Surprise -- The Very Dark Side of U.S. History

[unhappycamper]

Surprise -- The Very Dark Side of U.S. History
Consortium News / By Peter Dale Scott and Robert Parry
October 8, 2010 |

~snip~

Many Democrats in Congress and journalists in the Washington press corps buckled under the attacks, giving the Reagan administration much freer rein to carry out brutal "death squad" strategies in El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

What is clear from these experiences in Indonesia, Vietnam, Central America and elsewhere is that the United States, for generations, has sustained two parallel but opposed states of mind about military atrocities and human rights: one of U.S. benevolence, generally held by the public, and the other of ends-justify-the-means brutality embraced by counterinsurgency specialists.

Normally the specialists carry out their actions in remote locations with little notice in the national press. But sometimes the two competing visions - of a just America and a ruthless one - clash in the open, as they did in Vietnam.

Or the dark side of U.S. security policy is thrown into the light by unauthorized leaks, such as the photos of abused detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq or by revelations about waterboarding and other torture authorized by George W. Bush's White House as part of the "war on terror."

Only then does the public get a glimpse of the grim reality, the bloody and brutal tactics that have been deemed "necessary" for more than two centuries in the defense of the purported "national interests."



unhappycamper comment: If you were to read this article, you would find out that School Of The Americas "training material was prepared by officers connected to the Phoenix program." In other words, the United States gave them a jump start on how to terrorize local South American populations.

Another good source of unwashed American history can be found in Howard Zinn's book, 'A People's History Of The United States'.

We have been doing this shit for a very long time.

[malaise]

1. Who do you say South American populations?

South America, Central America and the Caribbean - US national interest trumps the lives of all on the planet

[Scuba]

2. Funny how such programs never make the history books...

...just as the genocide against Native Americans wasn't on the radar screen two generations ago.

[unhappycamper]

3. One of my favorite t-shirts:

[texastoast]

7. I have that!

And this one.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Somebody give this unhappycamper a medal, please.

k&r.

[Smarmie Doofus]

5. An Appreciation Thread is how we generally do it here.

I'm game. He's phenomenal.

K and R

[Wounded Bear]

6. Not to divert from the subject....

but Naomi Klein's excellent book, The Shock Doctrine also delineates much of the modern history of these abuses.

Most Americans are pretty naive when it comes to real history.

[NNN0LHI]

8. Saudi citizens are currently kept in line by a US owned mercenary company called Vinnell Corporation

Wonder how those thugs treat the Saudi citizenry? Imagine living like that?

Don

[Hannah Bell]

12. "Vinnell Corporation is a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation."

They are also party to other joint venture companies; i.e., VBR (Vinnell-Brown & Root).

The Vinnell Corporation was mentioned in Fahrenheit 9/11 for its connections to the Carlyle Group, George W. Bush, and the Saudi Royal family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinnell_Corporation

[UpInArms]

9. Tom Ridge in Vietnam -

http://www.counterpunch.org/ridge2.html

ah, we (the US military) bring out the best in most folks - and Tom then got to bring his skills to Homeland Security

bleh

[starroute]

10. This ties in closely with another current thread on private surveillance

I just posted on that one -- http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9284932

It's not just domestic propaganda that's the necessary other side of brutal counter-insurgency tactics. It's also the matter of spying on and suppressing any groups that might bring those tactics to light.

And, of course, you can toss the current fuss over WikiLeaks into the mix. Once you decide to use government-sanctioned terror as a means of political control, you are inevitably driven to turning the tactics of suppression on anyone who tries to tell the truth.

[w4rma]

11. Exactly. And that ushers in the corruption that hides in the shadows afforded by those tactics. (nt)

[sansatman]

13. US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II.

"Far and away the best book on the topic."
Noam Chomsky

"I enjoyed it immensely."
Gore Vidal

"I bought several more copies to circulate to
friends with the hope of shedding new light
and understanding on their political outlooks."
Oliver Stone

"A very valuable book. The research and organization
are extremely impressive."
A. J. Langguth, author, former New York Times Bureau Chief

"A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope,
important."
Thomas Powers, author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

"Each chapter I read made me more and more angry."
Dr. Helen Caldicott, international leader of
the anti-nuclear and environmental movements

http://killinghope.org/

[mix]

14. k&r nt

[EFerrari]

15. K&R.

[EFerrari]

16. There is another great book, Empire's Workshop

by Greg Grandin, that looks at this material. He is excellent, fwiw.

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/168873

[BlueMTexpat]

17. I am currently reading "A People's History ..." (2005 edition).

IMO, it should be required reading for everyone who wants to understand why we are the way we are. It is an eminently readable book and is literally devastating. "You've got to be carefully taught" and distracted and split. It's the same situation over ... and over ... and over ... again. When will we ever learn?
Zinn also collaborated on a book that is a graphic presentation: "A People's History of American Empire." Yes, indeed, we've been doing "this shit" from the beginning. Think "Monroe Doctrine" and "eminent domain" for starters. We have never had problems with taking/giving away land belonging to others and appropriating it for our own purposes - no matter where in the world that land is situated.
We miss you, Howard! Very much!

[TBF]

18. This has been going on since the "founding" of our country -

you know when Europeans decided they wanted the land indigenous peoples were already living on, and then set out to drive those Native Americans off the land they "claimed".

[GETPLANING]

19. Support Consortium News

Robert Parry's site is a gold mine of information on everything from Iran-Contra to the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004. They are struggling to keep the website financed, and to see it disappear would be a great loss. Send them some $love$ if you can.