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CONTENTS
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1. Introduction: The Enemy of My Enemy is My Friend
2. One Link: Friendly Dictators
3. Osama bin Laden
4. Mullah Omar and the Taliban
5. Saddam Hussein
6. Augusto Pinochet
7. Manuel Noriega
8. East Timor: A Story of Hope
9. Hitler and Stalin: Blurring the Distinction in WWII
10. Strange Bedfellows in the War on Terrorism: Saudi Arabia and Musharraf
11. Special Announcement: Spanish Bulletin
12. Corrections
13. Get Involved
14. About the Bulletin
INTRODUCTION: THE ENEMY OF MY ENEMY IS MY FRIEND
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The US has become adept at creating monsters. Osama bin Laden is only the latest in a long line of US-backed despots, dictators, and criminals against humanity. Too many times to count, the US has supplied the training and support to bring into power a leader who abuses human rights, traffics drugs, demolishes democracy, or commits massacres and genocide.
The official story is that the US -- usually through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) -- has made a series of mistakes. Backing Saddam Hussein was a mistake. Backing Manuel Noriega was a mistake. Backing the Taliban was a mistake. The CIA took a chance on these guys, and the project backfired. There's even a word for it -- "blowback."
But the leaders in question hardly started out "good" and then "turned evil." Most of these leaders were corrupt, ruthless, anti-democratic, and murderous long before they bit the US hand that fed them. Often, it was this very behavior which made them suitable candidates for support. US backing only stopped when the leader was no longer useful in achieving US aims or became "disobedient."
The stories of these infamous leaders are often surprising and always disturbing, and they offer valuable insights into the strategy behind US foreign affairs. This week, we offer accounts of five top offenders, although the list is so long that there should be many "Dishonorable Mentions."
By studying the affairs of leaders of other nations, we can learn some important lessons about the leaders of the United States -- and the kind of world they have been creating.
Next week: Representatives of Peace
ONE LINK
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This list of "friendly dictators" gives brief summaries of the careers of many US-supported dictators, including all of the people listed below.
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/dictators.html
OSAMA BIN LADEN
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Much has been written since Sept. 11 about the US relationship to bin Laden, who was a very useful pawn during the proxy war against the USSR in the 80's. Here are a few links that summarize this controversial relationship.
In "Bin Laden comes home to roost," Michael Moran of MSNBC explains how the US helped to create bin Laden. Although the article was written in 1998, it's still a compelling case for US complicity.
www.msnbc.com/news/190144.asp
David Corn argues that although the CIA may not have had direct contact with Osama bin Laden, they are ultimately responsible for the conditions that created him.
www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=11757
"Blowback chronicles": An article summarizing information from several books on past actions of the CIA and US foreign policy.
www.9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=18
Noam Chomsky on bin Laden and Afghanistan.
struggle.ws/issues/war/chomsky_b26_sept19.html
MULLAH OMAR AND THE TALIBAN (Afghanistan)
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Mullah Omar, leader of the former Taliban government, was a group commander in the Afghan Mujahedeen, and is thus a US creation in much the way that bin Laden is. His Taliban fighters, with direct support from Pakistan and indirect support from the United States, seized Kabul in 1996.
www.rte.ie/news/features/aftermath/assessment/mullahomar.html
The CIA worked with Pakistan to create the Taliban. This pre-Sept. 11 article quotes Selig Harrison from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars as saying, "I warned them that we were creating a monster."
rawa.fancymarketing.net/cia-talib.htm
SADDAM HUSSEIN (Iraq)
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Saddam Hussein is another one of "America's Most Wanted" leaders; but he also was once on the US's side.
Hussein's profile includes a chronology of his career and notes the number of people that he is thought to have killed (somewhere in the hundreds of thousands).
www.moreorless.au.com/killers/hussein.htm
This brief summary explains how the Reagan administration supported Iraq and Saddam Hussein in the war against Iran (prior to the Gulf War).
www.parascope.com/articles/1196/iraq2.htm
This is an excellent and credible explanation of the relationship between the US and Iraq prior to the Persian Gulf war, based on State Department documents. It includes many important details of this relationship, including the fact that "...the Reagan administration removed Iraq from the State Department�s list of countries regarded as supporters of international terrorism," despite doubts about whether that support had ended.
The article also states that "Throughout the Iran-Iraq war, the Reagan administration chose to give priority to maintaining US-Iraq relations over concerns about Iraq�s use of chemical warfare," which is very important considering that Iraq's development of chemical weapons is currently being used as a pretext for a possible attack on the country.
nsarchive.chadwyck.com/igessayx.htm
This is a chronology of the events affecting the Kurdish people, which demonstrates the fickle relationship that the States has had with anti-Hussein forces.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/saddam/kurds/cron.html
AUGUSTO PINOCHET (Chile)
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Pinochet seized power in Chile after a CIA sponsored coup, ushering in years of "disappearances" and deaths.
Pinochet's profile describes the CIA actions that helped him seize power and the subsequent problems of his regime. One of these was the assassination of Rene Schneider, the commander-in-chief of the military, who refused to approve the coup.
www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.htm
Thousands of declassified CIA documents reveal that the CIA aided in the overthrow of democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende in the 70's, thus putting Augusto Pinochet into power.
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1022000/1022347.stm
Henry Kissinger played a key role in the overthrow of Allende. This article explains his involvement (which he denies in his memoirs), and details the many instances of direct US and CIA involvement in the situation, such as setting up a fascist organization run by a former PR person for the Ford Motor Company.
www.wsws.org/news/1998/oct1998/kis-o21.shtml
MANUEL NORIEGA (Panama)
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Manuel Noriega was employed by the CIA for years before being demonized by George Bush Sr. and arrested by the US for drug trafficking.
Noriega's profile.
www.cnn.com/resources/newsmakers/world/namerica/noriega.html
Manuel Noriega is the most infamous graduate of the US-based School of the Americas (now renamed WHISC). This "resume" provides an overview of his career in point form.
www-personal.umich.edu/~lormand/poli/soa/panama.htm
This is another brief summary of Noriega's career, which makes it clear that he was arrested due to his growing disobedience to the US rather than his drug trafficking, which had always been tolerated by the CIA before.
www.thirdworldtraveler.com/CIA%20Hits/Panama_CIAHits.html
EAST TIMOR: A STORY OF HOPE
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The people of East Timor, like the peoples of Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan, suffered at the hands of a brutal US-backed ruler. Suharto came to power in Indonesia in a 1965 coup. The CIA and the US Embassy participated in the coup by creating and supplying lists of Communist Party members and sympathizers, which were then used by Suharto's death squads to murder between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people. In 1975, he invaded East Timor. According to the East Timor Action Network, 90% of the weapons used came from the U.S, and one-third of the population -- more than 200,000 people -- were killed. But thanks to the efforts of countless activists, East Timor has since gained its independence, becoming its own nation on May 20 of this year.
The US provided Suharto with death lists: "According to a report by States News Service, published in the Washington Post May 21, 1990, State Department and CIA officials at the US Embassy in Jakarta personally provided the names of thousands of local, regional and national leaders of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) to the armed forces, which then killed or detained most of those named."
www.wsws.org/news/1998/may1998/coup-m20.shtml
In the face of mass opposition to his regime, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright requested that Suharto resign, while showering praise on him.
www.wsws.org/news/1998/may1998/alb-m22.shtml
Suharto did resign, appointing one of his closest associates in his place.
www.wsws.org/news/1998/may1998/ined-m21.shtml
In 1999, the East Timorese were allowed to vote on the issue of independence in a UN-organized referendum. 89% favored it, leading to an immediate surge of pro-Indonesian violence.
www.boogieonline.com/revolution/multi/war/etimor/independence.html
East Timor became an independent nation on May 20, 2002. The East Timor Action Network issued this statement congratulating the East Timorese. It says: "Your victory against occupation by the fourth largest country backed by the world's most powerful nation gives hope and inspiration to all who work for genuine democracy, human rights and self-determination."
www.etan.org/news/2002a/05congrats.htm
This statement on the occasion of East Timor's independence examines the roles of the UN, the US, Australia, and the rest of the world in allowing the military occupation to happen in the first place
www.etan.org/et2002b/may/12-18/18hak.htm
Even now that East Timor has won independence, the Bush administration can't resist meddling; therefore it may be a qualified victory.
www.commondreams.org/views02/0523-01.htm
HITLER AND STALIN: BLURRING THE DISTINCTION
BETWEEN ENEMY AND ALLY IN WWII
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HITLER: Friend of American Big Business
While the US didn't "create" Hitler, the ties between American business and the Nazi regime were so strong that in essence, Wall Street helped finance Hitler's rise to power.
Hitler's profile describes him as the "grand champion of killers."
www.moreorless.au.com/killers/hitler.htm
During the war, the three major American motor vehicle companies supplied both Nazi Germany and the US, and became an integral part of the Nazi war effort.
members.tripod.com/~Chaplain1/ford.html
Hitler greatly admired Henry Ford's anti-Semitism, which Ford publicly expressed in the series of articles he wrote and published titled "The International Jew." Ford even received a Nazi medal.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/entertainment/books/2995894.htm
Author and former U.S. Justice Dept. Nazi War Crimes Prosecutor John Loftus contends that "the Bush family fortune came from the Third Reich."
serendipity.magnet.ch/jsmill/bushnz1.htm
Indeed, it is apparently uncontested that the current American President's political influence extends back to his grandfather's support of the Nazis. This article explains how WWII era companies such as IG Farben helped build Hitler's regime (including several concentration camps, one of which was Auschwitz) as well as describing how such connections continued even after the war.
www.citypaper.net/articles/011801/sl.slant.shtml
For more on this topic, you may be interested in reading the short online book, "Wall Street and the Rise of Hitler."
reformed-theology.org/html/books/wall_street/
JOSEF STALIN (former USSR)
The distinction between friends and enemies never seems to be clear-cut, and Stalin is perhaps the prime example of this. Stalin made a pact of non-aggression with Hitler, an act that Time magazine described as making WWII possible. Later he allied with Britain and the US in order to defeat the Nazis, making him one of the "good guys." In fact, President Roosevelt was fairly enthusiastic about building a relationship with Stalin, mainly because he thought that it would bring about peace. However, Stalin's entire career was marked by ruthlessness and the deaths of millions of his own citizens.
Stalin's profile.
www.moreorless.au.com/killers/stalin.htm
This is an excellent written summary of Stalin's career.
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/stalin/
Roosevelt acknowledged that the USSR was a dictatorship, but cultivated ties with Stalin nonetheless in order to defeat Hitler.
www.unc.edu/depts/diplomat/AD_Issues/amdipl_6/stefan.html
STRANGE BEDFELLOWS IN THE WAR ON TERRORISM
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SAUDI ARABIA
The corrupt Saudi ruling family abuses human rights, but America is still Saudi Arabia's number one trading partner, continuing in a long-standing tradition of American support for the regime. This rosy relationship may be one of the origins of the Sept. 11 attacks, since 15 out of 19 of the WTC terrorists were Saudi, as is bin Laden, and US presence on Saudi soil has long been a source of anger among Muslim extremists.
www.foreignpolicy-infocus.org/faq/0111saud_body.html
THE LATEST FRIENDLY DICTATOR: MUSHARRAF
The US has supported a string of dictators in Pakistan, including General Ziaul Haq, a military dictator who was an ally during the proxy war against the USSR in Afghanistan. The most recent dictator to win US favor is President Musharraf, who seized power in 1999. Musharraf is now enjoying support due to his willingness to assist US efforts in Afghanistan.
In 1999, Musharraf took control of Pakistan in a "bloodless coup," therefore putting the nuclear power under military control.
www.rnw.nl/hotspots/archive/pak/html/pakistane991013.html
One year after the coup, support for Musharraf was at a low point, and the US was tilting towards India, strengthening its ties with that country rather than Pakistan.
www.wsws.org/articles/2000/nov2000/pak-n21_prn.shtml
Now Pakistan has once again become America's ally in the War on Terrorism. Democracy for the people of Pakistan will not be coming any time soon.
www.charm.net/~marc/chronicle/musharref_apr02.shtml
Musharraf is currently planning a "referendum" to undemocratically extend his term of office. This article describes various misgivings about the referendum.
www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/04/06/pakistan.reax/
Pakistan and India are now on the brink of nuclear war, due in no small part to Musharraf's actions, which include current missile tests (although India is no less to blame for engaging in dangerous brinkmanship).
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A9198-2002May25.html
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: SPANISH BULLETIN
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Starting next week, the 9-11Peace Bulletin will be available in Spanish. Our team of volunteer translators is also working hard to make back issues available to Spanish speakers. We're going to be emailing you shortly with more details, but if you just can't wait to sign up, choose the "Epsanol" option in the form at:
www.9-11peace.org/bulletin.php3
CORRECTIONS
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In the rush to get last week's issue out, we misspelled the names of two of the authors of the essays. The author of the Vietnam essay's name is Jonathan Horwitz, not Horowitz, and the co-director of Peaceful Tomorrows is David Potorti, not Portorti. I'd like to personally apologize for these embarrassing errors and thank the authors who contributed pieces to last week's bulletin for their inspiring work.
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