Central Intelligence Agency
Central Embarrassment Agency
Nothing in the CIA’s name or mission says anything about shooting down suspected drug planes. Yet that is exactly what it has been doing. And, as usual, the operation has been far from a “slam dunk.”
November 21, 2008 | Read More
Don’t Worry, We Won’t Invade Your Country Without Good Reason
A story out in today’s NY Times reveals that back in 2004, the Bush administration gave the Pentagon the green light to breach the borders of sovereign countries in pursuit of suspected terrorists. But, never fear, the government says it has “high standards” for the intelligence it uses to justify these attacks. Gee, that’s reassuring.
November 10, 2008 | Read More
Stop Nation Building
The same nerve that drives us to declare embargoes and sanctions against other countries has led us into the dangerous game of nation building. We stormed the sovereign country of Panama in 1989 to topple our former friend, and CIA informant, Manuel Noriega. We sent troops to Haiti a few years later. Then we dropped thousands of bombs on Serbia to punish its leader.
As a candidate in 2000, then-governor George W. Bush pledged not to engage in this activity. We all know how well he kept that promise.
What deity granted us permission to meddle with the regimes of other countries?…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
Scrub the CIA
Contrary to popular opinion, the CIA has done valuable, even critical work for our nation. Its predecessor, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), helped us win World War II. And during the Cold War, someone had to counter the ruthlessness of the Soviet KGB. That kind of work is dangerous, and often messy. But early on in its existence, the CIA strayed from what it was chartered to do: gather intelligence.
The agency has had many low points. George Tenet’s WMD “slam dunk” in Iraq was just the last in a long line of criminally incompetent actions. I believe the beginning…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #9: Empire in the Canal Zone
America’s history in Panama is even more despicable than our oppression of Nicaragua. At the beginning of the twentieth century, when Panama was part of Colombia, that nation wouldn’t allow us access to her soil to build a canal. So President Teddy Roosevelt used the Monroe Doctrine to justify an illegal occupation of the land. Roosevelt sent a gunboat to hold off the Colombian military and simply declared Panama independent.
After Panama “declared” its independence, a huge chunk of the new country-the Canal Zone-was indefinitely ceded to the United States. For more than seventy years, American citizens lived in luxury inside the…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #8: Narco Politics - The Rise and Fall of Rent-a-Colonel
The Contras in Nicaragua weren’t our only drug smuggling friends in the region. Panamanian strongman and CIA informant, Manuel Noriega, moved enough cocaine in his crooked career to ski on the beach. Noriega’s code name tells you everything you need to know about the man: “Rent-a-Colonel.” He held no firm allegiances. He was on the CIA’s payroll for decades. He spied on his friends for us and helped the Contras in Nicaragua’s civil war. In 1986, he even offered to “take care of” Nicaragua’s leaders for us. But Manuel played both sides of the fence. He sold information to the Nicaraguans…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #7: Blown Away in Nicaragua
In 1979, the people of the little nation of Nicaragua overthrew our puppet dictator, Anastasio Somoza. The U.S. government didn’t take kindly to this act of independence. Over the course of the twentieth century, we had come to see Nicaragua as our vassal. Early in the century, U.S. Marines even occupied the place for over twenty years. So when the Nicaraguans dared to stand up to us, our leaders were prepared to strike back hard-even if it meant using drug money to do it.
In the early 80s, the U.S. Congress limited the amount of money the CIA could spend helping…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #6: The Cocaine Intelligence Agency
Our misadventures in Latin America did not stop with Arbenz in Guatemala and Castro in Cuba. In the 1980s, while clueless Nancy Reagan was urging us all to “Just say no to drugs!” agents of her husband’s administration were helping to funnel tons of cocaine into our cities-all to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua.
While clueless Nancy Reagan was urging us all to “Just say no to drugs!” agents of her husband’s administration were helping to funnel tons of cocaine into our cities
In 1996, investigative reporter Gary Webb wrote an exhaustive series of articles called “Dark Alliance.” In the pieces, published…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #4: The Platt Amendment - U.S. Imperialism Begins in Cuba
Thanks to Hearst, The Colonel, and other media warmongers, American troops poured into Cuba and expelled its Spanish rulers. With our victory in the Spanish-American War, we took over Spain’s colonies in Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Guam. We chose to let Cuba remain “independent,” but in name only. She was really just another American possession.
Our triumph against Spain was the beginning of the end of America as a peaceful democratic republic and the beginning of America the Empire. We’d gotten a taste of imperial ambition and there was no stopping us after that.
In 1902, Congress enacted the Platt Amendment.…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
World Boss History Reason #1: Strange Fruit
Our military is not supposed to protect private companies and their profits. But for well over a century, that seems to be what many leaders have thought was its prime role. The case of the United Fruit Company is a choice example. In the early 1950s, United Fruit, a U.S. company, owned vast tracks of land in Central America. At one time they controlled more than 400,000 acres in Honduras alone. And on the east coast of Guatemala the company controlled 550,000 acres. They seemed to be everywhere you looked.
But in 1951, the Guatemalan people elected as president a man…
August 28, 2008 | Read More
