Jagjit Singh / Berkeley Daily Planet
(January 16, 2021) — While we denounce the actions of President Trump and his enablers for inciting violence, let us remember the crimes the US has committed on weaker nations to advance its geopolitical agenda. As recently as last week, media pundits were urging the new Biden administration to return to our traditional role of SHORING UP DEMOCRACIES AROUND THE WORLD. What “bleep” balderdash! The US has spent decades orchestrating coups around the world.
Here Are a Few Examples:
• January 17, 1893 — Hawai’i’s beloved monarchy was overthrown when a group of US businessmen and sugar planters forced Queen Liliuokalani to abdicate. The coup led to the dissolution of the Kingdom of Hawai’i. Hawai’i was targeted for annexation because it offered strategic economic and military opportunities.
• 1916 — The US orchestrated a coup to overthrow the Dominican Republic.
• 1930 — Palestine. Jewish terrorism in Palestine began during 1930s and 1940s. There were three basic paramilitary Zionist organizations in Palestine, working to drive the local inhabitants, the Palestinians, out of Palestine. The US funded the Zionists with $billions of weapons and logistical support. Thousands of Palestinians were killed or fled to neighboring countries. The Palestinians in Israel are living under extremely repressive conditions much like apartheid South Africa. While Americans are suffering hunger, poverty and extreme hardship, $billions of economic and military aid continue to flow to Israel.
• 1953 — In a blatant theft of Iranian oil, Britain’s MI6 and the CIA orchestrated a coup to overthrow the democratic government of Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and installed US puppet and tyrant Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. No howls of protest from the mainstream media. Reza unleashed the hated secret police, the Savak, to kill or “disappear” thousands of Iranians dissidents. $billions of weapons were purchased to enrich US Defense contractors. This generated fierce anti-US sentiments which still linger today.
• 1954 — A Guatemalan coup was carried out t by the CIA to depose the democratically elected Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz.
• 1973 — The people of Diego Garcia, a British colony in the Indian Ocean, were thrown off their island to make way for a US military base. Many of their beloved dogs were gassed or drowned. The displaced Chagossians, raised within a largely barter economy, got nothing. They have a Kreol word for how they feel: sagren – unbearable sadness.
• 1973 — President Nixon on the advice of Henry Kissinger” gave orders to the CIA to orchestrate a coup to depose the popular unity government of President Salvador Allende. Tens of thousands died or “disappeared” under General Augusto’s military junta.
• 1975-1999 — East Timor’s landmark Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR) found that US “political and military support were fundamental to the Indonesian invasion and occupation” of East Timor. The US was charged with aiding and abetting the genocide. Over 100,000 men, women and children were slaughtered.
• 2001 — After the 9-11 attack the US and its allies dispatched Special Forces and launched its fearsome military power to hunt for the elusive Bin Laden and his supporters. 15 out of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia. Black sites were quickly established where the CIA engaged in the most brutal forms of torture. Hundreds of innocent Afghans were swept up and tortured. The full 9-11 report has never been released to avoid offending our staunch ally, Saudi Arabia. $978B has been squandered in America’s longest war. Hundreds of returning vets suffered appalling injuries leading many to take their own lives. Prisoners serving their 20th Year of indefinite detention have never received a fair trial but continue to languish in GITMO to cover up monumental political blunders. The cost per prisoner is $13 million.
• 2003 — The US orchestrated a coup in Iraq on bogus claims of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The “shock and awe” was lauded by the US media. Tens of thousands of Iraqis perished and their infrastructure decimated. Saddam Hussein’s elite guard was fired by the US. They had no employment but did have access to large cache of weapons. They coalesced to form ISIS, The US offered no apologies, or reparations for their monumental blunders.
• 2009 — The US back coup ousted Honduran President Zelaya which caused a major civilian exodus creating the current day migrant crisis.
• 2012 — Secretary of State, John Kerry, under President Obama, gave tacit approval to the Egyptian Army to stage a coup and overthrow the elected president. Incredulously, Kerry said they were acting to restore democracy.
• 2019 — a US-backed coup forced Bolivian president Evo Morales from office to gain access to the country’s vast lithium resources. Following the coup, Elon Musk, tweeted on July 24th 2020, “we will coup whoever we want! deal with it.”
Throughout this period the notorious US ‘School of the Americas’ trained and financed some of the most vicious thugs in the world to murder and ‘disappear’ tens of thousands of their people “yearning to be free.” The Taliban and bin Laden were the creation of the CIA who, in 1979, recruited the most vicious and radical fundamentalist fanatics from Saudi Arabia and other Arab and Muslim countries and utilized their enormous budget to train, arm and finance them.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
