The First FUBAR

[Memekiller]

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-1765-Underground-Examiner~y2009m4d21-The-First-FUBAR

Long before the misguided backing of an invasion of Somalia, before Iraq and Afghanistan, the Bush Administration backed an attempted coup of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela that was less "Bay of Pigs" than Keystone Cops.

This forgotten cock-up came early in the Bush Administration, yet set the precedence for many of the same mistakes that would destabilize the Middle East and Africa, and re-aligned Latin America with socialism. Yet, although covered by the New York Times and others, it went largely unnoticed by the columnists and chattering class, and was mostly overlooked.

The coup attempted has resulted in -- what else? -- the "greatest realignment" of the Western Hemisphere, with the leftist candidate winning in every election since the bungled coup attempt.

[babylonsister]

1. Bookmarked to read later - thanks. nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. Was this before or after the Chinese dismantled a US P-3 Orion spy plane?

Are we sure the Chavez coup was the first clusterfuck?

There were so many, it's hard to keep them all in chronological order.

[Memekiller]

6. Good point. Although...

...maybe it has to destabilize the region to qualify as FUBAR.

[rsdsharp]

15. I think the first screw up

was the submarine being driven by his oil buddies that killed 9 Japanese including several kids, in February of 2001. The spy plane incident took place in March.

[stillcool]

3. Check this out...

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html
A Timeline of CIA Atrocities

By Steve Kangas

The following timeline describes just a few of the hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA. (1)

CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition. First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military), and offers them a deal: "We'll put you in power if you maintain a favorable business climate for us." The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion, blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media, infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating, torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination. These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing dictator. The CIA trains the dictator�s security apparatus to crack down on the traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder. The victims are said to be "communists," but almost always they are just peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses follow.

This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious "School of the Americas." (It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.) Critics have nicknamed it the "School of the Dictators" and "School of the Assassins." Here, the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including the use of interrogation, torture and murder.

The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by 1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an "American Holocaust."

The CIA justifies these actions as part of its war against communism. But most coups do not involve a communist threat. Unlucky nations are targeted for a wide variety of reasons: not only threats to American business interests abroad, but also liberal or even moderate social reforms, political instability, the unwillingness of a leader to carry out Washington�s dictates, and declarations of neutrality in the Cold War. Indeed, nothing has infuriated CIA Directors quite like a nation�s desire to stay out of the Cold War.

The ironic thing about all this intervention is that it frequently fails to achieve American objectives. Often the newly installed dictator grows comfortable with the security apparatus the CIA has built for him. He becomes an expert at running a police state. And because the dictator knows he cannot be overthrown, he becomes independent and defiant of Washington's will. The CIA then finds it cannot overthrow him, because the police and military are under the dictator's control, afraid to cooperate with American spies for fear of torture and execution. The only two options for the U.S at this point are impotence or war. Examples of this "boomerang effect" include the Shah of Iran, General Noriega and Saddam Hussein. The boomerang effect also explains why the CIA has proven highly successful at overthrowing democracies, but a wretched failure at overthrowing dictatorships.

The following timeline should confirm that the CIA as we know it should be abolished and replaced by a true information-gathering and analysis organization. The CIA cannot be reformed — it is institutionally and culturally corrupt.

loooong list of interventions....http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html

[kristopher]

8. Not arguing any points made but

in fairness to the CIA, this process was developed as a strategy during the proxy fights of the Cold War when there was something besides peasants and friendly socialists lurking in the shadows. I frankly don't know enough about the CIA or the inner workings of our government to know whether the root problem is weighted more to the corrupt pols or to the institutional failings of the CIA itself. I tend to think that most of the people who work there are serving a higher purpose (ie V. Plame). However, the secrecy inherent in such system is an almost inevitable invitation to the type of corruption you've documented no matter how well intentioned the pawns.

[stillcool]

11. did you take a look at the link?

some really interesting history there. Steve Kangas who wrote that piece is a story all by himself. I don't believe there are any institutional failings on the part of the CIA, except for the occasional reluctance to go as far as the U.S. government expects them to. That was the whole reason why Ollie North ran the Iran/Contra business out of the White House, and I think Rummy taking over some of the intelligence operations and putting it under the Pentagon's control is interesting.

[BEZERKO]

4. His worst crime was nationalizing their oil industry.

That, obviously, was unacceptable!

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Ain't democracy a bitch?

Fucking Hamas won in a legitimate election.

Chavez won in a legitimate election.

Daniel Ortega won in a legitimate election.

Democracy - what a bitch she is for the rightwingnuts to deal with......................

[KoKo]

7. The rule of "Unintended Consequences." Without 9/11..Bushies would have

had all of SA under their thumb. They couldn't do it all, though...Iraq & Afghanistan were the beast that ate them...and sadly, us.

[eridani]

12. Yep. The hobbits crept slowly toward their goal, while the Eye of Mordor was turned to the East nt

[Memekiller]

13. So...

...who are the Hobbits?

[eridani]

16. If you have to ask, you wouldn't understand the answer n/t

[autorank]

9. k*r You've got that right! n/t

[readmoreoften]

10. Oh no! Not the leftists! Anything but the leftists!

You'd've thunk we done thrown all those pesky leftists out of helicopters by now. Didn't our campaign of public torture to "warn the others" during the 70s and 80s have any lasting impact!? For shame... all those poor CIA agents and black operatives who suffered and sacrificed time away from family to split open other people's babies to learn 'em 'bout democracy...

[DCKit]

14. K&R for a very informative thread.

It's one thing to dream all this stuff while wearing my tin-foil sleeping cap, but to read it.... damn. It's just so obvious, yet most Americians choose to have no clue about what's being done in their names.

Ah well, cheers for the complete incompetence of BushCo. In the end, it may turn out that they made a better world - certainly a better hemisphere - for all of U.S.. But I still think we should turn the whole bunch over to the Iraqi people for "justice". What other choice do we have?