Non-violent grass roots reform and Democracy: Death Squads Can't Happen Here? Yet?

During the Cold War we were often told that we had to oppose the Soviet Union because they were oppressing their own people, which, to some degree, I'm sure is true; however, since then, it's become clear that a large portion of it was exaggerated, and they're not the only ones censoring their human rights violations, assuming you don't rely on traditional media for your information about history and current events.

However, thanks to reporting from alternative media, including many from foreign countries, often with the support of other governments, it's become clear that countries supported by the United States, often as a result of violent coups, have oppressed their own people far more than the Soviet Union; and this includes well over a dozen, if not more than two or three dozen, countries relying on death squads to terrorize their own people, often killing tens of thousands of people. In most of these cases the death squads were trained directly, or indirectly by the CIA!

There's little or no doubt that the most murders, in most cases, committed directly by our own military, was during the Vietnam with a death toll that's virtually guaranteed to be above two million, possibly as high as three million or more. Estimates below two million have little credibility; supporters of the war routinely claim that there were a higher percentage of combatant deaths, but even most of them admit there were even more civilian deaths. However, the implied claim that the killing of combatants implies they're justified since we were allegedly fighting for a justifiable cause, which many of us were led to believe was "fighting for freedom against communism," which is not even close to the truth, although people relying on traditional media might not understand this.

The fastest and easiest way to refute this false belief is to report on the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence on September 2 1945 when Vietnam was a World War II ally and they believed they were fighting for freedom and Democracy, as promised by allies, including the United States. They wanted to be free of French Colonialism, which is what they were supposedly fighting for. They tried and failed to get the support of both the French and the United States, who both claimed they were fighting to defend freedom, although they both demonstrated after WWII that they didn't mean it. Vietnam never tried to invade any European or American country, instead they were invaded by both France and the United States, while they both gave their own people a false narrative.

The same goes for dozens of other countries where our country supported coups, with much less support from our own military, although the death toll for all the coups and tyrannical governments installed combined, may almost as high if not higher than the Vietnam War. Traditional media rarely ever mentions many of these coups or interventions, and on the rare occasions when they do, it's only mentioned briefly, and they only mention one of them at a time, a few of the most famous ones were the coups in Iran 1953, Guatemala 1954 and Chile 1972, which the government admitted to their involvement eventually, although the media only covered each example one at a time before quickly forgetting about it. Many alternative media outlets or good researchers covered them much better, although many people never heard of them including "Deterring Democracy" Noam Chomsky 1991; "The Jakarta Method" by Vincent Bevins; "Rogue State" by William Blum; "Killing Hope U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II" – Part I William Blum 2004 and many more that those accustomed to checking alternative media re much more likely to be aware of.

William Blum provides one of the most comprehensive lists of coups or attempted coups, shown below. Vincent Bevins has made a major case to show that the worst coups may have been Indonesia and Bolivia, partly because they were the most populous countries overthrown by CIA backed coups, and partly because they were among the most brutal, and other countries, including Chile patterned their coups and death squads after Indonesia. According to some estimate the death toll in late 1965 and 1966 alone may have been close to a million people, and intimidation continued at more moderate levels for another thirty years while General Suharto, including additional massacres after they invaded East Timor, the worst of which was in 1975, possibly killing 50,000 to 100,000 people, and two more massacres in 1991 and 1999 in East Timor, the last shortly after Suharto left office.

It certainly seems unlikely that death squads like the ones previously supported by our government in other countries could happen here anytime soon, but if our leaders are willing to do this around the world, and they've been increasing the class war, even at home, then we shouldn't rule out the possibility, especially with police clamping down on many protest and legislatures across the country passing laws to suppress protests even more, as well as suppressing voting rights, without addressing legitimate concerns.

However, my best guess is that if it does escalate toward death squads again, it will start in other countries before happening here. Even though there are no death squads, that I know of, as bad as the ones that were in place during the Cold War, starting with the Iranian coup and continuing at least through the eighties, before slowing down, in most cases in the nineties years after the official end of the Cold War, there's still an enormous amount of violence in the countries our government has destabilized, and our own country is also more violent that other wealthy countries, including many more police shootings.

There are at least several reasons why this is of major concern; and that additional coups and death squads, with support of our government, are possible; and in a worst case scenario could eventually get much worse, and conceivably even come home, although additional signs will almost certainly happen before we have major death squads in the United States. One of them is that the United States continues to support coups, and misrepresent them in traditional media, including the 2009 coup in Honduras, the 2019 coup in Bolivia, and there's also some talk about a potential coup in Ecuador.

Furthermore, those that are familiar with this history of coups, may recognize that they're almost always, if not always, against left leaning governments that are trying to defend the poor and the best interests of their own country, often holding large corporations accountable for fraud and human rights abuses. If you're not already familiar with this it's in your best interest to learn more about it, since this is also related to the class war that continues in the United States, and is part of the reason for outsourcing massive amounts of jobs to countries where workers have little or no rights, driving down wages in the United States as well.

Another reason we may decline into relentless war again may be epidemic destruction of the environment, especially in the third world which isn't being covered nearly enough by traditional media. This includes Climate Change, of course, which according to many sources, is among the worst potential environmental damage, including a massive increase in storms, which has already begun, but this isn't the only environmental threat by far, including shortages of water in many parts of the world which is getting even worse. There are numerous predictions that this could eventually lead to wars over water, including one author, Robert Kaplan, which I reported on previously in Has "The Coming Anarchy" arrived On Schedule?

Another book written by Maude Barlow, "Blue Gold: World Water Wars" 2017 Which began to explain how privatization is already devastating our water supply twenty years ago, and since then there have been numerous updates showing she was right, including widely reported problems in Flint Michigan, and many more major problems that haven't gotten nearly as much attention, including Chrystal City Texas, which few people heard of and most that did hear of it forgot about it. The mainstream media hardly covers her research at all, and things continue to get much worse in many parts of the world; and ironically, sometimes when they can't avoid addressing her concerns, or other good environmentalists, they often try to portray them as radicals or even extremists!

There's absolutely nothing radical or extremist about trying to protect the planet and make clean water available to all indefinitely; what's radical, extremist or insane is trying to profit off the privatization of water, even though it will lead to epidemic levels of environmental destruction that will inevitably go way out of control if not reversed soon!

The current immigration crisis is also a result of our past activities supporting tyrannical governments often using deaths squads, which is why so many are fleeing. Amazingly traditional media practically never mentions any potential connection between past coups or death squads and the human rights abuses that many of these immigrants are fleeing; on the rare occasions that they do, they don't inform the public that our own government was behind those coups and death squads. People listening to alternative media or reading books like those written by Chomsky, Blum and many more are much more likely to be familiar with this; the latest article explaining this comes from Democracy Now in this article, “Crisis of Capitalism”: Roberto Lovato on How U.S. Policies Fuel Migration & Instability 03/30/2021

For all practical purposes traditional politicians haven't spoken out against the worst of the atrocities committed by the CIA in decades, since the seventies when they had the Church and Pike Committees, with very few exceptions, like when Bernie Sanders briefly mentioned the 1953 coup in Iran during the 2016 election. He actually went much further back in the seventies, when at one point he even called for abolishing the CIA. This is considered extreme by the political establishment and media which refuses to report on the atrocities committed by the CIA, so they falsely claim Sanders has become more moderate, when he's actually become more inclined to look the other way at atrocities.

Within the past few days, one of the biggest exception to this tacit attempt to cover up the connection between the atrocities committed by the CIA and the immigration crisis in an article where Jamaal Bowman Blames Decades of US Capitalism, Imperialism for Flow of Asylum-Seekers 07/29/2020 which says: "The best we can do is implement a 21st century Marshall Plan and help to rebuild Central America in the same ways that we have destroyed it," Bowman continued. "We wanted their land and their natural resources, and we were engaged in coup d'etats and other behaviors in those areas in order to do so. Now we have to right our wrongs." What would be even more unprecedented would be if there was any follow-up on this by either the traditional media or Jamaal Bowman himself; however, I'm not optimistic this will happen.

There have been few comments from the relatively new wave of progressives quite so revealing, although without additional follow-up, most people won't realize how important it is; however, there have been many campaigns by the new progressives to advance new causes like Medicare for All, The New Green Deal and more progressive policies. Unfortunately, instead of following up on them after the campaigns have been over, the new Progressives have repeatedly caved in the short time they've been in office; the four members of the Squad, and a few that got elected before them were quick to come to Nancy Pelosi's defense when running for speaker at least twice, without receiving anything in return, and even enduring routine insults from Pelosi who ridicules their views. Bowman, Cori Bush and a couple of the most recent new progressives already did this twice, without getting anything in return.

As much as I hope Bowman or the traditional media will follow-up on this many of us should continue to rely on alternative media or researchers that have a history of following up on past research and even fact checking them, for several reasons. One reason why even alternative media needs to be fact checked is that a few of them have caved to the establishment in the past, often in subtle ways; another good reason, is that even if they don't cave to the establishment, they will be accused by the establishment of bias, so we should be prepared to fact check them to refute the mistakes they do make, or in many more cases, to find additional sources showing the establishment often lies, which the following article does about the recent coup in Bolivia, which continues to play out now:

To Western Media, Prosecuting Bolivian Coup Leaders Is Worse Than Leading a Coup 03/23/2021 by Joe Emersberger

One can imagine an editor of the London-based Guardian (3/17/21) shaking her head sadly as she typed the headline: “Cycle of Retribution Takes Bolivia’s Ex-President From Palace to Prison Cell.” The subhead told readers, “Jeanine Áñez’s government once sought to jail the country’s former leader Evo Morales for terrorism and sedition—now she faces the same charges.”

The Guardian article by Tom Phillips wants us to lament an alleged incapacity of Bolivian governments to stop persecuting opponents once they take office. We are told that Áñez’s government did it, and that now the government of President Luis Arce (elected in a landslide win on October 18, 2020) is also doing it.

The article’s premise is a lie, and the liberal Guardian has hardly been the only outlet spreading it, with help from Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), whom Philips quoted. A team effort between Western media and NGOs like HRW often reinforces the views of the US government (FAIR.org, 8/23/18, 8/31/18, 5/31/20, 11/3/18).

Áñez was a US-backed dictator installed after a military coup sent democratically elected President Evo Morales fleeing Bolivia for his life on November 10, 2019. Once in power, Áñez immediately promised security forces legal immunity as they massacred dozens of protesters. She is now charged with terrorism (in addition to sedition and criminal conspiracy) over her attempt to keep power by terrorizing the public. Her arrest is good news to people who support democracy and human rights.

But now, as when the coup took place in 2019, the most obvious conclusions are evaded when they are incompatible with US foreign policy (FAIR.org, 11/11/19). It should surprise nobody that US officials have made statements depicting her arrest as political persecution. Complete article with sources

The claim that the Human Rights Watch is covering up for coup leaders is certainly shocking; however, after reviewing their coverage of the Bolivian coup and other activities related to the United States, it shouldn't be entirely out of the question. After reviewing their news site, there's clearly some criticism of the United States, but not nearly as much as there could be, and their views on Bolivia seem to be more biased than most as Joe Emersberger indicates in the above article, and he's not the only one I've heard saying that HRW is biased towards the United States.

They did post one article about Afghan forces with ties to the CIA committing atrocities, and an article about people being deported back to El Salvador during the Trump administration losing their lives to gangs or "death squads" but there's no mention that this is a result of United States intervention that helped set the stage for these death squads or destabilized the country. Another article does the same about death squads in the Philippines without mentioning the fact that their tyrannical governments rose to power with support from our government.

However, even if the Human Rights Watch's track record for other events is mixed the bias for the Bolivia coup appears to be brazen and obvious. In one article, Bolivia: Amnesty Decree Opens the Door to Impunity 03/11/2021, José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch says, “There is strong evidence indicating the previous government persecuted MAS supporters in politically motivated cases. But granting a blanket amnesty to MAS supporters without clear criteria undermines victims’ access to justice and violates the fundamental principle of equality before the law.” Vivanco doesn't provide any evidence to indicate that any of the people granted amnesty are guilty of anything, even though he admits many were prosecuted for political purposes; instead the rest of the article focuses primarily on procedures to figure out the truth.

Ironically Vivanco co-authors another article that changes the standards, Bolivia Should End Revenge Justice 03/22/2021 where he tries to equate the charges placed by Áñez against Morales with the charges against Áñez by the current government, admitting that there was no bases for the charges of "terrorism" against Morales and falsely claiming the same for the charges against Áñez. He falsely claims there was no evidence agaisnt Áñez either despite the fact that despite the fact that there were dozens of murders by military security forces who were promised immunity by Áñez. Amazingly Vivanco's desire to seek the truth before dismissing charges disappeared when it comes to applying it to the other side, even though there was an enormous amount of evidence already public, including evidence of state sponsored terrorism by a government that gained power as a result of a coup, assuming he wanted to acknowledge that evidence.

This is actually part of a pattern of behavior that goes back decades. In the immediate aftermath of many coups supported by the United States traditional media repeated the propaganda of the USA government while alternative, or foreign media often reported the truth, or something much closer to the truth in a much lower profile. For years if not decades the CIA and the United States have repeatedly denied their involvement in many coups, including the most obvious, like Iran 1953, Guatemala, 1954, and Chile 1973, before eventually admitting them, on a much lower profile, which was quickly forgotten by the mainstream media.

Fortunately, there weren't nearly as many deaths following this coup as there were following the coups during the Cold War which often rose to tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people; but there were still dozens of murders by police and army forces who were told by Áñez that they would be given immunity for these killings. Furthermore, our own government and traditional media routinely lie to us about the details of this coup and their interventions in many other countries including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, Brazil and many other countries; which may mean that, if at some point things do get dramatically worse we may not have accurate news about events as they play out, which could make escalation much more likely.

If it does escalate in the future, for environmental reasons or any other reasons, it would help to remember what kind of extremes our government has gone to in the past, including the deaths of close to a million people in Indonesia, according to some counts, and many more in other countries patterned after that including in Chile where they began terrorizing people by saying “Jakarta is Coming,” referring to the massacres in Indonesia which people would soon see replicated in their own country, as described by Vincent Bevins in his book and some of the following excerpts:

"The Jakarta Method" by Vincent Bevins 2020

IN MAY 1962, A YOUNG girl named Ing Giok Tan got on a rusty old boat in Jakarta, Indonesia. Her country, one of the largest in the world, had been pulled into the global battle between capitalism and communism, and her parents decided to flee the terrible consequences that conflict had wrought for families like hers. They set sail for Brazil, having heard from other Indonesians who had already made the journey that this place offered freedom, opportunity, and respite from conflict. But they knew almost nothing about it. Brazil was just an idea for them, and it was very far away. Suffering through anxiety and seasickness for forty-five days, they made their way past Singapore, across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, down past Mozambique, around South Africa, and then all the way across the Atlantic to São Paulo, the largest city in South America.

If they thought they could escape the violence of the Cold War, they were tragically mistaken. Two years after they arrived, the military overthrew Brazil’s young democracy and established a violent dictatorship. After that, the new Indonesian immigrants in Brazil received messages from home describing the most shocking scenes imaginable, an explosion of violence so terrifying that even discussing what happened would make people break down, questioning their own sanity. But the reports were all true. In the wake of that apocalyptic slaughter in Indonesia, a young nation littered with mutilated bodies emerged as one of Washington’s most reliable allies, and then largely disappeared from history.

What happened in Brazil in 1964 and Indonesia in 1965 may have been the most important victories of the Cold War for the side that ultimately won—that is, the United States and the global economic system now in operation. As such, they are among the most important events in a process that has fundamentally shaped life for almost everyone. Both countries had been independent, standing somewhere in between the world’s capitalist and communist superpowers, but fell decisively into the US camp in the middle of the 1960s.

........

The United States US government officials were almost uniformly celebratory of the massacres in Indonesia, even as their scope and brutality became clear. Ironically, one dissenting voice on this topic came from the man with a reputation for pushing for the most violent and reckless covert operations in the early 1960s.

In January 1966, Senator Bobby Kennedy said, “We have spoken out against the inhuman slaughters perpetrated by the Nazis and the Communists. But will we speak out also against the inhuman slaughter in Indonesia, where over 100,000 alleged Communists have not been perpetrators but victims?”

........

In 1966, the MIR newspaper, Punto Final, published a text attributed to philosopher Bertrand Russell. “I fear that the horror of the killings in Indonesia was only possible because in the West we are so saturated with racism that the death of Asians, even in the hundreds of thousands, doesn’t impress us. Blacks in North America know it well,” the article continued. “Knowing the same thing, the peoples of the world should take the path of open struggle.” 48 Punta Final also published a guide to CIA activities in Indonesia, the Congo, Vietnam, and Brazil. 49 The paper got some details wrong; but just as was the case when Hirian Rakyat covered Guatemala in 1954, Chile’s left-wing press described events in Indonesia more accurately than mainstream US press at the time.

.......

Washington was not worried that Chile’s economy would be destroyed under irresponsible left-wing mismanagement either, or even that Allende would harm US business interests. What scared the most powerful nation in the world was the prospect that Allende’s democratic socialism would succeed.

Just days after Allende was elected, President Nixon convened his National Security Council. Nixon said:

Our main concern in Chile is … that [Allende] can consolidate himself, and the picture presented to the world will be his success. … If we let the potential leaders in South America think they can move like Chile and have it both ways, we will be in trouble. I want to work on this and on military relations put in more money. On the economic side we want to give him cold Turkey [sic].... We’ll be very cool and very correct, but doing those things which will be a real message to Allende and others. … No impression should be permitted in Latin America that they can get away with this. 30

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Operacao Jacarta, or “The Jakarta Operation,” was the name of a secret part of an extermination plan, according to documentation compiled by Brazil’s Truth Commission. Testimony gathered after the fall of the dictatorship indicates Operação Jacarta may have been part of Operação Radar, which was aimed at destroying the structure of the Brazilian Communist Party. The goal of Operação Jacarta was the physical elimination of communists. It called for mass murder, just as in Indonesia. Before the Jakarta Operation, the dictatorship had aimed its violence at open rebellions. Operação Jacarta was a hidden plan to expand state terror to Communist Party members operating openly with civil society groups or in the media.

The Brazilian public would not hear the words Operação Jacarta until three years later. But in Chile, the word “Jakarta” made a very public arrival.

Around Santiago, especially in the eastern part of the city—up in the hills, where the well-to-do people lived—someone began to plaster a message on the walls. It took a few forms.

“Yakarta viene.”

“Jakarta se acerca.”

That is: “Jakarta is Coming.”

Or sometimes, simply, “Jakarta.”

The events in Indonesia had been a part of right-wing discourse for years. Most significantly, Juraj Domic Kuscenic, a Croatian anticommunist who wrote in right-wing outlets like El Mercurio and had maintained close contact with Patria y Libertad since 1970, had made frequent references to it since the 1960s. 35

The first record of “Jakarta” appearing as a threat was in a January 1972 edition of El Rebelde, the official MIR newspaper. The cover asked, “What is Djakarta?” and on the inside showed a photo of the word slapped onto a wall. In a small article, “La Via Indonesia de Los Fascistas Chilenos,” the paper attempted to explain what the message meant. The Indonesian Communist Party had played an active role in an “independent, progressive” state, and then—overnight—all that was left of its members was a “sea of blood.” 36 At this point, not all of the Chilean left knew the Indonesian story, and the idea of a wave of violence here seemed far-fetched.

.......

“You’re all indoctrinated!” he screamed. “And it’s because of this indoctrination that we’re going to put into effect Operation Jakarta, and neutralize two thousand communists right here in São Paulo.” He began to list the names of targets.

Luciano scribbled down, furiously, “Neutralizar 2mil comunistas em São Paulo ...”

The general had gone off script. This was a dictatorship, however, and he had an easy way to make sure it stayed off the record.

“If you publish a single line of what I just said, it will be 2,001!”

The students kept quiet, for quite some time. 65

.......

But the Condor alliance didn’t limit their activities to their own continent. They built upon the “stay-behind” armies Frank Wisner had helped to build in Europe to pursue their enemies in Germany, Spain, Italy, and Ireland. 18 The men behind Operation Condor often considered the nonviolent democracy and human rights activists operating abroad to be even more dangerous than armed guerrillas at home. 19 Most infamously, this logic led US citizen, known CIA contact, and Condor operative Michael Townley to murder former Chilean Foreign Minister Orlando Letlier in the heart of Washington, DC. A car bomb placed on Embassy Row blew Letelier’s legs off, killing him instantly; his twenty-five-year-old American assistant, Ronni Moffit, staggered from the car and slowly drowned in her own blood. 20 Townley is now in FBI witness protection.

.......

If you had to sum up Jair Bolsonaro’s political career in two words, “violent anticommunism” would be a very good choice. He was an unremarkable soldier and an unremarkable politician, ... He once said, “Voting won’t change anything in this country. Nothing! Things will only change, unfortunately, after starting a civil war here, and doing the work the dictatorship didn’t do.Killing some thirty thousand people, and starting with FHC [referring to then-President Fernando Henrique Cardoso of the Brazilian Social-Democratic Party]. If some innocents die, that's just fine.” 3 Additional excerpts, including more than a quarter of the book

Nixon came right out and said that he was more concerned about Allende setting a good example showing that Socialism can work and improve the lives of the people instead of proving to be a disaster like the Soviet Union and China; Bevins demonstrates in his book that even though they weren't caught coming right out and saying it the same applied to several countries years if not decades before the Chile coup including Iran, Guatemala, Cuba, Indonesia, Brazil, and more countries years after, including Nicaragua and Venezuela; although in most of these cases they couldn't do nearly as well as they might have of they weren't forced to constantly fight off right wing terrorists or coups supported by the United States. In some cases, like Venezuela it's difficult if not impossible to know if their failures were a result of their policies or constant war, or threat of war and sanctions from our government.

The fact that our government is openly supporting Jair Bolsonaro who supported past mass murders and says that their country can't bring about needed changes without Civil War and the mass murder of thirty thousand people, even welcoming the deaths of innocents, also shows that they're not opposed to escalation of death squads, at least in the third world, although if it escalates enough, possibly into a third World War it's hard to imagine how they can be sure it won't come home to haunt them.

Other authors, including William Blum were reporting on these atrocities long before Bevins, and he shows how many wars and terrorist attacks could be prevented in his book and the following excerpts:

"Rogue State" by William Blum 2000

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.

.......

Perspective can be everything. If what the hijackers did is inexcusable, it is by no means inexplicable. ........

If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently. I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism. Then I would announce, in all sincerity, to every corner of the world, that America's global interventions have come to an end, and inform Israel that it is no longer the 51st state of the USA but henceforth—oddly enough—a foreign country. I would then reduce the military budget by at least 90% and use the savings to pay reparations to the victims. There would be more than enough money. One year's military budget of $330 billion is equal to more than $18,000 an hour for every hour since Jesus Christ was born. Complete article

In at least one case William Blum may seem to be going a little too far comparing the United States to Leatherface in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" as described in the following excerpt; however, if you get past the parable and read the whole book it may be understandable:

"Rogue State" by William Blum 2000

This book could be entitled Serial Chain-Saw Baby Killers and the Women Who Love Them.

The women don't really believe that their beloved would do such a thing, even if they're shown a severed limb or a headless torso. Or if they believe it, they know down to their bone marrow that lover-boy really had the best of intentions; it must have been some kind of very unfortunate accident, a well-meaning blunder; in fact, even more likely, it was a humanitarian act.

For 70 years, the United States convinced much of the world that there was an international conspiracy out there. An International Communist Conspiracy, seeking no less than control over the entire planet, for purposes which had no socially redeeming values. And the world was made to believe that it somehow needed the United States to save it from communist darkness. "Just buy our weapons," said Washington, "let our military and our corporations roam freely across your land, and give us veto power over who your leaders will be, and we'll protect you."

It was the cleverest protection racket since men convinced women that they needed men to protect them—if all the men vanished overnight, how many women would be afraid to walk the streets?

.......

A decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, America is still saving countries and peoples from one danger or another. The scorecard reads as follows: From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair. Complete article

The claim that the book could be titled "Serial Chain-Saw Baby Killers and the Women Who Love Them" may seem absurd to many and they might have doubts about his credibility if they don't think it seems appropriate; however, if you get past that and read the stories of many atrocities, it's clear that the United States did far worse than the fictional Leatherface who may have killed dozens. The death squads we supported killed hundreds of thousands totaling several million people and many of them were tortured as bad as Leatherface's victims.

William Colby once made a similar misleading analogy, in the opposite direction demonstrating how a false version of history was created and promoted by the financial elites for so long; he once said that he couldn't imagine Richard Helms, his predecessor and former boss ever torturing anyone for information, which perhaps he wouldn't do directly, referring to him as an "Honorable Man." I don't refute the claim that people like Richard Helms, William Colby, George H.W. Bush and many other college educated bureaucrats or politicians wouldn't directly torture people; however they have dealt with middlemen who either did this torture themselves or trained others to do it and they were the ones calling the shots from the top. Once you understand this it's clear that in order to consider them honorable you have to have a sick and perverted sense of "Honor."

However, William Colby's reference to "Honorable Men" is just the beginning of the false propaganda created by the political establishment and media and it's repeated over and over again without challenge, at least from mainstream media, creating a false sense of "honor" and an alternative reality where most of the country believes lies far more than they trust the truth. Once you understand this then it's clear that even though William Blum's reference to "Serial Chain-Saw Baby Killers and the Women Who Love Them" doesn't seem credible at first, after checking facts it's clear that it's far more accurate then Colby's reference to "Honorable Men."

Another important factor to consider is the reaction to many police shootings by politicians police unions and the public. Police Unions act as if they can do no wrong and that the fault is a hundred percent on the part of all the people killed with no liability on the part of the police, even in the most extreme cases; and there are a shocking number of politicians, mainly Republicans, backing them up completely. In some parts of the country these Republicans are passing, or trying to pass, anti-protest bills, including some attempts to give immunity to people that run down protesters, possibly even killing them.

In all fairness there have been some examples at local levels where they have begun some police reform; however there has been no leadership at the national level, despite some speeches by Biden or a few members of Congress. If anything they've come up with more defense of the police than the protesters and have even promised to increase funding to police, instead of increasing funding to programs that will make conflicts with police far less likely. As I've pointed out in numerous articles before, the traditional media rarely if ever covers the best research into the long term causes of violence, either in our own country or abroad, passing up many opportunities to reduce violence.

With our political and media establishment ignoring the most credible news about foreign conflicts and how to prevent violence at home, while simultaneously escalating the destruction of the environment and many other social problems, not only is it possible for these problems and warts to escalate but it may be inevitable. Eventually this could include the return of massive death squads abroad, or perhaps if it gets extreme enough even at home. Even if the destruction of our society doesn't develop in this manner it could still develop in other manners. The only way to prevent this is to stop letting our leaders base all their decisions on incredibly bad ideological lies.