What’s with the love fest between U.S. officials and army generals? We have,
of course, (retired) Army General Colin Powell serving as U.S. secretary of
state. And we have (or will have) military tribunals manned by army
officials, rather than jury trials by civilians, for foreigners accused of
terrorism.
There is Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistani army general who was an ardent
supporter of the Taliban — he took over the Pakistani government by ousting
the democratically elected president in a coup and now, with the support of
the U.S. government, refuses to call elections.
Several days ago, U.S. officials implicitly endorsed (and possibly even
supported) an army coup in Venezuela, where military officials
unsuccessfully attempted to oust the democratically elected president,
Hugo Chavez.
And let’s not forget the U.S. government’s role in ousting the
democratically elected president of Guatemala in the 1950s, which ultimately
brought on a civil war resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of
people.
There’s also Chile, where U.S. officials helped to oust the
democratically elected president, Salvador Allende.
There was the CIA’s support of the shah of Iran, who was infamous for
torturing his own people.
There was the support of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, when he was waging
war against Iran.
Also, the U.S. government’s ardent embrace of the crooked, corrupt, and
brutal Fujimori-Montesinos regime in Peru (where terrorists exploded a bomb
just before President Bush’s recent trip to Peru).
The list of the U.S. government’s support of harsh, dictatorial
regimes goes on and on. Perhaps we should also mention the its fervent support of (corrupt) royalties and kingdoms, such as
those in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
U.S. officials continue to emphasize that the reason that terrorists attack
Americans is that “terrorists hate freedom and democracy.” It seems as though
they’re not the only ones.
