Bush to reexamine hemispheric policy

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Nov. 04, 2004

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS


Bush to reexamine hemispheric policy

In its second term, the Bush administration plans to take a hard look at which parts of its Latin America policy should be changed.

BY PABLO BACHELET
[e-mail]


WASHINGTON - A second Bush administration will review its policy toward Latin America to ensure it's on track to promote democracy, security and economic integration in the region, administration officials say.

This does not mean Bush will move away from his main initiatives in the region, such as promoting free trade in Latin America, pressing the Cuban government and engaging the region's countries to help preserve democracy in troubled neighbors such as Venezuela and Haiti, an official said.
''We will take a close look at what policy is successful and what is not,'' a senior Bush administration official said Wednesday, declining to be more specific.

Sen. John Kerry often criticized Bush for not doing enough for a region that has the world's worst income distribution. Other critics say Bush's war on terrorism and the conflict in Iraq has distracted the administration from Latin America's troubles.

Bush also appears increasingly out of step with a region where a wave of left-leaning leaders have swept into power, from Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Uruguay's Tavaré Vázquez.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/10095601.htm
(Free registration is required)

[ibegurpard]

1. Yup

replace all those leftist regimes. Chile, anyone?
:scared:

[0rganism]

2. Laying the Groundwork for the Invasion of Venezuela

"troubled neighbors such as Venezuela and Haiti"? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out this orbit. To even put Venezuela in the same category of "troubled" as Haiti is insane.

Of course, Venezuela does have a fair bit of oil.

[aquart]

4. Invade? With what army????

[0rganism]

6. Since when has that been an obstacle?

If bush needs more troops, he will find a way to get them.

[TomClash]

11. He'll outsource it to prvate companies

[DUreader]

18. mercs, of course, and maybe colombian regulars

[Say_What]

35. Contractors in Colombia

From CIPonline:

<clips>
...The Contractors

At least six contractors work or have worked with counternarcotics operations in Colombia. Names that have surfaced in official and press reports include DynCorp, Military Professional Resources, Inc. (MPRI), Northrop Grumman, Eagle Aviation Services and Technology (EAST), Inc., and the manufacturers of helicopters given to the Colombian security forces (Sikorsky and Bell Textron).

The name of another company, Aviation Development Corporation based at Maxwell Air Force base in Montgomery, Alabama, surfaced amid news of its employees' involvement in the accidental shootdown of a planeload of U.S. missionaries over Peru in April 2001. The name of this company, which was working on a CIA contract in Peru, has not appeared in any reporting on Colombia.

http://www.ciponline.org/colombia/contractors.htm

[Rose Siding]

22. The DoD just got the authority to pay other forces

It was in the appropriations bill, reported last week, so it's no longer just the right of the CIA to fund foreign operatives.

[Supersedeas]

28. Iraqi National Guard....what better training?

[On the Road]

27. Venezuela? Troubled?

No more than the US. I was all over the country this summer including poor neighborhoods and intercity buses. The only trouble has come from right-winger trying to overthrow an elected socialist government.

[Amigust]

37. Control the oil = control the world

[aquart]

3. Goody, goody. Hemispheric war.

I appreciate George's inability to conceive that even the announcement of such an arrogant decision will cause meetings and alliances AGAINST us in South America. What does the coward plan to do about Brazil's emergence as a nuclear power? Bomb Brazil????? Send in mercenaries? Because he no longer has an army.

Go George. Remember "Hands off the Americas"??? Not a policy that can be enforced without military power or economic clout. That's the stuff you had before you invaded Iraq. What do you think you can do if the EU forms an alliance with Brazil, Argentina, and Venezuela?

Or if India does? Or China? Or Pootie Poot?

[BrendaStarr]

5. No need to invade. Use the group that funded the overthrow of Aristide

It was a US funded group with ties to the Republicans. I forgot the name.

An article in Mother Jones this month talks about it.


Well, when we get in a mess then we'll need troops.

That's why we are going to have a draft.

[SSX]

9. no draft -corporate soldiers

In order to keep his promise of" no draft" Chimpy will just use private corporate trained soldiers to carry out his plans for world domination. Special forces sent in by private companies who stand to get some economic gain from their actions. The Mother Jones article-
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/05/ma_365_01.html

[MADem]

16. From a personnel standpoint, that is actually cheaper

You don't have to pay retirement, if they get wounded, they have to rely on the healthcare that the contracting agency has arranged for, there's no retirement cash set-aside, so even the higher costs of salaries don't make it as expensive. The problems that you have are with rules of war, Geneva Convention, discipline, reliability, and training. Plus, it just is not very sporting. Of course, from that crew, what else could you reasonably expect?

Sheesh....incredible.

[DUreader]

19. why just look at 'personnel? Is it really cheaper overall?

I don't think it is cheaper when you add the overall contracting costs

as the company gets paid over and above the cost of the mercenaries.

[MADem]

23. Seriously, it is cheaper

Personnel costs are the hidden elephant in the DOD room. They consume a huge chunk of the budget, both in training, retraining, moving expenses, permanent housing, family expenses, ongoing medical, dental, schooling overseas for dependents....the list goes on and on and on. Retirement takes a HUGE chunk, that grows every year by the cost of living increases granted by Congress. If you can slash personnel costs, you eliminate recurring expenses both annually and in the outyears.

I used to be in the biz, I'm giving you straight info. I don't especially LIKE the idea of mercenary armies, I find it dispicable, actually, but they are looking at the bottom line first, and possible plausible deniability, second. The guys who go into this kind of activity already HAVE the training, for the most part, and all they need is a quick brush up to get back up to speed. They get a huge sum, but their families are not given the military level of support. They do not have to abide by quality control standards in terms of housing, feeding them, providing them with quality of life support or infrastructure support. ALSO, and this point is not really brought up in the cite, but if the activity of the mercenaries is COVERT, they can hide the line item in the "black" part of the budget, away from the prying eyes of us ordinary, don't-need-to-know dumb 'Muricans. Thus, we will never know how much of a chunk went to a bunch of criminals masquerading as US servicemembers.

Life in a dictatorship sure sucks, eh?

[DUreader]

29. Sorry but I can't take your say on it. I don't believe it is cheaper...

until I see some figures.

I have seen enough b.s. about privatization saving money not to believe it at this point.

Most likely it is just more corporate welfare, no-bid corruption and

massive ceo/admin. costs.

[kysrsoze]

24. Another Contra-esque mess on the way, I guess.

[Cooley Hurd]

7. What does this mean for Cuba?

Invasion? Word to the wise - don't invade @ Bay of Pigs: it's Castro's favorite fishing spot...:evilgrin:

[radfringe]

8. so does this mean

YEEHAWW Foreign policy has been changed to YIPPEE-YAHOO?

[Dover]

10. considering that we hire and train our own "mercenaries" in S. Amer.

I'm sure that we would have quite a fight on our hands if we decided to turn the tables on them....again underestimating the long view problems of an apparently quick victory. I'm sure old Bushie would have the effect of uniting s. amer. against us just as he has done in the middle east.

[Say_What]

33. LatAm is already UNITED against Bush--have been since

almost day 1.

[DeepModem Mom]

12. The answer to the future "War of the Americas" riddle in WB's...

"Jack & Bobby" series?

[cassiepriam]

13. god help us all

[Owlet]

14. Here's the plan

Newsweek reported this a while back.

"Days after 9/11, a senior Pentagon official lamented the lack of good targets in Afghanistan and proposed instead U.S. military attacks in South America or Southeast Asia as "a surprise to the terrorists," according to a footnote in the recent 9/11 Commission Report. The unsigned top-secret memo, which the panel's report said appears to have been written by Defense Under Secretary Douglas Feith, is one of several Pentagon documents uncovered by the commission which advance unorthodox ideas for the war on terror. The memo suggested "hitting targets outside the Middle East in the initial offensive" or a "non-Al Qaeda target like Iraq," the panel's report states. U.S. attacks in Latin America and Southeast Asia were portrayed as a way to catch the terrorists off guard when they were expecting an assault on Afghanistan." full story

[PaulaFarrell]

15. oh Jeezus

and here I was thinking it was just Iran, Syria, Sudan etc - he's after the whole fucking world

[Nihil]

20. Yeah ...

... "world" is a hell of a lot easier to say than "hemispheric"

:hi:

[Imperialism Inc.]

17. I still have mixed feelings about whether Kerry should

have made Bush's dealings in the hemisphere more of an issue. I understood keeping a low profile on "new" issues that people didn't know about , but felt that the examples of Haiti and Venezuela would have quite easily put the lie to Bush's "noble intentions" in Iraq. On the other hand it would have been difficult to say the least to bring up such complex issues with today's press corp. Issues that the people are purposely kept in the dark about . I'm guessing the blood will continue to flow in Haiti and we may see Chavez murdered or otherwise run out of office.

[Javaman]

21. Once again, all about oil. * is pissed Texaco....

Had lost it's drilling rights there. Needs to be gettin' those back, don't you know.

[hippiechick]

25. Not only that, but ....

all those mercenaries and CIA ops we installed and trained over the past 40 years (thanks to Poppy) now need to be brought under control and their money needs to be absconded - just like Manuel Noriega and Saddam Hussein.

This is about cleaning up daddy's legacy and controlling any remaining wild cards.


:hippie:

[KansDem]

26. But first, he needs to learn how to pronounce it...

"Hemispheric"

[Zorra]

30. Bu$h invades Colombia, Venezuela routed. 500, 000 dead.

[Say_What]

34. Colombia is already invaded. We just never hear about it

exactly the same thing that RayGun did in Central America is now happening in Colombia--paramilitaries, commiting the worst of the atrocities in Colombia are supported by the Colombian military, which is supported by the US. Colombia is the third largest recipient of US military aid after Israel and Egypt. Plan Colombia--Plan of DEATH

[xxqqqzme]

31. and we all know

what 'review & promote' is code for - meddle and f*ck up -
beyond belief (MAFUBB)....mafubb, I just made that up and I like it....the 'yellow rogue of texas' mafubb foreign policy.'

[DS1]

32. So he's going to watch a lot of basketball?

Is that what I'm hearing?

[Cornjob]

36. Bush declares: "We will crush...

Mexico and dethrone their tyrant king!"