@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 Sender: Arun Mehta <•••@••.•••> Subject: Re: cj#419> J Clancey: The Covert CIA Menace (fwd) > from: •••@••.••• subject: The covert CIA menace > > Deutch confessed to the Senate Intelligence Committee, the CIA > people who passed on the disinformation to Congress and three > Presidents KNEW the sources were tainted and the intelligence was > garbage. Good note, JC. You know, sometimes you wonder how the US could be so stupid in foreign policy: they've doled out all the money, but have they gotten credit? Why not? Because they succeed in screwing it up with their friends even. Take the Islamic fundamentalists: long as Afghanistan occupation was an issue, they were heroes. Having fed them the latest arms, made them rich, what does the US do? You know, people in the orient appreciate a friend in need just as everyone else, but the US brands them terrorists, tries to buy weapons back from them, and generally ends up a laughing stock. Anyone remember the book "Ugly American"? But maybe, the CIA like the FBI under Hoover were a law unto themselves: just guys out to make a dishonest buck, and when their friends become competitors in business (drugs and guns are traditional ways for a mafia to make money, alcohol too is a drug), they destroy them financially or politically. > These scandals included murders, assassinations, wars, coups > and manipulations of the political and economic lives of dozens of > countries and millions of people. Outrageous, but who except the > real Left cares, when everyone else can "consume" relentlessly? You know, you should travel a bit. *All* the political parties in India dislike the Americans. And these are guys who fight over everything else, find 5 ways to disagree over a question with only two sides. > What they were not, was an aberration. For decades, the CIA > and Pentagon consistently inflated the military and security > threat posed by the USSR, crying national security to line its > budgetry pockets and those of its military-industrial buddies' > pockets. Richard, you are good at history -- my German friends tell me that the Iron Curtain was a Western device, not a Soviet one. As in the case of Austria, compromise was possible, it was the US which torpedoed it. Arun Mehta, B-69 Lajpat Nagar-I, New Delhi-24, India. Phone 6841172,6849103 http://mahavir.doe.ernet.in/~pinaward/arun.htm •••@••.••• •••@••.••• •••@••.••• "There is enough in the world for man's need, but not for his greed"--Gandhi @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Arun, I certainly sympathize with your sentiments here. At the same time, I suggest that the judgement "stupid in foreign policy" requires more careful examination. "Smart" or "stupid" policy can only be judged if you know what the goals are. What goals are you assuming that make U.S. policy stupid? Were they along these lines... ? - make friends around the world - improve the welfare of humanity - spread democracy - help the poor - conform to rhetoric If so, then stupid is the right word for the policies, because they haven't achieved any such goals. But such goals have never guided U.S. policy in any significant way (though they show up frequently in rhetoric.) Actual U.S. policy goals have been more like: - bankrupt the Soviet Union - protect the interests of oil companies - maintain repressive regimes in "under developed" countries - make money from arms sales - stir up trouble in regions where undesirable alignments might otherwise arise - create the conditions where world public opinion will accept U.S. military interventions If these goals are closer to the truth, then I suggest "brilliant", "high-handed", and "successful" are more appropriate than "stupid" as adjectives for U.S. foreign policy. As for the U.S. having "doled out all the money", are you referring all the way back to the Marshall Plan? If so that was very successful, and did earn plenty of kudos at the time. For the most part, U.S. "foreign aid" has been self-serving in the extreme. Firstly, more money goes to military/police assistance, to maintain autocratic governments, than goes to "aid". Secondly, the aid portion is usually tied to buying specific goods, which means it's really a subsidy to the U.S. company that gets the contract -- one more corporate welfare scheme. The goal isn't to make friends, it's to make profits -- and as such it has been successful (at the expense of the U.S. taxpayer.) Re/ who gets credit for the Iron Curtain: in fairness, Stalin adopted a rather isolationist line himself, not wanting outside interference in Soviet affairs. I believe Churchill coined the phrase "Iron Curtain" in purported response to Stalin's policies. But Stalin was a long time ago. For decades the Soviets have wanted nothing more desparately than to curtail the arms race, stop nuclear proliferation, normalize relations, and be a regular player on the international scene. They made many initiatives in these directions. For P.R. reasons, the U.S. pretended to share those goals, but in fact always found some negotiating posture which they knew the Soviets could not accept. The cold war was intentionally sustained by the U.S., I believe, as a way to: - keep its domestic politics right-leaning - justify developing its super-power hegemony - drain scarce Soviet resources - create polarization, which gives the U.S. an excuse to organize its "allies" along the lines of NATO, SEATO, etc. The cold war served its purpose very well. When it became clear the U.S. couldn't postpone winning the cold war much longer, it became necessary to discover/create new enemies to justify Uncle Sam's immense military budget. Terrorism, Islamic Fundamentalism, Drug Lords, Regional Dictators -- all appeared on the scene just in time to make us all grateful we had cruise missles and stealth bombers. (:<) Regards, Richard @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore (•••@••.•••) Wexford, Ireland •••@••.••• | Cyberlib=http://www.internet-eireann.ie/cyberlib Materials may be reposted in their entirety for non-commercial use. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
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