Bush Administration, More Isolated in Latin America, Cries "Terrorism"

[marmar]

from HuffPost:




Mark Weisbrot
Bush Administration, More Isolated in Latin America, Cries "Terrorism"
Posted April 17, 2008 | 11:42 AM (EST)



Of all the nonsense that we hear regularly about Venezuela, the idea that the country is a "security threat" is probably the most ridiculous. For six years now, since the Bush Administration supported a failed coup attempt against the democratically elected government of President Hugo Chavez, Washington has been sporadically accusing Venezuela of links to "terrorism."

During those six years, the charges have been made by anonymous officials, and the U.S. government never produced any supporting evidence. Now the Colombian government claims it has proof of the Chavez government's support for the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), a guerrilla group that has been active for four decades. The evidence comes from documents alleged to have been found on laptops captured by the Colombian military in a cross-border bombing and incursion into neighboring Ecuador on March 1.

As with the allegations that led us into the Iraq war, there is less here than meets the eye. First, as the New York Times recently acknowledged, it is "impossible to authenticate the files independently."

Second, even if some of the documents are real, there is so far nothing showing that Venezuela provided material aid to the FARC. For example, a claim that made headlines all over the world about Chavez supposedly providing $300 million to the FARC turned out to be based on a far-fetched interpretation of one alleged document.

Nonetheless, the Bush Administration is now investigating whether it should place Venezuela on a special list of "state sponsors of terrorism," which would imply at least some kind of economic sanctions. Some right-wing Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have come up with a similar effort in the form of a proposed resolution.

There will be more of this posturing, combined with wild accusations, since this is an election year. The last two presidential elections were determined by the votes of a few hundred thousand right-wing Cuban Americans (by no means all of them) in Florida. These voters hate Venezuela and we can expect that many politicians will pander to them. On the other hand, Venezuela is our fourth largest oil supplier and a major importer of U.S. goods, and saner heads will take that into account. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-weisbrot/bush-administration-more_b_97206.html

[Parche]

1. OOOOGO Chavez

Anytime they disagree with another Country, they yell "Terrorism"

:grr: :grr:

:hi:

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R

[L. Coyote]

3. What is going on covertly? Is there a secret war? Is Bush allied with the Corrupt?

[MidwestTransplant]

4. Chavez is trying to build a nuculooor bomb to kill us.

[damntexdem]

5. Hey, South America, including Venezuela, is Terran.

And we have a War on Terra!