[R-G] [BillTottenWeblog] The Anti-Empire Report

[Bill Totten]

by William Blum
www.killinghope.org (February 03 2009)

Change (in rhetoric) we can believe in.


I've said all along that whatever good changes might occur in regard to
non-foreign policy issues, such as what's already taken place concerning
the environment and abortion, the Obama administration will not produce
any significantly worthwhile change in US foreign policy; little done in
this area will reduce the level of misery that the American Empire
regularly brings down upon humanity. And to the extent that Barack Obama
is willing to clearly reveal what he believes about anything
controversial, he appears to believe in the empire.

The Obamania bubble should already have begun to lose some air with the
multiple US bombings of Pakistan within the first few days following the
inauguration. The Pentagon briefed the White House of its plans, and the
White House had no objection. So bombs away - Barack Obama's first war
crime. The dozens of victims were, of course, all bad people, including
all the women and children. As with all these bombings, we'll never know
the names of all the victims - It's doubtful that even Pakistan knows -
or what crimes they had committed to deserve the death penalty. Some
poor Pakistani probably earned a nice fee for telling the authorities
that so-and-so bad guy lived in that house over there; too bad for all
the others who happened to live with the bad guy, assuming of course
that the bad guy himself actually lived in that house over there.

The new White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, declined to answer
questions about the first airstrikes, saying "I'm not going to get into
these matters" {1}. Where have we heard that before?

After many of these bombings in recent years, a spokesperson for the
United States or NATO has solemnly declared: "We regret the loss of
life". These are the same words used by the Irish Republican Army (IRA)
on a number of occasions, but their actions were typically called
"terrorist".

I wish I could be an Obamaniac. I envy their enthusiasm. Here, in the
form of an open letter to President Obama, are some of the "changes we
can believe in" in foreign policy that would have to occur to win over
the non-believers like me.

Iran

Just leave them alone. There is no "Iranian problem". They are a threat
to no one. Iran hasn't invaded any other country in centuries. No,
President Ahmadinejad did not threaten Israel with any violence. Stop
patrolling the waters surrounding Iran with American warships. Stop
halting Iranian ships to check for arms shipments to Hamas. (That's
generally regarded as an act of war.) Stop using Iranian dissident
groups to carry out terrorist attacks inside Iran. Stop kidnaping
Iranian diplomats. Stop the continual spying and recruiting within Iran.
And yet, with all that, you can still bring yourself to say: "If
countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fist, they will find
an extended hand from us" {2}

Iran has as much right to arm Hamas as the US has to arm Israel. And
there is no international law that says that the United States, the UK,
Russia, China, Israel, France, Pakistan, and India are entitled to
nuclear weapons, but Iran is not. Iran has every reason to feel
threatened. Will you continue to provide nuclear technology to India,
which has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, while
threatening Iran, an NPT signatory, with sanctions and warfare?

Russia

Stop surrounding the country with new NATO members. Stop looking to
instigate new "color" revolutions in former Soviet republics and
satellites. Stop arming and supporting Georgia in its attempts to block
the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhasia, the breakaway regions on
the border of Russia. And stop the placement of anti-missile systems in
Russia's neighbors, the Czech Republic and Poland, on the absurd grounds
that it's to ward off an Iranian missile attack. It was Czechoslovakia
and Poland that the Germans also used to defend their imperialist
ambitions - The two countries were being invaded on the grounds that
Germans there were being maltreated. The world was told.

"The US government made a big mistake from the breakup of the Soviet
Union", said former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev last year. "At that
time the Russian people were really euphoric about America and the US
was really number one in the minds of many Russians". But, he added, the
United States moved aggressively to expand NATO and appeared gleeful at
Russia's weakness. {3}

Cuba

Making it easier to travel there and send remittances is very nice (if,
as expected, you do that), but these things are dwarfed by the need to
end the US embargo. In 1999, Cuba filed a suit against the United States
for $181.1 billion in compensation for economic losses and loss of life
during the almost forty years of this aggression. The suit held
Washington responsible for the death of 3,478 Cubans and the wounding
and disabling of 2,099 others. We can now add ten more years to all
three figures. The negative, often crippling, effects of the embargo
extend into every aspect of Cuban life.

In addition to closing Guantanamo prison, the adjacent US military base
established in 1903 by American military force should be closed and the
land returned to Cuba.

The Cuban Five, held prisoner in the United States for over ten years,
guilty only of trying to prevent American-based terrorism against Cuba,
should be released. Actually there were ten Cubans arrested; five knew
that they could expect no justice in an American court and pled guilty
to get shorter sentences. {4}

Iraq

Freeing the Iraqi people to death ... Nothing short of a complete
withdrawal of all US forces, military and contracted, and the closure of
all US military bases and detention and torture centers, can promise a
genuine end to US involvement and the beginning of meaningful Iraqi
sovereignty. To begin immediately. Anything less is just politics and
imperialism as usual. In six years of war, the Iraqi people have lost
everything of value in their lives. As the Washington Post reported in
2007: "It is a common refrain among war-weary Iraqis that things were
better before the US-led invasion in 2003" {5}. The good news is that
the Iraqi people have 5,000 years experience in crafting a society to
live in. They should be given the opportunity.

Saudi Arabia

Demand before the world that this government enter the 21st century (or
at least the 20th), or the United States has to stop pretending that it
gives a damn about human rights, women, homosexuals, religious liberty,
and civil liberties. The Bush family had long-standing financial ties to
members of the Saudi ruling class. What will be your explanation if you
maintain the status quo?

Haiti

Reinstate the exiled Jean Bertrand Aristide to the presidency, which he
lost when the United States overthrew him in 2004. To seek forgiveness
for our sins, give the people of Haiti lots and lots of money and
assistance.

Colombia

Stop giving major military support to a government that for years has
been intimately tied to death squads, torture, and drug trafficking; in
no other country in the world have so many progressive candidates for
public office, unionists, and human-rights activists been murdered. Are
you concerned that this is the closest ally the United States has in all
of Latin America?

Venezuela

Hugo Chavez may talk too much but he's no threat except to the
capitalist system of Venezuela and, by inspiration, elsewhere in Latin
America. He has every good historical reason to bad-mouth American
foreign policy, including Washington's role in the coup that overthrew
him in 2002. If you can't understand why Chavez is not in love with what
the United States does all over the world, I can give you a long reading
list.

Put an end to support for Chavez's opposition by the Agency for
International Development, the National Endowment for Democracy, and
other US government agencies. US diplomats should not be meeting with
Venezuelans plotting coups against Chavez, nor should they be
interfering in elections.

Send Luis Posada from Florida to Venezuela, which has asked for his
extradition for his masterminding the bombing of a Cuban airline in
1976, taking 73 lives. Extradite the man, or try him in the US, or stop
talking about the war on terrorism.

And please try not to repeat the nonsense about Venezuela being a
dictatorship. It's a freer society than the United States. It has, for
example, a genuine opposition daily media, non-existent in the United
States. If you doubt that, try naming a single American daily newspaper
or TV network that was unequivocally against the US invasions of Iraq,
Afghanistan, Yugoslavia, Panama, Grenada, and Vietnam. Or even against
two of them? How about one? Is there a single one that supports Hamas
and/or Hezbollah? A few weeks ago, the New York Times published a story
concerning a possible Israeli attack upon Iran, and stated: "Several
details of the covert effort have been omitted from this account, at the
request of senior United States intelligence and administration
officials, to avoid harming continuing operations" {6}.

Alas, Mr President, among other disparaging remarks, you've already
accused Chavez of being "a force that has interrupted progress in the
region" {7}. This is a statement so contrary to the facts, even to plain
common sense, so hypocritical given Washington's history in Latin
America, that I despair of you ever freeing yourself from the
ideological shackles that have bound every American president of the
past century. It may as well be inscribed in their oath of office - that
a president must be antagonistic toward any country that has expressly
rejected Washington as the world's savior. You made this remark in an
interview with Univision, Venezuela's leading, implacable media critic
of the Chavez government. What regional progress could you be referring
to, the police state of Colombia?

Bolivia

Stop American diplomats, Peace Corps volunteers, Fulbright scholars, and
the US Drug Enforcement Administration, from spying and fomenting
subversion inside Bolivia. As the first black president of the United
States, you could try to cultivate empathy toward, and from, the first
indigenous president of Bolivia. Congratulate Bolivian president Evo
Morales on winning a decisive victory on a recent referendum to approve
a new constitution which enshrines the rights of the indigenous people
and, for the first time, institutes separation of church and state.

Afghanistan

Perhaps the most miserable people on the planet, with no hope in sight
as long as the world's powers continue to bomb, invade, overthrow,
occupy, and slaughter in their land. The US Army is planning on throwing
30,000 more young American bodies into the killing fields and is
currently building eight new major bases in southern Afghanistan. Is
that not insane? If it makes sense to you I suggest that you start the
practice of the president accompanying the military people when they
inform American parents that their child has died in a place called
Afghanistan.

If you pull out from this nightmare, you could also stop bombing
Pakistan. Leave even if it results in the awful Taliban returning to
power. They at least offer security to the country's wretched, and
indications are that the current Taliban are not all fundamentalists.

But first, close Bagram prison and other detention camps, which are
worse than Guantanamo.

And stop pretending that the United States gives a damn about the Afghan
people and not oil and gas pipelines which can bypass Russia and Iran.
The US has been endeavoring to fill the power vacuum in Central Asia
created by the Soviet Union’s dissolution in order to assert
Washington's domination over a region containing the second largest
proven reserves of petroleum and natural gas in the world. Is
Afghanistan going to be your Iraq?

Israel

The most difficult task for you, but the one that would earn for you the
most points. To declare that Israel is no longer the 51st state of the
union would bring down upon your head the wrath of the most powerful
lobby in the world and its many wealthy followers, as well as the
Christian-fundamentalist Right and much of the media. But if you really
want to see peace between Israel and Palestine you must cut off all
military aid to Israel, in any form: hardware, software, personnel,
money. And stop telling Hamas it has to recognize Israel and renounce
violence until you tell Israel that it has to recognize Hamas and
renounce violence.

North Korea

Bush called the country part of "the axis of evil", and Kim Jong Il a
"pygmy" and "a spoiled child at a dinner table" {8}. But you might try
to understand where Kim Jong Il is coming from. He sees that UN agencies
went into Iraq and disarmed it, and then the United States invaded. The
logical conclusion is not to disarm, but to go nuclear.

Central America

Stop interfering in the elections of Nicaragua, El Salvador and
Guatemala, year after year. The Cold War has ended. And though you can't
undo the horror perpetrated by the United States in the region in the
1980s, you can at least be kind to the immigrants in the US who came
here trying to escape the long-term consequences of that terrible decade.

Vietnam

In your inauguration speech you spoke proudly of those "who have carried
us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom ... For us,
they fought and died, in places like ... Khe Sanh". So it is your
studied and sincere opinion that the 58,000 American sevicemembers who
died in Vietnam, while helping to kill over a million Vietnamese, gave
their life for our prosperity and freedom? Would you care to defend that
proposition without resort to any platitudes?

You might also consider this: In all the years since the Vietnam War
ended, the three million Vietnamese suffering from diseases and
deformities caused by US sprayings of the deadly chemical "Agent Orange"
have received from the United States no medical attention, no
environmental remediation, no compensation, and no official apology.

Kosovo

Stop supporting the most gangster government in the world, which has
specialized in kidnaping, removing human body parts for sale, heavy
trafficking in drugs, trafficking in women, various acts of terrorism,
and ethnic cleansing of Serbs. This government would not be in power if
the Bush administration had not seen them as America's natural allies.
Do you share that view? UN Resolution 1244, adopted in 1999, reaffirmed
the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the former Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia to which Serbia is now the recognized successor state, and
established that Kosovo was to remain part of Serbia. Why do we have a
huge and permanent military base in that tiny self-declared country?

NATO

>From protecting Europe against a [mythical] Soviet invasion to becoming
an occupation army in Afghanistan. Put an end to this historical
anachronism, what Russian leader Vladimir called "the stinking corpse of
the cold war" {9}. You can accomplish this simply by leaving the
organization. Without the United States and its never-ending military
actions and officially-designated enemies, the organization would not
even have the pretense of a purpose, which is all it has left. Members
have had to be bullied, threatened and bribed to send armed forces to
Afghanistan.

School of the Americas

Latin American countries almost never engage in war with each other, or
any other countries. So for what kind of warfare are its military
officers being trained by the United States? To suppress their own
people. Close this school (the name has now been changed to protect the
guilty) at Fort Benning, Georgia that the United States has used to
prepare two generations of Latin American military officers for careers
in overthrowing progressive governments, death squads, torture, holding
down dissent, and other charming activities. The British are fond of
saying that the Empire was won on the playing fields of Eton. Americans
can say that the road to Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Bagram began in the
classrooms of the School of the Americas.

Torture

Your executive orders concerning this matter of utmost importance are
great to see, but they still leave something to be desired. They state
that the new standards ostensibly putting an end to torture apply to any
"armed conflict". But what if your administration chooses to view future
counterterrorism and other operations as not part of an "armed
conflict"? And no mention is made of "rendition" - kidnaping a man off
the street, throwing him in a car, throwing a hood over his head,
stripping off his clothes, placing him in a diaper, shackling him from
every angle, and flying him to a foreign torture dungeon. Why can't you
just say that this and all other American use of proxy torturers is
banned? Forever.

It's not enough to say that you're against torture or that the United
States "does not torture" or "will not torture". George W Bush said the
same on a regular basis. To show that you're not George W Bush you need
to investigate those responsible for the use of torture, even if this
means prosecuting a small army of Bush administration war criminals.

You aren't off to a good start by appointing former CIA official John O
Brennan as your top adviser on counterterrorism. Brennan has called
"rendition" a "vital tool" and praised the CIA's interrogation
techniques for providing "lifesaving" intelligence {10}. Whatever were
you thinking, Barack?

Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi

Free this Libyan man from his prison in Scotland, where he is serving a
life sentence after being framed by the United States for the bombing of
PanAm flight 103 in December 1988, which took the lives of 270 people
over Scotland. Iran actually financed a Palestinian group to carry out
the bombing - as revenge for the US shooting down an Iranian passenger
plane in July, killing 290 - not Libya, which the US accused for
political reasons {11}. Nations do not behave any more cynical than
that. Megrahi lies in prison now dying of cancer, but still the US and
the UK will not free him. It would be too embarrassing to admit to
twenty years of shameless lying.

Mr President, there's a lot more to be undone in our foreign policy if
you wish to be taken seriously as a moral leader like Martin Luther
King, Junior: banning the use of depleted uranium, cluster bombs, and
other dreadful weapons; joining the International Criminal Court instead
of trying to sabotage it; making a number of other long-overdue
apologies in addition to the one mentioned regarding Vietnam; and much
more. You've got your work cut out for you if you really want to bring
some happiness to this sad old world, make America credible and beloved
again, stop creating armies of anti-American terrorists, and win over
people like me.

And do you realize that you can eliminate all state and federal budget
deficits in the United States, provide free health care and free
university education to every American, pay for an unending array of
worthwhile social and cultural programs, all just by ending our wars in
Iraq and Afghanistan, not starting any new ones, and closing down the
Pentagon's 700+ military bases? Think of it as the peace dividend
Americans were promised when the Cold War would end some day, but never
received. How about you delivering it, Mr President? It's not too late.

But you are committed to the empire; and the empire is committed to war.
Too bad.

Notes

1. Washington Post, January 24 2009
2. Interview with al Arabiya TV, January 27 2009
3. Gorbachev speaking in Florida, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, April 17 2008
4. http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/polpris.htm
5. Washington Post, May 5 2007, page 1
6. New York Times, January 11 2009
7. Washington Post, January 19 2009
8. Newsweek, May 27 2002
9. Press Trust of India (news agency), December 21 2007
10. Washington Post, November 26 2008
11. http://www.killinghope.org/bblum6/panam.htm

William Blum is the author of:-

Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War Two
(Common Courage Press, 1995)

Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower (Zed Books, 2002)

West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir (Soft Skull Press, 2002)

Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire (Common
Courage Press, 2004)

Portions of the books can be read, and copies purchased, at
http://www.killinghope.org and previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read
at this website.

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