely litical leaders like Jacobo Ar- able dictators and despots, as with the CIA and the U.S. mili- benz and dissidents striving to well as military and civilian tary in the deceptively termed free the country‟s economy In The Service To This Empire personnel, ordered or carried “counter-insurgency opera- from Washington‟s control. out acts of torture that would tions.” In Guatemala, a School- Chile by Fred Nagle be unthinkable to the average Further south, President There is this assumption that we have served and get the right to American as something his Richard Nixon and Henry have our say. But I never really bought this argument. I never own government would permit, The staggering hypocrisy Kissinger instituted a secret let alone finance, encourage, served anyone or anything noble or worthy during my two years of policy to destroy a democratic and administer—and often ob- of our government should Chile and its democratically active duty. I was never proud of what I did. Of course, there were serve or occasionally even par- be fully exposed and its elected President, Salvadore vets who actually did serve: in Vietnam, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, ticipate in. moral arguments for Allende. They brought terror and elsewhere. Served in combat. They served the most dangerous, SOB Suharto and horror to the country by heavily armed, and relentless of the world's military empires, the Countless other examples attacking a sovereign nation undermining the economy and empire if the imperial United States of America. of White House participation in like Iraq shown up for the supporting its military foes fascist regimes are prevalent in massive international with money and weapons and modern world history. In Indo- These vets were trained as killers, crime it really is. by helping General Augusto in the service to this empire. nesia, during the Sukarno Pinochet take over the country. ouster and Suharto takeover, up Eventually, the White House These vets went in with the best intentions only to be disillusioned, to ten million Indonesians, of-the-Americas graduate, Gen- ordered CIA involvement in in the service to this empire. many of them apolitical peas- eral Manuel Antonio Callejas y overturning the Allende gov- They were wounded, and they came back crippled. ants, were slaughtered by the Callejas, was responsible for the ernment. The military and the They were poisoned by agent orange and depleted uranium, faction fully supported and death of thousands of Guatema- security force then tortured in the service to this empire. virtually directed by the White lans. Another Guatemalan jefe, tens of thousands of Chileans They saw their buddies wounded and killed. House. General Suharto, “our Hector Gramajo Morales, Gua- and at least 20,000 Chileans SOB” from l965 on for several They saw women and children burned beyond recognition, temala‟s Defense Minister in the fled the country.
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