GOP group linked to attempted coups, building democracy for US

[lavenderdiva]

link: http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/GOP_organization_linked_to_dirty_politics_0609.html

GOP organization linked to dirty politics, attempted coups, 'building democracy' for US

snip: The International Republican Institute, though billing itself as an independent nonprofit unaffiliated with the Republican Party, acts essentially as a wing of the GOP. Its is chaired by party presidential frontrunner Senator John McCain (R-AZ), and Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE) and Representatives David Dreier (R-CA) and Jim Kolbe (R-AR) serve on its board of directors. Many of IRI’s high-ranking staff members have at some point worked directly for the Bush administration.

What makes these connections troubling is that the organization, nominally dedicated to nurturing free institutions in emerging democracies, has also been associated with unscrupulous and undemocratic campaign practices both at home and overseas.

snip:
The secretive aspect to some of IRI's activities, combined with its repeated involvement in subverting left-leaning politicians and parties, creates the appearance that it may be acting as one more tool in the Bush administration's arsenal for regime change by any means available. The recent increase in IRI's federal funding -- which almost tripled, from $26 million to $75 million, between 2003 and 2005 -- adds grounds to this suspicion.

snip:
At present, the International Republican Institute appears to be slowly gearing up to participate in the Bush administration's current initiative to promote regime change in Iran by supporting Iranian pro-democracy activists. However, some of IRI's alumni and associates have already been on the move.

snip:
More surprisingly, three members of the Serbian student group Otpor showed up in Dubai last summer, running training sessions in which they tutored Iranian activists in the same kinds of tricks that IRI had taught them five years earlier during the push to overthrow Milosevic. In a recent article, Asia Times described these workshops as "highly secretive" and said that "stress was laid on the importance of ridiculing the political elite as an effective tool of demythologizing them in the eyes of the people."

Asia Times further quotes an Iranian analyst as saying, "As I gather, the idea was to fund and train activists to be agents provocateurs along the lines of the Otpor movement in Serbia. Their job was to utilize various techniques, such as anti-government graffiti etc, to embolden the student movement and provoke a general government crackdown, which could then be used as a pretext to 'spark' a mass uprising in Iran that appeared to be spontaneous and indigenous."

The article goes into depth as to how this group discredited Kerry in the '04 campaign, helped shape elections in Iraq & Afghanistan, and is now possibly trying to effect regime change in Iran.


edit: spelling

[Roland99]

1. Welcome to the New World Order

Brought to you a thousand points of light.

[AX10]

2. McCain, Hagel, Drier, Kolber are all right wing mules.

[saigon68]

13. McCain, especially, services his masters well

[AX10]

14. yes.

[AX10]

15. Another kick so that others can see this thread.

:kick: and another :kick:

[Maud]

3. I guess truth does resemble fiction

Would you believe I wrote a book about a group of right wing conspirators who found an organization called the Coalition for Responsible Government to front for their subversive activities. Wealthy conservatives and big business contribute millions of dollars that are used to influence legislation, the selection of conservative judges and smear liberal politicans--and eventually things that are far worse. The birth of this organization is the beginning of the end of democracy in America. The book is supposed to be futuristic fiction, but so many of the things I wrote about are already coming true that my husband said I never should have written it. Damn I wanted it to be a warning not a prediction.

[UpInArms]

6. Welcome to DU, Maud!

:hi:

Glad to have you here!

[lavenderdiva]

10. Welcome to DU, Maud!

:hi:

[InkAddict]

11. Welcome to DU, Maud

Perhaps you could try some non-fiction next? DUers love to read books! Check out our interest forums!

[anotherdrew]

4. FEDERAL FUNDING?! IT GETS FEDERAL FUNDING?

if we can't shut this shit down we might as well roll over and take it.

[High Plains]

5. The Democrats feed at the same trough, the NED

That's the National Endowment for Democracy, which seems to essentially do overtly what the CIA used to do covertly, namely, subvert the political processes of other countries in the name of "democracy" to forward US national security and business interests.

The four organizations that get money for this are "the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, the International Republican Institute, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, and the Center for International Private Enterprise, which represent the two major American political parties, the labor movement, and the business community, respectively."

That's from the NED web site http://www.ned.org/

[anotherdrew]

12. these orgs are all infiltrated by the bad guys, shut them all down

the solidarity center has some bad problems, and should bear the name. This isn't the job of the fed gubamint anyway.

[lavenderdiva]

9. I was aghast when I read this as well...

yes, our tax dollars at work.

[Thickasabrick]

7. This group has been linked to the attempted coup in

Venezuela. They were very active in Haiti also and were accused of interfering with elections there. They are bad news but have been operating under the radar for years....all on your tax dollars.

[PSPS]

8. Why aren't I reading this in the domestic press with its "liberal bias?"

(A rhetorical question.)

[LouisianaLiberal]

16. Chomsky devotes a chapter of "Profit Over People" to the IRI

IRI is a particularly nefarious group, with one of the worst neo-liberal agendas. If you find Chomsky sometimes difficult to read, Profit Over People is much more accesible.

Here is a quote from his new book "Failed States: The Abuse of
Power and the Assault on Democracy" (Metropolitan Books, 2006):


"Elsewhere traditional means of undermining democracy have succeeded.
In Haiti, the Bush administration's favorite "democracy-building
group, the International Republican Institute," worked assiduously to
promote the fortunes of the opposition to President Aristide. The
project was helped by the withholding of desperately needed aid on
grounds that were dubious at best. When it seemed that Aristide would
probably win any genuine election, Washington and the opposition
chose to withdraw, a standard device to discredit elections that are
going to come out the wrong way: Nicaragua in 1984 and Venezuela in
December 2005 are examples that should be familiar. Then followed a
military coup by former state terrorists based in the Dominican
Republic (which Washington claims to have known nothing about),
expulsion of the President to South Africa, and a reign of horrifying
terror and violence, vastly exceeding anything under the elected
government that Washington helped to overthrow. The miserable fate of
Haiti is traceable in no slight measure to US intervention through
the past century, joined by France in 2004, perhaps because President
Chirac was offended by Aristide's request for some extremely limited
compensation for France's own hideous crimes in Haiti, which surpass
anything since, a considerable claim to fame."