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Introduction "We have to do a better job in the international side to coordinate our aid, to get more accountability for what we spend in Afghanistan. But much of the corruption is fuelled by money that has poured into that country over the last eight years. And it is corruption at every step along the way, not just in Kabul. You know, when we are so dependent upon long supply lines, as in Afghanistan, where everything has to be imported, it’s much more difficult than it was in Iraq, where we had Kuwait as a staging ground to go into Iraq. You offload a ship in Karachi and by the time whatever it is … gets to where we’re headed, it goes through a lot of hands. And one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban is the protection money." (Warlord Inc Page 1) – Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee December 3, 2009 Page 48 A report in 2010, by the US congress came out called, Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author: John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs. Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. This report detailed how the private contractors and subcontractors bringing US supplies to their Forward Operating Base (FOB), along the way had to go through a journey of bribes and protection rackets, to Warlords, Commanders, the Taliban, and Afghan officials. Many of the subcontractors had to pay Warlords of small militias, who controlled certain highway routes, to protect their trucks when passing certain areas, through fear of being attacked another time. The report also details how Department of Defence (DoD) officials, had been sent a series of reports and complaints from the contractors about this and did not seem to care, as long as the supplies made it to the base. The report details how, the DoD had no visibility of these reports and activities because they barely went past “the wire” of their base. This 2.16 billion Dollar Taxpayer contract, given by the DoD to the trucking contractors, was directly paradoxical to stated justifications they were there for. The US aimed to curtail corruption in the country, yet this directly funded Warlordsism, corrupt officials and even created a market for it, due to their presence, as their occupation meant these supplies passed through the country, allowing certain elements to extort from it. Of course, the biggest inversion of reality was, these supplies were going to them, to fight the Taliban and insurgents, all the while funding these same elements to fight them. If the only way to get these supplies to them was to fund all these elements, was the war not futile from the start? What Was The Contract? For a brief background on the nature of the contract, the report reads “In order to accomplish this mission, the Department of Defense employs a hitherto unprecedented logistics model: responsibility for the supply chain is almost entirely outsourced to local truckers and Afghan private security providers. The principal contract supporting the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan is called Host Nation Trucking, a $2.16 billion contract split among eight Afghan, American, and Middle Eastern companies… HNT contract provides trucking for over 70 percent of the total goods and materiel distributed to U.S. troops in the field, roughly 6,000 to 8,000 truck missions per month. The trucks carry food, supplies, fuel, ammunition, and even Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs)...  Most of the prime contractors and their trucking subcontractors hire local Afghan security providers for armed protection of the trucking convoys. Transporting valuable and sensitive supplies in highly remote and insecure locations requires extraordinary levels of security." (Warlord inc Page 1) The mass of the information from this report comes from the “25,000” documents from the DoD and contractors, along with Sub-Committee interviews with “31 witnesses in connection with the investigation, including military personnel, HNT contractors, private security providers, and experts on politics and corruption in Afghanistan.” (Page IIII) I aim in this article, to breakdown the key parts of the 66-page report and show just how nonsensical this policy was and in the bigger picture, due to it being the only practical option they had, the futility of the West aims in Afghanistan. Security for the U.S. Supply Chain Was Principally Provided by Warlords “The principal private security subcontractors on the HNT contract are warlords, strongmen, commanders, and militia leaders who compete with the Afghan central government for power and authority. Providing “protection” services for the U.S. supply chain empowers these warlords with money, legitimacy, and a raison d’etre for their private armies. Although many of these warlords nominally operate under private security companies licensed by the Afghan Ministry of Interior, they thrive in a vacuum of government authority and their interests are in fundamental conflict with U.S. aims to build a strong Afghan government.” (Page 17) The report, throughout this section, details how warlords with small militias, were hired by the subcontractors, unknown to the prime contractor and the DoD, to provide security to the trucks passing through certain sections of the route, with different warlords controlling different sections of the road. One such Commander, Ruhullah, referred to as the “Butcher” by villagers, was the “single largest security provider for the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan.” The fact he is known as the “Butcher” and yet was a “mystery” to the prime contractors and especially the DoD, is worrying to say the least, considering the DoD has laws and regulations to have accountability and oversight over these $2.16 billion contracts. (Page 17-18) Commander Ruhullah and Watan Risk Management are said to make “several tens of millions of dollars per year providing convoy security" (Page 22-23), If this was not bad enough, there were a collection of other warlords being hired for security outside of the contracts scope. Another example of the power these warlords had over the supply routes is Matiullah, who was said by a CEO of a private security company in Afghanistan that Matiullah “has the road from Kandahar to Tarin Kowt completely under his control. No one can travel without Matiullah, without facing consequences”, even the Dutch and Australian forces based in Uruzgan also “exclusively use Matiullah for highway security.” This report of course is a US one, but it covers how other NATO and coalition forces, were in a similar situation. Matiullah is the nephew of Jan Mohammad Khan, the deposed governor of Uruzgan, who is known for drug smuggling and human rights abuses and Matiullah was one of his “uncle’s leading enforcers.” The Dutch blocked him from being the police chief due to this, however, were so dependent on him for their supply route, they still inevitably needed him. Although publicly they tried to distance themselves from him, they nevertheless told reporters that the Dutch Ministry of Défense does not pay Matiullah directly, but “it is up to local transporters whether they find it necessary to pay for protection.” The Australians being in a similar boat ““will neither confirm nor deny knowledge of payments to Colonel Khan,” but privately they acknowledged to reporters that they are dependent upon his permission for their supply routes.”“ (Page 25-26) This is so telling of how tied their hands were, that even though they protested him working in the government, due to how vile of a character he was, they still had to work with him, in an even more shadowy way, with a contractor or two in between, because of the dependency on the supply routes. Again, just underlying the hopelessness of their mission to rid the country of this sort of behaviour and have legitimate services/institutions. Not to go on with too many more examples, but some of the others were described as effectively controlling the “local government”, “extorting passing vehicles and trafficking drugs”, having to work with a warlord previously “imprisoned by the US”, who the British removed through pressure on the government, but in the end was reinstated and propagandised for, by the British, through “decorating the district with posters of Koka tending to a wounded civilian in front of a mountainous backdrop" (Page 26,27, 28) The report also details how these warlords and militias did not display any loyalty to the coalition and have been accused of working with the enemy, and instigating attacks if they were not hired for the areas they control. Ahmed Wali Karzai, President Hamid Karzai’s brothers stated, “If they were not working for the security companies… they would likely join the Taliban" (Page 20) The Highway Warlords Ran a Protection Racket "Everyone… must pay for Matiullah’s security services to travel up the road from Kandahar to Tarin Kowt. There are no exceptions: “[n]o one leaves without paying... Matiullah will kill anyone on his highway, Taliban or not.” A driver interviewed by the New York Times echoed that assessment: “It’s suicide to come up this road without Matiullah’s men.” Similar claims were made about Commander Ruhulla, with one former country manager of one HNT company saying, ““you had to pay Ruhullah to either provide security or let [us] go through his territory.” Commander Ruhullah held his company “hostage;” if he did not pay, he believed his trucks would be “shot up.”” Another executive from one private security company that travels without paying Ruhullah “said that U.S. supply convoys guarded by his company had come under attack by Commander Ruhullah’s men on multiple occasions. “[He] was trying to scare us into not participating on his route, attacking our resolve to continue to service the route.”” (Page 29,30) Not only does the report demonstrate, you must pay security services militias, to protect the trucks from insurgents, you must also pay the security services, due to fear of being attacked by them, amounting to a protection racket. A further example of this, from the DoDs own documents through a request for information on security and costs on certain routes, another HNT project manager responded “there is a continuous threat of roadside IED, and ambush. There will also be a threat, not only from enemy forces but from local commanders who have not been paid their tax." There is a stream of similar emails concerning this, claiming the more dangerous the mission was through Taliban controlled areas the “more corruption” there is, like having to pay an “additional fee” and “that the money that is allocated for the vehicles is sometimes utilized to pay the “Special Security” in the south and southwest.” (Page 32,33) Reports Of Money Going To Insurgents And The Taliban "Many within the HNT contractor community believe that a large portion of their protection payments to local warlords for convoy security subsequently go to the Taliban or other anti-government elements, the forces that actually control much of Afghanistan and many of the key routes used for transportation of U.S supplies. According to a former HNT project manager, it was widely known that the operational environment in Afghanistan requires payoffs to local warlords and the Taliban for safe passage of trucking convoys” The report goes into the most detail about payoffs to warlords and commanders, however, there are many parts of the report which detail how it was widely believed, much of the money also ends up in the Taliban/insurgents hands. My article of course begins with a quote from Secretary Clinton admitting this, to a previous hearing. Before this report and contract existed, a CEO of a transportation company told the financial times that "Every truck costs about $200 as a bribe I pay on the route – to police or Taliban”, along with Clintons comments, indicating this was known even before the contract was put into place. The report does tend to point towards more indirect payments, rather than the Taliban directly asking for money to the truckers. Commander Ruhullah was pointed out as a commander who was linked to the insurgents/Taliban and pays them off or works with them when necessary. One former HNT program manager who spent time in the military said that he had ““no doubt whatsoever” that Commander Ruhullah collaborated with insurgents. “Another security company executive stated “[W]e believe that Ruhullah serves his own needs at all times… We are of the opinion that, when it suits his need, he will engage with Taliban or similar elements. He will provide supplies and sell weapons to those elements but generally he is operating for his own benefits.” (Page 34-35) Outside of the interviews done by the subcommittee, even documents provided by the DoD and contractors, back up the claims of money falling into insurgents’ hands and at one meeting of all HNT project managers and military logisticians, they specifically spoke about protection payments “funding the insurgency.” Meeting minutes describe how if they received more authority for heavier-duty weapons, they could “stop funding the insurgency of what is estimated at 1.6 – 2 Million Dollars per week" and in a much more direct fashion, in an incident report filed by a HNT contractor, it detailed how they was contacted “through the carrier by the Taliban commander that we have to pay for safe passage if we want our truck to go through the area… [W]e were informed that this was a statement from the Taliban that if we did not want our assets engaged we had to pay a protection fee.” Yet again magnifying how if the subcommittee could read these documents, so could the DoD. The Report even states many of the military figures that oversaw the contract, believed the “Taliban did receive protection payments." (Page 35) The report also details how other companies and projects with western funding also fuel the insurgents/Taliban through payoffs. The Afghanistan country director for a major international NGO reported that “the Taliban and local warlords typically take between 10-20% of the value of any project as the price to provide protection. The United States and international community are unintentionally fueling a vast political economy of security corruption in Afghanistan.” (Page 38,39) Bribes To Official Afghanistan Military, Police and Officials "According to Commander Ruhullah and Watan Risk Management, bribes paid by drivers and security providers at Afghan National Army (ANA) and Afghan National Police (ANP) checkpoints represent only the tip of a pyramid of government corruption that feeds off of the U.S. supply chain. Rashid Popal [Owner of WRM] quickly volunteered a list of government offices that his company must bribe in order to successfully escort HNT convoys along Highway 1, including governors, provincial police chiefs, district police chiefs, and local commanders for the National Directorate of Security, in addition to the local ANA and ANP units. Many of the bribes are paid monthly and range from $1,000 to $10,000." (Page 41) Not only was there extortion from warlords, insurgents, the Taliban in the shadow realm, but also the legal realm of the Afghan state. With the apparent corruption so deep in the government, that when Rashid Popal asked a governor why he extorts from him, he explained because he needs “to pay back what he had paid for his position. The same rules apply to police chiefs and other government officials who pay a set price to the provincial government in order to obtain their positions, said Mr. Popal.” (Page 42) Military officials were apparently aware of this widespread corruption in the government. Lack of DOD Oversight Or Care Of Reports "According to Lieutenant Colonel David Elwell, the commander of the 484th, no one in the battalion ever personally witnessed trucking operations ‘outside the wire’… According to Major Valen Koger, the officer responsible for technical oversight of the contract, his battalion had “zero visibility” into the subcontractors operating under the contract.” (Page 49-50) "Under normal circumstances, contractors do not volunteer to the government that they might be breaking the law; in this case, HNT contractors repeatedly did just that. Their reports fell on deaf ears” (Page 55) "Before the HNT contract began in early 2009, one current HNT contractor had already warned the military of being approached by “Taliban personnel” about safe passage payments.” (Page 55,56) "Within days of the start of the HNT contract in May 2009, contractors informed military officials that they were being asked to make protection payments for safe passage through critical areas in the south and east.” (Page 56,57) The information in my article and the report clearly shows, military officials admitted to being aware of this, their own documentation back up the interviews done by the committee, that the contractors spoke of this quite regularly, including in meetings, warned the DoD and that the DoD had absolutely no oversight of the contracts due to not going out further than the “wire.” On top of this, the prime contractors were not even aware what is going on, as the subcontractors “further subcontract out the missions without the knowledge of the primes” and were nothing more than “brokerages for tribal trucking firms or owner-operators.” (Page 50) Since the military could not, or was unwilling to go on the roads to confirm reports themselves, they relied on the prime contractors to pass down information, however, many of prime contractors were unwilling to go out on the road, on top of subcontracting subcontractors. This was a taxpayer funded contract, to the worth of $2.16 billion, which was fuelling the corruption they were there to fight, contributing to bribes to the government they put in place and finally to the insurgents themselves, with absolutely no visibility or concern. One former country manager and ex US Special Forces, got so frustrated after raising the issue of protection payments to “every official channel”, including on the ground that “the prospect of funding warlords and potentially insurgents was “repugnant” to him. As a result, he left Afghanistan." (Page 59) Although he said he was met with a lot of sympathy, which I can believe, he was also met with no action, just perfectly illustrating the doomed-ness of the mission. The coalition did not like what is going on, but did not have another option, so chose to continue the way they were, causing the exact problems they were fighting. The Futility Of The War If the whole success of the war and mission in Afghanistan, is dependent on this supply route due to "Afghanistan [being] … a landlocked country whose neighbors range from uneasy U.S. allies, such as Pakistan and Uzbekistan, to outright adversaries, such as Iran” and “Thirty years of war” that has “devastated what little infrastructure the country had” (Page 6) was the mission not doomed to fail? You either accept you are going to have to fund the enemy, warlords and corruption, in the hope one day, coalition forces dominate the country enough to kill this market, or have trained the Afghan forces enough, to have stable control over the country after the coalition has left. Clearly, we saw in 2021 without the support of the coalition, the Afghan forces collapsed. So what, should the coalition of stayed another 20 years+ and maybe have a proper handle on the country? The report explains how in the 1980s Afghan-Soviet war “More than three-fourths of Soviet combat forces were regularly involved in convoy security missions, which prevented them from ever sustaining a larger occupation force and controlling key cities such as Kandahar” (Page 44) and that the US was not willing to do this, which is why they used private contractors. I am sure the US was not in support of money going to at least out of favour Warlords and the enemy, but from the looks of it, they did not come up with a practical third option to replace this, meaning their occupation, the reason for that amount of supplies even having to come through, was fuelling the very elements they justified their occupation to fight. You have to and they must have asked, what was the point then? I assume they told themselves, they just needed a bit more time, and this was a short term set back. Not only the fact they have to pay off corrupt elements continuously on the supply routes, the weather and the roads itself were massive obstacle. The report reads “The terrain is unforgiving: deserts that kick up sandstorms in the summer become flooded and muddy in the spring, and treacherous mountain roads leave no room for error… Mountain weather can change in an instant, bringing snow and freezing rain. In the winter, the single tunnel that connects Kabul to northern Afghanistan is frequently cut off by avalanches. A break-down in the mountains can close a route for days, until the vehicle can be disassembled and airlifted out. The lack of infrastructure – including a dearth of paved roads – leaves drivers to face the elements unassisted.” In addition to these natural threats, they were faced with manmade threats, like insurgents attacking and explosives being planted. General Duncan McNabb, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, told Congress last year, “[i]f you ask me what I worry about at night, it is the fact that our supply chain is always under attack” (Page 6-7), the job sounds unwinnable, with obstacle after obstacle. Because their supply routes were so limited, due to the country being landlocked, surrounded by uneasy countries, means they were completely restricted, which was then exacerbated by the weather conditions of that limited route and easy enemy targeting. Nevertheless, they either knew this before the war, or did not plan it properly and at the end of the day, no one forced them to invade, or at least occupy the country for decades. Conclusion Without nauseating the points I have already made, from the very beginning and even before the contract, there were reports of the activities discussed happening. The military chose to carry on with the contract in its exact fashion and essentially turn a blind eye to, widespread government corruption, fuelling warlordsim and money trickling down to the insurgents. They had absolutely no visibility of what was happening beyond their gates, with Russian doles of subcontracting inside of subcontracting, blocking the view even more. The subcommittee had absolutely no problem doing what the military was not willing to, speak to contractors, subcontractors, local commanders and military officials, to do a through investigation. You have to ask why they did not investigate themselves? Potentially because they knew their hands were tied and they did not plan to end this war anytime soon. This is only scratching the surface, of one specific aspect of the war, let alone past the basic need of supply routes. If a group of officials who have lost hope in the war, just listed out honestly the obstacles and impossibility of the war, it would make it much harder to ignore. This report was of course in 2010, I have yet to find any information on whether this policy changed.

Afghanistan 1989-2001 Courting/Accepting The Taliban/ Pipelines "A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas. Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it." World: West Asia BBC December 4th 1997, Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline "Mr. Chairman, the Caspian region contains tremendous untapped hydrocarbon reserves. Just to give an idea of the scale, proven natural gas reserves equal more than 236 trillion cubic feet. The region's total oil reserves may well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels … Unocal foresees a pipeline which would become part of a regional system that will gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia. The 1,040mile long oil pipeline would extend south through Afghanistan to an export terminal that would be constructed on the Pakistan coast. This 42-inch diameter pipeline will have a shipping capacity of one million barrels of oil per day." U.S. Interests in the Central Asian Republics: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, February 12, 1998, Volume 4 Page 16-18. Testifying Unocal representative John Maresca "The only other possible route option is across Afghanistan, which has its own unique challenges. The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades. The territory across which the pipeline would extend is controlled by the Taliban, an Islamic movement that is not recognized as a government by most other nations. From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of our proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company. In spite of this, a route through Afghanistan appears to be the best option with the fewest technical obstacles. It is the shortest route to the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline. The route through Afghanistan is the one that would bring Central Asian oil closest to Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the oil. Unocal envisions the creation of a Central Asian Oil Pipeline Consortium. The pipeline would become an integral part of a regional oil pipeline system that will utilize and gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia." U.S. Interests in the Central Asian Republics: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, February 12, 1998, Volume 4 Page 50. Testifying Unocal representative John Maresca "Only bullet and shrapnel scars beneath their heavy attire would be clues that these visitors were militia commanders, some with ties to Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network. For the next five weeks, the men were feted at private parties, escorted on tours of other local landmarks, including a school and hospital, and given cash for a shopping mall excursion where most bought scented soaps and silk stockings. And just as quietly as they had arrived, the Afghans were shepherded back to Afghanistan -- all expenses paid courtesy of the U.S. government and the University of Nebraska at Omaha." University Helped US Reach Out to Taliban,” Chicago Tribune, October 22, 2001 "Mr. DAMELIN. Let's focus specifically on the oil pipeline issue in the Caucasus. Could you briefly describe what the U.S. policy was in June 1995 with respect to oil pipelines in this part of the world? Ms. HESLIN. U.S. policy was to promote the rapid development of Caspian energy, specifically through the development of multiple pipelines on commercially viable international terms. We did so specifically to promote the independence of these oil-rich countries to, in essence, break Russia's monopoly control over the transportation of oil from that region which had significantly reduced its flow and frankly to promote western energy security through diversification of supply. So that was our policy. It was a geopolitical decision. We sought to link these countries specifically to the West, while promoting good relations with their neighbors.” Investigation of Illegal Or Improper Activities in Connection with the 1996 Federal Election Campaign: Hearings Before the Committee on Governmental Affairs, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session, Part 7 Page 98 (Extended quote from book) Sheila Heslin Clinton National Security Council member Elise Labott, “US Gives $43 Million to Afghanistan,” CNN, May 17, 2001 The Growth Of Terrorism And Terrorist Organisations Moscow's specific worry was the spread of fundamentalism and its influence on Soviet Central Asian Muslims' Afghanistan The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower By Mohammed Yousaf, Mark Adkin Page 217 "The intelligence agencies of the US and the UK went along with Zia's policy of Arabising/Wahabising the Muslims of Pakistan because this contributed to an increase in the flow of jihadi terrorists to fight against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan." B. Raman, ‘Home-Grown Jihadis (Jundullah) in UK and US’, 6 May 2007 "Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network was able to expand under the safe sanctuary extended by Taliban following Pakistan Directives" Defence Intelligence Agency, ‘Veteran Afghanistan Traveler’s Analysis of Al Qaeda and Taliban Exploitable Weaknesses’, 2 October 2001, National Security Archive, ‘The September 11th Sourcebooks – Volume VII: The Taliban File "The Tadjik commander from southern Afghantstan, Pakistan also encouraged, facilitated and often escorted arabs from the middle east into Afghanistan. Eventually A special facility was constructed in Zarwa (CRA), in Paktia province, with Pakistan Inter-services Intelligence directorate (ISI) Funding." Defence Intelligence Agency, ‘Veteran Afghanistan Traveler’s Analysis of Al Qaeda and Taliban Exploitable Weaknesses’, 2 October 2001, National Security Archive, ‘The September 11th Sourcebooks – Volume VII: The Taliban File "They have however been disguised under the cover of dozens of "humanitarian" agencies spread throughout Bosnia, Kosovo and Albania. Funding has come from now-defunct banks such as the Albanian-Arab Islamic Bank and from bin Laden's so-called Advisory and Reformation Committee. One of his largest Islamist front agencies, it was established in London in 1994" Marcia Kurop, ‘Al Qaeda’s Balkan links’, Wall Street Journal Europe, 1 November 2001 "Indeed, to this day, those involved in the decision to give the Afghan rebels access to a fortune in covert funding and top-level combat weaponry continue to defend that move in the context of the Cold War. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee making those decisions, told my colleague Robert Windrem that he would make the same call again today even knowing what bin Laden would do subsequently. “It was worth it,” he said. “Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union,” he said." Bin Laden comes home to roost Dec. 10, 2003, NBC By Michael Moran (Michael Moran, “Bin Laden Comes Home to Roost: His CIA Ties Are Only the Beginning of a Woeful Story,” NBC News, August 24, 1998) Taliban Deals Over Bin Laden "In the face of widespread famine, limited foreign aid and tough new sanctions, Afghanistan's Taliban regime is finally moving towards a compromise over demands for the extradition of the Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden."Taliban ready to strike a deal on Bin Laden The Guardian Thu 22 Feb 2001 "For the first time, the Taliban offered to hand over Bin Laden for trial in a country other than the U.S. without asking to see evidence first in return for a halt to the bombing, a source close to Pakistan’s military leadership said. But U.S. officials appear to have dismissed the proposal and are instead hoping to engineer a split within the Taliban leadership. The offer was brought by Mullah Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban foreign minister and a man who is often regarded as a more moderate figure in the regime. He met officials from the CIA and Pakistan’s ISI intelligence directorate in Islamabad on Monday. . . [U]ntil now the Taliban regime has consistently said it has not seen any convincing evidence to implicate the Saudi dissident in any crime. “Now they have agreed to hand him over to a third country without the evidence being presented in advance,” the source close to the military said. . . . The U.S. administration has not publicly supported the idea of a trial for Bin Laden outside America and appears intent on removing from power the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and the hardliners in the regime." The Guardian October 16, 2001 New offer on Bin Laden US rejects Taliban offer to try bin Laden Sun, Oct 7, 2001 The Irish Times U.S. Rejects New Taliban Offer ABC News 14th of October 2001 U.S. rejects Taliban offer to try bin Laden October 7, 2001 CNN "Weeks before the terrorist attacks on 11 September, the United States and the United Nations ignored warnings from a secret Taliban emissary that Osama bin Laden was planning a huge attack on American soil. The warnings were delivered by an aide of Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, the Taliban Foreign Minister at the time, who was known to be deeply unhappy with the foreign militants in Afghanistan, including Arabs." Kate Clark, “Revealed: The Taliban Minister, the US Envoy and the Warning of September 11 That Was Ignored,” Independent, September 6, 2002 The Taliban File Part IV - National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 134 Posted September 11, 2004 - Updated August 18, 2005 Osama bin Laden: Taliban Spokesman Seeks New Proposal for Resolving Bin Laden Problem,” State Department Document, November 28, 1998 "We never heard what they were trying to say," said Milton Bearden, a former CIA station chief who oversaw U.S. covert operations in Afghanistan in the 1980s. "We had no common language. Ours was, 'Give up bin Laden.' They were saying, 'Do something to help us give him up.' "David B. Ottaway and Joe Stephens, “Diplomats Met with Taliban on Bin Laden,” Washington Post, October 29, 2001 White House Says ‘No’ to Taliban Demand for Proof,” CBC News, September 21, 2001 "A SECRET plan to put Osama bin Laden on trial in Pakistan has been blocked after President Musharraf said he could not guarantee his safety, it was disclosed yesterday… The proposal, which had bin Laden's approval, was that within the framework of Islamic shar'ia law evidence of his alleged involvement in the New York and Washington attacks would be placed before an international tribunal." Patrick Bishop, “Pakistan Blocks bin Laden Trial,” Telegraph, October 4, 2001 ''When I said no negotiations, I meant no negotiations,'' Mr. Bush told reporters upon landing on the South Lawn of the White House after returning from a weekend of intensive national security briefings at Camp David. He added that he was not interested in discussing Mr. bin Laden's innocence or guilt. ''We know he's guilty,'' he said." Elizabeth Bumiller, “A Nation Challenged: President Rejects Offer by Taliban for Negotiations,” New York Times, October 15, 2001

Afghanistan 1979-1989 Operation Cyclone "The entry of our troops into Afghanistan would outrage the international community, triggering a string of extremely negative consequences in many different areas. Our common enemies are just waiting for the moment when Soviet troops appear in Afghanistan. This will give them the excuse they need to send armed bands into the country." SECRET MEMOS TRACE KREMLIN'S MARCH TO WAR Washington Post 15, 1992 "A Soviet Vietnam? However, we should not be too sanguine about Afghanistan becoming a Soviet Vietnam" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1977–1980, VOLUME XII, AFGHANISTAN 97. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter December 26, 1979 Funding, Arming And Training "explore with the Pakistanis and British the possibility of improving the financing, arming and communications of the rebel forces to make it as expensive as possible for the Soviets to continue their efforts" Special Coordination Committee White House Situation Meeting on Afghanistan 17 December 1979 "There were 58,000 dead in Vietnam and we owe the Russians one … I have a slight obsession with it, because of Vietnam. I thought the Soviets ought to get a dose of it … I’ve been of the opinion that this money was better spent to hurt our adversaries than other money in the Defense Department budget" Rep Charles Wilson Texas U.S. Covert Aid to Afghans on the Rise Washington Post January 13, 1985 "Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national security advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct? Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout]. Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it? B: It wasn’t quite like that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would. Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t regret any of this today? B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists? B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? Q : “Some agitated Moslems”? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today... B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is there in common among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries…" Zbigniew Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998) - University Of Arizona "We can do a lot of damage to the Soviet Union," Casey said, according to Mohammed Yousaf, a Pakistani general who attended the meeting… Casey's visit was a prelude to a secret Reagan administration decision in March 1985, reflected in National Security Decision Directive 166, to sharply escalate U.S. covert action in Afghanistan, according to Western officials. Abandoning a policy of simple harassment of Soviet occupiers, the Reagan team decided secretly to let loose on the Afghan battlefield an array of U.S. high technology and military expertise in an effort to hit and demoralize Soviet commanders and soldiers. Casey saw it as a prime opportunity to strike at an overextended, potentially vulnerable Soviet empire." Washington Post , ‘Anatomy of a Victory: CIA’s Covert Afghan War’, 19 July 1992. "CIA operations officers helped Pakistani trainers establish schools for the mujaheddin in secure communications, guerrilla warfare, urban sabotage and heavy weapons, Yousaf and Western officials said… The first antiaircraft systems used by the mujaheddin were the Swiss-made Oerlikon heavy gun and the British-made Blowpipe missile, according to Yousaf and Western sources. When these proved ineffective, the United States sent the Stinger. Pakistani officers traveled to the United States for training on the Stinger in June 1986 and then set up a secret mujaheddin Stinger training facility in Rawalpindi, complete with an electronic simulator made in the United States. The simulator allowed mujaheddin trainees to aim and fire at a large screen without actually shooting off expensive missiles, Yousaf said. The screen marked the missile's track and calculated whether the trainee would have hit his airborne target" Washington Post , ‘Anatomy of a Victory: CIA’s Covert Afghan War’, 19 July 1992. "In Ken Connor's Ghost Force: The Secret History of the SAS, it is claimed that the elite regiment actually trained Afghan fighters in remote locations in Scotland. In Afghanistan itself, the services of Keenie-Meenie Services were used. This was an offshoot of British security firm Control Risks, mainly comprising ex-SAS members and former members of Rhodesian and South African special forces. It took its name from the Swahili word for the movement of a snake through grass. KMS later played a role in the Oliver North, Iran-Contra affair of 1987." Guardian , ‘Blowback Chronicles’, 15 September 2001. "Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Prime Minister on what occasions since 1979 representatives of Her Majesty's Government discussed the use of Keenie Meenie Services or Saladin Security with Colonel Oliver North; and if she will make a statement. The Prime Minister: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to answer questions about the details of discussions which may have taken place with foreign Governments" Hansard, ‘Margaret Thatcher, Saladin Security and Keenie Meenie Services’, 1 December 1987. "Saudi Arabia has been a major source of financing to rebel and terrorist organisations since the 1970s. These were some of the conclusions of a 2006 report issued by the U.S. Department of State titled International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - Money Laundering and Financial Crimes (U.S. Department of State, 2006). Since the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia and Saudi-based private actors (i.e. wealthy businessmen, bankers, charitable organisations ) have been providing financial and relief assistance to Muslim communities affected by natural calamities or conflicts. It has been estimated that Saudi Arabia has invested more than $ 10 billion to promote its Wahhabi agenda through charitable foundations. Some of the most influential charitable organisation operating in South and Southeast Asia are: the Islamic International Relief Organisation (IIRO), the Al Haramain Foundation, the Medical Emergency Relief Charity (MERC) and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). These organisations have provided funds to build educational and religious facilities, as well as hospitals, in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines, just to mention some. Nevertheless, it is believed that some of the money destined to charitable activities has been diverted toward rebel and terrorist organisations throughout the region including Al Qaeda, the Haqqani network and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). This was possible because during the 1990s Al Qaeda and JI filled leadership positions in several Islamic charities with some of their most trusted men (Abuza, 2003). Al Qaeda and JI’s operatives were than diverting about 15-20 percent of the funds to finance their operations. In some cases, like the Philippines, such percentage could reach even 60 percent. The paragraphs that follow will analyse Saudi sponsorship to terrorist/rebel groups in South and Southeast Asia, with case studies on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The case studies of Afghanistan and Pakistan will be treated together considering the strong interlink (also known as AfPak) they share due to cross border activities of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters" European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 5 "During the 1980s, the IIRO and the MWL were used by the Saudi intelligence to transfer money to mujahedeen, while the IIRO is also known to have directly funded six training camps in Afghanistan (Abuza, 2003, p. 24). At the same time, Bin Laden used to rely on a network of Saudi and Gulf-based sponsors known as the Golden Chain (Blanchard, 2008). According to the 9/11 Commission Report report, the Golden Chain provided Bin Laden with financial support to rebuilt Al Qaeda’s assets in Afghanistan following his departure from Sudan in 1996" European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 5 "The Government of Saudi Arabia has generally matched the United States financial contributions, providing money in a joint fund with Washington to buy hundreds of Stingers for the Islamic guerrillas even though Congress would not permit such sophisticated weapons to be sold to the Saudis themselves. In addition, several wealthy Saudi princes, motivated by a sense of religious duty and solidarity, gave cash contributions to the guerrillas." Arming Afghan Guerrillas: A Huge Effort Led by US,” New York Times, April 18, 1988 "In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation. The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books, though the radical movement scratched out human faces in keeping with its strict fundamentalist code" From US, the ABCs of Jihad,” Washington Post, March 23, 2002 "It has famously been said that "short-term gain for long-term pain" is foolhardy, but this is exactly what happened to the allies in the jihad against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, not least the United States, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. We helped create the mujahideen, fired them with religious zeal in seminaries, armed them, paid them, fed them, and sent them to a jihad against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. We did not stop to think how we would divert them to productive life after the jihad was won. This mistake cost Afghanistan and Pakistan more dearly than any other country. Neither did the United States realize what a rich, educated person like Osama bin Laden might later do with the organization that we all had enabled him to establish." Pervez Musharraf, In the Line of Fire: A Memoir Page 208, Ex SSG and Pakistani President KMS - Private security firm helped train the Mujahedeen British Training of the Mujahedeen in Scotland and other bases in the UK in the 1980s. Ken Connor (Ex SAS) The Ghost Force; The Secret History Of The SAS, Page 278 "They were well-armed and ferocious fighters, but they lacked battlefield organisation" Ken Connor (Ex SAS) The Ghost Force; The Secret History Of The SAS, Page 312 "planning of operations, the use of explosives and the fire control of heavy weapons – mortars and artillery" Ken Connor (Ex SAS) The Ghost Force; The Secret History Of The SAS, Page 312 "They were very grateful for the help and relations between the two groups were very friendly on a personal level but that did not translate into a corresponding warmth between the British government and the leaders of the Mujahedeen. It was strictly an anti-Communist marriage of convenience between two organisations that had nothing else in common." Ken Connor (Ex SAS) The Ghost Force; The Secret History Of The SAS, Page 313 "These cross-border strikes were at their peak during 1986. Scores of attacks were made across the Amu from Jozjan to Badakshan Provinces. Sometimes Soviet citizens joined in these operations, or came back into Afghanistan to join the Mujahideen" Afghanistan The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower By Mohammed Yousaf, Mark Adkin Page 230 (extended quote) "Thus it was the US that put in train a major escalation of the war which, over the next three years, culminated in numerous cross-border raids and sabotage missions north of the Amu. During this period we were specifically to train and despatch hundreds of Mujahideen up to 25 kilometres deep inside the Soviet Union. They were probably the most secret and sensitive operations of the war. They only occurred during my time with ISI as in 1987" Afghanistan The Bear Trap: The Defeat of a Superpower By Mohammed Yousaf, Mark Adkin Page 216-17 (extended quote) "We trained in all types of guerrilla warfare. We trained on weapons, tactics, enemy engagement techniques and survival in hostile environments. All weapons training was with live ammunition, which was available everywhere. Indeed, there were a number of casualties during these training sessions. There were ex-military people amongst the Mujahideen, but no formal state forces participated. We were also trained by the elite units of the Mujahideen who had themselves been trained by Pakistani Special Forces, the CIA and the SAS … We had our own specially designed manuals, but we also made extensive use of manuals from the American and British military" From Mujahid to Activist: An Interview with a Libyan Veteran of the Afghan Jihad’, 25 March 2005, Jamestown Foundation Propaganda "We should concert with Islamic countries both in a propaganda campaign and in a covert action campaign to help the rebels" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1977–1980, VOLUME XII, AFGHANISTAN 97. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski) to President Carter "Third, we will attempt to increase our propaganda campaign on the Soviets worldwide. We will recommend to our European allies that they encourage their press to pay more attention to the subject... to cast the Soviets as opposing Moslem religious and nationalist expressions" Special Coordination Committee White House Situation Meeting on Afghanistan 17 December 1979 PDPA Afghan Government Change Of Laws And Living Conditions "Land reform attempts undermined their village chiefs. Portraits of Lenin threatened their religious leaders. But it was the Kabul revolutionary Government’s granting of new rights to women that pushed orthodox Moslem men in the Pashtoon villages of eastern Afghanistan into picking up their guns. … “The government said our women had to attend meetings and our children had to go to schools. This threatens our religion. We had to fight.” … “The government imposed various ordinances allowing women freedom to marry anyone they chose without their parents’ consent.” Afghans Resist New Rights for Women; Attacks in Response to Changes Portraits of Lenin Distributed Workers and Troops Surrounded The New York Times Feb. 9, 1980 "In October 1978 the Taraki regime issued Decree No. 7. Its main purpose was to reduce indebtedness caused by bride - price and to improve women's status . The decree had three parts : prohibition of bride - price in excess of a mahr of 300 afghanis ( for value of the afghani — see Glossary ) , provisions of complete freedom of choice of marriage partner , and fixation of the minimum age at marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men. In addition , it imposed the penalty of imprisonment for three months to three years for violation of the decree." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 121 "The seventh decree attempted to promote equality between the sexes in married life. It fixed a maximum amount for the bride - price ( mahr ) , established a minimum age for marriage at 18 years for men and 16 years for women, abolished forced marriages , and established legal penalties of imprisonment for violating the decree's provisions" US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 232 "The effect of Decree No. 7 on women's status was not known as of 1985. The Democratic Women's Organization of Afghanistan ( DWOA ) was organized by Dr. Anahita Ratebzad after the foundation of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan ( PDPA ) . Its function was to educate women , bring them out of seclusion , and initiate social programs . It was still functioning and growing in the mid - 1980s." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 128 "In 1985 women were admitted to militias on a volunteer basis. They were encouraged to enlist, and female“ martyrs ” were glorified in the Afghan press." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 128 "Before the revolution cosmopolitan health care services were woefully inadequate… 60 percent of the country's hospital beds were in Kabul. In mid - 1985 the government reported an 80 - percent increase in hospital beds and a 45 - percent increase in the number of doctors since the revolution but asserted that health care provision still lagged far behind need. To attack the massive public health problems, the government has initiated mobile medical units composed of nurses and physicians and has instituted medical brigades of women and young people. In 1985 problems with public health programs and health care were discussed openly in the Afghan press. The news media reported attempts on the part of the government to expand health care into the provinces , but it seemed that most new clinic construction occurred in Kabul." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 129 "Before the April Revolution Afghanistan had one of the world's highest rates of illiteracy. The new government ranked education high on its list of priorities. The revolutionary regime initiated extensive literacy programs, especially for women , because as of 1978 few women who lived outside of Kabul could read . The school system , which before 1978 had consisted of eight years of primary school and four of secondary , was changed . In 1985 primary school included grades one through five , and secondary education comprised grades six through 10. Textbook reforms were also instituted . The content of the books was changed to include the concept of dialectical materialism , and the number of languages in which the texts were printed was expanded , reflecting Karmal's stated policy that children should be able to learn in their mother tongue… The Afghan and Soviet governments signed several education cooperation agreements whereby Afghan students could pursue higher education in the Soviet Union , the Soviets would establish 10 professional and technical schools in Afghanistan , and the Soviets would provide the schools with technical assistance… In 1985 the government announced that since the April Revolution 1,150,000 people had graduated from literacy courses .On July 19, 1985, government figures put the number of students currently enrolled in literacy courses at 400,000… In 1983 there were seven professional and technical colleges in addition to the two universities. Although it was difficult to assess the veracity of the figures, which may have been inflated, it appeared in the mid - 1980s that the government was seriously attempting to expand education in the country." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 130,132 "The Khalqi policy of encouraging the education of girls , for example , aroused deep resentment in the villages . Local sensibilities were also offended by the secular character of new curricula and the practice of putting girls and boys in the same classroom." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 232 Although both PDPA groups were concerned with changing gender roles and giving women a more active role in politics , women such as Ratebzad , one of the four PDPA members elected to the Wolesi Jirgah in 1965 , were more prominent in US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 223

Afghanistan 2001- Present Bombings, Deaths, Destruction And Effects "We could do a very significantly increased level of activity without going anywhere near putting combat troops on the ground. And one of the points that I make in the essay is that if you look at the average rate of international air strikes since last August into Syria and Iraq, it's about 10 per day. If you compare that to Libya in 2011, it was 45 per day. In Afghanistan in 2001, it was 83 per day. And in the Kosovo campaign, which people may remember from 1999, was 250 per day. So without even going close to putting troops on the ground, we could be doing a very significantly greater amount to deal with the Islamic State" ABC (Australia), ‘Islamic State look increasingly like a state warns expert’, 18 May 2015 David Kilcullen (Ex- US Official) "Many of the people in the village then ran out of their homes, afraid that the bombs would fall on the homes. All witnesses stated that aircraft then returned to the area and began firing from guns. Many of the civilians were killed from the firing. The bombing and firing lasted for about one hour." HRW, 'Afghanistan; New civilian deaths due to US bombing', 30 October 2001 (At least twenty-five, and possibly as many as thirty-five, Afghan civilians died when U.S. bombs and gunfire hit their village, Chowkar-Karez) Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–present) "Behind the military jargon, the war logs are littered with accounts of civilian tragedies. The 144 entries in the logs recording some of these so-called “blue on white” events, cover a wide spectrum of day-by-day assaults on Afghans, with hundreds of casualties. They range from the shootings of individual innocents to the often massive loss of life from air strikes, which eventually led President Hamid Karzai to protest publicly that the U.S. was treating Afghan lives as “cheap.” When civilian family members are actually killed in Afghanistan, their relatives do, in fairness, get greater solatia payments than cans of beans and Hershey bars. The logs refer to sums paid of 100,000 Afghani per corpse, equivalent to about £1,500 [approximately $1,900]" Afghanistan war logs: Secret CIA paramilitaries’ role in civilian deathsInnocent Afghan men, women and children have paid the price of the Americans' rules of engagement David Leigh Sun 25 Jul 2010 Declan Walsh, “Afghanistan War Logs: How US Marines Sanitized Record of Bloodbath,” Guardian, July 26, 2010 Clancy Chassay, “‘I Was Still Holding My Grandson’s Hand - the Rest Was Gone,’” Guardian, December 15, 2008 Jerome Starkey, “Western Troops Accused of Executing 10 Afghan Civilians, Including Children,” London Times, December 31, 2009 "This was the hidden civilian damage from the first drone strike Barack Obama ever ordered, on 23 January 2009, the inauguration of a counter-terrorism tactic likely to define Obama’s presidency in much of the Muslim world. It was the third day of his presidency. Reportedly, the strikes did not hit the Taliban target Obama and the Central Intelligence Agency sought. Instead, they changed Qureshi’s life irrevocably." Spencer Ackerman, “Victim of Obama’s First Drone Strike: ‘I Am the Living Example of What Drones Are,’” Guardian, January 23, 2016 David Collins “Rogue SAS Unit Accused of Executing Civilians in Afghanistan,” Sunday Times, July 2, 2017 David Brown, “SAS Under Investigation Over ‘Rogue Unit’ Deaths in Afghanistan,” July 3, 2017, London Times "A former British Army officer has claimed the Special Air Service (SAS) killed innocent Afghan civilians during night raids on their homes after ignoring warnings they were targeting the wrong people. Captain Mike Martin has told The Sunday Times how he expressed severe misgivings about the “flawed” intelligence used to justify the raids during top secret “board meetings” in which SAS targets were identified. He said: “They [the SAS] would go in and kill members of a family based on faulty intelligence. The next morning there would be people going, ‘What was going on last night? You just murdered a whole family … ‘Army apology’ for killing of four Afghans. The British Army is said to have apologised to the family of four Afghan men who were shot dead by special forces soldiers during a night raid on their home in a village near Lashkar Gah in February 2011. Two of the victims are alleged to have been handcuffed before being killed. A family member, who found his father slumped against a wall, and a local official told The Sunday Times they were visited by British officers who they claim admitted the men had been wrongly targeted. “They just kept saying they were very, very sorry,” the official said. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment." SAS ‘Murderers’ Ignored Warning of Wrong Targets in Afghanistan,” Sunday Times, July 9, 2017 Michael Hastings, “King David's War,” Rolling Stone, February 2, 2011 "Afghanistan: NATO Air Strike Kills Seven Policemen,” Daily Telegraph, February 18, 2010 “American and Afghan officials have begun helping a number of anti-Taliban militias that have independently taken up arms against insurgents in several parts of Afghanistan… The emergence of the militias, which took some leaders in Kabul by surprise, has so encouraged the American and Afghan officials that they are planning to spur the growth of similar armed groups across the Taliban heartland… The American and Afghan officials say they are hoping the plan, called the Community Defense Initiative, will bring together thousands of gunmen to protect their neighborhoods from Taliban insurgents. Already there are hundreds of Afghans who are acting on their own against the Taliban, officials say. The endeavor represents one of the most ambitious and one of the riskiest plans for regaining the initiative against the Taliban, who are fighting more vigorously than at any time since 2001…“The idea is to get people to take responsibility for their own security,” said a senior American military official in Kabul, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “In many places they are already doing that.”Dexter Filkins, “Afghan Militias Battle Taliban with Aid of US,” New York Times, November 21, 2009 (Quote not in book) Dan Edge and Stephen Grey, “Kill/Capture,” Frontline, PBS, May 10, 2011 Secret Killing Program is Key in Iraq, Woodward says,” CNN, September 9, 2008 "JSOC’s success in targeting the right homes, businesses and individuals was only ever about 50 percent, according to two senior commanders. They considered this rate a good one." Dana Priest and William M. Arkin, “‘Top Secret America’: A Look at the Military’s Joint Special Operations Command,” Washington Post, September 2, 2011 "A Times investigation suggests that Nato’s claims are either wilfully false or, at best, misleading. More than a dozen survivors, officials, police chiefs and a religious leader interviewed at and around the scene of the attack maintain that the perpetrators were US and Afghan gunmen. The identity and status of the soldiers is unknown. The raid came more than a fortnight after the commander of US and Nato forces in Afghanistan issued new guidelines designed to limit the use of night raids. Special forces and Western intelligence agencies that run covert operations in Afghanistan have been criticised for night raids based on dubious or false intelligence leading to civilian casualties… Three women crouching in a hallway behind him were hit by the same volley of fire. Bibi Shirin, 22, had four children under the age of 5. Bibi Saleha, 37, had 11 children. Both of them, according to their relatives, were pregnant. They were killed instantly." Jerome Starkey, “Nato ‘Covered Up’ Botched Night Raid in Afghanistan That Killed Five,” Times of London, March 13, 2010 (Quote not in book) Michael T. Flynn et al., “Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan,” Center for a New American Security, January 4, 2010 Spencer Ackerman, “25 Tons of Bombs Wipe Afghan Town Off Map,” Wired, January 19, 2011 Kevin Sieff, “Years Later, a Flattened Afghan Village Reflects on US Bombardment,” Washington Post, August 25, 2013 "With an average of an assassination a day and a suicide bombing every second or third day, insurgents have greatly increased the level of violence in Afghanistan, and have become by far the biggest killers of civilians here, the United Nations said. … The most striking change has been in suicide bombings, whose numbers have tripled this year compared with 2009. Such attacks now take place an average of three times a week compared with once a week before. In addition, two of three of those suicide attacks are considered “complex,” in which attackers use a suicide bomb as well as other weapons" Rod Nordland, “Violence Up Sharply in Afghanistan,” New York Times, June 19, 2010 "The governor of Afghanistan's Kunar province said Sunday that 64 people, including some civilians, were killed in a joint operation by NATO's International Security Assistance Force and Afghan security forces over the past few days." Afghan Governor: Women and Children Killed in Military Operation,” CNN, February 20, 2011 (Quote not in book) Joshua Partlow, “Petraeus's Comments on Coalition Attack Reportedly Offend Karzai Government,” Washington Post, February 21, 2011 "According to the Washington Post, Petraeus addressed the issue during a meeting with Afghan officials Sunday at the presidential palace. The newspaper cited unnamed Afghan officials in the meeting as saying Petraeus said parents may have purposely burned their children to make it seem like they were victims of the U.S. air strikes. Petraeus said no such thing, according to a statement from the top ISAF spokesman in Afghanistan, Rear Adm. Greg Smith."At a Sunday NSC (National Security Council) meeting, General Petraeus never said children's hands and feet were purposely burned by their families in order to create a civilian casualty event. Rather, he said the injuries to the children appeared inconsistent with the types of munitions used," Smith said in a statement. He said Petraeus did say in the meeting that he had an idea how the children were burned. "The burns to their hands and feet may have been the result of discipline sometimes handed out to Afghan children. Regrettably this is customary among some Afghan fathers as a way of dealing with children who misbehave" Tension Between Petraeus, Afghans over Airstrike, Children,” CNN, February 22, 2011 "Nine boys collecting firewood to heat their homes in the eastern Afghanistan mountains were killed by NATO helicopter gunners who mistook them for insurgents, according to a statement on Wednesday by NATO, which apologized for the mistake. The boys, who were 9 to 15 years old, were attacked on Tuesday in what amounted to one of the war’s worst cases of mistaken killings by foreign-led forces. The victims included two sets of brothers. A 10th boy survived… We were almost done collecting the wood when suddenly we saw the helicopters come,” said Hemad, who, like many Afghans, has only one name. “There were two of them. The helicopters hovered over us, scanned us and we saw a green flash from the helicopters. Then they flew back high up, and in a second round they hovered over us and started shooting. They fired a rocket which landed on a tree. The tree branches fell over me and shrapnel hit my right hand and my side.” General Petraeus pledged to investigate the attack and to take disciplinary action if appropriate. “We are deeply sorry for this tragedy and apologize to the members of the Afghan government, the people of Afghanistan and, most importantly, the surviving family members of those killed by our actions,” he said. “These deaths should have never happened.” It was the third instance in two weeks in which the Afghan government has accused NATO of killing civilians. NATO strongly disputes one of those reports, but another the killing of an Afghan Army soldier and his family in Nangarhar Province on Feb. 20 was also described as an accident." Alissa J. Rubin and Sangar Rahimi, “Nine Afghan Boys Collecting Firewood Killed by NATO Helicopters,”New York Times, March 2, 2011 (Extended Quote) "Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, told a military court he had helped to kill three unarmed Afghans. "The plan was to kill people, sir," he told an army judge in Fort Lea, near Seattle, after his plea… This week the German magazine Der Spiegel published three pictures that showed American soldiers, including Morlock, posing with the corpse of a young Afghan boy as if it were a hunting trophy. Some soldiers apparently kept body parts of their victims, including a skull, as souvenirs. In a statement issued in response to the publication of the photos the US army apologised to the families of the dead. "[The photos are] repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States army," the statement said. Morlock has told investigators that the murders took place between January and May last year and were instigated by an officer in his unit, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs. He described how elaborate plans were made to pick out civilian targets, kill them and then make their deaths look like they were insurgents. In his confession Morlock described shooting a victim as Gibbs tossed a grenade at him. "We identify a guy. Gibbs makes a comment, like, you know, you guys wanna wax this guy or not," Morlock said in the confession" Paul Harris, “US Soldier Admits Killing Unarmed Afghans for Sport,” Guardian, March 23, 2011 “In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, Gibbs recruited other soldiers to murder civilians he called "savages" after he took over command of a US army squad in Afghanistan's Kandahar province in November 2009. Prosecutors described Gibbs as hunting innocent Afghans "for sport", a view reinforced by the staff sergeant's statement likening the amputation of body parts as trophies to collecting antlers from a deer. Gibbs and other soldiers collected fingers, teeth and other body parts as trophies. They also took photographs of themselves posing next to their dead victims. In one of the pictures Morlock is seen lifting Mudin's head by its hair for the camera and smiling. The soldiers also took ghoulish pictures of themselves with dead combatants. The jury of five soldiers was shown pages of Facebook messages sent by Winfield to his parents in which he described how Gibbs led the killings. In one exchange with his father Winfield recounted Mudin's killing "An innocent dude. They planned and went through with it. I knew about it. Didn't believe they were going to do it. Then it happened. Pretty much the whole platoon knows about it. It's OK with all of them pretty much. Except me. I want to do something about it. The only problem is I don't feel safe here telling anyone. The guy who did it is the golden boy in the company who can never do anything wrong and it's my word against theirs," Winfield wrote. Winfield later told investigators: "[Gibbs] likes to kill things. He is pretty much evil incarnate. I mean, I have never met a man who can go from one minute joking around, then mindless killings." The court martial was told that Gibbs had six skull tattoos on his leg to mark up each of his "kills" from tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.In his testimony Gibbs denied responsibility for the killings, saying the victims all died in legitimate combat. But he did admit slicing off body parts from Afghans, including the fingers of a man, and keeping them or giving them to other soldiers as trophies. In my mind I was there to take the antlers off the deer. You have to come to terms with what you're doing. Shooting people is not an easy thing to do," said Gibbs." Chris McGreal, “‘Kill Team’ US Platoon Commander Gui lty of Afghan Murders,” Guardian, November 10, 2011 "A] review of internal Army records and investigative files obtained by Rolling Stone, including dozens of interviews with members of Bravo Company compiled by military investigators, indicates that the dozen infantrymen being portrayed as members of a secretive “kill team” were operating out in the open, in plain view of the rest of the company. Far from being clandestine, as the Pentagon has implied, the murders of civilians were common knowledge among the unit and understood to be illegal by “pretty much the whole platoon,” according to one soldier who complained about them. Staged killings were an open topic of conversation, and at least one soldier from another battalion in the 3,800-man Stryker Brigade participated in attacks on unarmed civilians. “The platoon has a reputation,” a whistle-blower named Pfc. Justin Stoner told the Army Criminal Investigation Command. “They have had a lot of practice staging killings and getting away with it" Mark Boal, “The Kill Team: How US Soldiers in Afghanistan Murdered Innocent Civilians,” Rolling Stone, March 27, 2011 Officials: Bales Sneaked Off Base Twice During Rampage,” CNN, March 26, 2012 Army: Bales, Wife Laughed About Killing Charges,” USA Today, August 19, 2013 Brendan Vaughan, “Robert Bales Speaks: Confessions of America’s Most Notorious War Criminal,” GQ, October 21, 2015 Afghan Families Skeptical as US Reopens Investigation of Bodies Found Near Base,” Guardian, November 5, 2015 Matthew Cole, “The Crimes of SEAL Team 6,” Intercept, January 10, 2017 "KABUL — United Nations officials Thursday condemned an airstrike by an unmanned U.S. military aircraft a day earlier that they said killed 15 civilians and wounded at least 12 in the insurgent-plagued eastern Afghan province of Nangahar. They called for a complete investigation." Pamela Constable, “UN Officials Criticize Fatal US Airstrike in Afghanistan,” Washington Post, September 29, 2016 Mary Kekatos, “‘Unprecedented’ Rate of Genital Injuries Among US Soldiers: Devastating Study Reveals More Than 1,300 Iraq and Afghanistan Vets Left with Life-Changing Wounds to Sexual Organs,” Daily Mail, January 16, 2017 "The United Nations reported today that Afghan hostilities in 2015 left more than 3,500 civilians dead, including an unprecedented number of children – one in four casualties over the past year was a child – and nearly 7,500 others wounded, making this the highest number of civilian casualties recorded… Civilian deaths and injuries caused by pro-Government forces caused 17 per cent of civilian casualties – 14 per cent from Afghan security forces, two per cent from international military forces, and one per cent from pro-Government armed groups. The report documents increased civilian casualties caused by pro-Government forces, including during ground engagements, aerial operations, and the activities of pro-Government armed groups" Afghan Casualties Hit Record High 11,000 in 2015 – UN Report,” UN News Centre, February 2016 Sayed Salahuddin and Pamela Constable, “UN Says Civilian Toll in Afghanistan is Highest in Years,” Washington Post, February 6, 2017 The Excuse Of 911, Al Qaeda And Lies "A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October" BBC Tuesday, 18 September, 2001, US 'planned attack on Taleban "Dr. Rice has stated that she asked the National Security Council staff in her first week in office for a new presidential initiative on al Qaeda. In early March, the staff was directed to craft a more aggressive strategy aimed at eliminating the al Qaeda threat. The first draft of that approach, in the form of a presidential directive, was circulated by the NSC staff in June of 2001, and a number of meetings were held that summer at the deputy secretary level to address the policy questions involved, such as relating an aggressive strategy against Taliban to U.S.-Pakistan relations. "By the first week of September, the process had arrived at a strategy that was presented to principals and later became NSPD-9, the President's first major substantive national security decision directive. It was presented for a decision by principals on September 4th, 2001, seven days before the 11th, and later signed by the President, with minor changes and a preamble to reflect the events of September 11th, in October." NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES Eighth Public Hearing Tuesday, March 23, 2004 Donald Rumsfeld "The issue was then made part of the reviews of U.S. policy towards Afghanistan and Pakistan. The government developed formal policy papers that were discussed by sub-cabinet officials, the deputies, on April 30th, June 27th and 29th, July 16th, and September 10th… The Afghanistan options debated in 2001 ranged from seeking a deal with the Taliban to overthrowing the regime." NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES Eighth Public Hearing Tuesday, March 23, 2004 Michael Hurley "imagine that we were back before September 11th, and that a U.S. president had looked at the information then available, gone before the Congress and the world and said "We need to invade Afghanistan, overthrow the Taliban, and destroy the al Qaeda terrorist network," based on what little was known before September 11th. How many countries would have joined? Many? Any? Not likely" NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TERRORIST ATTACKS UPON THE UNITED STATES Eighth Public Hearing Tuesday, March 23, 2004 Donald Rumsfeld "American Airlines Flight 11 Mohamed Atta - Egypt, tactical leader of 9/11 plot and pilot Abdul Aziz al Omari - Saudi Arabia Wail al Shehri - Saudi Arabia Waleed al Shehri - Saudi Arabia Satam al Suqami - Saudi Arabia United Airlines Flight 175 Fayez Banihammad - United Arab Emirates Ahmed al Ghamdi - Saudi Arabia Hamza al Ghamdi - Saudi Arabia Marwan al Shehhi - United Arab Emirates, pilot Mohand al Shehri - Saudi Arabia American Airlines Flight 77 Hani Hanjour - Saudi Arabia, pilot Nawaf al Hazmi - Saudi Arabia Salem al Hazmi - Saudi Arabia Khalid al Mihdhar - Saudi Arabia Majed Moqed - Saudi Arabia United Airlines Flight 93 Saeed al Ghamdi - Saudi Arabia Ahmad al Haznawi - Saudi Arabia Ziad Jarrah - Lebanon, pilot Ahmed al Nami - Saudi Arabia" September 11th Hijackers Fast Facts,” CNN, last modified August 26, 2021 "Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated." Office of the Press Secretary September 20, 2001 Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People "The Taliban, on the other hand, would dig in and try to stall us until the first snows of winter, which were only a month or so away. People back at headquarters had told me to expect six months of World War I–style trench warfare. And as we tried to defeat the Taliban we had the added responsibility of searching for Osama bin Laden and destroying what we could of his terrorist organization." Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA ’s Key Field Commander Page 99-100 "Letters of marque and reprisal resolve one of the most vexing problems facing the country: how do we obtain retribution against the perpetrators of the attacks without inflicting massive damage on the Middle East which could drive moderate Arabs into an allegiance with bin Laden and other terrorists. This is because using letters of marque and reprisal shows the people of the region that we are serious when we say our quarrel is not with them but with Osama bin Laden and all others who would dare commit terrorist acts against the United States." AIR PIRACY REPRISAL AND CAPTURE ACT OF 2001 HON. RON PAUL of texas in the house of representatives Wednesday, October 10, 2001 "The Taliban, on the other hand, would dig in and try to stall us until the first snows of winter, which were only a month or so away. People back at headquarters had told me to expect six months of World War I–style trench warfare. And as we tried to defeat the Taliban we had the added responsibility of searching for Osama bin Laden and destroying what we could of his terrorist organization." Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA ’s Key Field Commander Page 99-100 Question: Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part — deep in your heart, don’t you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won’t really eliminate the threat of — Bush: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run if he’s alive at all. Who knows if he’s hiding in some cave or not; we haven’t heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is — really indicates to me people don’t understand the scope of the mission… So I don’t know where he is. You know, I just don’t spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I’m more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy [Taliban] bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did. And there will be other battles in Afghanistan… Question: But don’t you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won’t truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive… I’ll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban. But once we set out the policy and started executing the plan, he became — we shoved him out more and more on the margins" George W. Bush, “The President’s News Conference,” 38 Weekly Comp. Pres. Doc. 407 (March 13, 2002 "I think at most, we’re looking at maybe 50 to 100, maybe less. There’s no question that the main location of al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan.” CIA Director Leon Panetta: Serious Problems With Afghanistan War but Progress Being Made, ABC News JACK DATE June 27, 2010 Courtney Kube, “US Has Thousands More Troops in Afghanistan Than the Pentagon Admits,” NBC News, August 23, 2017 Torture And The Legal Framework "However, the war against terrorism ushers in a new paradigm, one in which groups with broad, international reach commit horrific acts against innocent civilians, sometimes with the direct support of states. Our nation recognizes that this new paradigm – ushered in not by us, but by terrorists – requires new thinking in the law of war, but thinking that should nevertheless be consistent with the principles of Geneva… a. I accept the legal conclusion of the Department of Justice and determine that none of the provisions of Geneva apply to our conflict with al Qaeda in Afghanistan or elsewhere throughout the world because, among other reasons, al Qaeda is not a High Contracting Party to Geneva. b. I accept the legal conclusion of the attorney general and the Department of Justice that I have the authority under the Constitution to suspend Geneva as between the United States and Afghanistan, but I decline to exercise that authority at this time. Accordingly, I determine that the provisions of Geneva will apply to our present conflict with the Taliban. I reserve the right to exercise the authority in this or future conflicts… d. Based on the facts supplied by the Department of Defense and the recommendation of the Department of Justice, I determine that the Taliban detainees are unlawful combatants and, therefore, do not qualify as prisoners of war under Article 4 of Geneva. I note that, because Geneva does not apply to our conflict with al Qaeda, al Qaeda detainees also do not qualify as prisoners of war." George W. Bush, “Memorandum to National Security Council Principles’ Committee,” February 7, 2002 "Additional elements of the necessity defense are worth noting here. First, the defense is not limited to certain types of harms. Therefore, the harm inflicted by necessity may include intentional homicide, so long as the harm avoided is greater (i.e., preventing more deaths). Id. at 634. Second, it must actually be the defendant's intention to avoid the greater harm; intending to commit murder and then learning only later that the death had the fortuitous result of saving other lives will not support a necessity defense. Id. at 635. Third, if the defendant reasonably believed that the lesser harm was necessary, even if, unknown to him, it was not, he may still avail himself of the defense." Memorandum for Alberto R. Gonzales Counsel to the President: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation Under U.S.C. 2340-2340A,” Office of the Assistant Attorney General, August 1, 2002 Page 40 "On Aug. 24, 2009, based on information the Department received pertaining to alleged CIA mistreatment of detainees, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that he had expanded Mr. Durham’s mandate to conduct a preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations. Attorney General Holder made clear at that time, that the Department would not prosecute anyone who acted in good faith and within the scope of the legal guidance given by the Office of Legal Counsel regarding the interrogation of detainees" Statement of Attorney General Eric Holder on Closure of Investigation into the Interrogation of Certain Detainees,” United States Department of Justice, August 30, 2012 “Colonel Wilkerson, in your prepared testimony you write that: As I compiled my dossier for Secretary Powell, and as I did further research, and as my views grew firmer and firmer, I needed frequently to reread that memo; that is to say, the memorandum of February 7, 2002. I need to balance in my own mind the overwhelming evidence that my own Government has sanctioned abuse and torture, which, at its worst, has led to the murder of 25 detainees and a total of at least 100 detainee deaths. We had murdered 25 or more people in detention. That was the clear low point of the evidence. So your testimony is that 100 detainees have died in detention, and that you believe 25 of those were, in effect, murdered? Colonel Wilkerson. Mr. Chairman, I think the number is actually higher than that now. The last time I checked, there was about 108. And the total number that were declared homicides by the military services or by the CIA or others doing investigation, CID and so forth, was 25, 26, 27 Mr. Nadler. Were declared homicide? Colonel Wilkerson. Correct. Starting as early as December in Afghanistan. Mr. Nadler. And these are homicides committed by people engaged in an interrogation? Colonel Wilkerson. Or in guarding prisoners or something like that. People who were in detention. Mr. Nadler. So these weren't people trying to escape or something. They were declared homicides by our own authorities? Colonel Wilkerson. Right. Mr. Nadler. Do you know if any were prosecuted? Colonel Wilkerson. As far as I know, several were. And they have come to different conclusion.” From the Department of Justice to Guantánamo Bay: Administration Lawyers and Administration Interrogation Rules Part II: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, 110 Congress (2008) Dana Priest, “CIA Holds Terror Suspects in Secret Prisons,” Washington Post, January 2, 2005 Nick Hawton, “Hunt for CIA ‘Black Site’ in Poland,” BBC News, December 28, 2006 Gordon Corera, “CIA ‘Secret Prison’ Found in Romania,” BBC News, December 8, 2011 Adam Zagorin, “US Used UK Isle for Interrogations,” Time, July 31, 2008 Duncan Campbell and Richard Norton-Taylor, “US Accused of Holding Terror Suspects on Prison Ships,” Guardian, June 2, 2008 "The mission found “compelling” evidence that 125 detainees, or 46 per cent, of the 273 detainees interviewed who had been in NDS detention experienced interrogation techniques at the hands of NDS officials that constituted torture, and that torture is practiced “systematically” in a number of NDS detention facilities throughout Afghanistan,” states the report" Systematic Torture in Afghan Detention Facilities – UN Report,” UN News Centre, October 10, 2001 (Quote not in book) Sudarsan Raghavan, “Inside the CIA’s Shadow War in Afghanistan: Agency Oversees Militias Implicated in Torture, Civilian Killings,” Washington Post, December 3, 2015 Daniel L. Davis, “Dereliction of Duty II: Senior Military Leaders’ Loss of Integrity Wounds Afghan War Effort,” United States Army, February 6, 2012 "In his last official act of business in 2011, President Barack Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act from his vacation rental in Kailua, Hawaii. In a statement, the president said he did so with reservations about key provisions in the law - including a controversial component that would allow the military to indefinitely detain terror suspects, including American citizens arrested in the United States, without charge." Yunji De Nies, “With Reservations, Obama Signs Act to Allow Detention of Citizens,” ABC News, December 31, 2011 Corruption The Installed Afghan State "Afghanistan: Forces Linked to Vice President Terrorize Villagers,” Human Rights Watch, July 31, 2016 Sune Engel Rasmussen, “Vice-President Leaves Afghanistan Amid Torture and Rape Claims,” Guardian, May 19, 2017 "Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I just would like to talk for a minute about the mission in the context of what is going on with the government in Kabul. The Washington Post did a story on February 25 which talks about ``Officials puzzle over millions of dollars leaving Afghanistan by plane for Dubai,'' and I will include that for the Record… Previous to that, the Post did a story about money funneled through a Kabul bank and companies owned by the bank's founder to individual friends, family, and business connections of Hamid Karzai. When you consider the amount of corruption that is going on in Afghanistan, it can only be called, charitably, ``crony capitalism.'' In fact, The Washington Post printed an article on February 22, entitled ``In Afghanistan, Signs of Crony Capitalism,'' and I include this for the Record." Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 34 (Wednesday, March 10, 2010) - Andrew Higgins, “Officials Puzzle Over Millions of Dollars Leaving Afghanistan by Plane for Dubai,” Washington Post, February 25 2010 "KABUL—American officers deployed as mentors in Afghanistan's main military hospital discovered a shocking secret last year: Injured soldiers were routinely dying of simple infections and even starving to death as some corrupt doctors and nurses demanded bribes for food and the most basic of care. The discovery, which hasn't previously been reported, added new details to longstanding evidence of gross mismanagement at Dawood National Military Hospital, where most salaries and supplies are paid for by American taxpayers." Maria Abi-Habib, “At Afghan Military Hospital, Graft and Deadly Neglect,” Wall Street Journal, September 3, 2011 Sune Engel Rasmussen, “US Funds Fed Corruption in Afghanistan, Eroding Security,” Guardian, September 14, 2016 "As a former NATO official with years of experience in Kandahar puts it, "You have essentially a criminal enterprise in the guise of government, using us [NATO forces] as its enforcing arm." As a result, says this official, who asked not to be identified, "the people are turning to the Taliban as the only means of protection and outlet for their anger."... Antinarcotics experts in Kabul say that while they have no evidence linking the President's half brother to drug trafficking, he and his relatives have sway over top police officers in Kandahar and Helmand province who are alleged to have ensured the safe passage of drug shipments along the roads to Iran and Pakistan. International observers and diplomats in Kabul say Wali Karzai retains close ties with units of the U.S. special forces and the CIA in Kandahar. Last October, the New York Times alleged that Wali Karzai had been on the CIA payroll for the past eight years, a charge he denied when speaking to TIME. "I see these people, I talk to them in security meetings, but I have no control," he said. But TIME's sources insist that Wali Karzai in the past has threatened to call down NATO air strikes or arrange night raids by U.S. special forces on tribal elders who defied him. Says a former NATO official: "Most of our intelligence comes directly or indirectly from him. We really didn't see this dynamic because we were so focused on the enemy." Tim McGirk, “A US Stumbling Block in Kandahar: Karzai’s Brother,” Time, March 19, 2010 James Risen, “Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Afghanistan Heroin Trade,” New York Times, October 4, 2008 Julius Cavendish, “Bodyguard Who Killed Karzai’s Brother Was Trusted CIA Contact,” Independent, July 15, 2011 Chris Mondloch, “An Afghan Tragedy: The Pashtun Practice of Having Sex with Young Boys,” Independent, October 29, 2013 "Sgt. First Class Charles Martland, a member of the Special Forces, had helped to beat up the Afghan militia commander, Abdul Rahman, in 2011 after he abducted a boy and kept him chained to his bed as a sex slave. Sergeant Martland later told Army officials that he and a Special Forces captain, Dan Quinn, “felt that morally we could no longer stand by” and allow the Afghan local police “to commit atrocities.” After the episode, Captain Quinn was relieved of his command; he withdrew from Afghanistan and later left the military. But Sergeant Martland was put under an Army-wide review program that trims the number of its noncommissioned officers when their military records show performance or conduct that is “inconsistent” with standards. An initial decision to forcibly discharge him by Nov. 1, 2015, was delayed; in March 2016, the Army said it had postponed the discharge decision again, until May 1, to allow time for Sergeant Martland to appeal… The beating and its effect on the two men’s Army careers brought scrutiny to a policy of instructing American soldiers and Marines not to intervene in cases of child sex abuse by their Afghan allies. In an article in The New York Times last year, the spokesman for the American command in Afghanistan, Col. Brian Tribus, said of the United States’ military policy, “Generally, allegations of child sexual abuse by Afghan military or police personnel would be a matter of domestic Afghan criminal law.” He added that “there would be no express requirement that U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan report it.” An exception, he said, is when rape is being used as a weapon of war." Christine Houser, “Green Beret Who Beat Up Afghan Officer for Raping Boy Can Stay in Army,” New York Times, April 29, 2016 Yaroslav Trofimov and Ehsanullah Amiri, “Afghan Presidential Front-Runner Escapes Assassination Attempt,” Wall Street Journal, June 6, 2014 "Reports of “ghost” soldiers and police continue to surface. In January 2016, media reported that the price of maintaining ghost soldiers on the rolls was being paid on the battlefield, as the number of troops fighting alongside “ghost soldiers” is a fraction of the men required for the fight. In June 2016, the Helmand Province police chief claimed half of the Helmand police consisted of ghost personnel. In late July, General Nicholson sent a letter to the Minister of Interior outlining the actions required to reduce or eliminate ghost police as a condition for continued U.S. support." High-Risk List, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, January 2017 Page 18 Election Fraud "KABUL, Afghanistan — Mohammed Mohaqiq says he was getting ready to make his run for the Afghan presidency when U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad dropped by his campaign office and proposed a deal.“He told me to drop out of the elections, but not in a way to put pressure,” Mohaqiq said. “It was like a request.”... “He left, and then called my most loyal men, and the most educated people in my party or campaign, to the presidential palace and told them to make me -- or request me -- to resign the nomination. And he told my men to ask me what I need in return.” Paul Watson, “US Hand Seen in Afghan Election,”Los Angeles Times, September 23, 2004 (Quote not in book) "Leaders of a south-east Afghanistan tribe have told its members they must vote for Hamid Karzai in presidential polls or their houses will be burned" Crispin Thorold, “Vote Threat to Afghan Tribesmen,” BBC News, September 24, 2004 Cost Of The War "​Still, a close look at U.S. military statistics shows that Afghan soldiers and police officers are far more expensive than you'd expect. They are paid an average of just $1,872 a year, but the overall cost of training and fielding a police officer is roughly $30,000 per year, while the cost of each soldier is nearly $46,000 per year. the United States bears virtually all of those costs, adding up to more than $3.5 billion a year." The US Spends $14K per Afghan Troop Per Year, but Each Earns $1,872,” Atlantic, April 16, 2012 "We’ve spent trillions of dollars overseas, while allowing our own infrastructure to fall into total disrepair and decay. In the Middle East, we’ve spent as of four weeks ago, $6 trillion. Think of it. And by the way, the Middle East is in … much worse shape than it was 15 years ago. If our presidents would have gone to the beach for 15 years, we would be in much better shape than we are right now, that I can tell you. Be a hell of a lot better. We could have rebuilt our country three times with that money" Donald Trump, “Remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland,” DCPD-201700137 (February 24, 2017) CNN The Hole Of Aid Money And Contracts "Much of the more than $115 billion the United States has committed to reconstruction projects and programs risks being wasted because the Afghans cannot sustain the investment—financially or functionally—without massive, continued donor support. Donors were expected to finance approximately 69% of Afghanistan’s $6.5 billion fiscal year (FY) 1395 national budget (December 22, 2015–December 21, 2016), mostly through grants. At 2016 conferences in Warsaw and Brussels, the United States and other donors pledged to maintain assistance to Afghanistan at or near current levels through 2020" High-Risk List, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, January 2017 Page 2 "Contracting represents a high risk to the success of Afghanistan reconstruction. The usual difficulties of contract management are magnified and aggravated by Afghanistan’s remoteness, active insurgency, widespread corruption, limited ministerial capability, difficulties in collecting and verifying data, and other issues. … SIGAR has found that challenges in Afghanistan are so widespread that sometimes there is an assumption that if you throw enough money or people at a problem, the status quo will improve. In other words, implementers sometimes think their initial objective need not be precise, because the intervention will surely do some good somewhere" High-Risk List, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, January 2017 Page 3,9 "Corruption significantly undermined the U.S. mission in Afghanistan by damaging the legitimacy of the Afghan government, strengthening popular support for the insurgency, and channeling material resources to insurgent groups. Surveys and anecdotal evidence indicate that corrupt officials at all levels of government victimized and alienated the Afghan population. Substantial U.S. funds found their way to insurgent groups, some portion of which was due to corruption. Corruption also undermined faith in the international reconstruction effort. The Afghan public witnessed limited oversight of lucrative reconstruction projects by the military and aid community, leading to bribery, fraud, extortion, and nepotism, as well as the empowerment of abusive warlords and their militias. Public trust in the U.S.-led intervention eroded, as international aid agencies, contractors, and ISAF were seen as complicit in the corrupt behavior of the Afghan government." Corruption in Conflict: Lessons Learned from the US Experience with Corruption in Afghanistan,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, September 2016 Page 75-76 "Adjusted for inflation, the $115 billion in U.S. appropriations provided to reconstruct Afghanistan exceeds the funds committed to the Marshall Plan, the U.S. aid program that, between 1948 and 1952, helped 16 West European countries recover in the aftermath of World War II. However, U.S. assistance to Afghanistan differs from the Marshall Plan in one key respect: whereas the Marshall Plan was a civilian effort operating in a post-war environment, over 60% of Afghanistan’s reconstruction funds have been spent to support the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in their efforts to secure a country still facing a determined insurgency. Including U.S. war funding unrelated to reconstruction, U.S. appropriations for Afghanistan now total more than three quarters of a trillion dollars—not including the $43.7 billion requested for FY 2017." High-Risk List, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, January 2017 Page 4 Together, DOD, State, and USAID spent approximately $759.6 million on 39 programs to support primary and secondary education in Afghanistan from FY 2002 to FY 2014. SIGAR’s analysis of State and USAID data showed that the agencies were able to identify the programs they implemented and the amount of funds (approximately $617.9 million) or the percentage of program funds that supported primary and secondary education. SIGAR found that DOD spent at least $141.7 million on Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) projects to support primary and secondary education. However, SIGAR found limitations in DOD’s tracking of certain CERP projects that prevented SIGAR from determining how much DOD spent on about 1,000 CERP projects related to education. Although DOD subsequently corrected the two limitations with how it tracked CERP funds, DOD spent additional money on CERP beyond the $141.7 million that SIGAR was able to identify." Primary and Secondary Education in Afghanistan: Comprehensive Assessments Needed to Determine the Progress and Effectiveness of over $759 Million in DOD, State, and USAID Programs,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, April 2016 Page 2 Marguerite Ward, “Afghanistan is on the Brink After US Invests $100 Billion,” CNBC, February 3, 2016 "Since 2002, USAID and DOD have spent approximately $2.8 billion to construct and repair Afghanistan’s road infrastructure, and perform capacity-building activities… SIGAR selected and assessed the condition of 1,640 kilometers of U.S.- funded national and regional highways, or approximately 22 percent of all paved roads in Afghanistan. The results indicate that most of these highways need repair and maintenance. For example, SIGAR performed inspections of 20 road segments and found that 19 segments had road damage ranging from deep surface cracks to roads and bridges destroyed by weather or insurgents. Moreover, 17 segments were either poorly maintained or not maintained at all, resulting in road defects that limited drivability. MOPW officials acknowledged that roads in Afghanistan are in poor condition. In August 2015, an MOPW official stated that 20 percent of the roads were destroyed and the remaining 80 percent continue to deteriorate. The official added that the Kabul to Kandahar highway is beyond repair and needs to be rebuilt. USAID estimated that unless maintained, it would cost about $8.3 billion to replace Afghanistan’s road infrastructure, and estimated that 54 percent of Afghanistan’s road infrastructure suffered from poor maintenance and required rehabilitation beyond simple repairs. Afghanistan’s Road Infrastructure: Sustainment Challenges and Lack of Repairs Put US Investment at Risk,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, October 29, 2016 Page 1,2 Paying Off Warlords, Contractors And Enemy "KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, June 22, 2010 -- The United States military is helping fund both sides of the war in Afghanistan, knowingly financing a mafia-like collection of warlords and some of the very insurgents American troops are battling, according to Afghan and American officials and a new Congressional study released today.The military has turned to private trucking companies to transport the vast majority of materiel it needs to fight the war -- everything from bullets to Gatorade, gas to sandbags -- and in turn, the companies are using American money to pay, among others, the Taliban to try to guarantee the trucks' safe passage, the reports charge" Report: U.S. Bribes to Protect Convoys Are Funding Taliban Insurgents Rep. John Tierney concludes, "Tony Soprano would be proud of it." ABC News June 22, 2010 "The findings of this report range from sobering to shocking. In short, the Department of Defense designed a contract that put responsibility for the security of vital U.S. supplies on contractors and their unaccountable security providers. This arrangement has fueled a vast protection racket run by a shadowy network of warlords, strongmen, commanders, corrupt Afghan officials, and perhaps others. Not only does the system run afoul of the Department’s own rules and regulations mandated by Congress, it also appears to risk undermining the U.S. strategy for achieving its goals in Afghanistan" Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page II "Security for the U.S. Supply Chain Is Principally Provided by Warlords. The principal private security subcontractors on the HNT contract are warlords, strongmen, commanders, and militia leaders who compete with the Afghan central government for power and authority. Providing “protection” services for the U.S. supply chain empowers these warlords with money, legitimacy, and a raison d’etre for their private armies. Although many of these warlords nominally operate under private security companies licensed by the Afghan Ministry of Interior, they thrive in a vacuum of government authority and their interests are in fundamental conflict with U.S. aims to build a strong Afghan government." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 2 "The Highway Warlords Run a Protection Racket. The HNT contractors and their trucking subcontractors in Afghanistan pay tens of millions of dollars annually to local warlords across Afghanistan in exchange for “protection” for HNT supply convoys to support U.S. troops. Although the warlords do provide guards and coordinate security, the contractors have little choice but to use them in what amounts to a vast protection racket. The consequences are clear: trucking companies that pay the highway warlords for security are provided protection; trucking companies that do not pay believe they are more likely to find themselves under attack. As a result, almost everyone pays. In interviews and documents, the HNT contractors frequently referred to such payments as “extortion,” “bribes,” “special security,” and/or “protection payments.” Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 3 "Protection Payments for Safe Passage Are a Significant Potential Source of Funding for the Taliban. Within the HNT contractor community, many believe that the highway warlords who provide security in turn make protection payments to insurgents to coordinate safe passage. This belief is evidenced in numerous documents, incident reports, and e-mails that refer to attempts at Taliban extortion along the road. The Subcommittee staff has not uncovered any direct evidence of such payments and a number of witnesses, including Ahmed Wali Karzai, all adamantly deny that any convoy security commanders pay insurgents. According to experts and public reporting, however, the Taliban regularly extort rents from a variety of licit and illicit industries, and it is plausible that the Taliban would try to extort protection payments from the coalition supply chain that runs through territory in which they freely operate." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 3 "Unaccountable Supply Chain Security Contractors Fuel Corruption. HNT contractors and their private security providers report widespread corruption by Afghan officials and frequent government extortion along the road. The largest private security provider for HNT trucks complained that it had to pay $1,000 to $10,000 in monthly bribes to nearly every Afghan governor, police chief, and local military unit whose territory the company passed. HNT contractors themselves reported similar corruption at a smaller scale, including significant numbers of Afghan National Police checkpoints.U.S. military officials confirmed that they were aware of these problems." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 3 Unaccountable Supply Chain Security Contractors Undermine U.S. Counterinsurgency Strategy. While outsourcing principal responsibility for the supply chain in Afghanistan to local truckers and unknown security commanders has allowed the Department of Defense to devote a greater percentage of its force structure to priority operations, these logistics arrangements have significant unintended consequences for the overall counterinsurgency strategy. By fueling government corruption and funding parallel power structures, these logistics arrangements undercut efforts to establish popular confidence in a credible and sustainable Afghan government." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 3 "The Department of Defense Lacks Effective Oversight of Its Supply Chain and Private Security Contractors in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense has little to no visibility into what happens to the trucks carrying U.S. supplies between the time they leave the gate to the time they arrive at their destination. Despite serious concerns regarding operations, no military managers have ever observed truck operations on the road or met with key security providers. The Department of Defense’s regulations, promulgated in response to direction by Congress, require oversight of all private security companies working as contractors or subcontractors for the U.S government. These requirements include ensuring that all private security company personnel comply with U.S. government and local country firearm laws, that all private security company equipment be tracked, and that all incidents of death, injury, or property damage be fully investigated. The Department of Defense is grossly out of compliance with applicable regulations and has no visibility into the operations of the private security companies that are subcontractors on the HNT contract." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 4 "HNT Contractors Warned the Department of Defense About Protection Payments for Safe Passage to No Avail. In meetings, interviews, e-mails, white papers, and PowerPoint presentations, many HNT prime contractors self-reported to military officials and criminal investigators that they were being forced to make “protection payments for safe passage” on the road. While military officials acknowledged receiving the warnings, these concerns were never appropriately addressed." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 4 "In response to the same Department of Defense request for information on security and costs on certain routes, another HNT project manager responded: The cost of security for these vehicles is very high and absorbs most of any profit we would make. Sub Contractors and drivers request more money to operate in this area, further adding to the problems for our companies… The cost of Private Security is exceptionally high, with companies attempting to raise their prices continually. It is believed that a part of these charges are being paid as bribes to local Commanders, and therefore inevitably to the enemy… As previously stated this is one of the most volatile regions of the country. There is a continuous threat of roadside IED, and ambush. There will also be a threat, not only from enemy forces but from local commanders who have not been paid their tax." Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 32 "In an e-mail dated May 4, 2009 (within days of the beginning of the HNT contract), one HNT project manager wrote to his colleague: “the more dangerous the missions, entering areas where the Taliban controls, the more corruption we will have to deal with which for example requires an additional fee to get your trucks through without getting hit" Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 32 "Every truck costs about $200 as a bribe I pay on the route – to police or Taliban. The Taliban don’t care about small money: they ask for $10,000, $20,000 or $50,000 when they kidnap people." Haji Fata, CEO of Mirzada Transportation Company, as quoted in a November 13, 2009 Financial Times article, High Costs to Get NATO Supplies Past Taliban, by Matthew Green and Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 33 "The PM [Project Manager] HNT from [an HNT contractor] asked LtCol Elwell if there was any progress on the Up Arming Authority [a request to be able to use greater armaments]. It was highlighted that this authority would enable IDIQ Carriers the flexibility to choose PSC to perform convoy security. By gaining this authority IDIQ Carriers would stop funding the insurgency of what is estimated at 1.6 – 2 Million Dollars per week" Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 35 "Contacted through the carrier by the Taliban commander that we have to pay for safe passage if we want our truck to go through the area… [W]e were informed that this was a statement from the Taliban that if we did not want our assets engaged we had to pay a protection fee." Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 35 "Mr. Karzai argued that the increased danger on the road was partially a result of a fatwa issued by the Taliban that amounted to a “license to steal from Americans.” As a result, there is no one group that could be bought off, but “hundreds and hundreds of groups trying to steal whatever they can along the road.” Because unemployment is so high – and the fact that “an AK-47 is like a mobile phone, everyone has one” – the road has become virtual anarchy and the private security companies must fight their way through." Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 36 "According to U.S. officials, public reporting, and multiple experts, the Taliban regularly attempt to extort money from contractors for U.S. and coalition logistics and development work. Indeed, in December 2009, Secretary Clinton acknowledged before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “one of the major sources of funding for the Taliban is the protection money." Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 37 "Several recent articles have described Taliban extortion of USAID-funded reconstruction projects. According to one author, the Afghan Threat Finance Cell, along with “military and embassy officials confirmed the insurgents also use extortion of U.S. development money for their funding, citing supply convoy shakedowns, construction protection rackets, Taliban ‘taxes’ on corrupt officials, pay-offs from NGOs and skims from poorly overseen government projects of the National Solidarity Program.”143 According to a quote attributed to a former security consultant in Afghanistan, “I have yet to find a security company that doesn’t rely on payoffs to the Taliban.” Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 38 "In another article, a journalist examined a small $200,000 dam and irrigation project: “In spite of the U.S. intervention in this Taliban-ridden region, the dam project has been counter-intuitively free of attack, leaving soldiers here suspicious. [Agri-business Development Team] commander Col. Brian Copes says: ‘The Taliban might have taken 30 or 40 percent right off the top, and now [the contractor’s] struggling to perform, because he’s got less than 100 percent of budget because the Taliban took their cut right off the top.’” Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 38 "The Afghanistan country director for a major international NGO reported that “the Taliban and local warlords typically take between 10-20% of the value of any project as the price to provide protection. The United States and international community are unintentionally fueling a vast political economy of security corruption in Afghanistan.” Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 38 "When asked “what is the source of the Taliban’s financing,” he responded: “[f]rom U.S. dollars from the U.S. authorities!” He further explained, “[U.S. authorities] distribute dollars to the tribal chiefs, local administrators and other concerned people for welfare projects… Not every penny, but most goes into Taliban pockets to refuel their struggle." For his video series “Talking to the Taliban,” journalist Graeme Smith conducted 42 video interviews with Taliban fighters. Mr. Smith concluded that “many kinds of negotiations with the Taliban have sprung up as the insurgents assert their presence in the outlying districts. Aid agencies and cell phone companies regularly negotiate safe passage of their workers across Taliban territory.” Farhan Bokhari Warlord, Inc. : extortion and corruption along the U.S. supply chain in Afghanistan Author:John F Tierney; United States. Congress. House. Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs.Publisher:[Washington, DC] : [U.S. House of Representatives], 2010. Page 39 Western Calls To Keep Throwing Money In And Nation Build “I said from the get-go that we didn’t have enough money and we didn’t have enough soldiers,” said Robert P. Finn, who was the ambassador in 2002 and 2003. “I’m saying the same thing six years later.” Zalmay Khalilzad, who was the next ambassador and is now the American ambassador to the United Nations, said, “I do think that state-building and nation-building, we came to that reluctantly,” adding that “I think more could have been done earlier on these issues.” And Ronald E. Neumann, who replaced Mr. Khalilzad in Kabul, said, “The idea that we could just hunt terrorists and we didn’t have to do nation-building, and we could just leave it alone, that was a large mistake.” David Rohde and David Sanger, “How a ‘Good War’ in Afghanistan Went Bad,” New York Times, August 12, 2007 Surges "The Afghanistan surge In December 2009, President Barack Obama announces a troop surge: He will deploy 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 70,000 that he and Bush had previously authorized. NATO and other U.S. allies will increase their forces to 50,000."A timeline of US Troops in Afghanistan The Washington Post April 14th 2021 Potential Motivations For The Invasion Regional Presence/Bases "Who rules East Europe commands the Heartland; Who rules the Heartland commands the World Island; Who rules the World Island commands the World [Halford Mackinder]… Geopolitics has moved from the regional to the global dimension, with preponderance over the entire Eurasian continent serving as the central basis for global primacy. The United States, a non-Eurasian power, now enjoys international primacy, with its power directly deployed on three peripheries of the Eurasian continent, from which it exercises a powerful influence on the states occupying the Eurasian hinterland. But it is on the globe’s most important playing field — Eurasia — that a potential rival to America might at some point arise. Thus, focusing on the key players and properly assessing the terrain has to be the point of departure for the formulation of American geostrategy for the long-term management of America’s Eurasian geopolitical interests. … To put it in a terminology that harkens back to a more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together." The grand chessboard by Zbigniew K. Brzezinski Page 38-40 "The basing strategy with an open-ended American military presence would ensure sufficient forces to defend important population centers, retain bases critical for counterterrorism, and maintain a U.S. foothold in Central Asia. Although little has been explicitly written, a range of arguments imply that some strategists are thinking seriously about a semi-permanent Central Asian foothold from which to counter terrorism, monitor developments ranging from increased influence of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and potentially pressure the more vulnerable flanks in any future contingency with China, Iran, or Russia… The downside, of course, is that the United States would necessarily accept a state of long-term instability in Afghanistan because a permanent U.S. presence in Afghanistan will incentivize regional actors to competitively back proxies. For example, they could support new militant groups and inject new capabilities into the conflict, similar to what the United States did in the 1980s against the Soviet Union. Moreover, the Afghan government’s acquiescence to a permanent foreign occupier could very well weaken its own legitimacy in the eyes of the Afghan public. Finally, without alternative lines of communication, a sustained American presence in Afghanistan would only deepen its dependence upon Pakistan, frustrating U.S. cooperation with India as a balance against China." Sameer Lalwani, “Four Ways Forward in Afghanistan,” Foreign Affairs, May 25, 2017 The Resource, Trade And Arms Angle "one of our goals in trying to work in Afghanistan is to stabilize Afghanistan, so it can become a conduit and a hub between South and Central Asia so that energy can flow to the south. Ideas and goods can flow to the north. People can move back and forth. Intellectual influences can move back and forth. And so that the countries of Central Asia are no longer bottled up between two enormous powers of China and Russia, but rather they have outlets to the south as well as to the north and the east and the west." Remarks to Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Washington, DC September 20, 2007 "Germany's president, Horst Köhler, resigned without warning today, after intense criticism of remarks in which he suggested military deployments were central to the country's economic interests… In a radio interview given on his return from a tour of German military bases in Afghanistan earlier this month, Köhler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, said that the largely pacifist German public was finally coming to terms with the concept that their country could no longer avoid involvement in military missions, which helped "protect our interests, for example, free trade routes, or to prevent regional instability, which might certainly have a negative effect on our trade, jobs and income" German president Horst Köhler quits over Afghanistan gaffe Abrupt resignation over 'misunderstandings' adds to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Guardian Mon 31 May 2010 "The previously unknown deposits including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe. An internal Pentagon memo, for example, states that Afghanistan could become the “Saudi Arabia of lithium,” a key raw material in the manufacture of batteries for laptops and BlackBerrys… “There is stunning potential here,” Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of the United States Central Command, said in an interview on Saturday. “There are a lot of ifs, of course, but I think potentially it is hugely significant.” James Risen, “US Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan,” New York Times, June 13, 2010 James Bandler, “J.P. Morgan’s Hunt for Afghan Gold,” Forbes, May 11, 2011 Sam Stein, “Top Defense Contractors Spent $27 Million Lobbying at Time of Afghan Surge Announcement,” Huffington Post, March 23, 2010 Lack of Mission, Strategy, Purpose And Winnability "In the course of my five months of service in Afghanistan, in both Regional Commands East and South, I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan. I have doubts and reservations about our current strategy and planned future strategy, but my resignation is based not upon how we are pursuing this war, but why and to what end. To put simply: I fail to see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year old civil war." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "This fall will mark the eighth year of U.S. combat, governance and development operations within Afghanistan. Next fall, the United States’ occupation will equal in length the Soviet Union’s own physical involvement in Afghanistan. Like the Soviets, we continue to secure and bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by its people. If the history of Afghanistan is one great stage play, the United States is no more than a supporting actor, among several previously, in a tragedy that not only pits tribes, valleys, clans, villages and families against one another, but, from at least the end of King Zahir Shah’s reign, has violently and savagely pitted the illiterate and traditional." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "The Pashtun insurgency, which is composed of multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The U.S. and NATO presence in Pashtun valleys and villages, as well as Afghan army and police units that are led and composed of non-Pashtun soldiers and police, provide an occupation force against which the insurgency is justified." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "In both RC East and South, I have observed that the bulk of the insurgency fights not for the white banner of the Taliban, but rather against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes imposed by an unrepresentative government in Kabul. The United States military presence in Afghanistan greatly contributes to the legitimacy and strategic message of the Pashtun insurgency. In a like manner our backing of the Afghan government in its current form continues to distance the government from the people. The Afghan government’s failings, particularly when weighed against the sacrifice of American lives and dollars, appear legion and metastatic" Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "The Afghan government’s failings, particularly when weighed against the sacrifice of American lives and dollars, appear legion and metastatic: Glaring corruption and unabashed graft; A President whose confidants and chief advisers comprise drug lords and war crimes villains, who mock our own rule of law and counternarcotics efforts: A system of provincial and district leaders constituted of local power brokers, opportunists and strongmen allied to the United States solely for, and limited by, the value of our USAID and CERP contracts and whose own political and economic interests stand nothing to gain from any positive or genuine attempts at reconciliation; and The recent election process dominated by fraud and discredited by low voter turnout, which has created an enormous victory for our enemy who now claims a popular boycott and will call into question worldwide our government’s military, economic and diplomatic support for an invalid and illegitimate Afghan government." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "Our support for this kind of government, coupled with a misunderstanding of the insurgency’s true nature, reminds me horribly of our involvement with South Vietnam; an unpopular and corrupt government we backed at the expense of our Nation’s own internal peace, against an insurgency whose nationalism we arrogantly and ignorantly mistook as a rival to our own Cold War ideology." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "Finally, if our concern is for a failed state crippled by corruption and poverty and under assault from criminal and drug lords, then if we bear our military and financial contributions to Afghanistan, we must reevaluate and increase our commitment to and involvement in Mexico." Karen DeYoung, “US Official Resigns over Afghan War,” Washington Post, October 27, 2009 Matthew Hoh Political Officer in the Foreign Office and Civilization Representative in the Zabul Province - Resignation Letter "It hurts on a level that — three units from the Army, we all did what we did up there. And we all lost men. We all sacrificed. I was 18 years old when I got there. I really would not have expected to go through what we went through at that age. It confuses me, why it took so long for them to realize that we were not making progress up there." Alissa J. Rubin, “US Forces Close Post in Afghan ‘Valley of Death,’” New York Times, April 14, 2010 "Senator McCAIN. So in your view, if we left Afghanistan with no residual force, we could see a replay of the Iraq scenario? General DUNFORD. Senator If we leave at the end of 2014, the Afghan security forces will begin to deteriorate. The security environment will begin to deteriorate, and I think the only debate is the pace of that deterioration.” The Situation in Afghanistan: Hearing Before the Committee on Armed Services, United States Senate, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, Second Session, March 12, 2014 Page 19 Sarah Almuktar and Karen Yourish, “More Than 14 Years After US Invasion, the Taliban Control Large Parts of Afghanistan,” New York Times, April 19, 2016 "The ANDSF [Afghan National Defense and Security Forces] has not yet been capable of securing all of Afghanistan and has lost territory to the insurgency. As of August 28, 2016, USFOR-A [U.S. Forces-Afghanistan] reported that only 63.4% of the country’s districts were under Afghan government control or influence a reduction from the 72% as of November 27, 2015" High-Risk List, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, January 2017 Page 2 Opium James Rupert and Steve Coll, “US Declines to Probe Afghan Drug Trade,” Washington Post, May 13, 1990 "According to the United Nations, the war-torn nation provides 90 percent of the world's supply of opium poppy, the bright, flowery crop that transforms into one of the most addictive drugs in existence… The U.S. has spent $8.4 billion in counternarcotics programs in Afghanistan. But opium output keeps rising: Fifteen years ago, Afghanistan accounted for just 70 percent of global illicit opium production" Elizabeth Chuck, “As Heroin Use Grows in US, Poppy Crops Thrive in Afghanistan,” NBC News, July 7, 2015 "Certain reconstruction projects such as improved irrigation, roads, and agricultural assistance can actually lead to increased opium cultivation. SIGAR found that affordable deep-well technology turned 200,000 hectares of desert in southwestern Afghanistan into arable land over the past decade. Due to relatively high opium prices and the rise of an inexpensive, skilled, and mobile labor force, much of this newly arable land is dedicated to opium cultivation. Poppy-growing provinces that were once declared “poppy free” have seen a resurgence in cultivation" High Risk List,” Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, December 2014 Paul Harris, “Victorious Warlords Set to Open the Opium Floodgates,” Guardian, November 24, 2001 "More than ever, Afghan government officials have become directly involved in the opium trade, expanding their competition with the Taliban beyond politics and into a struggle for control of the drug traffic and revenue. At the local level, the fight itself can often look like a turf war between drug gangs, even as American troops are being pulled back into the battle on the government’s behalf, particularly in Helmand, in southern Afghanistan."There are phases of government complicity, starting with accommodation of the farmers and then on to cooperation with them,” said David Mansfield, a researcher who conducted more than 15 years of fieldwork on Afghan opium. “The last is predation, where the government essentially takes over the business entirely.”... “Over the years, I have seen the central government, the local government and the foreigners all talk very seriously about poppy,” said Hakim Angar, a former two-time police chief of Helmand Province. “In practice, they do nothing, and behind the scenes, the government makes secret deals to enrich themselves.” Azam Ahmed, “Tasked with Combating Opium, Afghan Officials Profit from It,” New York Times, February 15, 2016 "VIENNA, 21 June (UN Information Service) - A survey on Drug Use in Afghanistan, issued today by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), shows that around one million Afghans (age 15-64) suffer from drug addiction. At eight per cent of the population, this rate is twice the global average "After three decades of war-related trauma, unlimited availability of cheap narcotics and limited access to treatment have created a major, and growing, addiction problem in Afghanistan," said UNODC Executive Director Antonio Maria Costa. "The human face of Afghanistan's drug problem is not only seen on the streets of Moscow, London or Paris. It is in the eyes of its own citizens, dependent on a daily dose of opium and heroin above all - but also cannabis, painkillers and tranquilizers," said Mr. Costa. "Many Afghans are taking drugs as a kind of self-medication against the hardships of life. Significantly, many of them began taking drugs as migrants or refugees in camps in Iran and Pakistan," UNODC Reports Major, and Growing, Drug Abuse in Afghanistan,” United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, June 21, 2010 US Opposes Efforts to Legalize Opium in Afghanistan,” US Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, February 20, 2007 Foreign Support For Insurgents And The Taliban Carlotta Gall, “Saudis Bankroll Taliban, Even as King Officially Supports Afghan Government,” New York Times, December 6, 2016 The Growth Of Terrorism And Terrorist Organisations "Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians" Robin Cook, ‘The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means’, Guardian, 8 July 2005, Foreign Secetary 1997-2001 Head of House of Commons 2001-2003 "Osama bin Laden, the United States' prime suspect in last week's attacks on New York and Washington, could escape an American revenge mission in Afghanistan by hiding in tunnels that he built with funds from the CIA. At the height of the Afghan mojahedin's war against the Soviet invaders, the CIA provided money for a very ambitious project. A series of defence tunnels was built in 1986 near the town of Khost in the mountains of Paktiya province, a few miles from the border with Pakistan. The aim was to store weapons and create an underground field hospital as well as to provide shelter against Russian air attack." Bin Laden may flee in tunnels: underground escape routes funded by CIA’, 18 September 2001. "While I was deployed, I went to bed at night believing that I was protecting the homeland because coming after me and my fellow Marines was a much easier commute for those so hell-bent on killing Americans. But that argument no longer makes sense if my war has inspired enemies at home." I could justify fighting in Afghanistan — until the Boston bombing The Washington Post April 26th 2013 "Enter Qatar, a tiny but wealthy Gulf state with a penchant for coddling up to Islamist movements from Palestinian Hamas and Libyan Islamist militias to the Afghan Taliban. In March, Department of the Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen singled out Qatar as an especially "permissive jurisdiction" for terrorist financing. Qatari oversight is so lax, Cohen noted, that "several major Qatar-based fundraisers act as local representatives for larger terrorist fundraising networks that are based in Kuwait." Not wanting to expose sensitive intelligence, Cohen pointed to press reports that Qatar not only supports Hamas but also extremist groups operating in Syria. "To say the least," he concluded, "this threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation in a particularly dangerous and unwelcome manner." The Hill , ‘Qatar’s not-so-charitable record on terror finance’, 24 September 2014 "I told them [MI5] Hamza was brainwashing people and sending them to al-Qaeda terrorist training camps in Afghanistan, that he was preaching jihad and murder and that he was involved in the provision of false passports. I told them he was a chief terrorist… His MI5 handler did not appear unduly worried " Richard Woods and David Leppard, ‘Focus: How liberal Britain let hate flourish’, Sunday Times , 12 February 2006, Reda Hassaine ( Ex MI5) Mohammad Sidique Khan, Richard Reid Daniel McGrory and Richard Ford, ‘AlQaeda cleric exposed as an MI5 double agent’, Times , 25 March 2004 "told The Observer that MI5 approached intermediaries to offer him a passport and an Iranian visa so he could leave the country." Antony Barnett, Martin Bright and Nick Paton-Walsh, ‘MI5 wanted me to escape, claims cleric’, Observer , 21 October 2001 Profile: General Pervez Musharraf, 24 September 2001, 7/7 London bombing "Guantánamo Bay has often been the focus of jihadist media and propaganda. Just recently, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the mouthpiece of the Taliban — put out a statement calling attention to the ongoing hunger strike at Guantánamo Bay. … In 2010, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) released the first issue of Inspire, their English language recruitment magazine. … The plight of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay has been featured prominently in several issues. In the 2010 inaugural issue of Inspire, an essay by Osama bin Laden mentions “the crimes at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo . . . which shook the conscience of humanity.” Tellingly, bin Laden points out that “there has been no mentionable change” at Guantánamo and the prison is noted again later in the issue. … The essays of Abu Sufyan al-Azdi and Uthman al-Gamidi, two former detainees who returned to AQAP upon their release, call new individuals to join the jihad, whether at home or abroad. In Issue 7, Yahya Ibrahim notes that Guantánamo Bay “exposed the West for what it really is” and “showed the world the American understanding of human rights.” Thérèse Postel, “How Guantanamo Bay’s Existence Helps Al-Qaeda Recruit More Terrorists,” Atlantic, April 12, 2013 "S]ome of the consequences of Washington’s anti-terrorism policies had galvanized the Taliban. Commanders fixated on the deaths of Afghan, Iraqi and Palestinian civilians in military airstrikes, as well as the American detention of Muslim prisoners who had been held for years without being charged. America, Europe and Israel preached democracy, human rights and impartial justice to the Muslim world, they said, but failed to follow those principles themselves" David Rhode, “7 Months, 10 Days in Captivity,” New York Times, October 17, 2009 "The … inescapable truth asserts that merely killing insurgents usually serves to multiply enemies rather than subtract them. This counterintuitive dynamic is common in many guerrilla conflicts and is especially relevant in the revenge-prone Pashtun communities whose cooperation military forces seek to earn and maintain. The Soviets experienced this reality in the 1980s, when despite killing hundreds of thousands of Afghans, they faced a larger insurgency near the end of the war than they did at the beginning." Michael T. Flynn et al., “Fixing Intel: A Blueprint for Making Intelligence Relevant in Afghanistan,” Center for a New American Security, January 4, 2010 Page 8 "Well, the drone hits in Afghanistan and Iraq, they don’t see children, they don’t see anybody. They kill women, children, they kill everybody. It’s a war, and in war, they kill people. They’re killing all Muslims. Judge: Now we're not talking about them; we’re talking about you. Shahzad: Well, I am part of that. I am part of the answer to the U.S. terrorizing the Muslim nations and the Muslim people. And, on behalf of that, I’m avenging the attack. Living in the United States, Americans only care about their own people, but they don’t care about the people elsewhere in the world when they die. Similarly, in Gaza Strip, somebody has to go and live with the family whose house is bulldozed by the Israeli bulldozer. There’s a lot of aggression… Judge: I see. Shahzad: We Muslims are one community. We’re not divided. Judge: Well, I don’t want to get drawn into a discussion of the Qur’an."Lorraine Adams and Ayesha Nasir, “Inside the Mind of the Times Square Bomber,” Guardian, September 18, 2010 "This past week, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev reportedly told investigators that he and his brother set off bombs near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in part because of their opposition to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Marine who fought in Afghanistan in 2008 and 2010, the news made me wonder: Had my war brought the horrors of battle home?... I deployed to Afghanistan believing my presence in that country would help stop attacks such as Boston’s from happening. But instead, my war has spilled over, striking the city where my 22-year-old brother goes to school and where my mom, until recently, felt perfectly safe eating lunch outdoors. The Tsarnaev brothers aren’t the first alleged terrorists to cite U.S. military intervention in other countries as a reason for targeting civilians, and they won’t be the last. Despite our best efforts and valor, I wonder, have America’s wars made the homeland less safe? Sure, we’ve killed and captured thousands of radicals who wanted to harm Americans. But in doing so, have we created more?... While I was deployed, I went to bed at night believing that I was protecting the homeland because coming after me and my fellow Marines was a much easier commute for those so hell-bent on killing Americans. But that argument no longer makes sense if my war has inspired enemies at home." Thomas Gibbons-Neff, “I Could Justify Fighting in Afghanistan — Until the Boston Bombing,” Washington Post, April 26, 2013 "The 19-year-old suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings has told interrogators that the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan motivated him and his brother to carry out the attack, according to U.S. officials familiar with the interviews." Scott Wilson et al., “Boston Bombing Suspect Cites US Wars as Motivation, Officials Say,” Washington Post, April 23, 2013 "Everybody who was in the bathroom who survived could hear him talking to 911, saying the reason why he's doing this is because he wanted America to stop bombing his country," she said… "The motive is very clear to us who are laying in our own blood and other people's blood, who are injured, who were shot," Ms Carter said. "He wasn't going to stop killing people until he was killed, until he felt like his message got out there." Orlando Shooting: Omar Mateen ‘Wanted US to Stop Bombing Afghanistan,’ Survivor Says,” ABC News (Australia), June 14, 2016 "You kill innocent women and children by doing us airstrikes..now taste the Islamic state vengeance.” Brian Bennett and Del Quentin Wilber, “Orlando Gunman, During Pause in His Rampage, Searched Social Media for News of It,” Los Angeles Times, June 16, 2016 "SUSPECT: No. Because you have to tell America to stop bombing Syria and Iraq. They are killing a lot of innocent people. What am I to do here when my people are getting killed over there. You get what I'm saying? NEGOTIATOR: I do. I completely get what you're saying. What I'm trying to do is prevent anybody else from getting - SUSPECT: You need to stop the U.S. air strikes. They need to stop the U.S. air strikes, okay? NEGOTIATOR: I understand. SUSPECT: They need to stop the U.S. air strikes. You have to tell the U.S. government to stop bombing. They are killing too many children, they are killing too many women, okay? NEGOTIATOR: I understand that. Here is why I'm here right now. I'm with the Orlando police. Can you tell me what you know about what's going on tonight? SUSPECT: What's going on is that I feel the pain of the people getting killed in Syria and Iraq and all over the Muslim" Omar Mateen blamed Pentagon air strike which killed Iraqi ISIS leader for 'triggering' his Orlando terror attack during calls with police negotiator By Hannah For Dailymail 28 Sep 2016 "We grieve and pray for the innocent victims of the terrorist attacks in Iran, and for the Iranian people, who are going through such challenging times. We underscore that states that sponsor terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote." Statement by the President on the Terrorist Attacks in Iran,” June 7, 2017 Anger Against The Invasion And Lack Of Awareness Of 911 Even Happening "[Religious] radicals refused to defend violent jihad in the West as religiously obligatory, acceptable or permitted. The same was true of the young Muslim sample. Young Muslims rejected al Qaeda’s message and often use simple, catchy sayings from the Qur’an or Hadith to express that rejection. However, there was widespread support among radicals and young Muslims for Iraqi and Afghan people “defending themselves” from “invaders,” framed in the language of self-defense, just war and state sovereignty." Demos 2010 Report, The Edge of Violence Page 16 "The report by The International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) policy think-tank showed 92 percent of 1,000 Afghan men surveyed in Helmand and Kandahar know nothing of the hijacked airliner attacks on U.S. targets in 2001. “The lack of awareness of why we are there contributes to the high levels of negativity toward the NATO military operations and made the job of the Taliban easier,” ICOS President Norine MacDonald told Reuters from Washington" Paul Tait, “Few Afghans Know Reason for War, New Study Shows,” Reuters, November 19, 2010 The Suspicious Failure To Capture Bin Laden "But the Al Qaeda leader would live to fight another day. Fewer than 100 American commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies, and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected. Requests were also turned down for U.S. troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few miles away in Pakistan. The vast array of American military power, from sniper teams to the most mobile divisions of the Marine Corps and the Army, was kept on the sidelines. Instead, the U.S. command chose to rely on airstrikes and untrained Afghan militias to attack bin Laden and on Pakistan's loosely organized Frontier Corps to seal his escape routes. On or around December 16, two days after writing his will, bin Laden and an entourage of bodyguards walked unmolested out of Tora Bora and disappeared into Pakistan's unregulated tribal area. Most analysts say he is still there today. The decision not to deploy American forces to go after bin Laden or block his escape was made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his top commander, Gen. Tommy Franks, the architects of the unconventional Afghan battle plan known as Operation Enduring Freedom. Rumsfeld said at the time that he was concerned that too many U.S. troops in Afghanistan would create an anti-American backlash and fuel a widespread insurgency... Even when his own commanders and senior intelligence officials in Afghanistan and Washington argued for dispatching more U.S. troops, Franks refused to deviate from the plan. There were enough U.S. troops in or near Afghanistan to execute the classic sweep-and-block maneuver required to attack bin Laden and try to prevent his escape. It would have been a dangerous fight across treacherous terrain, and the injection of more U.S. troops and the resulting casualties would have contradicted the risk-averse... After bin Laden's escape, some military and intelligence analysts and the press criticized the Pentagon's failure to mount a full-scale attack despite the tough rhetoric by President Bush. Franks, Vice President Dick Cheney and others defended the decision, arguing that the intelligence was inconclusive about the Al Qaeda leader's location. But the review of existing literature, unclassified government records and interviews with central participants underlying this report removes any lingering doubts and makes it clear that Osama bin Laden was within our grasp at Tora Bora. For example, the CIA and Delta Force commanders who spent three weeks at Tora Bora as well as other intelligence and military sources are certain he was there." TORA BORA REVISITED: HOW WE FAILED TO GET BIN LADEN AND WHY IT MATTERS TODAY A Report To Members OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE John F. Kerry, Chairman One Hundred Eleventh Congress First Session November 30, 2009 I quickly called CENTCOM and spoke to our Agency rep. “I have al-Qaeda trying to draw our Afghan allies into negotiations. I have refused. You need to talk to CENTCOM and throw as much air power at them as quickly as possible. Guys who fly airliners into skyscrapers don’t negotiate. They’re trying to reduce the intensity of our attacks so they can slip out."... I’d learned that Afghans love to negotiate. I also knew that as far as our Eastern Alliance allies were concerned, they would be happy to take our money and let al-Qaeda slip away. The next eight hours were extremely dangerous for Team Juliet and the handful of U.S. soldiers in Tora Bora, since they weren’t sure if our Eastern Alliance allies had sided with the enemy. Day and night, I kept thinking, We needed U.S. soldiers on the ground! We need them to do the fighting! We need them to block a possible al-Qaeda escape into Pakistan! I’d sent my request for 800 U.S. Army Rangers and was still waiting for a response. I repeated to anyone at headquarters who would listen: “We need Rangers now! The opportunity to get bin Laden and his men is slipping away!!” Apparently, the U.S. Rangers weren’t coming. CENTCOM commander General Tommy Franks later explained to Frontline: “The Afghans themselves wanted to get into Tora Bora. They wanted to do it very quickly. At that time, our Special Forces troopers were not yet in large numbers, even with those forces that we were providing support to. So rather than taking a decision that said: Let’s take a break for some prolonged period of time and try to introduce large numbers of non-Afghan coalition forces, the determination was made. I made it, and I think it was a pretty good determination, to provide support to that operation, and to work with the Pakistanis along the Pakistani border to bring it to conclusion.” He was either badly misinformed by his own people or blinded by the fog of war. I’d made it clear in my reports that our Afghan allies were hardly anxious to get at al-Qaeda in Tora Bora. So why was the U.S. military looking for excuses not to act decisively? Why would they want to leave something that was so important to an unreliable Afghan army that’d been cobbled together at the last minute? This was the opportunity we’d hoped for when we launched this mission. Our advantage was quickly slipping away." Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA ’s Key Field Commander Page 290-291 "Even though the JSOC commander was directing the battlefield in Tora Bora, George and I were still very much involved. I spoke again with Hank at CTC/ and asked one more time for the U.S. military to deploy ground troops to trap bin Laden and the remnants of his force in the White Mountains. Hank assured me that my request had been forwarded to CENTCOM and the seventh floor. He explained: “Unfortunately, it’s not my call.” Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA ’s Key Field Commander Page 305 "The man you are about to meet was the officer in command, leading a team from the U.S. Army's mysterious Delta Force - a unit so secret, it's often said Delta doesn't exist. But you are about to see Delta's operators in action… "We want to come in on the back door," Fury explains. "The original plan that we sent up through our higher headquarters, Delta Force wants to come in over the mountain with oxygen, coming from the Pakistan side, over the mountains and come in and get a drop on bin Laden from behind." But they didn't take that route, because Fury says they didn't get approval from a higher level. "Whether that was Central Command all the way up to the president of the United States, I'm not sure," he says… The next option that Delta wanted to employ was to drop hundreds of landmines in the mountain passes that led to Pakistan, which was bin Laden's escape route. "First guy blows his leg off, everybody else stops. That allows aircraft overhead to find them. They see all these heat sources out there. Okay, there a big large group of Al Qaeda moving south. They can engage that," Fury explains. But they didn't do that either, because Fury says that plan was also disapproved. He says he has "no idea" why. "How often does Delta come up with a tactical plan that's disapproved by higher headquarters?" Pelley asks. "In my experience, in my five years at Delta, never before," Fury says. The military wouldn't tell 60 Minutes who rejected the plans or why. Fury wasn't happy about it but he pressed on with the only option he had left, a frontal assault on bin Laden's dug-in al Qaeda fighters" "Elite Officer Recalls Bin Laden Hunt,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, October 2, 2008 "For Dalton Fury, the reward would have been worth the risk. ``In general, I definitely think it was worth the risk to the force to assault Tora Bora for Osama bin Laden,'' he told the committee staff. ``What other target out there, then or now, could be more important to our nation's struggle in the global war on terror?'' TORA BORA REVISITED: HOW WE FAILED TO GET BIN LADEN AND WHY IT MATTERS TODAY A Report To Members OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE John F. Kerry, Chairman One Hundred Eleventh Congress First Session November 30, 2009 Taliban Assistance During The War “I’m in San Francisco at the moment, sitting in the office of the FBI’s Special Agent in Charge. Believe it or not, they have an Afghan contact here who says his brother is on the front lines as a commander with the Taliban opposing you but would like to cut a deal.”... As she read the number I marveled at how globally connected even a Taliban commander in a backwater like Afghanistan could be with the right piece of technology. “Mary, give me your number and have the FBI keep their Afghan contact on a short leash in case I have problems contacting his brother, the commander.”... Mohammad says he has almost a thousand men under his command,” Aref* reported. Then he walked over to a map and pointed to a position northeast of Kabul. “He’s defending this position on the Shomali Plains and says he wants a half a million dollars to surrender all his forces, which he says he can arrange within a week… “Mohammad has twenty al-Qaeda fighters with him and wants to know what to do with the Arabs,” Engineer Aref* said. “Tell him to kill them all… The next morning, November 7, at 1100 hours gunfire could be heard from Mohammad’s position on the front. Thirty minutes later 730 soldiers crossed from the Taliban side in three single file lines with their hands up. Majid oversaw the quick bloodless transition, which lasted less than fifteen minutes. The Taliban soldiers simply marched into the Panshir and joined our side. They explained that the gunfire we heard was the sound of them killing the al-Qaeda fighters attached to their unit." Jawbreaker: The Attack on Bin Laden and Al Qaeda: A Personal Account by the CIA ’s Key Field Commander Page 158-160 External Pressure On The President "The president had put all of us on notice in the late fall of 2010 that, while he wanted a low-key and swift review of the Afghan strategy in December...The key subjects were the troop drawdowns in July and determining what our presence should be in Afghanistan after 2014. Did we want bases? Would we continue to conduct counterterrorism operations? What is “Afghan good enough”? How big should the Afghan national security forces be? How much would they cost, and who would pay for them? Petraeus and the Defense Department were proposing an Afghan force level between 352,000 and 378,000. The president expressed his displeasure that those numbers had leaked, again making it look like the military was trying to “jam” him… "He concluded [Obama], "If I believe I am being gamed ..."and left the sentence hanging there with the clear implication the consequences would be dire. I was pretty upset myself. I thought implicitly accusing Petraeus (and perhaps Mullen and me) of gaming him in front of thirty people in the Situation Room was inappropriate, not to mention highly disrespectful of Petraeus. As I sat there, I thought: The president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand Karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy, and doesn't consider the war to be his. For him, it's all about getting out. Biden continued to egg him on, and his staff missed no opportunity to pass him inflammatory news clips and other information raising questions about Petraeus and the senior military leaders. I called Donilon two days later to express my concern that the vice president was poisoning the well with the president with regard to Petraeus and Afghanistan. I said I thought Biden was subjecting Obama to Chinese water torture, every day saying, “the military can't be trusted,” "the strategy can't work,” “it's all failing,” “the military is trying to game you, to screw you." Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, (New York: Knopf, 2014) Page 557 "Obama also shared with McDonough a long-standing resentment: He was tired of watching Washington unthinkingly drift toward war in Muslim countries. Four years earlier, the president believed, the Pentagon had “jammed” him on a troop surge for Afghanistan. Now, on Syria, he was beginning to feel jammed again" Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Obama Doctrine,” Atlantic, April 2016 Alex Spillius, “White House Angry at General Stanley McChrystal Speech on Afghanistan,” Daily Telegraph October 5, 2009 Evan Thomas, “General McChrystal’s Plan for Afghanistan,” Newsweek, September 25, 2009 "The situation in Afghanistan is serious, but success is achievable," McChrystal said in a statement. He added that progress will demand a revised strategy, greater "resolve" and a "unity of effort" by the NATO-led multinational force… The appraisal comes amid declining U.S. public support for the war and growing tension between U.S. commanders in need of resources and a White House wary of committing to fresh troops. It echoes recent gloomy statements by top military officials such as Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the conflict is "deteriorating" and that the Taliban is far more sophisticated than it was just a few years ago. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates on Monday called Afghanistan "a mixed picture" and said "a very tough fight" lies ahead." Ann Scott Tyson, “US Commander in Afghanistan Calls Situation ‘Serious,’” Washington Post, September 1, 2009 “For all his innovations, McChrystal still is hostage to geography: Afghanistan is bigger than Iraq, yet he has only half as many troops. He plans to double the size of Afghan forces to 400,000, but that will take years. The only place he can get the troops he needs now is from the United States. Asked if he's confident he'll get what he is asking for, McChrystal said, "I'm confident that I will have an absolute chance to provide my assessment and to make my recommendations." But you're already under pressure not to ask for more. I mean, how's that affect what you do?" Martin asked. "Doesn't affect me at all. And David, I take this extraordinarily seriously. I believe that what I am responsible to do is to give my best assessment," McChrystal said."David Martin, “McChrystal’s Frank Talk on Afghanistan,” 60 Minutes, CBS News, September 24, 2009 "Biden argued throughout the process, and would continue to argue, that the war was politically unsustainable at home. I thought he was wrong and that if the president remained steadfast and played his cards carefully, he could sustain even an unpopular war. Bush had done that with a far more unpopular war in Iraq and with both houses of Congress in the hands of the Democrats. The key was showing that we were being successful militarily, at some point announcing a drawdown of forces and being able to show that the end was in sight" Robert M. Gates, Duty: Memoirs of a Secretary at War, (New York: Knopf, 2014) Opposition To The War "A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. survey released Tuesday morning indicates that 39 percent of Americans favor the war in Afghanistan, with 58 percent opposed to the mission. Support is down from 53 percent in April, marking the lowest level since the start of the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan soon after the September 11, 2001, attacks." Steinhauser, “Poll: Support for Afghan War at All-time Low,” CNN Politics, September 15, 2009 Demographics "In 1996, approximately 40 percent of Afghans were Pashtun, 11.4 of whom are of the Durrani tribal group and 13.8 percent of the Ghilzai group. Tajiks make up the second largest ethnic group with 25.3 percent of the population, followed by Hazaras, 18 percent; Uzbeks, 6.3 percent; Turkmen, 2.5 percent; Qizilbash, 1.0; 6.9 percent other." US State Department, “Afghanistan,” Country Studies "Despite ethnic quotas and recruiting drives, the Afghan army is still dominated by northern minorities who were oppressed by the Taliban. Nearly all Taliban are ethnic Pashtuns. Although many Pashtuns, the country's biggest ethnic community, are not connected to the Taliban, the rift between northerners and the southern Pashtuns runs deep. Now this ethnically skewed army is pouring into southern Afghanistan as part of an operation to squeeze the Taliban out of strongholds here and win the loyalty of the main prize — the Afghan people" Heidi Vogt, “Ethnic Divisions Plague Afghan Army,” NBC News, July 28, 2010 Other "DARNA, Libya—Two former Afghan Mujahedeen and a six-year detainee at Guantanamo Bay have stepped to the fore of this city's military campaign, training new recruits for the front and to protect the city from infiltrators loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The presence of Islamists like these amid the opposition has raised concerns, among some fellow rebels as well as their Western allies, that the goal of some Libyan fighters in battling Col. Gadhafi is to propagate Islamist extremism." Wall Street Journal , ‘Ex-Mujahedeen Help Lead Libyan Rebels’, 2 April 2011 "Now we have the full story of the secret alliance between the Pentagon and radical Islamist groups from the Middle East designed to assist the Bosnian Muslims - some of the same groups that the Pentagon is now fighting in "the war against terrorism". Pentagon operations in Bosnia have delivered their own "blowback"... The result was a vast secret conduit of weapons smuggling though Croatia. This was arranged by the clandestine agencies of the US, Turkey and Iran, together with a range of radical Islamist groups, including Afghan mojahedin and the pro-Iranian Hizbullah. Wiebes reveals that the British intelligence services obtained documents early on in the Bosnian war proving that Iran was making direct deliveries. Arms purchased by Iran and Turkey with the financial backing of Saudi Arabia made their way by night from the Middle East. Initially aircraft from Iran Air were used, but as the volume increased they were joined by a mysterious fleet of black C-130 Hercules aircraft. The report stresses that the US was "very closely involved" in the airlift. Mojahedin fighters were also flown in, but they were reserved as shock troops for especially hazardous operations." Guardian , ‘America used Islamists to arm the Bosnian Muslims’, 22 April 2002. "Intelligence on the extent to which extremist militant Islamist elements were involved in the anti-Gaddafi rebellion was inadequate. Former Chief of the Defence Staff Lord Richards of Herstmonceux confirmed that intelligence on the composition of the rebel militias was not “as good as one would wish.” He observed that “We found it quite difficult to get the sort of information you would expect us to get.”We asked Lord Richards whether he knew that Abdelhakim Belhadj and other members of the al-Qaeda affiliated Libyan Islamic Fighting Group were participating in the rebellion in March 2011. He replied that that “was a grey area. He added that “a quorum of respectable Libyans were assuring the Foreign Office” that militant Islamist militias would not benefit from the rebellion. He acknowledged that “with the benefit of hindsight, that was wishful thinking at best.” 28. The possibility that militant extremist groups would attempt to benefit from the rebellion should not have been the preserve of hindsight. Libyan connections with transnational militant extremist groups were known before 2011, because many Libyans had participated in the Iraq insurgency and in Afghanistan with al-Qaeda" House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee Libya: Examination of intervention and collapse and the UK’s future policy options Third Report of Session 2016–17 Page 12-13 "This is a time for Trump to be Trump — utterly cynical and unpredictable. ISIS right now is the biggest threat to Iran, Hezbollah, Russia and pro-Shiite Iranian militias — because ISIS is a Sunni terrorist group that plays as dirty as Iran and Russia. Trump should want to defeat ISIS in Iraq. But in Syria? Not for free, not now. In Syria, Trump should let ISIS be Assad’s, Iran’s, Hezbollah’s and Russia’s headache — the same way we encouraged the mujahedeen fighters to bleed Russia in Afghanistan." Why Is Trump Fighting ISIS in Syria? Thomas L Freidman April 12th 2017 NYT "The al Qaeda membership that was distinguished by having trained in Afghanistan will gradually dissipate, to be replaced in part by the dispersion of the experienced survivors of the conflict in Iraq.” BBC 14 January, 2005, National Intelligence Council report Mapping the Global Future

Philippines "I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed (to) Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them [the Philippine Islands] back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France or Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died." —William McKinley, President of the United States, 1899, Charles S. Olcott, The Life of William McKinley (Boston, 1916) vol. 2 Page 110-111 "Gave equal rights to Americans in the development of the nation’s natural resources and the operation of its public utilities" NYT 12th of March 1947 (Philippine-US Trade act Passed in congress) In the Philippines, lumbering interests and major sugar interests have forced tens of thousands of simple, backward villagers to leave areas where they have lived for centuries. When these poor people flee to other areas, it should be quite obvious that they in turn then infringe upon the territorial rights of other villagers or landowners. This creates violent rioting or at least sporadic outbreaks of banditry, that last lowly recourse of dying and terrorized people. Then when the distant government learns of the banditry and rioting, it must offer some safe explanation. The last thing that regional government would want to do would be to say that the huge lumbering or paper interests had driven the people out of their ancestral homeland. In the Philippines it is customary for the local/regional government to get a 10 percent rake-off on all such enterprise and for national politicians to get another 10 percent. So the safe explanation becomes “Communist-inspired subversive insurgency.” The word for this in the Philippines is Huk." COL Fletcher Prouty, The Secret Team: The CIA and its Allies in Control of the World Page 103 Panama "It is my contention that the representatives of this Government [United States] made possible the revolution on the isthmus of Panama. That had it not been for the interference of this Government a successful revolution could not possibly have occurred, and I contend that this Government violated the treaty of 1846. I will be able to produce evidence to show that the declaration of independence which was promulgated in Panama on the 3rd day of November, 1903, was prepared right here in New York City and carried down there — prepared in the office of Wilson (sic) Nelson Cromwell" The Story of Panama: Hearings on the Rainey Resolution Before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives 1913 Page 52-53 or 60 China "One is impressed immediately by the sense of national harmony. ... There is a very real and pervasive dedication to Chairman Mao and Maoist principles. Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community purpose. General social and economic progress is no less impressive. ... The enormous social advances of China have benefited greatly from the singleness of ideology and purpose. ... The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao's leadership is one of the most important and successful in history." David Rockefeller China Traveller 1973 August 10th Nazi "Farben at that time produced 100 percent of German synthetic rubber, 95 percent of German poison gas (including all the Zyklon B gas used in the concentration camps), 90 percent of German plastics, 88 percent of German magnesium, 84 percent of German explosives, 70 percent of German gunpowder, 46 percent of German high octane (aviation) gasoline, and 33 percent of German synthetic gasoline" October 21st 1945 NYT Page 12 L, Referenced here Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1073 "The facts disclosed by this investigation concerning I. G. Farben's part in supplying the German armed forces with weapons of destruction make it clear that Dr. von Schnitzler, member of I. G. Farben's managing board of directors and chairman of its all-powerful commercial committee, was not boasting when he stated in an address of welcome to the Spanish Ambassador on February 10, 1943: "But only during the war could German chemistry prove itself worthy of the task. It is no exaggeration to say that without the services of German chemistry performed under the Four-Year Plan the prosecution of modern war would have been unthinkable". 3. Farben was a Nazi agency for world-wide military and economic espionage I. G. Farben's organization, both domestic and international, served the Nazi government as a principal agency for military and economic espionage throughout the world." Dr Von Schnitzeler of IG Farben stating to Spanish ambassador, Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 1-3 Page 947 or Page 317 The 1945 interrogation of I.G. Farben director yon Schnitzler reads: "Q. What did you do when they told you that I.G. chemicals was [sic] being used to kill, to murder people held in concentration camps? A. I was horrified. Q. Did you do anything about it? A. I kept it for me [to myself] because it was too terrible .... I asked Muller-Cunradi is it known to you and Ambros and other directors in Auschwitz that the gases and chemicals are being used to murder people. Q. What did he say? A. Yes: it is known to all I.G. directors in Auschwitz" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 1-3 Page 988-89 or 358-59 "It is true that since 1934 or 1935, soon after the establishment of the Vermittlungsstelle W in the different works, theoretical war plant games had been arranged to examine how the effect of bombing on certain factories would materialize. It was particularly taken into consideration what would happen if 100 or 500 kilogram bombs would fall on a certain factory and what would be the result of it. It is also right that the word Kriegsspiele was used for it.The Kriegsspiele were prepared by Mr. Ritter and Dr. Eckell, later on partly by Dr. yon Brunning by personal order on Dr. Krauch's own initiative or by order of the Air Force, it is not known to me. The tasks were partly given by the Vermittlung-sstelle W and partly by officers of the Air Force. A number of officers of all groups of the Wehrmacht (Navy, Air Force, and Army) participated in these Kriegsspiele. The places which were hit by bombs were marked in a map of the plant so that it could be ascertained which parts of the plant were damaged, for example a gas meter or an important pipe line. As soon as the raid finished, the management of the plant ascertained the damages and reported which part of the plant had to stop working; they further reported what time would be required in order to repair the damages. In a following meeting the consequences of the Kriegsspiele were described and it was ascertained that in the case of Leuna [plant] the damages involved were considerably high; especially it was found out that alterations of the pipe lines were to be made at considerable cost" Dr Struss testimony to the Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 5-11 Page 1094 or 468 "January 25. Thursday. Our Commercial Attache brought Dr. Engelbrecht, chairman of the Vacuum Oil Company in Hamburg, to see me. Engelbrecht repeated what he had said a year ago: "The Standard Oil Company of New York, the parent company of the Vacuum, has spent 10,000,000 marks in Germany trying to find oil resources and building a great refinery near the Hamburg harbor." Engelbrecht is still boring wells and finding a good deal of crude oil in the Hanover region, but he had no hope of great deposits. He hopes Dr. Schacht will subsidize his company as he does some German companies that have found no crude oil. The Vacuum spends all its earnings here, employs 1,000 men and never sends any of its money home. I could give him no encouragement" Ambassador Dodds Diary 1933-38 edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 310-311 "These men were hardly out of the building before the lawyer came in again to report his difficulties. I could not do anything I asked him, however : Why did the Standard Oil Company of New York send $1,000,000 over here in December, 1933, to aid the Germans in making gasoline from soft coal for war emergencies? Why do the International Harvester people continue to manufacture in Germany when their company gets nothing out of the country and when it has failed to collect its war losses? He saw my point and agreed that it looked foolish and that it only means greater losses if another war breaks loose." Ambassador Dodds Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 363 "This investigation has confirmed certain data heretofore presented to the Truman, Bone, and Kilgore committees by the Department of Justice with respect to this transaction which so seriously imperiled the war preparations of the United States. The story, in short, is that under the so - called Jasco agreement, synthetic rubber was to come under Farben's "sphere of influence” ' Standard was determined, however, to have an absolute monopoly of synthetic rubber developments in the United States, if and when Farben released the American rights to its process to Standard in accordance with the Jasco agreement. Accordingly, Standard fully accomplished I.G.'s purpose of preventing United States production by dissuading American rubber companies from undertaking independent research in developing synthetic rubber processes" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085 "Colonel BERNSTEIN. This Standard accomplished by falsely creating the impression that it had already received the buna process from Farben and was attempting to work out a scheme for licensing the process to the American rubber companies. As a matter of fact Farben had no intention of divulging the process. One conclusion which can be drawn from Standard's "stringing along” of other companies is that it did not want them to proceed with independent research thus preventing Standard from ever having a monopoly in the field" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085-1086 "Thus, Dr. Loehr indicated that, pursuant to conversations between Mr. Howard of Standard Oil and I. G.-Standard had agreed to keep American firms out of the synthetic rubber field and would let them enter it only if compelled to do so by forces beyond its control. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, had agreed to block research in this country? Colonel BERNSTEIN. Yes, sir" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085-1086 "Colonel BERNSTEIN. Yes, sir; at a time when war was in the air. By 1939, however, synthetic rubber development had reached a stage where Mr. Howard of Standard Oil stated that it would no longer be possible for him to keep the information in regard to the buna processes from the American companies. Nevertheless, he assured Î. G. that Standard would manage to stay "on top of the whole scheme.” As time dragged on and the licenses were not forthcoming, the clamor of the American rubber companies became so intense that Standard, not wanting to reveal the true situation, turned to Farben for an excuse to give the rubber companies. Howard of Standard, in October 1939, at a meeting with I. G. representatives in Basle, stated that he had to be provided with an excuse for not getting the knowhow. I. G. obligingly cabled Standard Oil to the effect that the authorities would not permit the information to be given to the American firm. “These are the conclusions," said Dr. Loehr, "which seem to disclose that I. G. impaired the military strength of the United States," which I would have called an understatement" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085-1086 "The CHAIRMAN. That identical excuse was furnished in the courts of the United States when Standard was being sued. It was furnished before the Truman committee as an excuse for not releasing the patent, as an excuse for saying they had no know-how, because Farben refused to give them the know-how, and on a statement that they had nothing but the right to operate under a patent with which they had no know-how, and Farben would not give it to them, showing a conspiracy between Mr. Howard of Standard, the vice president, and Farben, to still hoodwink and stay on top, and apparently Standard is still able to stay on top, as evidenced by the shutting down of these other independent plants. At that point in the record I want to introduce some testimony taken at a previous occasion with reference to the question of alcohol and petroleum and the way that has been manipulated in the past 6 months." Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085-1086 "I. G. Farben acted in a representative capacity for the Nazi Government in its relations with its cartel partners. By virtue of its dominant position in the world chemical industry, Farben was in an excellent position to use its numerous cartel connections to prepare Germany To recite the examples of such use would be to recapitulate material which is already, for the most part, public knowledge. An outstanding example, however, is Farben's successful effort, by means of cartel agreements with Standard Oil, to delay the development and use of buna rubber in the United States until at least 1940 while at the same time producing sufficient buna in Germany to make the German Army and German industry independent of rubber imports" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085 "The CHAIRMAN. In previous hearings this committee has heard much evidence showing how cartel agreements with German firms affected our national security. In this evidence only one conclusion can be reached, namely, that German companies, in conspiracy with the Nazi government, purposely crippled our war production. This statement bears out those statements. Don't you think so—that it was intentional, sir? Colonel BERNSTEIN. I agree, sir." Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085 "Colonel BERNSTEIN. That is right, sir, and one would hope that our business enterprises would learn that fact now. As has already been demonstrated before this and other congressional committees, I. G. used its extensive cartel connections with foreign firms to further this policy of the German Government. The dangers inherent in such monopolistic agreements take on a new significance when the activities of one of the parties are subordinated to the over-all policy of its government." Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085 "Substantially the same pattern of behavior was pursued by the Paris office of the Chase Bank during German occupation, An examination of the correspondence between Chase, New York, and Chase, France, from the date of the fall of France to May, 1942 discloses that: (1) the manager of the Paris office appeased and collaborated with the Germans to place the Chase banks in a "privileged position;" (2) the Germans held the Chase Bank in a very special esteem — owing to the international activities of our (Chase) head office and the pleasant relations which the Paris branch has been maintaining with many of their (German) banks and their (German) local organizations and higher officers; (3) the Paris manager was "very vigorous in enforcing restrictions against Jewish property, even going so far as to refuse to release funds belonging to Jews in anticipation that a decree with retroactive provisions prohibiting such release might be published in the near future by the occupying authorities;" (4) the New York office despite the above information took no direct steps to remove the undesirable manager from the Paris office since it "might react against our (Chase) interests as we are dealing, not with a theory but with a situation" Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20, 1967 (Germany) Page 616 or 607 "a. Niederman, of Swiss nationality, manager of Chase, Paris, was unquestionably a collaborator; b. The Chase Head Office in New York was informed of Nieder-man's collaborationist policy but took no steps to remove him. Indeed there is ample evidence to show that the Head Office in New York viewed Niederman's good relations with the Germans as an excellent means of preserving, unimpaired, the position of the Chase Bank in France; c. The German authorities were anxious to keep the Chase open and indeed took exceptional measures to provide sources of revenue; d. The German authorities desired "to be friends" with the important American banks because they expected that these banks would be useful after the war as an instrument of German policy in the United States; e. The Chase, Paris showed itself most anxious to please the German authorities in every possible way. For example, the Chase zealously maintained the account of the German Embassy in Paris, "as every little thing helps" (to maintain the excellent relations between Chase and the German authorities); f. The whole objective of the Chase policy and operation was to maintain the position of the bank at any cost." Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 801 "The closing of an agreement with Standard was necessary for technical, commercial, and financial reasons: technically, because the specialized experience which was available only in a big oil company was necessary to the further development of our process, and no such industry existed in Germany; commercially, because in the absence of state economic control in Germany at that time, IG had to avoid a competitive struggle with the great oil powers, who always sold the best gasoline at the lowest price in contested markets; Financially, because IG, which had already spent extraordinarily large sums for the development of the process, had to seek financial relief in order to be able to continue development in other new technical fields, such as buna" Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1304 or 1340 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "Especially in the case of iso - octane , it is shown that we owe much to the Americans because in our own work we could draw widely on American information on the behavior of fuels in motors. Moreover, we were also kept currently informed by the Americans on the progress of their production process and its further development. Shortly before the war, a new method for the production of iso - octane was found in America - alkylation with isomerization as a preliminary step. This process, which Mr Haslam does not mention at all, originates in fact entirely with the Americans and has become known to us in detail in its separate stages through our agreements with them , and is being used very extensively by us." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1306 or 1342 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "As a consequence of our contracts with the Americans, we received from them, above and beyond the agreement, many very valuable contributions for the synthesis and improvement of motor fuels and lubricating oils, which Just now during the war are most useful to us; and we also received other advantages from them. Primarily, the following may be mentioned: (1) Above all, improvement of fuels through the addition of tetraethyl-lead and the manufacture of this product. It need not be especially mentioned that without tetraethl-lead the present methods of warfare would be impossible. The fact that since the beginning of the war we could produce tetraethyl-lead is entirely due to the circumstances that, shortly before, the Americans had presented us with the production plans, complete with their know-how. It was, moreover, the first time that the Americans decided to give a license on this process in a foreign country (besides communication of unprotected secrets) and this only on our urgent requests to Standard Oil to fulfill our wish. Contractually we could not demand it, and we found out later that the War Department in Washington gave its permission only after long deliberation. (2) Conversion of low-molecular unsaturates into usable gasoline (polymerization). Much work in this field has been done here as well as in America. But the Americans were the first to carry the process through on a large scale, which suggested to us also to develop the process on a large technical scale. But above and beyond that, plants built according to American processes are functioning in Germany. (3) In the field of lubricating oils as well, Germany through the contract with America, learned of experience which is extraordinarily important for present day warfare. In this connection, we obtained not only the experience of Standard, but, through Standard, the experiences of General Motors and other large American motor companies as well. (4) As a further remarkable example of advantageous effect for us of the contract between IG and Standard Oil, the following should be mentioned: in the years 1934 / 1935 our government had the greatest interest in gathering from abroad a stock of especially valuable mineral oil products (in particular, aviation gasoline and aviation lubricating oil), and holding it in reserve to an amount approximately equal to 20 million dollars at market value. The German Government asked IG if it were not possible, on the basis of its friendly relations with Standard Oil, to buy this amount in Farben's name; actually, however, as trustee of the German Government. The fact that we actually succeeded by means of the most difficult negotiations in buying the quantity desired by our government from the American Standard Oil Company and the Dutch — English Royal — Dutch — Shell group and in transporting it to Germany, was made possible only through the aid of the Standard Oil Co." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1309 or 1345 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "Since the beginning of the war we have been in a position to produce lead tetraethyl solely because, a short time before the outbreak of the war, the Americans had established plants for us ready for production and supplied us with all available experience. In this manner we did not need to perform the difficult work of development because we could start production right away on the basis of all the experience that the Americans had had for years." NYT October 19th 1945 "At the request of the Air Ministry and on direct order of Goering, I.G . Farben procured in 1938, 500 tons of tetraethyl lead from the Ethyl Export Corporation, of the United States. The Air Ministry needed this lead because it is indispensable to the manufacture of high octane aviation gasoline and because they wanted to store up the lead in Germany to tide the Air Ministry over until such time as the plant in Germany could manufacture sufficient quantities. We were producing sufficient quantities of tetraethyl - lead for ordinary purposes but the storage of the 500 tons of tetraethyl - lead was undertaken because in case of war Germany did not have enough tetraethyl - lead to wage war, for which reason the German Reich pursued a stockpiling policy . 66 * * * Finally , it was decided to procure the tetraethyl - lead on a loan basis . All the gentlemen were very bewildered as Goering demanded a report by noon the next day. It was commonly known that tetraethyl - lead was needed as the German production in tetraethyl - lead while sufficient for peacetime purposes , was not sufficient to wage war, and we had to obtain it immediately for aviation gasoline." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 8 Page 1272-1273 "BERLIN, Dec. 19.--A rumor is current here that Henry Ford, the American automobile manufacturer, is financing Adolph Hitler's nationalist and Anti-Semitic movement in Munich. Indeed, the Berlin Tageblatt has made an appeal to the American Ambassador in Berlin to investigate and interfere" NYT December 19th 1920, and rumoured he has a portrait of ford above his desk Henry Ford receives Grand Cross of the German Eagle award NYT August 1st 1938 "(1) the business of the Ford subsidiaries in France substantially increased ; ( 2 ) their production was solely for the benefit of the Germans and the countries under its occupation ; ( 3 ) the Germans have " shown clearly their wish to protect the Ford interests ” because of the attitude of strict neutrality maintained by Henry Ford and the late Edsel Ford ; and ( 4 ) the increased activity of the French Ford subsidiaries on behalf of the Germans received the commendation of the Ford family in America" Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 616 The Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 (German: Geheimtreffen vom 20. Februar 1933) was a secret meeting held by Adolf Hitler and 20 to 25 industrialists at the official residence of the President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring in Berlin. Its purpose was to raise funds for the election campaign of the Nazi Party. Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 16-17 or 7. IG Farben contributing 400,000 Reichsmarks, other German industrialists contributed too. "September 1st Friday Henry Mann of the National City Bank spoke of the conversation he and Mr Aldnch had had some ten days before with the Chancellor at his summer place. The ideas advocated by Hitler were the same as those he had advanced to Professor Coar. He is a fanatic on the Jewish problem he has no conception of international relationships he considers himself a German Messiah but despite Hitler’s attitude these bankers feel they can work with him" Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 45 "At 1.30 Ivy Lee and his son James came to lunch. Ivy Lee showed himself at once a capitalist and an advocate of Fascism." Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 87 Ivy Lee the Rockefeller public relations man. "a. Morgan and Company regarded itself as a French bank, and therefore obligated to observe French banking laws and regulations, whether Nazi inspired or not; and did actually do so; b. Morgan and Company was most anxious to preserve the continuity of its house in France, and, in order to achieve this security, worked out a modus vivendi with the German authorities; c. Morgan and Company had tremendous prestige with the German authorities, and the Germans boasted of the splendid cooperation of Morgan and Company; d. Morgan continued its prewar relations with the great French industrial and commercial concerns which were working for Germany, including the Renault Works, since confiscated by the French Government, Puegeqt [sic], Citroen, and many others. e. The power of Morgan and Company in France bears no relation to the small financial resources of the firm, and the enquiry now in progress will be of real value in allowing us for the first time to study the Morgan pattern in Europe and the manner in which Morgan has used its great power; f. Morgan and Company constantly sought its ends by playing one government against another in the coldest and most unscrupulous manner." Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 800 or 791 "You might also be interested in knowing, Mr. Chairman, that the top I. G. Farben people and others, when we questioned them about these activities, were inclined at times to be very indignant. Their general attitude and expectation was that the war was over and we ought now to be assisting them in helping to get I.G. Farben and German industry back on its feet . Some of them have outwardly said that this questioning and investigation was, in their estimation, only a phenomenon of short duration, because as soon as things got a dittle settled they would expect their friends in the United States and in England to be coming over. Their friends, so they said, would put a stop to activities such as these investigations and would see that they got the treatment which they regarded as proper and that assistance would be given to them to help reestablish their industry" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 1-6 July 2nd, 1945 Page 652 or 14 "On September 15, 1939, while the Netherlands were still neutral in the war, Shell offered to supply acids to I. G. Farben's foreign customers. Chemnyco relayed Shell's offer to Germany, stating that Shell “suggests that if under prevailing conditions you are prevented from delivering formic acetic and propionic acid to certain foreign countries you give Shell Developinent temporary permission to sell these acids from the production of the pilot plant which Shell is erecting in California. Shell is aware that according to the license agreement they are not allowed to export the acids from the United States, but they believe that it might be in the interest of both parties if they would make deliveries to customers whom you cannot supply… I. G. Farben rejected the proposal on September 29, 1939, apparently feeling confident that British blockades would be ineffective. The rejection of its offer did not discourage Shell" Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 462 "By February 1940 the Germans recognized that they were going to have considerable difficulty in supplying their foreign customers. Consequently, I. G. Farben reconsidered the Shell proposal and granted them permission… By initiating this proposal and then accepting the terms laid down by I. G. Farben, Shell Chemical indicated that it was willing to maintain the foreign trade of I. G. Farben which the British blockade was trying to prevent. Obviously, Shell was actuated entirely by its own narrow business interests and gave no consideration whatever to the fact that it was aiding the German Government in its direct war against Britain and its indirect war against the United States" Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 463 "Regardless of how the ordinary British, American, or Dutch citizen might characterize this deal, it did not involve any technical violation of law. Shell, as an international corporation, was quite naturally and quite legally grabbing every opportunity to expand its foreign trade, letting the political and military chips fall where they may. Not until Germany actually invaded Dutch Shell's native country in May 1940 did Shell abrogate this agreement with I. G. Farben. On May 13, 1940, the day Queen Wilhelmina had to flee from the Netherlands and only two days before Holland finally capitulated, Shell wrote to Chemnyco that “because of the recent political developments, we are no longer in a position to discuss any arrangement as referred to in your letter of May 9th. We have not yet decided whether or not we shall erect a plant for the production of the acids in question” Thus ended Shell's effort to help maintain Hitler's foreign markets. The question still left unanswered is what would have happened if Shell's country of incorporation happened to be an ally of Hitler or at least not a victim." Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 463 "On our side, the practices of Standard Oil and Shell are probably representative of the way international corporations in general have cooperated with foreign business interests in their manipulation of American patents. After all, the corporations involved rank very high in the world of business and their policies and practices have a profound influence on the methods of doing business adopted by others. These case studies can therefore be considered to be typical and as such they point to an alarming situation in the patent field the correction of which is essential if maximum war production is to be attained" Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 463 "Far more important is the fact that these international corporations seem oblivious of the political and military implications of their world-wide patent pools and understandings with foreign corporations. World trade never was a mere matter of business but the dangers inherent in neglecting its political and military aspects never were as great as they have been in recent years. The mechanization of war and the advent of Hitler with his barter diplomacy have intensified tremendously the need for giving primary attention to these features of foreign trade. I. G. Farben, for example, in recent years was first and foremost an instrumentality of Nazi political and military strategy and only secondarily a business enterprise. But our own international corporations seem to have disregarded these radical developments" Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 463 "Standard Oil knew as early as January 1934 that every foreign business move made by I. G. Farben had to be disclosed first to the Nazi Government and approved by them. That did not affect Standard Oil's performance under the 1929 partnership agreement even though it necessarily curtailed I. G. Farben's performance thereunder. The attitude of the international corporation seems to be that as long as it is legal and good business, that is in the opinion of corporate management, then it is all right to enter into patent pools and friendly agreements with foreign corporations no matter what the latter's motive might be or how such a deal might affect the welfare of the United States as a political and military power. In defense of this position, businessmen argue that political and military matters are the province of government and that by taking such a view business is merely sticking to its own knitting." Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 464 "With specific reference to the patent phase of international business, we must make certain that patents can no longer be used by foreign interests and their American friends as legal devices to attain illegal ends. Remedial machinery and legislation must be provided so that what I. G. Farben did in the acetylene field will not be repeated in the future" Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 464 "Government must act with speed and thoroughness if it is to end the era when United States patents could be used by foreign interests to enhance their own international position, hinder production here, evade the antitrust laws, keep American producers out of export markets, thwart American research, get the benefits of our discoveries without fully reciprocating, and, finally, obstruct our war-production program. By recognizing that world trade, including international patent pools, are matters of public concerns, not plain, ordinary private business, the patent system of this country can be made to operate more effectively in the public interest than it has in recent years." Scientific and Technical Mobilization, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Military Affairs Hearing, March 30, 1943 Page 464 Bolsheviks "Soviet government stronger today than ever before. It's authority and power greatly consolidated by dissolution of constituent Assembly… cannot urge too strongly importance of prompt recognition of Bolshevik authority…. Sisson approves this text and requests you to show cable to creel. Thacher and Wardwell concur" Russian-American relations, documents and papers doc 64 Page 77 Raymond Robins cable to William Boyce Thompson "I had been with the American Red Cross people at Odessa. I was there when the Red Army took possession of Odessa. At that time I was favorably inclined toward the Soviet Government, because I was a socialist and had been a member of that party for 20 years. I must admit that to a certain extent I helped to form the Soviet Government of Odessa" Conditions In Russia House Committee On Foreign Affairs 66th Congress Third Session Jan to March 1921 Page 6 , Jacob H Rubin "The doctor’s wife took my wife and the boys out driving, and was very kind to them. But she was a mere mortal, whereas the chauffeur was a magician, a titan, a superman I With a wave of his hand, he made the machine obey his slightest command. To sit beside him was the supreme delight. When they went into a tea-room, the boys would anxiously demand of their mother, “Why doesn’t the chauffeur come in?” Leon Trotsky My Life Page 21 (Trotsky living in New York, very well before the revolution) "I saw that his own mind was made up. He had been greatly impressed, as Lord Milner told me afterwards, by an interview with Colonel Thompson of the American Red Cross, who had just returned from Russia and who had denounced in blunt language the folly of the Allies in not opening up negotiations with the Bolsheviks.... Three days later all my doubts were put at rest. I was to go to Russia as head of a special mission to establish unofficial relations with the Bolsheviks.... Lord Milner I saw almost daily. Five days before my departure I dined alone with him at Brook's. He was in his most inspiring mood. He talked to me with a charming frankness about the war, about the future of England, about his own career, and about the opportunities of youth— He was, too, very far from being the Jingo and the Conservative reactionary whom popular opinion at one time represented him to be. On the contrary, many of his views on society were startlingly modern. He believed in the highly organized state, in which service, efficiency, and hard work were more important than titles or money-bags" Bruce Lockhart British Agent Page 200, 201, 206 "I had been selected for this Russian mission not by the Foreign Secretary but by the War Cabinet—actually by Lord Milner and Mr. Lloyd George" Bruce Lockhart British Agent Page 208 "Another new acquaintance of these first days in the Bolshevized St Petersburg was Raymond Robins, the head of the American Red Cross Mission.... He had been a leading figure in Roosevelt's "Bull Moose" campaign for the American Presidency in 1912. Although a rich man himself, he was an anti-capitalist.... Hitherto, his two heroes had been Roosevelt and Cecil Rhodes. Now Lenin had captured his imagination.... Robins was the only man whom Lenin was always willing to see and who ever succeeded in imposing his own personality on the unemotional Bolshevik leader. In a less official sense Robins had a similar mission to my own. He was the intermediary between the Bolsheviks and the American Government and had set himself the task of persuading President Wilson to recognize the Soviet regime." Bruce Lockhart British Agent Page 222-223 "I returned from our interview to our flat to find an urgent message from Robins requesting me to come to see him at once. I found him in a state of great agitation. He had been in conflict with Saalkind, a nephew of Trotsky and then Assistant Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Saalkind had been rude, and the American, who had a promise from Lenin that, whatever happened, a train would always be ready for him at an hour's notice, was determined to exact an apology or to leave the country. When I arrived, he had just finished telephoning to Lenin. He had delivered his ultimatum, and Lenin had promised to give a reply within ten minutes. I waited, while Robins fumed. Then the telephone rang and Robins picked up the receiver. Lenin had capitulated. Saalkind was dismissed from his post. But he was an old member of the Party. Would Robins have any objection if Lenin sent him as a Bolshevik emissary to Beme? Robins smiled grimly. "Thank you, Mr. Lenin," he said. "As I can't send the son of a bitch to hell, 'burned' is the next best thing you can do with him." Bruce Lockhart British Agent Page 228 "You will hear it said that I am an agent of Wall Street; that I am the servant of William B. Thompson to get Altai Copper for him; that I have already got 500,000 acres of the best timber land in Russia for myself; that I have already copped off the Trans-Siberian Railway; that they have given me a monopoly of the platinum in Russia; that this explains my working for the soviet.... You will hear that talk Now, I do not think it is true, Commissioner, but let us assume it is true. Let us assume that I am here to capture Russia for Wall Street and American business men. Let us assume that you are a British wolf and I arn an American wolf, and that when this war is over we are going to eat each other up for the Russian market; let us do so in perfectly frank, man fashion, but let us assume at the same time that we are fairly intelligent wolves, and that we know that if we do not hunt together in this hour the German wolf will eat us both up." U.S. Cong., Senate, Bolshevik Propaganda, Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary, 65th Cong., 1919, p. 802.

"What my constant cry was that our biggest problem was our allies. Our allies in the region were our largest problem in Syria. The Turks were great friends, and I’ve a great relationship with [Turkish President Recep] Erdoğan, who I’ve just spent a lot of time with, the Saudis, the Emiratis, etc. What were they doing? They were so determined to take down Assad and essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war, what did they do? They poured hundreds of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad, except that the people who were being supplied were al-Nusra, and al Qaeda, and the extremist elements of jihadis coming from other parts of the world. If you think I’m exaggerating, take a look. Where did all of this go? So now what’s happening? All of a sudden, everybody is awakened because this outfit called ISIL, which was al Qaeda in Iraq, which when they were essentially thrown out of Iraq, found open space and territory in eastern Syria, work with al-Nusra, who we declared a terrorist group early on, and we could not convince our colleagues to stop supplying them. So, what happened? Now, all of a sudden [now that ISIS has taken over western Iraq]—I don’t want to be too facetious—but they have seen the lord. Now we have—the president’s been able to put together a coalition of our Sunni neighbors, because America can’t once again go into a [Sunni] Muslim nation and be the aggressor. It has to be led by Sunnis. To go and attack a Sunni organization. And so, what do we have for the first time? Now Saudi Arabia has stopped the funding from going in. Saudi Arabia is allowing training on its soil of American forces under Title 10, open training. The Qataris have cut off their support for the most extreme elements of the terrorist organizations. And the Turks, President Erdoğan told me—he is an old friend—said, “You were right; we let too many people through. Now we are trying to seal the border.” VP Joe Biden 2014 talk to Harvard University Delivers remarks on foreign policy "the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove. Prince Bandar told him: "The time is not far off in the Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."... He does not doubt that substantial and sustained funding from private donors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to which the authorities may have turned a blind eye, has played a central role in the Isis surge into Sunni areas of Iraq. He said: "Such things simply do not happen spontaneously." Independent , ‘Iraq crisis: How Saudi Arabia helped ISIS take over the north of the country’, 13 July 2014 “a variety of donors and fundraisers, primarily in the Gulf countries and particularly in Saudi Arabia" The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, Volume 3 Page 170 - Frank G.interview (Mar.2,2004); CIA analytic report, Financial Support for Terrorist Organizations, CTC 2002-40117CH, Nov. 14, 2002 “I accuse them of inciting and encouraging the terrorist movements. I accuse them of supporting them politically and in the media, of supporting them with money and by buying weapons for them,” Maliki told FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman. “I accuse them of leading an open war against the Iraqi government.”Maliki went on to say that not only did Saudi Arabia support terrorism in countries such as Iraq and Syria, but around the world. The prime minister said, however, that Iraq did not intend to retaliate against Saudi Arabia and Qatar, citing concern over the region’s stability." Exclusive: Iraq’s Maliki accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting ‘terrorism’ France "As recently as last week, as the chairman alluded to, Stuart Levey, who is the Under Secretary of the Treasury Department, publicly remarked, “If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia.” In recent years, of course, Saudi-based individuals have provided support specifically to Sunni extremists in Iraq. Some of that money is believed specifically to support opponents of Prime Minister al-Maliki. For years the Saudi Government turned a blind eye to the financing of al-Qaeda by prominent Saudi-based religious and business leaders and organizations. Only after al-Qaeda bombed targets within Saudi Arabia in 2003 did the Saudis finally focus on the problem, and began a meaningful dialogue with the United States to combat it." U.S. Relations with Saudi Arabia: Oil, Anxiety, and Ambivalence : Hearing Before the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, First Session, September 18, 2007, Volume 4 Page 19 (Extended quote)

"In our dreams we have limitless resources, and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present educational conventions fade from our minds, and unhampered by tradition, we work our own good upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers of mental learning or of science. We have not to raise from among them authors, editors, poets, or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians, nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen of whom we have ample supply. " The Country School of Tomorrow Page 6 by Frederick Taylor Gates, John D Rockefeller's Advisor and member of the General Education Board Founded by John D Rockefeller after pledging an additional 180 million after an initial 1 million in 1902 "I should reply that the very recognition Of, and reliance upon, free will in the pupil is the first mistake of the old system and the clear confession of its impotence and futility… The new education must consist essentially in this, that it completely destroys freedom of will in the soil which it undertakes to cultivate, and produces on the contrary strict necessity in the decisions of the will, the opposite being impossible" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 20 "Fichte laid it out best when he said education should aim at destroying free will so that after pupils are thus schooled they will be incapable throughout the rest of their lives of thinking or acting otherwise than as their school masters would have wished" Bertrand Russell, The Impact Of Science On Society Page 66 "Moreover, compulsory military service, too, will thereby be ended, because those who are thus educated are all equally willing to bear arms for their Fatherland" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 196 "Our constitutions will be made for us ; our alliances and the employment of our fighting forces will be prescribed to us ; a code of law will be given to us ; even justice and judgment and their administration will sometimes be taken from us. For the immediate future we shall be spared the trouble of these matters. It is only of education that no one has thought ; if we are looking for an occupation, let us seize this!" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 192 "Early discipline is a guarantee against the need in later years of reformation and penal discipline, which are very doubtful, measures, while in a nation so trained there are no poor at all" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 192 "Hitherto the State has had to do a great deal, and yet has never been able to do enough, for law and police institutions. Convict prisons and reformatories have caused it expense. Finally, the more that was spent on poor-houses, the more they required ; indeed, under the prevailing circumstances, they seemed to be institutions for making people poor. In a State which makes the new education universal, the former will be greatly reduced, the latter will vanish entirely." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 191 "First, that the influence of home is obstructive. Second, that not much can be done unless indoctrination begins before the age of ten. Third, that verses set to music and repeatedly intoned are very effective..... It is for a future scientist to make these maxims precise and discover exactly how much it costs per head to make children believe that snow is black… Although this science will be diligently studied, it will be rigidly confined to the governing class. The populace will not be allowed to know how its convictions were generated. When the technique has been perfected, every government that has been in charge of education for more than one generation will be able to control its subjects securely without the need of armies or policemen" Bertrand Russell, The Impact Of Science On Society Page 65-66 "Not until a generation has passed through the new education can the question be considered, as to what part of the national education shall be entrusted to the home." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 164 "Mr. Morris: Dr. Dodd, how recently have you been associated with the Communist Party? Mrs. Dodd: June 1949. Mr. Morris: Do you mean you severed your connection with the Communist Party at that time? Mrs. Dodd: They severed their connection with me. I had previously tried to find my way out of the Communist Party. In 1949 they formally issued a resolution of expulsion.... Mr. Morris: Dr. Dodd, will you tell us what relationship you bore to the Communist Party organization while you were the legislative representative for the Teachers’ Union? Mrs. Dodd: Well, I soon got to know the majority of the people in the top leadership of the Teachers’ Union were Communists, or, at least, were influenced by the Communist organization in the city. Sen. Homer Ferguson (Mich.): In other words, the steering committee, as I take your testimony, was used for the purpose of steering the teachers along the line that communism desired? Mrs. Dodd: On political questions, yes.... I would say also on certain educational questions. You take, for instance, the whole question of theory of education, whether it should be progressive education or whether it should be the more formal education. The Communist Party as a whole adopted a line of being for progressive education. And that would be carried on through the steering committee and into the union" Subversive Influence In The Educational Process: Hearings Before The Subcommittee to Investigate the Administration of the Internal Security Act and Other Internal Security Laws of the Committee on the Judiciary Page 2, 5, 7 "This board [the General Education Board] was authorized to do almost every conceivable thing which is anywise related to education, from opening a kitchen to establishing a university, and its power to connect itself with the work of every sort of educational plant or enterprise conceivable will be especially observed. This power to project its influence over other corporations is at once the greatest and most dangerous power it has." The 1917 Congressional Record Of The 64th congress of the United States Vol LIV Published the Following excerpt from a booklet containing articles by Bishop Warren A. Candler, Chancellor of Emory University in Atlanta Page 2831 "In my last article it was suggested that certain astute men, backed by millions of money, were making an effort to capture and control the colleges and universities of the country, especially the South. The movement to which reference is intended is called“ The General Education Board" The 1917 Congressional Record Of The 64th congress of the United States Vol LIV Published the Following excerpt from a booklet containing articles by Bishop Warren A. Candler, Chancellor of Emory University in Atlanta Page 2831 "Even now the Carnegie Corporation is facing protests from parents whose children are exposed to the textbooks financed by the foundation under its “Project Read.” This project provides programmed textbooks for schools, particularly in “culturally deprived areas.”... This writer has gone over these textbooks in the “Reading” series financed by the Carnegie Corporation and authored by M.W. Sullivan, a linguist. These foundation-funded books reveal a fire pattern that amounts to an incitement to the sort of arson and guerilla warfare that took place in Watts, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere. On one page in the series we find a torch next to a white porch. The caption reads invitingly, “a torch, a porch.” Further along there is a picture of a man smiling while he holds a torch aloft. The caption beneath it reads: “This man has a t_rch in his hand.” The children are required as an exercise to insert the missing letter to fill in the word torch. The next picture shows the burning torch touching the porch, with a caption, “a torch on a porch.” Thus, the children are led in stages to the final act that suggests itself quite naturally. The picture in the series shows a hand moving the hands of a clock to twenty-five minutes past one, while this same shack is being devoured by flames. The message is plain: an example of a man who deliberately commits the criminal act of setting a home on fire. Tragically, these young children are being indoctrinated with a pattern of anti-social ideas that will completely and violently alienate them from the mainstream of American middle-class values.... Other pictures in the Carnegie-funded supposedly educational texts include a comparison of a flag with a rag, the ransoming of an American soldier in a Chinese prison, a picture that shows people kneeling in a church to say their prayers beside a picture of a horse being taught to kneel in the same way, a reference to a candidate elected to public office as a “ruler,” a picture of a boy stealing a girl’s purse, and another boy throwing pointed darts at a companion whom he uses as target practice. Understandably, the Carnegie-financed books are causing concern to local law-enforcement officials, many of whom have to cope with riot or near-riot conditions. Ellen Morphonios, prosecutor for Florida in its attorney’s office, and a chief of its Criminal Court Division, said recently: “It’s a slap in the face and an insult to every member of the Negro community, saying that the only way to communicate with Negro children is to show a robber or violence. It’s like subliminal advertising. If this isn’t subversive and deliberately done as part of a master plan.… Only a sick mind could have produced it.” Repeated instances of this type of anti-social activity obviously constitute a strong argument for removing the tax-exempt status of these educational foundations, and for curbing their activities by Federal regulations and Congressional oversight." Edith Roosevelt, The Foundation Machine "And the builder of this new world must be education. Education alone can lay the foundations on which the building is to rest. On this point a kind of consensus has been reached by those who trust the future of international co-operation and those who refuse to believe in it. When the latter go about repeating that to succeed in such a task one would have to change human nature, they do but exaggerate the acknowledged need for a gradual and patient reshaping of the public mind. There is a great work to be achieved, and no men can forward it but those who are well informed as to the conditions and needs of our times, in as much as all countries and all races are concerned. Even the efforts of such men would be in vain unless, in a world of democracy, they were backed by a body of opinion ever growing more enlightened and more powerful. How can a well-prepared élite be raised throughout the world to spread its influence over the masses, who can then support them in their turn? Here we encounter the real problem, and it is essentially a problem of education." John Harley Paul Mantoux foreword to international understanding Page IX "If you want to influence him at all, you must do more than merely talk to him ; you must fashion him, and fashion him in such a way that he simply cannot will otherwise than you wish him to will." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 21 The implications for education are clear and imperative: (a) the efficient functioning of the emerging economy and the full utilization of its potentialities require profound changes in the attitudes and outlook of the American people, especially the rising generation—a complete and frank recognition that the old order is passing, that the new order is emerging" The American Historical Association “Investigation of the Social Studies in the Schools,” 1934 Page 34-35 "During the last decade of the nineteenth century, in England, a group of men devoted to the study of economic questions endeavored to prepare the public mind for broad changes which, in their view, must be effected if social peace is to be preserved. To this end they founded the London School of Economics and Political Science, which today ranks among the most famous institutions of education." John Harley Paul Mantoux foreword to international understanding Page X "By means of the new education we want to mould the Germans into a corporate body, which shall be stimulated and animated in all its individual members by the same interest." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 15 "the new education must be able surely and infallibly to mould and determine according to rules the real vital impulses and actions of its pupils." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 20 "That power to create spontaneously images, which are not simply copies of reality, but can become its prototypes, should be the starting-point for the moulding of the race by means of the new education" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 24 "The essential feature of the proposed new education, so far as it was described in the last address, consisted in this, that it is the sure and deliberate art of training the pupil to pure morality." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 36 "Now, of the changes which have been indicated, the first, the change of home, is quite unimportant. Man easily makes himself at home under any sky, and the national characteristic , far from being changed by the place of abode, dominates and changes the latter after its own pattern." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 54 "The German art of the State understands that it cannot create this spirit by reprimanding adults who are already spoilt by neglect, but only by educating the young, who are still unspoilt" Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 116 "One reason is that all who get through only the universal national education are intended for the working classes, and training them to be good workmen is undoubtedly part of their education." Johann Fichte, Addresses To The German Nation Page 181

"No serious sociologist any longer believes that the voice of the people expresses any divine or specially wise and lofty idea. The voice of the people expresses the mind of the people, and that mind is made up for it by the group leaders…and by those persons who understand the manipulation of public opinion." Propaganda Edward Bernays Page 92 "If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it?" Propaganda Edward Bernays Page 47 "Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition…we are dominated by the small number of persons who understand the mental processes of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind and contrive new ways to guide the world."Edward Bernays Propaganda Page 9-10 "A presidential candidate may be “drafted” in response to “overwhelming popular demand,” but it is well known that his name may be decided upon by half a dozen men sitting around a table in a hotel room." Propaganda Edward Bernays Page 33-34 "The conscious manipulation of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country." Propaganda Edward Bernays Page 9 "The society of experts will control propaganda and education. It will teach loyalty to the world government, and make nationalism high treason. The government, being an oligarchy, will instill submissiveness into the great bulk of the population… It is possible that it may invent ingenious ways of concealing its own power, leaving the forms of democracy intact, and allowing the plutocrats or politicians to imagine that they are cleverly controlling these forms… whatever the outward forms may be, all real power will come to be concentrated in the hands of those who understand the art of scientific manipulation" The Scientific Outlook By Bertrand Russell Page 243-44 "The argument that the two parties should represent opposed ideals and policies, one, perhaps, of the Right and the other of the Left, is a foolish idea acceptable only to doctrinaire and academic thinkers. Instead, the two parties should be almost identical, so that the American people can “throw the rascals out” at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts in policy." Carroll Quigley, Tragedy and Hope Page 1247-1248 "Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it." Woodrow Wilson The New Freedom Page 13-14 "The council on foreign relations, was a front for J.P Morgan and company in association with the very small American Round Table Group" Carroll Quigley Tragedy and Hope Page 952 To briefly recap: Phillip Dru: Administrator is the tale of an “intellectually superior” man who conspires to overthrow the US government, assume dictatorial powers, and pave the way for “socialism as dreamed of by Karl Marx.” Our good-hearted hero concludes, along with other characters in the book, that the people are simply incapable of determining their own best interests. As such, “a revolutionary adjustment” of their government (whether they like it or not), is necessary. The hero and his fellow conspirators set out to remake the United States as they see fit, and succeed. If you haven’t already guessed, Phillip Dru: Administrator was written by none other than Edward Mandell House himself. In the book, House argues that dictatorship is necessary because the rich and powerful have taken control, and they’re using their power against the poor and less fortunate. To understand how shamefully cynical this is, consider the fact that House’s propaganda was meant to strengthen, not weaken, the same “rich and powerful” individuals that his book condemned." Tragedy and Hope 101 Page 51 "There was an occasion near the close of 1910, when I was as secretive—indeed as furtive—as any conspirator…I do not feel it is any exaggeration to speak of our secret expedition to Jekyll Island as the occasion of the actual conception of what eventually became the Federal Reserve System…Discovery, we knew, simply must not happen, or else all our time and effort would be wasted. If it were to be exposed publicly that our particular group had got together and written a banking bill, that bill would have no chance whatever of passage by Congress…although the Aldrich Federal Reserve plan was defeated when it bore the name of Aldrich, nevertheless its essential points were all contained in the plan that finally was adopted.—Frank A. Vanderlip in the 1935 Saturday Evening Post article, “From Farm Boy to Financier” Page 3 or 25 Operation Northwoods "It is possible to create an incident which will demonstrate convincingly that a Cuban aircraft has attacked and shot down a chartered civil airliner…The passengers could be a group of college students off on a holiday or any grouping of persons with a common interest to support chartering a non-scheduled flight. a. An aircraft at Eglin Air Force Base would be painted and numbered as an exact duplicate for a civil registered aircraft belonging to a CIA proprietary organization…At a designated time, the duplicate would be substituted for the actual civil aircraft and would be loaded with selected passengers, all boarded under carefully prepared aliases. The actual registered aircraft would be converted to a drone. b. Take off times of the drone aircraft and the actual aircraft will be scheduled to allow a rendezvous south of Florida. From the rendezvous point the passenger-carrying aircraft will descend to minimum altitude and go directly into an auxiliary field at Eglin Air Force Base where arrangements will have been made to evacuate the passengers and return the aircraft to its original status. The drone aircraft meanwhile will continue to fly the filed flight plan. When over Cuba the drone will begin transmitting on the international distress frequency a ‘May Day’ message stating he is under attack by Cuban MIG aircraft. The transmission will be interrupted by destruction of the aircraft which will be triggered by radio signal. This will allow ICAO radio stations in the Western Hemisphere to tell the US what has happened to the aircraft instead of the US trying to “sell” the incident." Declassified Document Page 10-11 or 13-14 Operation Himmler Adolf Hitler’s Operation Himmler provides a good example. It consisted of a series of false-flag operations, each designed to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany. One way the Nazis achieved this was by taking prisoners from concentration camps, dressing them in German uniforms, and then killing them on the Polish frontier.1 These “dead Germans” were later used by Hitler as a justification for attacking Poland in 1939. (Wikipedia has many references to dig into, on this operation) Tragedy and hope 101 Page 163 Unverified Sources “We are now at the year 1908…In that year, the trustees…raised a specific question, which they discussed throughout the balance of the year in a very learned fashion. The question is: ‘Is there any means known more effective than war, assuming you wish to alter the life of an entire people?’ And they conclude that no more effective means than war to that end is known to humanity. So then, in 1909, they raised the second question and discussed it, namely: ‘How do we involve the United States in a war?’…Then, finally, they answered that question as follows: ‘We must control the State Department.’ That very naturally raises the question of how do we do that? And they answer it by saying: ‘We must take over and control the diplomatic machinery of this country.’ And, finally, they resolve to aim at that as an objective.” “Then time passes, and we are eventually in a war, which would be World War I. At that time they record on their minutes a shocking report in which they dispatched to President Wilson a telegram, cautioning him to see that the war does not end too quickly. Finally, of course, the war is over. At that time their interest shifts over to preventing what they call a reversion of life in the United States to what it was prior to 1914 when World War I broke out. At that point they came to the conclusion that, to prevent a reversion, ‘we must control education in the United States.’…They realize that that’s a pretty big task…They then decide that the key to success…lay in the alteration of the teaching of American history.” “The greatest embarrassment of my political career has been that active duties seem to deprive me of time for careful investigation. I seem almost obligated to form conclusions from impressions instead of from study" “I was like a disembodied spirit seeking a corporeal form. I found my opportunity in Woodrow Wilson" House "God ordained that I should be the next President of the United States. Neither you nor any other mortal or mortals could have prevented it" Wilson

Wall Street and Loan Plans Dawes plan - A plan to help Germany with their reparations problems. Charles G Dawes and Owen D Young were on the committee and co-authored the plan. Owen young President of General electric JP Morgan being a founder, he was also a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation 1928-39. Thomas Lamont also on the committee (JP Morgan associate) The Young Plan was a program for settling Germany's World War I reparations written in August 1929 and formally adopted in 1930. It was presented by the committee headed (1929–30) by American industrialist Owen D. Young. In addition, the Young Plan divided the annual payment, set at two billion Gold Marks, US$473 million, into two components: one unconditional part, equal to one third of the sum, and a postponable part, equal to the remaining two-thirds, which would incur interest and be financed by a consortium of American investment banks coordinated by J.P. Morgan & Co. In addition to Young, the United States was represented by J. P. Morgan, Jr., the prominent banker, and his partner, Thomas W. Lamont Farben "Farben at that time produced 100 percent of German synthetic rubber, 95 percent of German poison gas (including all the Zyklon B gas used in the concentration camps), 90 percent of German plastics, 88 percent of German magnesium, 84 percent of German explosives, 70 percent of German gunpowder, 46 percent of German high octane (aviation) gasoline, and 33 percent of German synthetic gasoline" October 21st 1945 NYT "It is no exaggeration to say that without the services of German chemistry performed under the Four Year Plan the prosecution of modern war would have been unthinkable" Dr Von Schnitzeler of IG Farben stating to Spanish ambassador, Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 1-3 Page 957 or Page 317 The 1945 interrogation of I.G. Farben director yon Schnitzler reads: "Q. What did you do when they told you that I.G. chemicals was [sic] being used to kill, to murder people held in concentration camps? A. I was horrified. Q. Did you do anything about it? A. I kept it for me [to myself] because it was too terrible .... I asked Muller-Cunradi is it known to you and Ambros and other directors in Auschwitz that the gases and chemicals are being used to murder people. Q. What did he say? A. Yes: it is known to all I.G. directors in Auschwitz" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 1-3 Page 988-89 or 358-59 "It is true that since 1934 or 1935, soon after the establishment of the Vermittlungsstelle W in the different works, theoretical war plant games had been arranged to examine how the effect of bombing on certain factories would materialize. It was particularly taken into consideration what would happen if 100 or 500 kilogram bombs would fall on a certain factory and what would be the result of it. It is also right that the word Kriegsspiele was used for it.The Kriegsspiele were prepared by Mr. Ritter and Dr. Eckell, later on partly by Dr. yon Brunning by personal order on Dr. Krauch's own initiative or by order of the Air Force, it is not known to me. The tasks were partly given by the Vermittlung-sstelle W and partly by officers of the Air Force. A number of officers of all groups of the Wehrmacht (Navy, Air Force, and Army) participated in these Kriegsspiele. The places which were hit by bombs were marked in a map of the plant so that it could be ascertained which parts of the plant were damaged, for example a gas meter or an important pipe line. As soon as the raid finished, the management of the plant ascertained the damages and reported which part of the plant had to stop working; they further reported what time would be required in order to repair the damages. In a following meeting the consequences of the Kriegsspiele were described and it was ascertained that in the case of Leuna [plant] the damages involved were considerably high; especially it was found out that alterations of the pipe lines were to be made at considerable cost" Dr Struss testimony to the Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, July 2nd 1945 Part 5-11 Page 1094 or 468 Standard Oil/ Rockefeller "January 25. Thursday. Our Commercial Attache brought Dr. Engelbrecht, chairman of the Vacuum Oil Company in Hamburg, to see me. Engelbrecht repeated what he had said a year ago: "The Standard Oil Company of New York, the parent company of the Vacuum, has spent 10,000,000 marks in Germany trying to find oil resources and building a great refinery near the Hamburg harbor." Engelbrecht is still boring wells and finding a good deal of crude oil in the Hanover region, but he had no hope of great deposits. He hopes Dr. Schacht will subsidize his company as he does some German companies that have found no crude oil. The Vacuum spends all its earnings here, employs 1,000 men and never sends any of its money home. I could give him no encouragement" Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 310 "These men were hardly out of the building before the lawyer came in again to report his difficulties. I could not do anything I asked him, however : Why did the Standard Oil Company of New York send $1,000,000 over here in December, 1933, to aid the Germans in making gasoline from soft coal for war emergencies? Why do the International Harvester people continue to manufacture in Germany when their company gets nothing out of the country and when it has failed to collect its war losses? He saw my point and agreed that it looked foolish and that it only means greater losses if another war breaks loose." Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 363 "... in fact entirely [from] the Americans and has become known to us in detail in its separate stages through our agreements with them [Standard Oil of New Jersey] and is being used very extensively by us." Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, February 1946 Vol 10-11 Page 1304 or 154 "Q. Is it true that while the delay in divulging the buna [synthetic rubber] processes to American rubber companies was taking place, Chemnyco and Jasco were in the meantime keeping I.G. well informed in regard to synthetic rubber development in the U.S.? A. Yes. Q. So that at all times I.G. was fully aware of the state of the development of the American synthetic rubber industry? A. Yes. Q. Were you present at the Hague meeting when Mr. Howard [of Standard Oil] went there in 1939? A. No. Q. Who was present? A. Mr. Ringer, who was accompanied by Dr. Brown of Ludwigshafen. Did they tell you about the negotiations? A. Yes, as far as they were on the buna part of it. Q. Is it true that Mr. Howard told I.G. at this meeting that the developments in the U.S. had reached such a stage that it would no longer be possible for him to keep the information in regard to the buna processes from the American companies? A. Mr. Ringer reported it. Q. Was it at that meeting that for the first time Mr. Howard told I.G. the American rubber companies might have to be informed of the processes and he assured I.G. that Standard Oil would control the synthetic rubber industry in the U.S.? Is that right? A. That is right. That is the knowledge I got through Mr. Ringer. Q. So that in all these arrangements since the beginning of the development of the synthetic rubber industry the suppression of the synthetic rubber industry in the U.S. was part of a preconceived plan between I.G. on the one hand and Mr. Howard of Standard Oil on the other? A. That is a conclusion that must be drawn from the previous facts" Dr. Loehrs deputy head of I.G "Tea Buro" testimony to the Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress, December 11-12 1945 Vol 8-11 Page 1293 or 271 "This investigation has confirmed certain data heretofore presented to the Truman , Bone , and Kilgore committees by the Department of Justice with respect to this transaction which so seriously imperiled the war preparations of the United States . The story , in short , is that under the so - called Jasco agreement , synthetic rubber was to come under Farben's " sphere of influence . ” ' Standard was determined , however , to have an absolute monopoly of synthetic rubber developments in the United States , if and when Farben released the American rights to its process to Standard in accordance with the Jasco agreement . Accordingly , Standard fully accomplished I.G.'s purpose of preventing United States production by dissuading American rubber companies from undertaking independent research in developing synthetic rubber processes" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 8-11 December 11-12 1945 Page 1085 or 45 "Substantially the same pattern of behavior was pursued by the Paris office of the Chase Bank during German occupation, An examination of the correspondence between Chase, New York, and Chase, France, from the date of the fall of France to May, 1942 discloses that: (1) the manager of the Paris office appeased and collaborated with the Germans to place the Chase banks in a "privileged position;" (2) the Germans held the Chase Bank in a very special esteem — owing to the international activities of our (Chase) head office and the pleasant relations which the Paris branch has been maintaining with many of their (German) banks and their (German) local organizations and higher officers; (3) the Paris manager was "very vigorous in enforcing restrictions against Jewish property, even going so far as to refuse to release funds belonging to Jews in anticipation that a decree with retroactive provisions prohibiting such release might be published in the near future by the occupying authorities;" (4) the New York office despite the above information took no direct steps to remove the undesirable manager from the Paris office since it "might react against our (Chase) interests as we are dealing, not with a theory but with a situation" Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20, 1967 (Germany) Page 616 or 607 "a. Niederman, of Swiss nationality, manager of Chase, Paris, was unquestionably a collaborator; b. The Chase Head Office in New York was informed of Nieder-man's collaborationist policy but took no steps to remove him. Indeed there is ample evidence to show that the Head Office in New York viewed Niederman's good relations with the Germans as an excellent means of preserving, unimpaired, the position of the Chase Bank in France; c. The German authorities were anxious to keep the Chase open and indeed took exceptional measures to provide sources of revenue; d. The German authorities desired "to be friends" with the important American banks because they expected that these banks would be useful after the war as an instrument of German policy in the United States; e. The Chase, Paris showed itself most anxious to please the German authorities in every possible way. For example, the Chase zealously maintained the account of the German Embassy in Paris, "as every little thing helps" (to maintain the excellent relations between Chase and the German authorities); f. The whole objective of the Chase policy and operation was to maintain the position of the bank at any cost." Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 800 or 991 Memorandum From Defendant von Knieriem , 6 June 1944 about Haslams article on Standard Oil "The closing of an agreement with Standard was necessary for technical, commercial, and financial reasons: technically, because the specialized experience which was available only in a big oil company was necessary to the further development of our process, and no such industry existed in Germany; commercially, because in the absence of state economic control in Germany at that time, IG had to avoid a competitive struggle with the great oil powers, who always sold the best gasoline at the lowest price in contested markets; Financially, because IG, which had already spent extraordinarily large sums for the development of the process, had to seek financial relief in order to be able to continue development in other new technical fields, such as buna" Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1304 or 1340 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "Especially in the case of iso - octane , it is shown that we owe much to the Americans because in our own work we could draw widely on American information on the behavior of fuels in motors . Moreover , we were also kept currently informed by the Americans on the progress of their production process and its further development . Shortly before the war , a new method for the production of iso - octane was found in America - alkylation with isomerization as a preliminary step . This process , which Mr . Haslam does not mention at all , originates in fact entirely with the Americans and has become known to us in detail in its separate stages through our agreements with them , and is being used very extensively by us." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1306 or 1342 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "As a consequence of our contracts with the Americans, we received from them, above and beyond the agreement, many very valuable contributions for the synthesis and improvement of motor fuels and lubricating oils, which Just now during the war are most useful to us; and we also received other advantages from them. Primarily, the following may be mentioned: (1) Above all, improvement of fuels through the addition of tetraethyl-lead and the manufacture of this product. It need not be especially mentioned that without tetraethl-lead the present methods of warfare would be impossible. The fact that since the beginning of the war we could produce tetraethyl-lead is entirely due to the circumstances that, shortly before, the Americans had presented us with the production plans, complete with their know-how. It was, moreover, the first time that the Americans decided to give a license on this process in a foreign country (besides communication of unprotected secrets) and this only on our urgent requests to Standard Oil to fulfill our wish. Contractually we could not demand it, and we found out later that the War Department in Washington gave its permission only after long deliberation. (2) Conversion of low-molecular saturates into usable gasoline (polymerization). Much work in this field has been done here as well as in America. But the Americans were the first to carry the process through on a large scale, which suggested to us also to develop the process on a large technical scale. But above and beyond that, plants built according to American processes are functioning in Germany. (3) In the field of lubricating oils as well, Germany through the contract with America, learned of experience which is extraordinarily important for present day warfare. In this connection, we obtained not only the experience of Standard, but, through Standard, the experiences of General Motors and other large American motor companies as well. (4) As a further remarkable example of advantageous effect for us of the contract between IG and Standard Oil, the following should be mentioned: in the years 1934 / 1935 our government had the greatest interest in gathering from abroad a stock of especially valuable mineral oil products (in particular, aviation gasoline and aviation lubricating oil), and holding it in reserve to an amount approximately equal to 20 million dollars at market value. The German Government asked IG if it were not possible, on the basis of its friendly relations with Standard Oil, to buy this amount in Farben's name; actually, however, as trustee of the German Government. The fact that we actually succeeded by means of the most difficult negotiations in buying the quantity desired by our government from the American Standard Oil Company and the Dutch — English Royal — Dutch — Shell group and in transporting it to Germany, was made possible only through the aid of the Standard Oil Co." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 1309 or 1345 IG Farben commentary on Haslams article "Since the beginning of the war we have been in a position to produce lead tetraethyl solely because, a short time before the outbreak of the war, the Americans had established plants for us ready for production and supplied us with all available experience. In this manner we did not need to perform the difficult work of development because we could start production right away on the basis of all the experience that the Americans had had for years." NYT October 19th 1945 "At the request of the Air Ministry and on direct order of Goering, I.G . Farben procured in 1938 , 500 tons of tetraethyl lead from the Ethyl Export Corporation, of the United States . The Air Ministry needed this lead because it is indispensable to the manufacture of high octane aviation gasoline and because they wanted to store up the lead in Germany to tide the Air Ministry over until such time as the plant in Germany could manufacture sufficient quantities . We were producing sufficient quantities of tetraethyl - lead for ordinary purposes but the storage of the 500 tons of tetraethyl - lead was undertaken because in case of war Germany did not have enough tetraethyl - lead to wage war , for which reason the German Reich pursued a stockpiling policy . 66 * * * Finally , it was decided to procure the tetraethyl - lead on a loan basis . All the gentlemen were very bewildered as Goering demanded a report by noon the next day . It was commonly known that tetraethyl - lead was needed as the German production in tetra ethyl - lead while sufficient for peacetime purposes , was not sufficient to wage war , and we had to obtain it immediately for aviation gasoline." Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 8 Page 1272-1273 "The new investment banking firm of Schroder, Rockefeller Co., Inc., will open for business today at 48 Wall Street." NYT July 20th, Vice president Avery Rockefeller Ford "BERLIN, Dec. 19.--A rumor is current here that Henry Ford, the American automobile manufacturer, is financing Adolph Hitler's nationalist and anti Semitic movement in Munich. Indeed, the Berlin Tageblatt has made an appeal to the American Ambassador in Berlin to investigate and interfere" NYT December 19th 1920, and rumoured he has a portrait of ford above his desk Henry Ford receives Grand Cross of the German Eagle award NYT August 1st 1938 Edsel Ford sat on board of American IG Farben. "(1) the business of the Ford subsidiaries in France substantially increased ; ( 2 ) their production was solely for the benefit of the Germans and the countries under its occupation ; ( 3 ) the Germans have " shown clearly their wish to protect the Ford interests ” because of the attitude of strict neutrality maintained by Henry Ford and the late Edsel Ford ; and ( 4 ) the increased activity of the French Ford subsidiaries on behalf of the Germans received the commendation of the Ford family in America" Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 616 or 607 German Financing The Secret Meeting of 20 February 1933 (German: Geheimtreffen vom 20. Februar 1933) was a secret meeting held by Adolf Hitler and 20 to 25 industrialists at the official residence of the President of the Reichstag Hermann Göring in Berlin. Its purpose was to raise funds for the election campaign of the Nazi Party. Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals, October 1946 to April 1949, Volume 7 Page 16-17 or 7. IG Farben contributing 400,000 Reichsmarks, other German industrialists contributed too. Ernst Hanfstaengl Went to Harvard with FDR. "I took most of my meals at the Harvard Club, where I made friends with the young Franklin D. Roosevelt, at that time a rising New York State Senator. Also I received several invitations to visit his distant cousin Teddy, the former President, who had retired to his estate at Sagamore Hill." Ernst Hanfstaengl Unheard Witness Page 28 "One day a correspondent of the Hearst press named Kehoe obtained permission to visit Fort Hens. I managed to have a few words with him in a corner. "I know your boss well," I told him. "Will you do me a small service?" Fortunately he recognized my name. I gave him a letter, which he slipped into his pocket. It was addressed to the American Secretary of State, Cordell Hull. A few days later it was on the desk of my Harvard Club friend, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In it I offered to act as a political and psychological warfare adviser in the war against Germany" Ernst Hanfstaengl Unheard Witness Page 310 Supporter and financer of Hitler. Fell out with Hitler in 1941. "September 1st Friday Henry Mann of the National City Bank spoke of the conversation he and Mr Aldnch had had some ten days before with the Chancellor at his summer place. The ideas advocated by Hitler were the same as those he had advanced to Professor Coar He is a fanatic on the Jewish problem He has no conception of international relationships He considers himself a German Messiah But despite Hitler’s attitude these bankers feel they can work with him" Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 45 "At 1.30 Ivy Lee and his son James came to lunch. Ivy Lee showed himself at once a capitalist and an advocate of Fascism." Ambassador Dodd's Diary edited by William E Dodd Jr and Martha Dodd Page 87 Ivy Lee the Rockefeller public relations man Morgan "a. Morgan and Company regarded itself as a French bank, and therefore obligated to observe French banking laws and regulations, whether Naziinspired or not; and did actually do so; b. Morgan and Company was most anxious to preserve the continuity of its house in France, and, in order to achieve this security, worked out a modus vivendi with the German authorities; c. Morgan and Company had tremendous prestige with the German authorities, and the Germans boasted of the splendid cooperation of Morgan and Company; d. Morgan continued its prewar relations with the great French industrial and commercial concerns which were working for Germany, including the Renault Works, since confiscated by the French Government, Puegeqt [sic], Citroen, and many others. e. The power of Morgan and Company in France bears no relation to the small financial resources of the firm, and the enquiry now in progress will be of real value in allowing us for the first time to study the Morgan pattern in Europe and the manner in which Morgan has used its great power; f. Morgan and Company constantly sought its ends by playing one government against another in the coldest and most unscrupulous manner." Morgenthau Diary Committee On The Judiciary United States Senate November 20 , 1967 (Germany) Page 800 or 791 "You might also be interested in knowing , Mr. Chairman , that the top I. G. Farben people and others , when we questioned them about these activities , were inclined at times to be very indignant . Their general attitude and expectation was that the war was over and we ought now to be assisting them in helping to get I.G. Farben and German industry back on its feet . Some of them have outwardly said that this questioning and investigation was, in their estimation , only a phenomenon of short duration , because as soon as things got a dittle settled they would expect their friends in the United States and in England to be coming over. Their friends, so they said, would put a stop to activities such as these investigations and would see that they got the treatment which they regarded as proper and that assistance would be given to them to help reestablish their industry" Elimination of German Resources for War Hearings before a Subcommittee of the committee on military affairs United states senate 79th Congress Vol 1-6 July 2nd, 1945 Page 632 or 14 Unverified Sources "Much as I believe in peace as our best policy, I cannot avoid the fears which Wilson emphasized more than once in conversations with me, August 15, 1915 and later: the breakdown of democracy in all Europe will be a disaster to the people. But what can you do? At the present moment more than a hundred American corporations have subsidiaries here or cooperative understandings. The DuPonts have three allies in Germany that are aiding in the armament business. Their chief ally is the I. G. Farben Company, a part of the Government which gives 200,000 marks a year to one propaganda organization operating on American opinion. Standard Oil Company (New York sub-company) sent $2,000,000 here in December 1933 and has made $500,000 a year helping Germans make Ersatz gas for war purposes; but Standard Oil cannot take any of its earnings out of the country except in goods. They do little of this, report their earnings at home, but do not explain the facts. The International Harvester Company president told me their business here rose 33% a year (arms manufacture, I believe), but they could take nothing out. Even our airplanes people have secret arrangement with Krupps. General Motor Company and Ford do enormous businesses here through their subsidiaries and take no profits out. I mention these facts because they complicate things and add to war dangers" William Dodd US ambassador to Germany writing to FDR October 19th 1936 Edgar B Nixon FDR and foreign affairs Vol III Page 456 "It has for some years past enjoyed a very close relationship with certain branches of the research work of the I.G. Farbenin-dustrie which bear closely upon the oil industry" Walter teagle president of standard oil moving to direct American I.G NYT April 28th 1929

"But not a word of criticism or of disapproval have I heard of Hitler. He is as immune from criticism as a king in a monarchical country. He is something more. He is the George Washington of Germany—the man who won for his country independence from all her oppressors." I talked to Hitler by the Right Honourable David Lloyd George Daily Express, September 17, 1936, pp. 12-17 (Not a primary source) "If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don’t want to see Hitler victorious in any circumstances." Harvard Crimson, wiki, Politico (No Primary source) Reuters, ‘Morocco tackles painful role in Spain’s past’, 14 January 2009. "In economics, before the war, and to a large extent still, its eggs are, so to speak, in two baskets, the one tin, and the other rubber. Very fortunate it is for this country that those baskets are there, because they have very largely supported the standard of living of the people of this country and the sterling area ever since the war ended; what we should do without Malaya, and its earnings in tin and rubber, I do not know… . I am sure also that it is essential to diversify the economy of rural Malaya, to go in more for mixed farming, for internal fish farms—not merely sea fisheries—to grow more and diverse cash crops, such as cocoa, palm oil and the rest. We must get away from this utter reliance on tin and rubber, because we are too much in the hands of other people and we have seen the difficulties caused by the United States' staying out of the market and what it has meant to the price of tin and rubber" THE SITUATION IN MALAYA HL Deb 27 February 1952 vol 175 cc299-365299, LORD OGMORE "Mr. W Hamilton: Sharethis specific contribution asked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations and the Colonies why he consented to the military attack on the township of Harib in tie Yemen Republic on 28th March; how many lives were lost; what damage was caused to property; and what representations have been received from the Government of the Yemen about the incident. Mr. Fisher: Sharethis specific contribution I would refer the hon. Member to the Prime Minister's full statement on 9th April.There was no attack on the township of Harib. We do not know how many casualties were suffered by Yemeni military personnel in Harib fort. We regret any loss of life which may have occurred despite the warning given by leaflet. Most of the upper storey of the fort was damaged and some damage was also caused to the lower storey, and to certain guns. Representations have been received from the Yemeni Republican authorities." Harib Fort (Raf Attack) Volume 693: debated on Tuesday 14 April 1964 "The Subcommittee found that the Contra drug links included: Involvement in; narcotics trafficking by individuals associated with the Contra movement. Participation of narcotics traffickers in; Contra supply operations through business relationships with Contra organizations. Provision of assistance to the Contras by narcotics traffickers, including cash, weapons, planes, pilots, air supply services and other materials, on a voluntary basis by the traffickers. Payments to drug traffickers by the U.S. State Department of funds authorized by the Congress for humanitarian assistance to the Contras, in; some cases; after the traffickers had been indicted by federal law enforcement agencies on drug charges, in others while traffickers were under active investigation by these same agencies. These activities were carried out in; connection with Contra activities in; both Costa Rica and Honduras" DRUGS, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND FOREIGN POLICY A REPORT; PREPARED BY THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NARCOTICS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERS'TY JUNE 30th 1989 Page 36 Now, when this crisis came on and the thing was about to collapse, we violated our normal criteria and among the other things we did, we provided the army immediately on an emergency basis, blankets, boots, uniforms, electric generators, and medical supplies that permitted and created the atmosphere in which they could support the Shah … The guns that they had in their hands, the trucks that they rode in, the armored cars that they drove through the streets, and the radio communications that permitted their control, were all furnished through the military defense assistance program" Hearings in 1954 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on “The Mutual Security Act of 1954” Page 503, 569-570 "Some of the equipment needed for Iran's enormous contribution to defence has come from Britain. It is also a source of pride that British contractors are going to build the new military industrial complex at Isfahan; and have helped to construct the dockyard at Bandarabbas. Defence sales generate employment in Britain, which we badly need. Iran's purchases of British fighting vehicles provide many thousands of jobs throughout our engineering industries. Thanks largely to the growth of the Iranian economy, trade between us has increased enormously in Recent years. Iran has become by far our largest market in the Middle East. Counting the “invisibles” , our sales to Iran now amount to more than £1 billion a year. We should like to do even better." 1978 Apr 29Margaret Thatcher Speech to Irano-British Chamber of Commerce "But all 21 of the CIA items posted today (in addition to 14 previously unpublished British documents — see Sidebar), reinforce the conclusion that the United States, and the CIA in particular, devoted extensive resources and high-level policy attention toward bringing about Mosaddeq's overthrow, and smoothing over the aftermath." CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup No. 435 Posted – August 19, 2013 "The Yamamah deal became mired in a long-running controversy over allegations that BAE, Britain’s biggest arms dealer, made huge illicit payments to Saudi royals to land the contract. In 2006, Tony Blair’s government abruptly halted a Serious Fraud Office investigation into the allegations following pressure from the Saudis and the firm. In 2010, BAE agreed to pay almost £300m in penalties, to settle an investigation by US and UK authorities into alleged corruption in its deals with the Saudis and other countries… With the enthusiastic backing of British arms companies, Thatcher apologised to King Fahd for hostile comments about Saudi Arabia in the British press… Intriguingly, the letter has been redacted just before a passage in which Thatcher says she agrees that “no publicity whatever” should be given to the negotiations over the arms deal. Thatcher bowed to the Saudi demands for secrecy. “You may be confident of our complete discretion”, Thatcher told King Fahd in January 1985." Margaret Thatcher’s lobbying of Saudi royals over arms deal revealed The Guardian Wed 15 Jul 2015 "One of Al Yamamah's achievements has been the training and equipping of the Royal Saudi Air Force by Britain. Both training and aircraft were put to the test of wartime combat far sooner than anyone expected. As we now know, both the aircraft and their RSAF pilots performed superbly in Operation Desert Storm. The Al Yamamah programme has continued steadily since the conflict. When this year's new order of a further 48 Tornado aircraft for the RSAF has been executed it will be safe to say that Saudi Arabia will have one of the strongest and most effective Air Forces in the world. Those who argue that arms sales to Middle Eastern Countries are in themselves dangerous because they increase the likelihood of future conflicts are totally misguided." Margaret Thatcher Speech Archives, ‘Margaret Thatcher Speech to Chatham House Conference on Saudi Arabia’, 4 October 1993. Financial Times , ‘Ministers cite security in effort to block details of Saudi deal’, 28 May 2015 - Financial Times , ‘UK-Saudi contract details can stay secret, tribunal rules’, 24 July 2015 "Whilst we have agreements and Treaties of Friendship of various descriptions with all GCC countries, the only formal treaty obligation we have which explicitly commits us to the defence of a country is with the United Arab Emirates, in the form of a Defence Co-operation Accord signed in 1996 ... All of the GCC countries have an expectation that we would assist them in times of crisis, as we did in 1990, and as the continuing deployment of British troops in the region has shown we are prepared to do. Many of the GCC countries do not feel the need for an agreement because we have continually assured them of our commitment to the stability of the region, and a formal treaty could be construed as a limitation on the UK's preparedness to assist by setting out defined limits on when and where the UK would help out. Nevertheless, the UK should remain open to requests for such treaties from GCC states" House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, ‘Thirteenth Report 1999/2000’, 26 July 2000, paragraph 7 "Our military training teams and loan service personnel, and the courses which Arab soldiers, sailors and airmen attend at UK training establishments, are obvious manifestations of our commitment to enhancing the military capability of the region. These contacts help to build bridges. But they also enhance and make more credible the ability of the Gulf States to deter would-be aggressors. This is a direct contribution to regional stability, and one that I believe the British Armed Forces are uniquely qualified to make" House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, ‘Thirteenth Report 1999/2000’, 26 July 2000, paragraph 66 "An important element of defence relations is defence sales and there is undoubtedly a link between the commitment countries are prepared to make in offering military assistance to friendly nations and their ability to sell defence equipment to those nations. The Secretary of State was reluctant to accept that there was a direct correlation between the two but this probably reflects the rather ambivalent attitude the UK has to defence sales, compared with our more up-front allies, such as France and the US. The impression we gained during our visit was that host countries have great respect for the UK's approach in keeping military assistance separate from defence sales and it is obvious that there is a delicate line to tread here. Decisions about defence procurement, in the Gulf countries as elsewhere, are frequently political decisions. The MoD should be prepared, on occasions, to be more direct in linking the promotion of UK equipment to military assistance. Otherwise it risks the UK defence industry being disadvantaged to the benefit of our less coy allies and competitors." House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, ‘Thirteenth Report 1999/2000’, 26 July 2000, paragraph 68 "The two-page report is a 1977 record of a talk between a British official and Ian Henderson, a senior British security chief who advised Bahrain for decades after its independence… The passages were classified "on the grounds that international relations could be damaged were it to be released. Those grounds still exist," Edward Oakden, the Foreign Office's Middle East director, argued in the case." Reuters, ‘Classified document on Bahrain rankles Britain decades later’, 21 May 2015 "UK military assistance projects in Saudi Arabia include a British Military Mission to the Saudi Arabian National Guard, providing advice on such issues as officer training and developing basic military skills, and in more specialised areas such as anti-terrorism. In addition, a separate, specialised team is assisting in the procurement and commissioning of a new communications system for the National Guard. A small Royal Navy liaison team provides support to the King Fahd Naval Academy at Jubail.[140] Joint exercises between UK and Saudi forces are not a regular occurrence but HMS Illustrious took part in exercises with Saudi vessels when the Carrier Task Group was in the region earlier in the year." House of Commons Select Committee on Defence, ‘Thirteenth Report 1999/2000’, 26 July 2000, paragraph 65 "The Middle East is an area where we all have much at stake. It is in our own interests, as well as in the interests of the people of that region, that they build on their own deep religious traditions. We do not wish to see them succumb to the fraudulent appeal of imported Marxism" Margaret Thatcher Speech Archive, ‘Margaret Thatcher Speech to the Foreign Policy Association on The West in the World Today’, 18 December 1979 "Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national security advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct? Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahideen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout]. Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it? B: It wasn’t quite like that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would. Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t regret any of this today? B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists? B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? Q : “Some agitated Moslems”? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today... B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is t h ere in com m on among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries…" The Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998), University Of Arizona "Bin Laden was, though, a product of a monumental miscalculation by western security agencies. Throughout the 80s he was armed by the CIA and funded by the Saudis to wage jihad against the Russian occupation of Afghanistan. Al-Qaida, literally "the database", was originally the computer file of the thousands of mujahideen who were recruited and trained with help from the CIA to defeat the Russians" Robin Cook, ‘The struggle against terrorism cannot be won by military means’, Guardian , 8 July 2005 "We can do a lot of damage to the Soviet Union," Casey said, according to Mohammed Yousaf, a Pakistani general who attended the meeting… Casey's visit was a prelude to a secret Reagan administration decision in March 1985, reflected in National Security Decision Directive 166, to sharply escalate U.S. covert action in Afghanistan, according to Western officials. Abandoning a policy of simple harassment of Soviet occupiers, the Reagan team decided secretly to let loose on the Afghan battlefield an array of U.S. high technology and military expertise in an effort to hit and demoralize Soviet commanders and soldiers. Casey saw it as a prime opportunity to strike at an overextended, potentially vulnerable Soviet empire." Washington Post , ‘Anatomy of a Victory: CIA’s Covert Afghan War’, 19 July 1992. "CIA operations officers helped Pakistani trainers establish schools for the mujaheddin in secure communications, guerrilla warfare, urban sabotage and heavy weapons, Yousaf and Western officials said… The first antiaircraft systems used by the mujaheddin were the Swiss-made Oerlikon heavy gun and the British-made Blowpipe missile, according to Yousaf and Western sources. When these proved ineffective, the United States sent the Stinger. Pakistani officers traveled to the United States for training on the Stinger in June 1986 and then set up a secret mujaheddin Stinger training facility in Rawalpindi, complete with an electronic simulator made in the United States. The simulator allowed mujaheddin trainees to aim and fire at a large screen without actually shooting off expensive missiles, Yousaf said. The screen marked the missile's track and calculated whether the trainee would have hit his airborne target" Washington Post , ‘Anatomy of a Victory: CIA’s Covert Afghan War’, 19 July 1992. "In Ken Connor's Ghost Force: The Secret History of the SAS, it is claimed that the elite regiment actually trained Afghan fighters in remote locations in Scotland. In Afghanistan itself, the services of Keenie-Meenie Services were used. This was an offshoot of British security firm Control Risks, mainly comprising ex-SAS members and former members of Rhodesian and South African special forces. It took its name from the Swahili word for the movement of a snake through grass. KMS later played a role in the Oliver North, Iran-Contra affair of 1987." Guardian , ‘Blowback Chronicles’, 15 September 2001. "Mr. Campbell-Savours: To ask the Prime Minister on what occasions since 1979 representatives of Her Majesty's Government discussed the use of Keenie Meenie Services or Saladin Security with Colonel Oliver North; and if she will make a statement. The Prime Minister: It has been the practice of successive Governments not to answer questions about the details of discussions which may have taken place with foreign Governments" Hansard, ‘Margaret Thatcher, Saladin Security and Keenie Meenie Services’, 1 December 1987. "The CIA Developed Important Information on BCCI, and Inadvertently Failed to Provide it to Those Who Could Use it. U.S and Foreign Intelligence Agencies, and Former Intelligence Officials had a Broad Range of Contacts With and Links to BCCI and BCCI Shareholders. In the Spring and Summer of 1991, the CIA Originally provided Inaccurate and Incomplete Information to the Subcommittee Concerning its Relationship With BCCI, Which Was Only Corrected After BCCI's Closure. By early 1985, the CIA knew more about BCCI's goals and intentions concerning the U.S. banking system than anyone else in government, and provided that information to the U.S. Treasury and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, neither of whom had the responsibility for regulating the First American Bank that BCCI had taken over. The CIA failed to provide the critical information it had gathered to the correct users of the information — the Federal Reserve and the Justice Department. After the CIA knew that BCCI was as an institution a fundamentally corrupt criminal enterprise, it continued to use both BCCI and First American, BCCI's secretly held U.S. subsidiary, for CIA operations" Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, ‘The BCCI Affair: A Report by Senator John Kerry and Senator Hank Brown’, December 1992 Page 6 "Osama bin Laden, the United States' prime suspect in last week's attacks on New York and Washington, could escape an American revenge mission in Afghanistan by hiding in tunnels that he built with funds from the CIA. At the height of the Afghan mojahedin's war against the Soviet invaders, the CIA provided money for a very ambitious project. A series of defence tunnels was built in 1986 near the town of Khost in the mountains of Paktiya province, a few miles from the border with Pakistan. The aim was to store weapons and create an underground field hospital as well as to provide shelter against Russian air attack." Bin Laden may flee in tunnels: underground escape routes funded by CIA’, 18 September 2001. "SUSPICIONS about a deal between the Reagan campaign and Iran over the hostages have circulated since the day of President Reagan's inaugural, when Iran agreed to release the 52 American hostages exactly five minutes after Mr. Reagan took the oath of office. Later, as it became known that arms started to flow to Iran via Israel only a few days after the inauguration, suspicions deepened that a secret arms-for-hostages deal had been concluded… In the course of hundreds of interviews, in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East, I have been told repeatedly that individuals associated with the Reagan-Bush campaign of 1980 met secretly with Iranian officials to delay the release of the American hostages until after the Presidential election. For this favor, Iran was rewarded with a substantial supply of arms from Israel" New York Times , ‘The Election Story of the Decade’, 15 April 1991 Gary Sick (National Security Advisor to Carter) New York Times , ‘Washington Talk: Briefing; CIA Secrets’, 15 February 1988 "For nine years Jamshid Hashemi helped MI6 to set up deals with Iran, including the purchase of Silkworm missiles from China. He also contributed thousands of pounds to the Conservative Party... His counsel, Alun Jones QC, described him as a "go-between between the UK and Iran". References were made in court to statements by witnesses, known only as A to H. These were Hashemi's MI6 case officers… The agent - known to Hashemi only as Michael and who spoke Farsi and once served at the British embassy in Tehran - asked him to pass on details of Iran's shopping list for arms and other equipment… Hashemi had been approached by dealers acting for China to supply the anti-ship missiles to Iran. In 1985 MI6 sent an undercover female agent to China, ostensibly acting as Hashemi's secretary, to help arrange the deal, codenamed the "October contract… MI6 also sanctioned the supply to Iran of 15 British-made motorboats reinforced to carry heavy machine guns. The boats, exported via Greece, were used against civilian shipping in the "tanker war" in the Gulf in the mid-1980s. MI6 also allowed Hashemi to buy a batch of Portuguese 155mm ammunition for sale to Iran." Guardian , ‘Jailed go-between on UK–Iran arms deals is freed to keep MI6 secrets out of court’, 6 February 1999. "A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas. Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it" Taliban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline’, 4 December 1997 "Saudi Arabia has been a major source of financing to rebel and terrorist organisations since the 1970s. These were some of the conclusions of a 2006 report issued by the U.S. Department of State titled International Narcotics Control Strategy Report - Money Laundering and Financial Crimes (U.S. Department of State, 2006). Since the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia and Saudi-based private actors (i.e. wealthy businessmen, bankers, charitable organisations ) have been providing financial and relief assistance to Muslim communities affected by natural calamities or conflicts. It has been estimated that Saudi Arabia has invested more than $ 10 billion to promote its Wahhabi agenda through charitable foundations. Some of the most influential charitable organisation operating in South and Southeast Asia are: the Islamic International Relief Organisation (IIRO), the Al Haramain Foundation, the Medical Emergency Relief Charity (MERC) and the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY). These organisations have provided funds to build educational and religious facilities, as well as hospitals, in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines, just to mention some. Nevertheless, it is believed that some of the money destined to charitable activities has been diverted toward rebel and terrorist organisations throughout the region including Al Qaeda, the Haqqani network and Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). This was possible because during the 1990s Al Qaeda and JI filled leadership positions in several Islamic charities with some of their most trusted men (Abuza, 2003). Al Qaeda and JI’s operatives were than diverting about 15-20 percent of the funds to finance their operations. In some cases, like the Philippines, such percentage could reach even 60 percent. The paragraphs that follow will analyse Saudi sponsorship to terrorist/rebel groups in South and Southeast Asia, with case studies on Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and the Philippines. The case studies of Afghanistan and Pakistan will be treated together considering the strong interlink (also known as AfPak) they share due to cross border activities of Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters" European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 5 "During the 1980s, the IIRO and the MWL were used by the Saudi intelligence to transfer money to mujahedeen, while the IIRO is also known to have directly funded six training camps in Afghanistan (Abuza, 2003, p. 24). At the same time, Bin Laden used to rely on a network of Saudi and Gulf-based sponsors known as the Golden Chain (Blanchard, 2008). According to the 9/11 Commission Report report, the Golden Chain provided Bin Laden with financial support to rebuilt Al Qaeda’s assets in Afghanistan following his departure from Sudan in 1996" European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 5 "The International Court of Justice has rejected claims of genocide by Serbia and Croatia against each other during the Croatian war of secession from Yugoslavia." BBC Online, ‘UN court dismisses Croatia and Serbia genocide claims’, 3 February 2015. "Robert Frasure, a US diplomat working as an international representative, reported to Washington that Miloševic would not accept a peace map unless the safe areas were ceded to the Serbs. His boss, Anthony Lake, the US national security adviser, favoured a revised map that ceded Srebrenica, and the US policy-making Principals Committee urged that UN troops “pull back from vulnerable positions” – ergo, the safe areas. France and Britain agreed, with UK defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind arguing that the safe areas were “untenable”, as defended in 1995. As Mladic’s troops advanced on Srebrenica, the west failed to heed warnings of the town’s imminent fall. Once it had, says General Van der Wind of the Dutch defence ministry, in an exclusive interview with the Observer, the UN provided 30,000 litres of petrol, used by the Serbs to drive their quarry to the killing fields and plough their bodies into mass graves. As the killing hit full throttle, top western negotiators met Mladic and Miloševic but did not raise the issue of mass murder, even though unclassified US cables show that the CIA was watching the killing fields almost “live” from satellite planes." Guardian , ‘Revealed: the role of the West in the run-up to Srebrenica’s fall’, 4 July 2015. "At first arms were sent to Bosnia via Croatia, but the Croats were reluctant to arm the Bosnian army with sophisticated weapons, so America took it upon itself to deliver arms directly to the Bosnian Muslim Army - the ABiH. Covert drops by the US. These covert air drops began at the start of 1995. The most well-documented were the drops at Tuzla in the north of Bosnia, where they were observed by members of the UN Nordic Battalion stationed close to the dropping zone. The drops contained vital, high value supplies: Anti-tank guided weapons to counter Bosnian Serb armour, Stinger surface-to-air missiles to ward off helicopters, night vision goggles and, most importantly, Motorola radio sets to allow the ABiH to operate more efficiently in large scale offensive operations. However these air drops took place in the face of Operation Deny Flight, the UN-imposed and Nato-policed no-fly zone over Bosnia. Faced with sighting reports from the UN on the ground Nato denied that any such activity had taken place and launched an investigation whose conclusions rubber-stamped this… They were deployed not only in non-governmental organisations (NGOs) but in UN civilian and military agencies as well. This intelligence-gathering was aimed as much at the UN as the Serbs, and intelligence was passed directly on to the Bosnian Government. This information was often used to ratchet up the pressure on UN commanders to launch punitive air strikes on the Serbs.The scope of these activities included bugging UN Commanders and diplomats.Lt General Sir Michael Rose (ret'd) Former UN Commander in Bosnia General Sir Michael Rose was aware that the Americans were secretly bugging his office: "We were always very careful in what we said in that office. And if we did say something, it was with deliberate intent." BBC Online, ‘Allies and Lies’, 22 June 2001. "Now we have the full story of the secret alliance between the Pentagon and radical Islamist groups from the Middle East designed to assist the Bosnian Muslims - some of the same groups that the Pentagon is now fighting in "the war against terrorism". Pentagon operations in Bosnia have delivered their own "blowback"... The result was a vast secret conduit of weapons smuggling though Croatia. This was arranged by the clandestine agencies of the US, Turkey and Iran, together with a range of radical Islamist groups, including Afghan mojahedin and the pro-Iranian Hizbullah. Wiebes reveals that the British intelligence services obtained documents early on in the Bosnian war proving that Iran was making direct deliveries. Arms purchased by Iran and Turkey with the financial backing of Saudi Arabia made their way by night from the Middle East. Initially aircraft from Iran Air were used, but as the volume increased they were joined by a mysterious fleet of black C-130 Hercules aircraft. The report stresses that the US was "very closely involved" in the airlift. Mojahedin fighters were also flown in, but they were reserved as shock troops for especially hazardous operations." Guardian , ‘America used Islamists to arm the Bosnian Muslims’, 22 April 2002. "There were further reports that five Libyan-trained terrorists had arrived in the United States to assassinate the President and some of his aides. Mr. Reagan publicly endorsed those reports. ''We have the evidence and he knows it,'' he told newsmen, referring to Qaddafi. ACCORDING TO KEY sources, there was little doubt inside Clark's task force about who was responsible for the spate of anti-Qaddafi leaks - the C.I.A., with the support of the President, Haig and Clark. ''This item stuck in my craw,'' one involved official recalls. ''We came out with this big terrorist threat to the U.S. Government. The whole thing was a complete fabrication.'' New York Times , ‘Target Gaddafi’, 22 February 1987 "British intelligence paid large sums of money to an al-Qaeda cell in Libya in a doomed attempt to assassinate Colonel Gadaffi in 1996 and thwarted early attempts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.The latest claims of MI6 involvement with Libya's fearsome Islamic Fighting Group, which is connected to one of bin Laden's trusted lieutenants, will be embarrassing to the Government, which described similar claims by renegade MI5 officer David Shayler as 'pure fantasy'... According to journalist Guillaume Dasquié and Jean-Charles Brisard, an adviser to French President Jacques Chirac, British and US intelligence agencies buried the fact that the arrest warrant had come from Libya and played down the threat. Five months after the warrant was issued, al-Qaeda killed more than 200 people in the truck bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania." Chirac’s adviser was Jean-Charles Brisard. Observer , ‘MI6 halted bid to arrest bin Laden’, 10 November 2002. "Mr Shayler joined MI5 in 1994, as part of the G9 section dealing with Libya. At a joint meeting on Libya with the SIS he heard of an agent known as Tunworth. Also at the meeting was PT16B, who controlled Tunworth and detailed Tunworth's collaboration with an extremist group in Libya trying to kill Colonel Gaddafi. However the CX Report, circulated to officals, GCHQ and the Foreign Office, did not say that Tunworth was actively involved in the plot. Mr Shayler later learned that as the assassination plot gathered pace, about £100,000 was given to Tunworth. 'Extremists killed' In February 1996 a bomb was planted under Gaddafi's motorcade, but it exploded under the wrong car. Several bodyguards were killed and in the ensuing gunbattle three extremists were reportedly killed.Mr Shayler spoke of his surprise when told of the alleged plot… No political authority Mr Urban obtained evidence that meetings did take place with PT16B, that Britian had advance knowledge of the attempt on Gaddafi's life and that Tunworth was a go-between with Islamic militant groups in Libya. However, Foreign Office ministers at the time of the affair said they had not given any authorisation for a murder attempt. Mr Urban concluded that one answer was that security services had acted without any political authority. He said that the BBC had obtained other evidence of SIS activities, but these were withheld for security reasons." BBC Online, ‘BBC screens Shayler interview’, 8 August 1998. "American officials have acknowledged over the years that the evidence that prompted President Clinton to order the missile strike on the Shifa plant was not as solid as first portrayed. Indeed, officials later said that there was no proof that the plant had been manufacturing or storing nerve gas, as initially suspected by the Americans, or had been linked to Osama bin Laden, who was a resident of Khartoum in the 1980's. But Washington still has not ruled out the possibility that El Shifa did, in fact, have some link to chemical weapons production." New York Times , ‘Look at the Place! Sudan Says, “Say Sorry,” but U.S. Won’t’, 20 October 2005. "WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia remains the world’s leading source of money for Al Qaeda and other extremist networks and has failed to take key steps requested by U.S. officials to stem the flow, the Bush administration’s top financial counter-terrorism official said Tuesday. Stuart A. Levey, a Treasury undersecretary, told a Senate committee that the Saudi government had not taken important steps to go after those who finance terrorist organizations or to prevent wealthy donors from bankrolling extremism through charitable contributions, sometimes unwittingly. “Saudi Arabia today remains the location where more money is going to terrorism, to Sunni terror groups and to the Taliban than any other place in the world,” Levey said under questioning." Los Angeles Times , ‘Saudis faulted for funding terror’, 2 April 2008. "Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan" US embassy cables: Hillary Clinton says Saudi Arabia “a critical source of terrorist funding”’, Guardian, 5 December 2010, WIKI Leaks "While the GOK has demonstrated a willingness to take action when attacks target Kuwait, it has been less inclined to take action against Kuwait-based financiers and facilitators plotting attacks outside of Kuwait. Al-Qa'ida and other groups continue to exploit Kuwait both as a source of funds and as a key transit point." US embassy cables: Hillary Clinton says Saudi Arabia “a critical source of terrorist funding”’, Guardian, 5 December 2010, WIKI Leaks "Qatar has adopted a largely passive approach to cooperating with the U.S. against terrorist financing. Qatar's overall level of CT cooperation with the U.S. is considered the worst in the region." a critical source of terrorist funding”’, Guardian, 5 December 2010, WIKI Leaks "Enter Qatar, a tiny but wealthy Gulf state with a penchant for coddling up to Islamist movements from Palestinian Hamas and Libyan Islamist militias to the Afghan Taliban. In March, Department of the Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen singled out Qatar as an especially "permissive jurisdiction" for terrorist financing. Qatari oversight is so lax, Cohen noted, that "several major Qatar-based fundraisers act as local representatives for larger terrorist fundraising networks that are based in Kuwait." Not wanting to expose sensitive intelligence, Cohen pointed to press reports that Qatar not only supports Hamas but also extremist groups operating in Syria. "To say the least," he concluded, "this threatens to aggravate an already volatile situation in a particularly dangerous and unwelcome manner." The Hill , ‘Qatar’s not-so-charitable record on terror finance’, 24 September 2014 "Wolfowitz said we [have] learned we can intervene militarily in the Middle East with impunity... We’ve got about five to ten years to take out these old Soviet “surrogate” regimes - Iraq, Syria, and the rest before the next superpower comes along to challenge us in the region." W. Clark, Don’t Wait for the Next War Paul Wolfowitz (Neocon Official) to General Wesley Clark "A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October" BBC Tuesday, 18 September, 2001, US 'planned attack on Taleban Al-Jazeera, ‘Headliner: Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai’, 12 November 2015. "A bizarre political statement by Saddam Hussein has earned Iraq a windfall of hundreds of million of euros. In October 2000 Iraq insisted on dumping the US dollar - 'the currency of the enemy' - for the more multilateral euro… Almost all of Iraq's oil exports under the United Nations oil-for-food programme have been paid in euros since 2001. Around 26 billion euros (£17.4bn) has been paid for 3.3 billion barrels of oil into an escrow account in New York… At the time of the change the UN issued a report saying that the move could cost Iraq up to £270 million. Independent experts questioned the value of buying into a plummeting currency. 'It was seen as economically bad because the entire global oil trade is conducted in dollars,' says Fadhil Chalabi, executive director of the Centre for Global Energy Studies." The Guardian Iraq nets handsome profit by dumping dollar for euro’, 16 February 2003. "However, I am afraid that there is such a person and he cannot be allowed access to those weapons. If we can possibly find the means of removing him, we will." Hansard Iraq Volume 322: debated on Thursday 17 December 1998 Tony Blair "In terms of complicity with 9/11, absolutely none," Tenet says. "It never made any sense. We could never verify that there was any Iraqi authority, direction and control, complicity with al Qaeda for 9/11 or any operational act against America. Period." "The president, in October of 2002, quote: 'We need to think about Saddam Hussein using al Qaeda to do his dirty work.' Is that what you're telling the president?" Pelley asks. "Well, we didn't believe al Qaeda was gonna do Saddam Hussein's dirty work," Tenet says. "January '03, the president again, [said] quote: 'Imagine those 19 hijackers this time armed by Saddam Hussein.' Is that what you're telling the president?" Pelley asks. "No," Tenet says." CBS News, ‘George Tenet: At the Centre of the Storm’, 25 April 2007. (Ex CIA Director) "by 2020 we could be dependent on imported energy for three quarters of our total primary energy needs… Of the worlds leading industrial nations only two - Canada and the UK are net energy exporters." Department of Trade and Industry, ‘Our Energy Future – Creating a Low Carbon Economy’, Energy White Paper, February 2003 Page 9 Foreward by Tony Blair "promote conditions for foreign direct investment through stable financial regimes, transparent legal frameworks, predictable domestic energy policies and predictable foreign investment terms. Promoting the liberalization of energy markets including through the World Trade Organization" Department of Trade and Industry, ‘Our Energy Future – Creating a Low Carbon Economy’, Energy White Paper, February 2003 Page 83 August 2013 Rabaa massacre - "(Cairo) – The systematic and widespread killing of at least 1,150 demonstrators by Egyptian security forces in July and August 2013 probably amounts to crimes against humanity, Human Rights Watch said today in a report based on a year-long investigation. In the August 14 dispersal of the Rab’a al-Adawiya sit-in alone, security forces, following a plan that envisioned several thousand deaths, killed a minimum of 817 people and more likely at least 1,000." August 12, 2014 Egypt: Rab’a Killings Likely Crimes against Humanity No Justice a Year Later for Series of Deadly Mass Attacks on Protesters. Human Rights Watch "In an television interview in Pakistan, Mr Kerry said: "The military was asked to intervene by millions and millions of people, all of whom were afraid of a descendance into chaos, into violence. "And the military did not take over, to the best of our judgement - so far. To run the country, there's a civilian government. In effect, they were restoring democracy." BBC Online, ‘Egypt army restoring democracy says John Kerry’, 1 August 2013. "Tony Blair has agreed to advise the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power in a military coup last year, as part of a programme funded by the United Arab Emirates that has promised to deliver huge "business opportunities" to those involved, the Guardian has learned… In April, Blair singled out the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists as the enemy that the west and east should unite against and hailed Morsi's overthrow as "the absolutely necessary rescue of a nation" Guardian , ‘Tony Blair to advise Egypt president Sisi on economic reform’, 2 July 2014. "The United Arab Emirates threatened to block billion-pound arms deals with the UK, stop inward investment and cut intelligence cooperation if David Cameron did not act against the Muslim Brotherhood, the Guardian has learned. Internal UAE government documents seen by the Guardian show that the crown prince of Abu Dhabi was briefed to complain to the prime minister about the Muslim Brotherhood in June 2012, when one of its leading members, Mohamed Morsi, became Egyptian president.In the briefing notes it was suggested that the crown prince demand Cameron rein in BBC coverage. In return, Cameron was to be offered lucrative arms and oil deals for British business which would have generated billions of pounds for the jet divisions of BAE Systems and allowed BP to bid to drill for hydrocarbons in the Gulf." Guardian , ‘UAE told UK: crack down on Muslim Brotherhood or lose arms deals’, 6 November 2015. "The leaders also discussed how they could boost trade co-operation between the two countries and the opportunities for British business to invest in Bahrain, particularly in the infrastructure sector." UK Prime Minister’s Office, ‘Statement on the PM’s meeting with King of Bahrain’, 12 December 2011 "According to sensitive information available to this these individuals, Qaddafi's government holds 143 tons of gold, and a similar amount in silver… This gold was accumulated prior to the current rebellion and was intended to be used to establish a pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar. This plan was designed to provide the Francophone African Countries with an alternative to the French.franc (CFA). (Source Comment: According to knowledgeable individuals this quantity of gold and silver is valued at more than $7 billion. French intelligence officers discovered this plan shortly after the current rebellion began, and this was one of the factors that influenced President Nicolas Sarkozy's decision to commit France to the attack on Libya. According to these individuals Sarkozy's plans are driven by the following issues: a. A desire to gain a greater share of Libya oil production, b. Increase French influence in North Africa, c. Improve his intemai political situation in France, d. Provide the French military with an opportunity to reassert its position in the world, e. Address the concern of his advisors over Qaddafi's long term plans to supplant France as the dominant power in Francophone Africa)" U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05779612 Date: 12/31/2015, Email Between Hillary Clinton And Sidney Blumenthal, April 2, 2011 Reuters, ‘Gulf states approve $5 billion aid to Morocco, Jordan’, 20 December 2011. Guardian , ‘Revealed: how Blair colluded with Gaddafi regime in secret’, 23 January 2015. "The episode and others like it, the officials said, reflect a Libyan culture rife with corruption, kickbacks, strong-arm tactics and political patronage since the United States reopened trade with Colonel Qaddafi’s government in 2004. As American and international oil companies, telecommunications firms and contractors moved into the Libyan market, they discovered that Colonel Qaddafi or his loyalists often sought to extract millions of dollars in “signing bonuses” and “consultancy contracts” — or insisted that the strongman’s sons get a piece of the action through shotgun partnerships." New York Times , ‘Shady dealings helped Gaddafi build fortune and regime’, 24 March 2011 "TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Russia agreed to cancel $4.5 billion of Libyan debt on Thursday, unlocking big military and civilian export orders in the face of fierce Western competition for the former outcast state's booming market." Reuters THU APR 17, 2008 Russia, Libya seal debt accord, eye arms deals "The rebels feel no loyalty to the truth in shaping their propaganda, claiming nonexistent battlefield victories, asserting they were still fighting in a key city days after it fell to Qaddafi forces, and making vastly inflated claims of his barbaric behavior." 21st of March 2011 NYT, Hopes for a Qaddafi Exit, and Worries of What Comes Next "Reporter: Is there any evidence he actually fired on his own people. Gates: we've seen the press reports but no confirmation. Mullen: That is correct absolutely no confirmation whatsoever" Department of Defense, ‘News Briefing with Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen from the Pentagon’, 1 March 2011 Min 13-15 "As mercenaries, reputedly from Chad and Mali fight for him, a million African refugees and thousands of African migrant workers stand the risk of being murdered for their tenuous link to him. One Turkish construction worker told the BBC "We had 70–80 people from Chad working for our company. They were cut dead with pruning shears and axes, attackers saying, ‘You are providing troops for Gaddafi.’ The Sudanese were also massacred. We saw it for ourselves.” 25 February 2011 BBC African viewpoint: Colonel's continent? Los Angeles Times , ‘Libyan rebels appear to take leaf from Kadafi’s playbook’, 24 March 2011 - CBS ‘AU: Libya rebels killing black workers’, 29 August 2011 - Daily Telegraph ‘Gaddafi’s ghost town after the loyalists retreat’, 11 September 2011 "A high ranking official on the National Libyan Council states that factions have developed within it. In part this reflects the cultivation by France in particular of clients among the rebels. General Abdelfateh Younis is the leading figure closest to the French, who are believed to have made payments of an unknown amount to him. Younis has told others on the NLC that the French have promised they will provide military trainers and arms. So far the men and materiel have not made an appearance. Instead, a few "risk assessment analysts" wielding clipboards have come and gone. Jabril, Jalil and others are impatient. It is understood that France has clear economic interests at stake. Sarkozy's occasional emissary, the intellectual self-promoter Bernard Henri-Levy, is considered by those in the NLC who have dealt with him as a semi-useful, semi joke figure." U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05779612 Date: 12/31/2015, Email Between Hillary Clinton And Sidney Blumenthal, April 2, 2011 "Reporter: Do you have any requests from rebel leaders for airstrikes from Nato. Have you heard any of that? Gates: No" Department of Defense, ‘News Briefing with Secretary Gates and Admiral Mullen from the Pentagon’, 1 March 2011 Min 15:45 "The group's capture is a major embarrassment to the British government and could potentially undermine the rebels' claims that the revolution, which has rippled through Libya for the past fortnight, has had solely domestic roots. Officials in Benghazi's organising committee, which is trying to organise civilian and military affairs, criticised the British team's decision to make a clandestine entry to the country, claiming it had fuelled doubts about their intentions." Guardian , ‘SAS and MI6 officers released by Libya’s rebel commanders’, 7 March 2011 "There is no evidence that Libyan military forces are being given Viagra and engaging in systematic rape against women in rebel areas, US military and intelligence officials told NBC News on Friday. Diplomats said Thursday that US Ambassador Susan Rice told a closed-door meeting of officials at the UN that the Libyan military is using rape as a weapon in the war with the rebels and some had been issued the anti-impotency drug. She reportedly offered no evidence to backup the claim. While rape has been a weapon of choice in many other African conflicts, the US officials say they've seen no such reports out of Libya. Several U.N. diplomats who attended the closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that Rice raised the Viagra issue" NBC, ‘US Intel: no evidence of Viagra as weapon in Libya’, 30 April 2011 Guardian , ‘Libyan revolutionary council rejects African Union’s peace initiative’, 11 April 2011. "RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AFNS) -- Airmen from Qatar, the newest member to the coalition supporting the enforcement of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, flew their first operational sortie March 25 in support of Operation Odyssey Dawn. A Qatari Emiri Air Force Mirage 2000-5 flew alongside a French Mirage 2000-5 as part of a formation patrolling one sector of the airspace to prevent the Moammar Gadhafi regime from attacking Libyan citizens. Qatar officials deployed six Mirages and two C-17As to Europe supporting the Franco-Qatari detachment and delivering humanitarian assistance as part of their participation in the operation focused on protecting the Libyan people. Qatar joins the growing coalition enforcing the no-fly zone over Libya. The other nations directly involved in enforcing the no-fly zone are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States. United Arab Emirates officials announced on March 24 intention to join the coalition, but is not yet flying aircraft." Joint Task Force Odyssey Dawn Public Affairs, ‘New coalition member flies first sortie enforcing no-fly zone over Libya’, 25 March 2011. "The Obama administration secretly gave its blessing to arms shipments to Libyan rebels from Qatar last year, but American officials later grew alarmed as evidence grew that Qatar was turning some of the weapons over to Islamic militants, according to United States officials and foreign diplomats… The United States, which had only small numbers of C.I.A. officers in Libya during the tumult of the rebellion, provided little oversight of the arms shipments. Within weeks of endorsing Qatar’s plan to send weapons there in spring 2011, the White House began receiving reports that they were going to Islamic militant groups. They were “more antidemocratic, more hard-line, closer to an extreme version of Islam” than the main rebel alliance in Libya, said a former Defense Department official." New York Times , ‘US-Approved Arms for Libya Rebels Fell into Jihadis’ Hands’, 5 December 2012 "WASHINGTON — The Central Intelligence Agency has inserted clandestine operatives into Libya to gather intelligence for military airstrikes and to contact and vet the beleaguered rebels battling Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces, according to American officials. While President Obama has insisted that no American military ground troops participate in the Libyan campaign, small groups of C.I.A. operatives have been working in Libya for several weeks as part of a shadow force of Westerners that the Obama administration hopes can help bleed Colonel Qaddafi’s military, the officials said. In addition to the C.I.A. presence, composed of an unknown number of Americans who had worked at the spy agency’s station in Tripoli and others who arrived more recently, current and former British officials said that dozens of British special forces and MI6 intelligence officers are working inside Libya. The British operatives have been directing airstrikes from British jets and gathering intelligence about the whereabouts of Libyan government tank columns, artillery pieces and missile installations, the officials said." New York Times , ‘CIA Agents in Libya Aid Airstrikes and Meet Rebels’, 30 March 2011. "An extremely sensitive source added that the rebels are receiving direct assistance and training from a small number of Egyptian Special Forces units, while French and British Special Operations troops are working out of bases in Egypt, along the Libyan border. These troops are overseeing the transfer of weapons and supplies to the rebels… Sarkozy is also concerned about continuing reports that radical/terrorist groups such as the Libyan Fighting Groups and Al Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) are infiltrating the NLC and its military command. Accordingly, he asked sociologist who has long established ties to Israel, Syria, and other nations in the Middle East, to use his contacts to determine the level of influence AQIM and other. terrorist groups have inside of the NLC. Sarkozy also asked for reports setting out a clear picture of the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the rebel leadership." Department of State, ‘F-2014–20439 Doc No. C05782401’, 27 March 2011. March 27, 2011 For: Hillary From: Sid Re: Lots of new intel; Libyan army possibly on verge of collapse "Qatar has admitted for the first time that it sent hundreds of troops to support the Libyan rebels who overthrew Muammar Gaddafi's regime. The Gulf state had previously acknowledged only that its air force took part in Nato-led attacks. The revelation came as Qatar hosted a conference on the post-Gaddafi era that was attended by the leader of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who described the Qataris as having planned the battles that paved the way for victory." Qatar admits sending hundreds of troops to support Libya rebels’, 26 October 2011 "Qatar has recognised Libya’s rebel council as the legitimate representatives of the Libyan people, a day after the group announced an oil contract with the Gulf state. The move on Monday makes Qatar only the second country to formally recognise the Libyan rebel council, but has been backed by the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC)... “We contacted the oil company of Qatar and thankfully they agreed to take all the oil that we wish to export and market this oil for us,” said Ali Tarhouni, a rebel official in charge of economic, financial and oil matters." Al-Jazeera, ‘Qatar recognises Libyan rebels after oil deal’, 28 March 2011. "The government has admitted that the international development minister, Alan Duncan, took part in meetings between officials operating a Whitehall cell to control the Libyan oil market and Vitol – a company for which Duncan has previously acted as a consultant. The "Libyan oil cell" involved a group of officials working in the Foreign Office since May waging a quiet campaign against Muammar Gaddafi's regime by controlling the flow of oil in the country." Guardian , ‘Government admits Alan Duncan’s links to company in Libyan oil cell’, 1 September 2011 "The starting pistol for British firms to pursue contracts in Libya has been fired by the new defence secretary, Philip Hammond, who urged companies to "pack their suitcases" and head there to secure reconstruction contracts. As Nato announced that it plans to wind up operations in Libya, Hammond said that great care had been taken during the campaign to avoid destroying critical infrastructure. "Libya is a relatively wealthy country with oil reserves, and I expect there will be opportunities for British and other companies to get involved in the reconstruction of Libya," he told the BBC in an interview. "I would expect British companies, even British sales directors, [to be] packing their suitcases and looking to get out to Libya and take part in the reconstruction of that country as soon as they can," said Hammond, who replaced Liam Fox as defence secretary a week ago. He added that after a "hugely successful" British mission in Libya, Britain now needed "to support the Libyans to turn the liberation of their country into a successful stabilisation so that Libya can be a beacon of prosperity and democracy in north Africa going forward… The success of British contractors in the country – which could see billions of pounds spent on reconstruction over the next decade – will be seen as a huge victory for prime minister David Cameron, who visited Tripoli and NTC members last month, along with Nicolas Sarkozy." Guardian , ‘British firms urged to pack suitcases in rush for Libya business’, 21 October 2011. "The French newspaper Liberation reported this week that Libyan rebels had sent a letter in April offering France control over 35 percent of Libya's oil in exchange for French support for the insurgents. But transitional council officials and France's foreign minister denied any such offer." CBS, ‘Foreign oil, gas firms returning to Libya’, 2 September 2011. "During mid-September 2011 French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister David Cameron traveled to Tripoli to meet with and express support for the leaders of the new government of Libya under the National Transitional Council (NTC). According to knowledgeable individuals, as part of this effort, the two leaders, in private conversations, also intend to press the leaders of the NTC to reward their early support for the rebellion against Muammar al Qaddafi. Sarkozy and Cameron expect this recognition to be tangible, in the form of favorable contracts for French and British energy companies looking to play a major role in the Libyan oil industry. According to this source, Sarkozy feels, quite strongly, that without French support there would have been no revolution and that the NTC government must demonstrate that it realizes this fact. For his part, Cameron appears most concerned that despite British support for the rebels during the fighting, certain members of the NTC remain focused on the fact that the British government and oil industry had good relations with the Qaddafi regime, particularly the firm British Petroleum (BP). At the same time, this source indicates that the government of France is carrying out a concerted program of private and public diplomacy to press the new/transitional government of Libya to reserve as much as 35% of Libya's oil related industry for French firms, particularly the major French energy company TOTAL. Sources with access to the highest levels of Libya's ruling NTC, as well as senior advisors to Sarkozy, stated in strict confidence that while much of this pressure is being exerted at very senior diplomatic and political levels, the French external intelligence service (Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure/General Directorate for External Security --DGSE) is using sources with influence over the NTC to press the French position. At present, as NTC leaders are consolidating their positions in Tripoli, they are attempting to balance the interests of the new government and the Libyan people against the need to recognize the support provided to them by France and other major powers in their struggle with Muammar al Qaddafi… (Source Comment: NTC President Jalil continues to favor awarding foreign business agreements on a case by case basis, and has stated privately that he is reluctant to support entering into a comprehensive agreement of any kind with France, or any other country or entity. He is, however, prepared to favor firms from France, the United Kingdom, and the United States in specific cases, based on the support they provided for the NTC during the rebellion. He and his advisors are somewhat hostile toward the position of the Italian government and the Italian energy firm ENI, based on their past support for Qaddafi and their caution in coming to terms with the NTC before the fall of the previous government. Jalil harbors similar sentiments toward the UK government and British Petroleum (BP) but does recognize that they moved away from Qaddafi to support the NTC after France began active involvement in the Libyan uprising. Interestingly, although Jalil and Prime Minister Mahmoud Jebril have begun a low key power struggle within the NTC, they agree on these points regarding foreign business contracts. A separate source added that the French government in general and the DGSE in particular privately harbor a degree of mistrust toward Jalil based on intelligence indicating that he was responsible for the assassination of NTC military commander General Abdul Fatah Younes in July 2011. Younes was extremely well connected to the DGSE and the French military.) In the opinion of these sources the NTC leadership is more comfortable dealing with large private firms that are, in turn, well connected to friendly governments. To this end, and in addition to the GUNVOR and TOTAL contracts, the NTC has signed agreements with the Swiss energy firm GLENCORE, as well as VITOL of Qatar to service and ship oil as the fighting dies down across the country. These sources add that both firms provided active support to the NTC during the rebellion and are held in high regard by Jalil, Jabril and the rest of the leadership. During early September 2011 sources with excellent access to the highest levels of major Western European governments stated in confidence that, despite the stepped up fighting in recent weeks, there has been an unusually low level of damage to the infrastructure of the Libyan oil industry. This is true even in the western portion of the country and around town of Sirte, which remained under the control of forces loyal to Qaddafi. The NTC is already shipping approximately 300mm barrels of oil per day, primarily via GLENCORE and VITOL. The level of production is expected to increase when the fighting begins to die down in those areas still loyal to Qaddafi" UNCLASSIFIED U.S. Department of State Case No. F-2014-20439 Doc No. C05788788 Date: 01/07/2016 September 16, 2011 For: Hillary From: Sid Re: France, UK, et al, jockeying in Libya/oil "DARNA, Libya—Two former Afghan Mujahedeen and a six-year detainee at Guantanamo Bay have stepped to the fore of this city's military campaign, training new recruits for the front and to protect the city from infiltrators loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi. The presence of Islamists like these amid the opposition has raised concerns, among some fellow rebels as well as their Western allies, that the goal of some Libyan fighters in battling Col. Gadhafi is to propagate Islamist extremism." Wall Street Journal , ‘Ex-Mujahedeen Help Lead Libyan Rebels’, 2 April 2011 "Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Abdel-Hakim al-Hasidi, the Libyan rebel leader, has said jihadists who fought against allied troops in Iraq are on the front lines of the battle against Muammar Gaddafi's regime. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore, Mr al-Hasidi admitted that he had recruited "around 25" men from the Derna area in eastern Libya to fight against coalition troops in Iraq. Some of them, he said, are "today are on the front lines in Adjabiya". Mr al-Hasidi insisted his fighters "are patriots and good Muslims, not terrorists," but added that the "members of al-Qaeda are also good Muslims and are fighting against the invader" Daily Telegraph , ‘Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links’, 25 March 2011 Khalifa Haftar New York Times , ‘350 Libyans Trained to Oust Qaddafi Are to Come to US’, 17 May 1991 "Many Libyans believe that the unrest is part of a plan to overthrow Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and that its leader is Col. Khalifa Haftar, of a contra-style group based in the United States called the Libyan National Army, the travelers said." UNREST REPORTED IN EASTERN LIBYA The Washington Post 1996 “The key thing is to put pressure on the regional powers who really hold the tap of weapons and money,” Cordone said. “Unfortunately there’s plenty of money in Libya so that’s difficult leverage to use. And I know efforts are being made in that respect as well.” He did not specify which countries were supplying weapons, but said that there were four countries that might be able to put political pressure on either side. “Everybody knows that the key countries that have influence on Libya’s factions are on one side the (United Arab) Emirates and Egypt and on the other side Qatar and to some extent Turkey,” he said. “These guys, if they really put pressure on the Tobruk parliament or on the other side to come to an agreement, that would give greater chance of achieving that agreement.” Reuters, ‘UN tells backers of Libya’s rival sides to pressure them for peace’, 25 March 2015. “I am going to tell you something. I was in England two years before the violence in Syria on other business. I met with top British officials, who confessed to me, that they were preparing something in Syria… This was in Britain not in America. Britain was organizing an invasion of rebels into Syria. They even asked me, although I was no longer Minister of Foreign Affairs, if I would like to participate. Naturally, I refused, I said I am French, that does not interest me… This operation goes way back. It was prepared, preconceived and planned… in the region it is important to know that this Syrian regime has a very anti-Israeli stance” Roland Dumas (Ex French Minister), “Top British Officials Confessed to Syria War Plans Two Years before Arab Spring”’,16 June 2013, video "The ministry might find it an opportunity to exchange support with the United Kingdom, where the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would support the candidacy of the United Kingdom to the membership of the council for the period 2014-2015 in exchange for the support of the United Kingdom to the candidacy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Independent , ‘UK helped Saudi Arabia get UN human rights role through secret deal to exchange votes, leaked documents suggest’, 30 September 2015. "With help from the C.I.A., Arab governments and Turkey have sharply increased their military aid to Syria’s opposition fighters in recent months, expanding a secret airlift of arms and equipment for the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad , according to air traffic data, interviews with officials in several countries and the accounts of rebel commanders. The airlift, which began on a small scale in early 2012 and continued intermittently through last fall, expanded into a steady and much heavier flow late last year, the data shows. It has grown to include more than 160 military cargo flights by Jordanian, Saudi and Qatari military-style cargo planes landing at Esenboga Airport near Ankara, and, to a lesser degree, at other Turkish and Jordanian airports. As it evolved, the airlift correlated with shifts in the war within Syria, as rebels drove Syria’s army from territory by the middle of last year. And even as the Obama administration has publicly refused to give more than “nonlethal” aid to the rebels, the involvement of the C.I.A. in the arms shipments — albeit mostly in a consultative role, American officials say — has shown that the United States is more willing to help its Arab allies support the lethal side of the civil war… From offices at secret locations, American intelligence officers have helped the Arab governments shop for weapons, including a large procurement from Croatia, and have vetted rebel commanders and groups to determine who should receive the weapons as they arrive, according to American officials speaking on the condition of anonymity. The C.I.A. declined to comment on the shipments or its role in them. . . ." New York Times , ‘Arms Airlift to Syria Rebels Expands, With Aid from CIA’, 24 March 2013 "American officials have been trying to understand why hard-line Islamists have received the lion’s share of the arms shipped to the Syrian opposition through the shadowy pipeline with roots in Qatar, and, to a lesser degree, Saudi Arabia. The officials, voicing frustration, say there is no central clearinghouse for the shipments, and no effective way of vetting the groups that ultimately receive them" New York Times , ‘Rebel Arms Flow Is Said to Benefit Jihadists in Syria’, 14 October 2012. "Syria is [Qatar’s] backyard, and they have their own interests they are pursuing. Said one administration official" New York Times , ‘Taking Outsize Role in Syria, Qatar Funnels Arms to Rebels’, 29 June 2013. New York Times , ‘Private Donors’ Funds Add Wild Card to War in Syria’, 12 November 2013. "all the Gulf intelligence agencies are competing in Syria and everyone is trying to get the lion’s share of the Syrian revolution" New York Times , ‘Qatar’s Support of Islamists Alienates Allies Near and Far’, 7 September 2014 "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation. Q So you're confident it’s somehow under -- it's safe? THE PRESIDENT: In a situation this volatile, I wouldn’t say that I am absolutely confident. What I’m saying is we’re monitoring that situation very carefully. We have put together a range of contingency plans. We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly." August 20, 2012 Remarks by the President to the White House Press Corps "The Qatari prime minister also said Syrian President Bashar Assad is testing the international community and crossing red lines, starting with Scud missile attacks on his people. You know we put a lot of red lines. Scud, he used Scud. Chemicals, he used chemicals. And there is evidence," Thani said. "But he used it in pockets, small pockets. He wants to try your reaction. No reaction? He will escalate." And the longer the conflict in Syria drags on, the Qatari prime minister warned, the more the extremists will gain ground."The United States has to do more," he said. "I believe that if we stopped this one year ago, we will not see the bad people you are talking about." But while Qatar is asking the Obama administration to do more, Wittes of the Brookings Institution says the White House had its own concerns to raise about various funding streams for the Syrian opposition. "There seems to be a tendency by different actors to back different factions on the ground in a way that exacerbates conflict between the elements of the Syrian opposition, when what the United States is very focused on right now is trying to bring that opposition together," she says." NPR, ‘US Wary as Qatar Ramps Up Support of Syrian Rebels’, 26 April 2013 "Unidentified snipers have opened fire on a convoy of UN experts investigating suspected chemical weapons attacks in Syria's capital, the UN has said. One car was shot at "multiple times", forcing the convoy to turn back… The US said there was little doubt that Syrian forces used chemical weapons in the attacks, which reportedly killed more than 300 people in rebel-held areas. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad dismissed the accusation as "an insult to common sense" and warned the US against military intervention. "If someone is dreaming of making Syria a puppet of the West, then this will not happen," A year ago, US President Barack Obama said the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government would be "a red line" that could trigger US military action. Washington has recently bolstered its naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, and military leaders from the US, UK and their allies are meeting in Jordan. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC that action could be taken without UN approval if there was "great humanitarian need" in Syria. His French counterpart Laurent Fabius suggested the UN Security Council could be bypassed "in certain circumstances" BBC Online, ‘Syria crisis: UN inspectors’ convoy hit by sniper fire’, 26 August 2013 "Three days before the rockets fell outside Damascus, a team of Syrian specialists gathered in the northern suburb of Adra for a task that U.S. officials say had become routine in the third year of the country’s civil conflict: filling warheads with deadly chemicals to kill Syrian rebels… Unknown to Syrian officials, U.S. spy agencies recorded each step in the alleged chemical attack, from the extensive preparations to the launching of rockets to the after-action assessments by Syrian officials. Those records and intercepts would become the core of the Obama administration’s evidentiary case linking the Syrian government to what one official called an “indiscriminate, inconceivable horror” — the use of outlawed toxins to kill nearly 1,500 civilians, including at least 426 children… While unusually detailed, the assessment does not include photographs, recordings or other hard evidence to support its claims. Nor does it offer proof to back up the administration’s assertion that top-ranking Syrian officials — possibly including President Bashar al-Assad — were complicit in the attack." Washington Post ‘More than 1,400 killed in Syrian chemical weapons attack, US says’, 30 August 2013. "German troops involved in a coalition training mission in Iraq have reported that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) fighters have used chemical weapons on a Kurdish militia. The German commanders, who have been mentoring the Kurds on Isil’s front lines in northern Iraq, sent an urgent message to the German defence ministry in Berlin after hearing that the Kurds had been attacked on Wednesday. The Kurdish fighters, whose militia is known as the Peshmerga, told the Germans that some had suffered severe burns to their bodies, while others had difficulty breathing." Daily Telegraph , ‘ISIL used chemical weapons against Kurds in Iraq, say German troops’, 14 August 2015. "There is a growing belief within the US government that the Islamic State militant group is making and using crude chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria, a US official has told the BBC. The US has identified at least four occasions on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border where IS has used mustard agents, the official said." BBC Online, ‘US official: IS making and using chemical weapons in Iraq and Syria’, 11 September 2015. "A team of four to six rebels will each be given a Toyota Hi-Lux pickup, outfitted with a machine gun, communications gear and Global Positioning System trackers enabling them to call in airstrikes. The fighters will also be given mortars, but the administration hasn’t decided whether to provide the teams with more sophisticated antitank weapons" Wall Street Journal , ‘US to Give Some Syria Rebels Ability to Call Airstrikes’, 17 February 2015. "The aim of the group is to replace the regime with an Islamic state following Salafi principles. Jabhat al-Nusra has taken responsibility for several suicide attacks in civilian neighbourhoods and is viewed by Al-Qaeda as its favored Salafi-jihadi group. It portrays itself as the Sunni community’s defender against the “Alawite enemy” and the “Shiite agents”. Its fighters have operated many times alongside FSA formations on the battlefield earning public praise from prominent rebel leaders and local activists… Many Salafis are believed to fight also within FSA units but these rebel formations portray the uprising as a national struggle against an oppressive dictatorship rather than as a Sunni jihad against an Alawite regime. At the same time differences between the FSA and independent Salafi groups (including Jabhat al-Nusra) have not thwarted their collaboration in the battlefield. As an International Crisis Group report underlines: “mainstream rebel groups eager for more effective weapons and tactics likely find that benefits of such collaboration outweigh any long-term political and ideological concerns, particularly as prospects for Western military intervention seem remote” (International Crisis Group, 2012)." European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 16-17 "NBC News on Wednesday revised its account of the 2012 kidnapping of its chief foreign correspondent, Richard Engel, saying it was likely that Mr. Engel and his reporting team had been abducted by a Sunni militant group, not forces affiliated with the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria. In a statement posted on the NBC News website Wednesday evening, Mr. Engel said that a review of the episode — prompted by reporting from The New York Times — had led him to conclude that “the group that kidnapped us was Sunni, not Shia.” He also wrote that the abductors had “put on an elaborate ruse to convince us they were Shiite shabiha militiamen.” New York Times , ‘NBC News Alters Account of Correspondent’s Kidnapping in Syria’, 15 April 2015 "The British government is waging information warfare in Syria by funding media operations for some rebel fighting groups, in the foreign front of what David Cameron has called “the propaganda war” against Islamic State.The campaign aims to boost the reputation of what the government calls the “moderate armed opposition”, a complex and shifting alliance of armed factions.Deciding which factions to support is risky for the government because many groups have become increasingly extremist as the five-year civil war grinds on. Contractors hired by the Foreign Office but overseen by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) produce videos, photos, military reports, radio broadcasts, print products and social media posts branded with the logos of fighting groups, and effectively run a press office for opposition fighters.Materials are circulated in the Arabic broadcast media and posted online with no indication of British government involvement. The UK’s propaganda effort for the Syrian armed opposition began after the government failed to persuade parliament to support military action against the Assad regime. In autumn 2013, the UK embarked on behind-the-scenes work to influence the course of the war by shaping perceptions of opposition fighters. Contract documents seen by the Guardian show the government appears to view the project as a way to maintain a foothold in the country until there can be greater British military involvement, offering “the capability to expand back into the strategic space as and when the opportunity arises”. Through its Conflict and Stability Fund the government is spending £2.4m on private contractors working from Istanbul to deliver “strategic communications and media operations support to the Syrian moderate armed opposition” (MAO). The contract is part of a broader propaganda effort focused on Syria, with other elements intended to promote “the moderate values of the revolution” and help mould a Syrian sense of national identity that will reject both the Assad regime and Isis." Guardian , ‘How Britain funds the propaganda war against ISIS in Syria’, 3 May 2016; "The prosecution of a Swedish national accused of terrorist activities in Syria has collapsed at the Old Bailey after it became clear Britain’s security and intelligence agencies would have been deeply embarrassed had a trial gone ahead, the Guardian can reveal. His lawyers argued that British intelligence agencies were supporting the same Syrian opposition groups as he was, and were party to a secret operation providing weapons and non-lethal help to the groups, including the Free Syrian Army." Guardian , ‘Terror trial collapses after fears of deep embarrassment to security services’, 1 June 2015. Traditional terrorist financing sources have also helped fuel the ongoing conflict in Syria. Over the past few years, charitable fundraising networks in the Gulf have collected hundreds of millions of dollars through regular fundraising events held at homes or mosques and through social media pleas. These networks then use couriers, wire transfers, hawalas, and exchange houses to move those funds to Syria, often to extremists… But a number of fundraisers operating in more permissive jurisdictions – particularly in Kuwait and Qatar – are soliciting donations to fund extremist insurgents, not to meet legitimate humanitarian needs. The recipients of these funds are often terrorist groups, including al-Qa’ida’s Syrian affiliate, al-Nusrah Front, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the group formerly known as al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI). The influx of funds to these groups in Syria poses a serious challenge. Apart from their highly destabilizing role in the ongoing conflict there, these well-funded and well-equipped groups may soon turn their attention to attacks outside of Syria, particularly as scores of newly radicalized and freshly trained foreign recruits return from Syria to their home countries." Department of the Treasury, ‘Remarks of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen before the Center for a New American Security on Confronting New Threats in Terrorist Financing’, 4 March 2014 But there are countries in the region that could be doing much more. Our ally Kuwait has become the epicenter of fundraising for terrorist groups in Syria. A number of Kuwaiti fundraisers exploit the charitable impulses of unwitting donors by soliciting humanitarian donations from both inside and outside the country, cloaking their efforts in humanitarian garb, but diverting those funds to extremist groups in Syria. Meanwhile, donors who already harbor sympathies for Syrian extremists have found in Kuwait fundraisers who openly advertise their ability to move funds to fighters in Syria… There have been some encouraging conversations recently, but the appointment of Nayef al-Ajmi to be both Minister of Justice and Minister of Islamic Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs is a step in the wrong direction. Al-Ajmi has a history of promoting jihad in Syria. In fact, his image has been featured on fundraising posters for a prominent al-Nusrah Front financier. And following his appointment, the Ministry of Awqaf announced it would allow non-profit organizations and charities to collect donations for the Syrian people at Kuwaiti mosques, a measure we believe can be easily exploited by Kuwait-based terrorist fundraisers." Department of the Treasury, ‘Remarks of Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen before the Center for a New American Security on Confronting New Threats in Terrorist Financing’, 4 March 2014 "BEIRUT (Reuters) - Leaders of Syria's Nusra Front are considering cutting their links with al Qaeda to form a new entity backed by some Gulf states trying to topple President Bashar al-Assad, sources said. Sources within and close to Nusra said that Qatar, which enjoys good relations with the group, is encouraging the group to go ahead with the move, which would give Nusra a boost in funding." Reuters, ‘Insight: Syria’s Nusra Front may leave Qaeda to form new entity’, 4 February 2015 "Syria's killing of a top commander of the Nusra Front comes at a time when the jihadist group is rethinking its allegiance to al-Qaeda, in a move allegedly partly engineered by Qatar.It has been frequently claimed that Qatar has relatively close ties, probably through intermediaries, with the Nusra Front. The Qatar foreign ministry has denied this, and proof is, unsurprisingly, difficult to find. But such an accusation has increasingly cropped up, particularly in terms of Qatar's prolific record of resolving hostage situations in Syria. Thirteen Greek orthodox nuns, an American journalist, and 45 Fijian peacekeepers are just some who have been released in the last 18 months with Qatar's and, it appears, often the Nusra Front's help." BBC Online, ‘Is Qatar bringing the Nusra Front in from the cold?’, 6 March 2015 Reuters, ‘US signs agreement for $11 billion arms sale to Qatar’, 14 July 2014 The White Helmets (Syria Civil Defence) "the White Helmets, who survive on modest financing from the United States, Britain and private donors… The White Helmets, also known as the Syrian Civil Defense, are campaigning to pressure President Assad to stop dropping so-called barrel bombs, which are full of shrapnel and take a tremendous toll on civilians. They argue that the West is so focused on the Islamic State that it is ignoring the far greater killing by Assad. “We can only ease the suffering of our people,” says Raed Saleh, the chief of the White Helmets. “Only you in the international community can end it.”" New York Times , ‘Unpaid, Unarmed Lifesavers in Syria’, 14 February 2015 “People are so used to it, they know from the sound,” said Hatem Abu Marwan, 29, a rescue worker with the White Helmets civil defense organization, a note of exasperation creeping into his voice when asked to explain. “We know the sound of a helicopter that goes to a low height and drops a barrel. Nobody has aircraft except the regime… Frustrated with the Security Council’s impasse over the issue, rescue workers and doctors are now working to bring evidence of chlorine gas attacks directly to the French, British and American governments for testing. The aim is to give states a solid basis for action against the attacks, in the Security Council or through quieter diplomatic pressure, said James Le Mesurier, the British director of a nonprofit group, Mayday Rescue, that trains and equips the White Helmets, Syrian volunteers supported by the British, Danish and Dutch governments… They have plenty of cases to work with. Since March 16, in Idlib alone, the White Helmets have documented 14 attacks with 26 suspected chlorine barrels that sickened scores of people." New York Times , ‘Syria Is Using Chemical Weapons Again, Rescue Workers Say’, 6 May 2015 New York Times , ‘Airstrikes Kill Rescue Worker and Family of 5 in Syria’, 3 October 2015 "A key focus of the visit was the conflict in Syria, with the Foreign Secretary starting the trip in Istanbul where he met the Syrian Opposition and members of the Syria Civil Defence. Commonly known as the White Helmets, the Civil Defence is the most successful rescue organisation working in opposition-controlled areas of Syria." Foreign Secretary on first official visit to Turkey From: Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP 27 September 2016 ''I believe that what we should try to do is not let them think that we are going to give up and go away or lighten up,'' Admiral Boyce said in an interview. ''The squeeze will carry on until the people of the country themselves recognize that this is going to go on until they get the leadership changed.'' A NATION CHALLENGED: THE STRATEGY; ALLIES PREPARING FOR A LONG FIGHT AS TALIBAN DIG IN NYT Oct. 28, 2001 Admiral Michael Boyce "And many did not go far before making the link between President Sall's recent announcement that Saudi Arabia would invest heavily in the government development programme known as Programme Senegal Emergent 2035 (PSE), and the decision to send troops to the kingdom. A well-known columnist went as far as saying that "the blood of the jambars will be funding the PSE". Senegal, a majority Sunni Muslim country, is the only non-Arabic country to join the Saudi-led coalition." BBC Online, ‘Why is Senegal sending troops to Saudi Arabia?’, 5 May 2015 "It remains our assessment that Iran does not exert command and control over the Houthis in Yemen" April 2015, the United States National Security Council spokesperson Bernadette Meehan Testimony March 9, 2017 Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Resolving the Conflict in Yemen: U.S. Interests, Risks, and Policy "Local militias backed by Saudi Arabia, special forces from the United Arab Emirates and al Qaeda militants all fought on the same side this week to wrest back control over most of Yemen’s second city, Aden, from pro-Iranian Houthi rebels, according to local residents and Houthi forces… Meanwhile, Saudi-backed militias are spearheading efforts to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate the government that the rebels drove into exile in neighboring Saudi Arabia. But they have turned to Yemen-based al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, for help, according to local residents and a senior Western diplomat. This puts the U.S.-allied Gulf kingdom on the same side as one of the world’s most notorious extremist groups. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman couldn’t be reached for comment… I’m confused over who has captured Aden, seeing al Qaeda flags flying in some parts [of the city] and on dozens of armored vehicles,” said a resident. Another resident living in Crater, a neighborhood in Aden just south of the city’s airport, described the scene similarly. “We were surprised to see some fighters raising al Qaeda flags and dragging some rebels on the streets of Crater tonight,” said the second resident." Wall Street Journal , ‘Al-Qaeda Fights on Same Side as Saudi-Backed Militias in Yemen’, 16 July 2015. "An example of an extreme version of the change described above would be the creation of new Islamic states that impose Sharia Law with outright support to terrorism. A powerful Sunni Islamic state may prove even more troublesome than Iran, especially in its support for SJ. The more militarily and economically powerful the state, the more potentially dangerous the situation would be… If regional Arab governments are strengthening their institutions and delivering better services to their citizens, this approach would be more feasible because the national jihadists might sense that time was not on their side and that cutting a deal with the United States to sever all links with transnational jihadists might be their best chance of retaining some influence. By the same reasoning, this trajectory would also become more feasible if public opinion in the Arab and Muslim worlds were to swing heavily against violent jihad. Here too the national jihadists might sense time turning against them and begin to contemplate policies that would move them away from the transnational jihadists… the United States as an actor with genuine political capital to draw on would be seen by many of the national jihadist groups as a powerful force that could deliver some benefits to those groups in exchange for reductions, or perhaps cessation, of terrorist activity in their respective countries. In some cases, U.S. diplomacy could secure amnesty for former jihadists; in others it could work to bring former jihadists into their national political processes as a peaceful political party. Without much legitimacy, the United States would find it difficult to move into the trajectory.In this trajectory, the decision to focus on the transnational jihadists would be the result of evidence that al-Qaeda and its affiliates pose a much greater threat to international security than the sum of that posed by local jihadist group" RAND Corporation, ‘Unfolding the Future of the Long War: Motivations, Prospects, and Implications for the US Army’, RAND Arroyo Center, 2008 Page 48,49,68 "Divide and Rule would be the obvious strategy choice for the “Narrow-ing of Threat” trajectory. As various nationalist jihadist groups turned against al-Qaeda and its affiliates, the United States and its local allies could use the nationalist jihadists to launch proxy IO campaigns to discredit the transnational jihadists in the eyes of the local populace. In some instances, the United States and the host nation could even help the nationalist jihadists execute a military campaign to stamp out al-Qaeda elements that are present locally." RAND Corporation, ‘Unfolding the Future of the Long War: Motivations, Prospects, and Implications for the US Army’, RAND Arroyo Center, 2008 Page 104 "Divide and Rule at the strategic level would be an inexpensive way of buying time for the United States and its allies until the United States can return its attention fully to the long war. In order to compensate for the diversion of resources to the new geopolitical crises unfolding elsewhere in the world, the United States could choose to use diplomacy and economic incentives to attempt to create divisions in the jihadist camp. Today in Iraq such a strategy is being used at the tactical level, as the United States now forms temporary alliances with nationalist insurgent groups that it has been fighting for four years by exploiting the common threat that al-Qaeda now poses to both parties and providing carrots in the form of weapons and cash. In the past, these nationalists have cooperated with al-Qaeda against U.S. forces. The Divide and Rule strategy may not provide quick results, but could provide enough room for U.S. forces to reduce their effort in one region to focus on another." RAND Corporation, ‘Unfolding the Future of the Long War: Motivations, Prospects, and Implications for the US Army’, RAND Arroyo Center, 2008 Page 113 “But as time went on, every time there was a problem in the camp, he was at the centre of it,” Abu Ahmed recalled. “He wanted to be the head of the prison – and when I look back now, he was using a policy of conquer and divide to get what he wanted, which was status. And it worked.” By December 2004, Baghdadi was deemed by his jailers to pose no further risk and his release was authorised. “He was respected very much by the US army,” Abu Ahmed said. “If he wanted to visit people in another camp he could, but we couldn’t. And all the while, a new strategy, which he was leading, was rising under their noses, and that was to build the Islamic State. If there was no American prison in Iraq, there would be no IS now. Bucca was a factory. It made us all. It built our ideology.” Guardian , ‘ISIS: The Inside Story’, 11 December 2014 "As Isis has rampaged through the region, it has been led by men who spent time in US detention centres during the American occupation of Iraq – in addition to Bucca, the US also ran Camp Cropper, near Baghdad airport, and, for an ill-fated 18 months early in the war, Abu Ghraib prison on the capital’s western outskirts. Many of those released from these prisons – and indeed, several senior American officers who ran detention operations – have admitted that the prisons had an incendiary effect on the insurgency. “I went to plenty of meetings where guys would come through and tell us how well it was all going,” said Ali Khedery, a special aide to all US ambassadors who served in Iraq from 2003-11, and to three US military commanders. But eventually even top American officers came to believe they had “actually become radicalising elements. They were counterproductive in many ways. They were being used to plan and organise, to appoint leaders and launch operations… We had so much time to sit and plan,” he continued. “It was the perfect environment. We all agreed to get together when we got out. The way to reconnect was easy. We wrote each other’s details on the elastic of our boxer shorts. When we got out, we called. Everyone who was important to me was written on white elastic. I had their phone numbers, their villages. By 2009, many of us were back doing what we did before we were caught. But this time we were doing it better" Guardian , ‘ISIS: The Inside Story’, 11 December 2014 BBC Online, ‘Iraq jailbreaks: Hundreds escape in Taji and Abu Ghraib’, 22 July 2013 Huffington Post, ‘You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia’, 27 August 2014. "Now there is more security and freedom, no arrests, no harassment, no concrete barriers and no checkpoints where we used to spend hours to get into the city" New York Times , ‘Offering Services, ISIS Digs in Deeper in Seized Territories’, 16 June 2015 "Yet despite brutal punishments for those who break the laws, many Syrian businessmen see Isil as the only option when compared to the anarchy that prevails in areas controlled by other rebels, including Western-backed groups… Teachers may continue to work, providing they agree to instruct the new curriculum, which bans subjects such as English and science, and is heavy on Sharia. Doctors and engineers, particularly those managing the Isil-controlled oilfields, are paid handsomely – at least double, and often several fold the salaries offered in other parts of the country. With the zakat offices run by locals, they “know how much wealth their neighbours have”, and so they can insist on the “correct” tax percentage said one Raqqa resident… Hassan, a satellite installation engineer in Raqqa who only came to Turkey last month after he was wounded in a regime air strike said: “If you have some money, and can keep your mouth shut, living there is OK.” For most Syrians, the price paid for this modicum of stability is repression.The jihadists' extreme version of Sharia law imposes a culture that is inimical to that of most Syrians, whose Sunni population overwhelmingly subscribe to a moderate interpretation of Islam." Daily Telegraph , ‘Why business is booming under Islamic State one year on’, 8 June 2015 "The ongoing civil war in Syria was a significant factor in driving worldwide terrorism events in 2014. The rate of foreign terrorist fighter travel to Syria – totaling more than 16,000 foreign terrorist fighters from more than 90 countries as of late December – exceeded the rate of foreign terrorist fighters who traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, or Somalia at any point in the last 20 years. Many of the foreign terrorist fighters joined ISIL, which, through intimidation and exploitation of political grievances, a weak security environment in Iraq, and the conflict in Syria, secured sufficient support to conduct complex military operations in an effort to seize contiguous territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria for a self-declared Islamic caliphate. ISIL routinely and indiscriminately targeted defenseless civilians, including religious pilgrims, while engaging in violent repression of local inhabitants." BUREAU OF COUNTERTERRORISM Country Reports on Terrorism 2014 Report US State Department "Doubts are growing about the authenticity of an edict attributed to the Sunni Islamist group Isis controlling the Iraqi city of Mosul about female genital mutilation (FGM). A top UN official quoted from a statement saying that Isis wanted all females aged between 11 and 46 in the northern city to undergo the procedure. Jacqueline Badcock said the decree was of grave concern. But media analysts say the decree seen on social media may be a fake. It has typos and language mistakes and is signed by "The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant", a name the group no longer uses, instead referring to itself as the Islamic State." BBC Online, ‘Doubts grow over ISIS FGM edict in Iraq’, 24 July 2014. "At present we are unaware of any specific, credible imminent threat to the homeland [from ISIS]" Francis Taylor’s testimony. Countering Violent Islamist Extremism: The Urgent Threat of Foreign Fighters and Home-grown Terror : Hearing Before the Committee on Homeland Security, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fourteenth Congress, First Session, February 11, 2015 "Americans should be braced for a long battle against the brutal terrorist group Islamic State that will test U.S. resolve — and the leadership of the commander in chief, says Leon Panetta, who headed the CIA and then the Pentagon as Al Qaeda was weakened and Osama bin Laden killed. I think we're looking at kind of a 30-year war," he says, one that will have to extend beyond Islamic State to include emerging threats in Nigeria, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and elsewhere." USA Today , ‘Panetta: 30-year war and a leadership test for Obama’, 6 October 2014. "Dramatic increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, which was bombarded by US Marines in 2004, exceed those reported by survivors of the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, according to a new study. Iraqi doctors in Fallujah have complained since 2005 of being overwhelmed by the number of babies with serious birth defects, ranging from a girl born with two heads to paralysis of the lower limbs. They said they were also seeing far more cancers than they did before the battle for Fallujah between US troops and insurgents."Independent , ‘Toxic Legacy of US Assault on Fallujah Worse Than Hiroshima’, 24 July 2010 "Philip Hammond said: I’m delighted to have signed this arrangement with HE Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, in the presence of HRH the Crown Prince. This will guarantee the presence of the Royal Navy in Bahrain well into the future. The expansion of Britain’s footprint builds upon our 30year track record of Gulf patrols and is just one example of our growing partnership with Gulf partners to tackle shared strategic and regional threats. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon added: This new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint and will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf. We will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term." UK-Bahrain sign landmark defence agreement Foreign & Commonwealth Office and The Rt Hon Philip Hammond 5 December 2014 "A Ministry of Defence spokesperson confirmed Mr Fallon had visited the country. The spokesperson said: “During these talks he reiterated the importance of working together to deal with global threats, including countering the poisonous ideology of Daesh, and regional instability.” The Independent , ‘Defence Secretary Michael Fallon pays low-key visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss military cooperation’, 29 March 2016 "He said the new facility would be one of the most important Royal Navy bases in the world and would be used for a "whole host of things" including supporting UK operations in Iraq, where RAF jets have been attacking targets as part of a US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS) militants… He also said the threat of IS may have made Gulf monarchies "content to invite British forces to set up on their soil" BBC Online, ‘UK to establish £15 million permanent Mid East military base’, 6 December 2014 "Security assistance has been withheld since 2011, when the Gulf state put down mass Shia-led protests. But US State Department spokesman John Kirby said that Bahrain had made progress on human rights, including the release of political prisoners. Bahrain is home to the US Navy's Fifth fleet and has flown airstrike missions over Syria as part of the US-led coalition against Islamic State (IS)." BBC Online, ‘US resumes aid to military in Bahrain’, 29 June 2015 "As I've said in the debate, it's frankly all of our partners and allies who were pursuing that contract, not just Canada. So this is a deal frankly with a country, and notwithstanding its human rights violations, which are significant, this is a contract with a country that is an ally in the fighting against the Islamic State. A contract that any one of our allies would have signed," he said. We expressed our outrage, our disagreement from time to time with the government of Saudi Arabia for their treatment of human rights, but I don't think it makes any sense to pull a contract in a way that would only punish Canadian workers instead of actually expressing our outrage at some of these things in Saudi Arabia." CBC, ‘How Saudi Arabia, and a $15B armoured vehicle deal, became an election issue’, 26 September 2015 "there were several things that surprised us about [the Islamic State], the degree to which they were able to form their own coalition... the military capability they exhibited’... "yeah, in those initial days, there were a few surprises." Washington Post , ‘The US’s big intelligence problem’, 28 May 2015 Martin Dempsey Chairman of joint chief of staff "A RADICAL plan by Al-Qaeda to take over the Sunni heartland of Iraq and turn it into a militant Islamic state once American troops have withdrawn is causing alarm among US intelligence officials. A power struggle has emerged between the self-styled Islamic State of Iraq, an organisation with ambitions to become a state which has been set up by Al-Qaeda, and more moderate Sunni groups. They are battling for the long-term control of central and western areas which they believe could break away from Kurdish and Shi'ite-dominated provinces once the coalition forces depart. According to an analysis compiled by US intelligence agencies, the Islamic State has ambitions to create a terrorist enclave in the Iraqi provinces of Baghdad, Anbar, Diyala, Salah al-Din, Nineveh." The Times , ‘Al-Qaeda planning militant Islamic state within Iraq’, 13 May 2007 "AQI supported the Syrian opposition from the beginning, ideologically and through the media.. AQI conducted a number of operations in several Syrian cities under the name Al Nusra, one of its affiliates… If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria. And this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want in order to isolate the Syrian regime" Department of Defense, ‘Information Report 14-L-0552/DIA), August 2012 Judicial Watch "former DIA chief Michael Flynn – who had been in the post at the time the report was circulated in 2012 and remained there until 2014 – quite remarkably not only confirmed in a July 2015 Al-Jazeera interview that the report had crossed his desk but also explained that he ‘paid very close attention... the intelligence was very clear.’ When asked if the US government’s decision to ignore the intelligence was deliberate or accidental he then stated: ‘I don’t know that they turned a blind eye, I think it was a decision. I think it was a wilful decision.’ As if this was not enough, when the incredulous interviewer asked Flynn to clarify whether he meant there was a decision in the US government knowingly to support such extremist groups, the former DIA chief doubled down by confirming ‘it was a wilful decision to do what they’re doing.’ Moreover, when he was then asked why he did not try to stop arms transfers to the Salafist principality while in office he replied: ‘I hate to say this... but it’s not my job" Al-Jazeera, ‘Head to Head: Who is to blame for the rise of ISIL?’, 29 July 2015 Michael T Flynn, the former head of the US Defense Intelligence Agency, on how to deal with ISIL and Iran (Section from the book with actual quotes from the interview minute 11-13) The Times , ‘Foley video with Briton was staged, experts say’, 25 August 2014 "According to the Washington Post's security blog, some of America's spooks believed that shooting a fake video of Saddam cavorting with a teenage boy might destabilise his regime in the runup to the US-led invasion in 2003. "It would look like it was taken by a hidden camera. Very grainy, like it was a secret videotaping of a sex session," the Washington Post quoted one former CIA official as saying." CIA’s secret Iraq weapon revealed: a Saddam gay sex tape The Guardian Wed 26 May 2010 "After a seven-hour debate, MPs voted for military action by 524 votes to 43." BBC Online, ‘MPs support UK air strikes against IS in Iraq’, 26 September 2014 "SCHIEFFER: But whatever else you want to say about Iraq, every single gain that ISIS has made seems to have come as a surprise to the United States government. Is that a fair statement? BRENNAN: No, I think that we -- I went back over the intelligence of last week, taking a look at what we knew and when we knew it about ISIS and its movements inside of Iraq and Syria. We saw a growing strength. There are a lot of factors that come to play in terms of what gains they're able to make on the ground and as has been discussed, sometimes there are different Iraqi units that either don't have the leadership, the logistic support that they need in order to counter ISIS… SCHIEFFER: Well, nobody plays down how difficult this is. It's an enormously difficult task, but what do you need to be doing or what needs to be done that hasn't been done? Because I see -- it seems to me that ISIS is getting stronger, not getting weaker. BRENNAN: Well, I think we can look at both Iraq and Syria; we need to make sure that we're able to maintain military pressure on the battlefield against ISIS, against Nusra, the other terrorist extremist elements there… This is going to be a long fight. I don't see this being resolved anytime soon. We need to turn back ISIS, we will turn back ISIS, I have no doubt about it. But I think there is going to be unfortunately a lot of bloodshed between now and then." CBS, ‘Face the Nation: Transcripts of Jeb Bush, John Brennan’, 31 May 2015 "BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq has told President Barack Obama's envoy that the U.S.-led coalition battling Islamic State needs to do more to help Iraq defeat the jihadists controlling large areas of the north and west of the country. Parliament speaker Selim al-Jabouri said he delivered the message in a closed meeting with retired U.S. Marine General John Allen, who visited Baghdad this week for talks with Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi's government. "Until now our feeling is that the international support is not convincing," Jabouri told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. "We might see participation here or there, but it is not enough for the tough situation we are passing through." …A former US official recently described the White House's approach to Iraq as " passive tough love" - not allowing the United States to get to drawn into Iraq, but still helping the country defeat Islamic State." Reuters, ‘Iraq says US-led coalition not doing enough against Islamic State’, 14 January 2015 "The crisis in the Gulf provoked by Islamic State could last for 10 to 15 years, says Sir John Jenkins, Britain's former ambassador to Saudi Arabia." BBC Online, ‘UK ambassador: Gulf crisis could last 10-15 years’, 5 February 2015 "In the case of an event like these, the United States might seek to counter the Salafi-jihadist movement by trying to use just the minimum level of military resources necessary to keep the jihadist movement from spreading. In this vision, the United States might turn to some of its allies to conduct a significant portion of the global direct action effort against al-Qaeda and its affiliates. The inclusion of these allies might be facilitated by a growth in an anterior threat that would necessitate U.S. actions elsewhere for the good of others. The United States might try to bring significant contingents of European SOF (British, French, etc.) into its global anti–al-Qaeda campaign in order to free up capabilities to combat the conventional threat… Contain and React is also an option for this trajectory. The United States could deploy ISR perimeters around areas where there are concentrations of transnational jihadists and periodically launch air/missile strikes against high-value targets Host nation security forces would have more freedom to help in this mission, since they would no longer have to be concerned about national jihadist forces. If the transnational jihadists were ever to attempt to expand their area of sanctuary, the United States could respond with additional increments of long-range, standoff firepower and SOF." RAND Corporation, ‘Unfolding the Future of the Long War: Motivations, Prospects, and Implications for the US Army’, RAND Arroyo Center, 2008 Page 82,104 "BAIJI, Iraq — On the front lines of the battle against the Islamic State, suspicion of the United States runs deep. Iraqi fighters say they have all seen the videos purportedly showing U.S. helicopters airdropping weapons to the militants, and many claim they have friends and relatives who have witnessed similar instances of collusion. Ordinary people also have seen the videos, heard the stories and reached the same conclusion — one that might seem absurd to Americans but is widely believed among Iraqis — that the United States is supporting the Islamic State for a variety of pernicious reasons that have to do with asserting U.S. control over Iraq, the wider Middle East and, perhaps, its oil." Washington Post , ‘Iraqis think the US is in cahoots with the Islamic State, and it is hurting the war’, 1 December 2015. New York Times , ‘Iraqi Forces in No Hurry to Expel ISIS from Tikrit’, 28 March 2015 "Iraqi and coalition jets offered limited assistance. The Americans weren’t really that serious in hitting ISIS to help us… I don’t think all the airstrikes and attacks on ISIS in the past year and half have degraded any of the ISIS capacity. In fact, ISIS is getting stronger and has weapons that we don’t have." Rudaw (Kurdish), ‘The stunning story of the fall of Ramadi’, 24 May 2015 A shocking betrayal, waves of suicide attacks, days hiding in the desert. This is a first-hand account by a top Kurdish commander in the Iraqi armed forces about what really happened – and what happens next – in Ramadi, Anbar and Iraq. Wahda Al-Jumaili: The fall of Al-Anbar came as a surprise. It was a shock to us all. This points to a lack of a clear security strategy, or to the lack of preparedness by the security forces, or even by the high command of the security forces, with the aim of vanquishing terrorism. ISIS has taken over the supplies of the Iraqi army and security forces that fled. I am very sorry to say this. This will go down in history as a great defeat. Whether this was the result of treason, neglect, or conspiracy, or a regional or international plot… Even the international coalition has played a bad role. People saw the international coalition dropping weapons for ISIS. They dropped heavy weaponry to the forces of terrorism in Ramadi. This is an act of treason by the international coalition forces" Wahda Al-Jumaili, Advisor to Iraqi Parliament Speaker: Int'l Coalition Dropped Weapons, Which Enabled ISIS Takeover of Ramadi Source: Dijlah TV (Iraq) "the foremost threat to Iraq’s long-term stability and the broader regional equilibrium is not the Islamic State, it is Shia militias, many backed by – and some guided by – Iran" Washington Post , ‘Five thoughts Petraeus has about the future of the Middle East’, 20 March 2015 "U.S-led coalition forces bombing Islamic State in Syria and Iraq carried out their latest raids near the city of Kobani close to Turkey and Syria's northeastern Hasaka province, but did not hit Aleppo and surrounding areas. "(Islamic State) are heading to the Turkish border...If this happens I don't know who will be able to explain why the coalition is not bombing (them)," said Abo Abdo Salabman, a member of a rebel brigade which is not part of Levant Front but is fighting in the area. "It's one thing that they don't bomb the regime because of some international circumstances they need to take into account. However, failure to bomb ISIS on that particular front is not going to go down well with the rebels," he said, warning that people were more likely to join hardline groups as a result." Reuters, ‘Islamic State drives back Syria insurgents near Turkey’, 31 May 2015 Bloomberg , ‘US Exaggerates Islamic State Casualties’, 13 March 2015 "82 percent said they believe the Islamic state was created by the United States and its allies. The Syria study was conducted by ORB International, a UK Market Research firm" Washington Post , ‘One in five Syrians say Islamic State is a good thing, poll says’, 15 September 2015 "Now events may be forcing a rethink. The Obama administration is taking “an extremely hard look” at its approach, in the words of an unnamed official who declared in the wake of the fall of Ramadi: “You’d have to be delusional not to take something like this and say ‘what went wrong, how do you fix it and how do we correct course to go from here?’” Robert Gates, the former US defence secretary, put it even more bluntly: “We don’t really have a strategy at all. We’re basically playing this day by day.” The urgent delivery of new anti-tank missiles for the Iraqi army has been one short-term response. But larger military and political questions are still unanswered." Guardian , ‘Seizure of Palmyra and Ramadi by ISIS reveal gaping holes in US jihadi strategy’, 21 May 2015 "The U.S. watched Islamic State fighters, vehicles and heavy equipment gather on the outskirts of Ramadi before the group retook the city in mid-May. But the U.S. did not order airstrikes against the convoys before the battle started. It left the fighting to Iraqi troops, who ultimately abandoned their positions. U.S. intelligence and military officials told me recently, on the condition of anonymity, that the U.S. had significant intelligence about the pending Islamic State offensive in Ramadi. For the U.S. military, it was an open secret even at the time. The Islamic State had been contesting territory in and around Ramadi for more than a year and had spoken of the importance of recapturing the city. The U.S. intelligence community had good warning that the Islamic State intended a new and bolder offensive on Ramadi because it was able to identify the convoys of heavy artillery, vehicle bombs and reinforcements through overhead imagery and eavesdropping on chatter from local Islamic State commanders. It surprised no one, one U.S. intelligence official told me." …The operations on Ramadi have been ongoing for 16 months," said Derek Harvey, a former intelligence adviser to David Petraeus when he commanded the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq. Harvey said many observers had seen the Islamic State's series of probing attacks and psychological operations aimed at the Iraqi army and local tribes: "Everyone knew that Ramadi for some reason was a major focus." He conceded that he did not know the exact timing of the Ramadi offensive beforehand and acknowledged that he was surprised at how effective the operations were. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, had also been warning in policy papers that the Islamic State had set its eyes on Ramadi. Kim Kagan, the think tank's president, told me her institute "assessed that ISIS would undertake tactical offensives in different areas of Iraq in April and May in order to disperse the Iraqi Security Forces and prevent them from consolidating their gains after the fall of Tikrit." She said that "ISIS began alternating attacks between Anbar and the Baiji oil refinery in mid-April," which prompted General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to say in Congressional testimony that the U.S. was prioritizing the defense of Baiji over Ramadi. Kagan said the Islamic State's attack on Ramadi was not a "strategic surprise." Bloomberg , ‘US Saw Islamic State Coming, Let It Take Ramadi’, 28 May 2015 New York Times , ‘Analysts Detail Claims That Reports on ISIS Were Distorted’, 15 September 2015 "That makes the reported attempts by senior military officials to alter the conclusions of rank-and-file intelligence officers particularly alarming. The Defense Department’s inspector general is investigating whether senior Centcom officials have sought to distort the assessments of military intelligence analysts to paint a positive picture of the war on the Islamic State, also known as ISIS. Those assessments are considered along with others produced by civilian agencies; conclusions from various assessments are then distilled and presented to the president and top policy makers. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the commander of Centcom, said in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday that he would take “appropriate actions,” once the inspector general’s office concludes its investigation. He told lawmakers that despite some setbacks, “progress is being made” in the military campaign. But his startling responses to questions from senators offered no reason to believe that is true" New York Times , ‘The Elusive Truth About War on ISIS’, 17 September 2015 "We could do a very significantly increased level of activity without going anywhere near putting combat troops on the ground. And one of the points that I make in the essay is that if you look at the average rate of international air strikes since last August into Syria and Iraq, it's about 10 per day. If you compare that to Libya in 2011, it was 45 per day. In Afghanistan in 2001, it was 83 per day. And in the Kosovo campaign, which people may remember from 1999, was 250 per day. So without even going close to putting troops on the ground, we could be doing a very significantly greater amount to deal with the Islamic State" ABC (Australia), ‘Islamic State look increasingly like a state warns expert’, 18 May 2015 David Kilcullen (Ex- US Official) "Russian military jets have, at times, been carrying out more sorties in a day in Syria than the US-led coalition has done in a month." Independent , ‘War in Syria: Russia’s rustbucket military delivers a hi-tech shock to West and Israel’, 30 January 2016 "It was described as one the biggest heists in the history of bank robbery: more than $400m reportedly stolen from Mosul financial institutions by the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant, known as Isis, as it seized control of Iraq’s second-largest city of Mosul last month. But Iraqi bankers in Mosul and the capital, Baghdad, are saying the robbery never took place and that the cash remains inside the vaults of the city’s banks… “We speak to the banks there all the time. We have been informed that all are guarded from the outside by their own guards and that nothing has been removed from the premises of any banks, not even a piece of paper.” Reports that Isis had stolen 500bn Iraqi dinars ($430m) from Mosul financial institutions as the Islamist group and its Sunni insurgent allies seized control of the city more than a month ago raised alarm bells in the west and throughout the region, amid concern over the ambitions and growing capacity of extremist Islamists. Iraq officials, including one-time CIA asset and lawmaker Ahmed Chalabi, described the alleged bank heist in comments cited by Iraqi and international media. But Atheel al-Nujaifi, governor of Nineveh province, which includes Mosul, rejects the stories of vast sums of money being taken away by militants.“Nobody until now has confirmed that story,” he said in a telephone interview from Erbil. Not a single witness account has emerged of the Isis members making off with any money, and executives and employees from among the 20 private banks and 15 or so government bank branches in Mosul say there is no evidence that militants stole any money from the banks, many of which continue to operate." Financial Times , ‘Biggest bank robbery that never happened – $400m ISIS heist’, 17 July 2014 "The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) may be gaining ground across Syria and Iraq but the Chairman of Jordan's Capital Bank, Bassem Al-Salem, says it's business as usual. "ISIS are in Mosul and we are hearing a lot about them," the Al-Salem told CNBC. "(But) we have a branch in Mosul and we feel that it is not affecting the lifestyle of the people or the business transaction...we don't feel it, let's put it this way." CNBC, ‘Capital Bank says it’s business as usual in Mosul’, 22 May 2015 "the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service, MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove. Prince Bandar told him: "The time is not far off in the Middle East, Richard, when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."... He does not doubt that substantial and sustained funding from private donors in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to which the authorities may have turned a blind eye, has played a central role in the Isis surge into Sunni areas of Iraq. He said: "Such things simply do not happen spontaneously." Independent , ‘Iraq crisis: How Saudi Arabia helped ISIS take over the north of the country’, 13 July 2014 [U.S. Navy Admiral and NATO Supreme Commander James Stavridis] "These rich Arabs are like what 'angel investors' are to tech start-ups, except they are interested in starting up groups who want to stir up hatred," said Stavridis, now the dean of the Fletcher School of Diplomacy at Tufts University. "Groups like al-Nusrah and ISIS are better investments for them. The individuals act as high rollers early, providing seed money. Once the groups are on their feet, they are perfectly capable of raising funds through other means, like kidnapping, oil smuggling, selling women into slavery, etc."... Stavridis and other current U.S. officials suggest that the biggest share of the individual donations supporting ISIS and the most radical groups comes from Qatar rather than Saudi Arabia, and that the Qatari government has done less to stop the flow than its neighbors in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. One U.S. official said the Saudis are "more in line with U.S. foreign policy" than the Qataris" NBC, ‘Who’s Funding ISIS? Wealthy Gulf Angel Investors, Officials Say’, 21 September 2014 "As of late 2013, Al-Harzi was ISIL's Amir of suicide bombers and a key figure in an ISIL facilitation network that played a central role in ISIL's suicide and vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) attacks in Iraq. In his capacity as leader of ISIL’s suicide bomber facilitation pipeline, AL-Harzi worked with other ISIL members to facilitate the travel of individuals from Syria into Iraq. In October 2013, he requested suicide bombers for operations in Iraq from a Syria-based associate. Al-Harzi also worked to provide material support to ISIL by procuring and shipping weapons with his brother from Libya to Syria for ISIL. Al-Harzi worked to help raise funds from Gulf-based donors for ISIL. In September 2013, he arranged for ISIL to receive approximately $2 million from a Qatar-based ISIL financial facilitator, who required that Al-Harzi use the funds for military operations only. The Qatar-based ISIL financial facilitator also enlisted Al-Harzi’s assistance with fundraising efforts in Qatar." Department of the Treasury, ‘Treasury Designates Twelve Foreign Terrorist Fighter Facilitators’, 29 September 2014 "Ransom increasingly fills the coffers of Islamic extremist groups in the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. and other Western officials said, with the payments often coming from a Persian Gulf or Western European government… Many diplomats spoke of a role by Qatar in securing hostage releases. The small Gulf emirate has long used gifts from its oil wealth as an instrument of foreign policy and to help in mediating regional problems. It also proudly highlights its mediation role in winning freedom for kidnapped Westerners and Arabs. Qatari diplomats often publicly receive freed hostages, while European and Arab officials appear on TV thanking the emirate. Besides its public role, Qatar sometimes plays a more private one, according to Britain's Mr. Burt and to several Western, Arab and other diplomats and officials involved in hostage releases. In March, when Syria's radical Islamist al-Nusra Front freed 13 nuns and three other captive women in a deal brokered by Qatar and Lebanon, Qatar paid a $16 million ransom, according to a Lebanese official."Wall Street Journal , ‘Al Qaeda-Linked Groups Increasingly Funded by Ransom’, 29 July 2014 "Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark explains that the existence of the Islamic State helps Sunni countries Turkey and Saudi Arabia geostrategically, by countering the shi'ite powers: Iran, Iraq and Syria."All along there’s always been the idea that Turkey was supporting ISIS in some way… Someone’s buying that oil that ISIS is selling, it’s going through somewhere, it looks to me like it’s probably going through Turkey, but the Turks haven't acknowledged that." “Let’s be very clear: ISIS [ISIL] is not just a terrorist organization, it is a Sunni terrorist organization. It means it blocks and targets Shia, and that means it’s serving the interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia even as it poses a threat to them,” Clark said" CNN, ‘Wesley Clark: ISIS Serving Interests of Turkey and Saudi Arabia’, 25 November 2015 "We have every reason to think that the decision to shoot down our plane was dictated by the desire to protect the oil supply lines to Turkish territory," Mr Putin said at a news conference in Paris on Monday. He said Russia had received more information to show that IS oil was passing through Turkish territory." BBC Online, ‘Russia says Turkey shot down plane for IS oil’, 1 December 2015 "ISTANBUL (AP) — Kurdish forces have discovered a 400-meter (440-yard) long tunnel dug by Islamic State group militants near the Turkish border with Syria, a spokesman for the militia said Monday. Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, discovered the half-completed tunnel after they captured the border town of Tal Abyad last week, spokesman Redur Khalil said. He said it wasn’t clear whether it was eventually meant to lead into Turkey as the tunnel splits into two different directions at one point." Associated Press, ‘Kurds find ISIS tunnel near Turkish border’, 26 June 2015 "the Kurdish Workers Party poses a primary threat [to Turkey], whereas the Daesh is the secondary threat." CNN, ‘Erdogan: Without Russia and Iran, Assad will fall in 24 hours’, 7 September 2015 Min 5 "Serena Shim, who worked for Iran's state-owned Press TV as Turkey correspondent, died in the city of Suruc after the car in which she was travelling reportedly collided with a 'heavy vehicle'. Shim's death came just days after she spoke on camera of her fears of being arrested, claiming Turkish intelligence agents had accused her of spying after one of her reports suggested ISIS militants were being smuggled back and forth over the Syrian border in the back of aid vehicles… In the short interview she alleged that she had been approached and accused of spying after a report in which he said she claimed to have received images of Islamic State terrorists being smuggled over the Turkey-Syria in vehicles belonging to the World Food Organization and other aid groups." Daily Mail , ‘Mystery of American journalist killed in car crash in Turkey... just days after she claimed intelligence services had threatened her over her coverage of siege of Kobane’, 20 October 2014 - Press TV Independent , ‘Jacky Sutton: “Suicide” of ex-BBC journalist called into question’, 19 October 2015 "Two Turkish journalists face life in prison over a story alleging that the Turkish government was arming Islamist militants in Syria. Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and its Ankara representative Erdem Gul have been charged with espionage. Prosecutors accuse them of working with a US-based cleric to discredit the government. The harsh punishment being sought has intensified press freedom concerns. EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn said he was "shocked" at the severity of the sentence sought by prosecutors." BBC Online, ‘Turkish journalists face life in jail over Syria report’, 26 January 2016 “Turkey paved the way for us. Had Turkey not shown such understanding for us, the Islamic State would not be in its current place. It [Turkey] showed us affection. Large number of our mujahedeen [jihadis] received medical treatment in Turkey,” he said. "Jerusalem Post , ‘Islamic State fighter: Turkey paved the way for us’, 30 July 2014 "Defection to the jihadists has now been going on for years. Mahmoud, a former prisoner of the regime who used to work for the FSA, now runs safe houses in Turkey for foreign fighters looking to join Jabhat al-Nusra and Isil. He said he wasn't an extremist, just practical. "Many of my friends are doing the same now," he said. "Isil is the only solution for us. If Obama had given support to the FSA things would have been different. "The most important thing now though is to remove the regime and Isil are the strongest group. I will do whatever it takes."Daily Telegraph , ‘Fears that US weapons will fall into al-Qaeda’s hands as Syrian rebels defect’, 11 November 2014 "In the wake of the raid that killed Abu Sayyaf, suspicions of an undeclared alliance have hardened. One senior western official familiar with the intelligence gathered at the slain leader’s compound said that direct dealings between Turkish officials and ranking Isis members was now “undeniable”. “There are hundreds of flash drives and documents that were seized there,” the official told the Observer. “They are being analysed at the moment, but the links are already so clear that they could end up having profound policy implications for the relationship between us and Ankara.” Guardian , ‘Turkey sends in jets as Syria’s agony spills over every border’, 26 July 2015 “This is a question we’ve been asking our neighbors,” Faily said. “How could these brand new trucks... these four wheel drives, hundreds of them -- where are they coming from?” ISIS propaganda videos show gunmen patrolling Syrian streets in what appear to be older and newer model white Hilux pick-ups bearing the black caliphate seal and crossing Libya in long caravans of gleaming tan Toyota Land Cruisers. When ISIS soldiers paraded through the center of Raqqa, more than two-thirds of the vehicles were the familiar white Toyotas with the black emblems. There were small numbers of other brands including Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Isuzu. “Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand,” said Mark Wallace, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations" ABC, ‘US Officials Ask How ISIS Got So Many Toyota Trucks’, 6 October 2015 "In the emails, the Emirati diplomats frankly acknowledge their government was shipping arms to its Libyan allies in violation of the United Nations embargo — a policy they say is overseen at the “head of state level” — and they strategize about hiding the shipments from a United Nations monitoring panel. Answering questions and complying with procedures required by the United Nations resolution “will expose how deeply we are involved in Libya,” Mr. Qasimi wrote, adding, “We should try to provide a cover to lessen the damage.” New York Times , ‘Leaked Emirati Emails Could Threaten Peace Talks in Libya’, 12 November 2015 "An important part of this policy has been guided by the determination of the Qatari authorities to take control of the hydrocarbon resources of an emergent state of Azawad on the Malian territory. French media haven’t produced more evidence of these allegations, but an increasing number of reports have pointed out the visible impacts on the ground of the Qatari-Saudi competition" European Parliament, ‘The Involvement of Salafism/Wahhabism in the support and supply of arms to rebel groups around the world’, Directorate-General for External Policies, June 2013, Page 29 "Seven months later, the drone flights have dwindled, many of the advisers have gone home and not one of the kidnapped girls has been found… In Washington, that fleeting moment of cooperation between Nigeria and the United States in May has now devolved into finger-pointing and stoked the distrust between the two countries’ militaries. Nigeria’s ambassador to the United States has accused the Obama administration of failing to support the fight against Boko Haram, prompting the State Department to fire back with condemnations of the Nigerian military’s dismal human rights record." New York Times , ‘With Schoolgirls Taken by Boko Haram Still Missing, US-Nigeria Ties Falter’, 31 December 2014 "The Arab Spring is a timely reminder of the appeal our values and their institutions have beyond our borders. There are no placards on the streets of Benghazi or Damascus demanding “State Capitalism” or “Managed Democracy”, nor are they burning British or American flags. Instead, these people, many of them young, are demanding what we have, and want them to have too: jobs, security, political choice. So, this is the third area on which the transatlantic alliance must rapidly agree a basis for common action: the spread of capitalist democracy. I was fortunate enough to be working in the British Foreign Office for then Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd when the Berlin Wall came down and change swept Europe. Now, as then, we must match the moment with a generous and farsighted offer to the people of the Middle East" Foreign Office, ‘Transatlantic relations in the 21st century and the UK’s policy toward Europe and NATO, transcript of speech by David Lidington’, 5 April 2011 "BP today announced that it has signed the final agreements of the West Nile Delta project to develop 5 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas resources and 55 million barrels (mmbbls) of condensates with an estimated investment of around $12 billion by BP and its partner. The project underlines BP’s commitment to the Egyptian market and is a vote of confidence in Egypt’s investment climate and economic potential." BP finalises deal to develop Egypt’s West Nile Delta gas fields 6 March 2015 “I think for the first time … in my memory you have a leadership in Egypt that understands the modern world, is prepared to take the measures that are relevant to the modern world, and wants Egypt connected to the modern world in the right way,” … For Blair, the trade-off between democracy and stability does not appear to be a difficult one. “Look, I’m absolutely in favour of democracy and I think that, in the end, all countries as they develop will go to a situation in which the citizens elect the government,” he reassured the conference. “But I also think you’ve got to be realistic sometimes about the path of development, and that sometimes you will have a country [with] not what we would call 100% western-style democracy but [that], on the other hand, is going in a direction of development that’s really important." Sharm el-Sheikh rumbles with grand promises of the international elite Jack Shenker in Sharm el-Sheikh Sun 15 Mar 2015 The Guardian New York Times , ‘Iran’s Sanctions Lift, and the West Goes to Talk Business’, 25 January 2016 Financial Times , ‘European Oil Majors hold Iran talks’, 24 June 2015 Financial Times , ‘Iran: The oil and gas multibillion-dollar candy store’, 16 July 2015 Reuters, ‘Iran eyes $185 billion oil and gas projects after sanctions’, 23 July 2015 Unverified Sources "our key tasks are first of all to increase trade, open up [Yugoslavian] markets and help them with economic progress, to intensify the integration with European structure… we must increase their ties with NATO in order to make sure that they do have a greater sense of security and we must take a stronger part in their security" New Statesman , ‘The New Statesman Interview – Robin Cook’, 5 July 1999. "the assumptions on which the rules of WTO are based are grossly unfair... those rules reflect an agenda that serves only to promote dominant corporate interests that already monopolize the arena of international trade." UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, ‘The realization of economic, social and cultural rights; globalization and its impact on the full enjoyment of human rights’, Preliminary report, 52nd session, 15 June 2000, p. 6 "so-called FSA is just a footnote... let’s be clear here, we’re talking about jihadists, most of the opposition groups are jihadists." Sky News, ‘Interview with David Cameron and former British ambassador to Syria Peter Ford’, 5 October 2015. "based on the analysis here of other estimated income, such as tax, the selling of looted antiquities and confiscated property, set against the estimated maximum operational costs of the group, which I believe to be well over $2 billion per year, it would appear that the Islamic State’s income from private donors is far larger than previously estimated" Foreign Affairs Subcommittee, ‘ISIL Financing Inquiry: Written Evidence from Luay al-Khatteeb, Executive Director of Iraq Energy Institute’, 8 March 2016.

"A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA," agrees Weinstein. The biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection" The Washington Post INNOCENCE ABROAD: THE NEW WORLD OF SPYLESS COUPS, September 22, 1991 The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) NED "Ukraine is the biggest prize" Former Soviet States Stand Up to Russia. Will the US. 26th of September 2013 The Washington Post Carl Gershman, Head of NED "The silence of the Arab public in the wake of America’s victories in Afghanistan,’ he said, proves that ‘only fear will re-establish respect for the U.S. … We need to read a little bit of Machiavelli… There is so much evidence with respect to his development of weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles . . . that I consider this point beyond dispute" The Hawk, The Washington Post December 27, 2001, James Woosley (Ex CIA Director) "We will engage terrestrial targets someday—ships, airplanes, land targets—from space. … We’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space." 1996 the Space Command’s commander in chief, Gen. Joseph Ashy, Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999 "In November 138 nations voted in the UN General Assembly to reaffirm the Outer Space Treaty and its provision that space “shall be for peaceful purposes.” Only the United States and Israel abstained. Assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Keith Hall says, “Space dominance, we have it, we like it and we’re going to keep it.” Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999 "Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States. … America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed. … We must deter and defend against the threat before it is unleashed. … We cannot let our enemies strike first. … To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States wil, if necessary, act preemptively" Full Text: Bush's National Security Strategy NYT Sept. 20, 2002 "Q. -- -- and also, is it really worth it to send people to their death for this, to get Noriega? The President. We had some estimates, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], on the casualties ahead of time, but not in numbers. I mean, it was more general: Look, Mr. President, no way can you do an operation this large and not have American casualties. So, the Defense Department was very up front with us about that, and every human life is precious. And yet I have to answer: Yes, it has been worth it." The President's News Conference December 21, 1989 George H W Bush "Leslie Stahl: "We have heard that a half million children have died (as a result of sanctions against Iraq). I mean, that is more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?" Madeleine Albright: "I think this is a very hard choice, but the price, we think the price is worth it." 60 minutes Interview with Madeline Albright 1996 Clinton's secretary of state, commenting on the sanctions on Iraq "Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct a search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections… Mr. Obeidi told Mr. Hage that Iraq would make deals to avoid war, including helping in the Mideast peace process. ''He said, if this is about oil, we will talk about U.S. oil concessions,'' Mr. Hage recalled. ''If it is about the peace process, then we can talk. If this is about weapons of mass destruction, let the Americans send over their people. There are no weapons of mass destruction.'' THE STRUGGLE FOR IRAQ: DIPLOMACY; Iraq Said to Have Tried to Reach Last-Minute Deal to Avert War NYT Nov. 6, 2003 "Senior members of the Bush administration met several times in recent months with leaders of a coalition that ousted the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, for two days last weekend, and agreed with them that he should be removed from office, administration officials said today… But a Defense Department official who is involved in the development of policy toward Venezuela said ''We were not discouraging people,'' the official said. ''We were sending informal, subtle signals that we don't like this guy. We didn't say, 'No, don't you dare,' and we weren't advocates saying, 'Here's some arms; we'll help you overthrow this guy.' We were not doing that.'' Bush Officials Met With Venezuelans Who Ousted Leader NYT April 16, 2002 As the USAid website used to boast (until the paragraph became too embarrassing and was deleted in 2006): “The principal beneficiary of America’s foreign assistance programmes has always been the United States. Close to 80% of the US Agency for International Development’s contracts and grants go directly to American firms.” Aid has “created new markets for American industrial exports and meant hundreds of thousands of jobs for Americans”. Long before Trump entered the White House, USAid was “putting America first”. As a system, foreign aid is a fraud and does nothing for inequality Kenan Malik The Guardian Sun 2 Sep 2018 "When they bombed Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, El Salvador and Nicaragua I said nothing because I wasn’t a communist. When they bombed China, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, and the Congo I said nothing because I didn’t know about it. When they bombed Lebanon and Grenada I said nothing because I didn’t understand it. When they bombed Panama I said nothing because I wasn’t a drug dealer. When they bombed Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen I said nothing because I wasn’t a terrorist. When they bombed Yugoslavia and Libya for ‘humanitarian’ reasons I said nothing because it sounded so honorable. Then they bombed my house and there was no one left to speak out for me. But it didn’t really matter. I was dead." "According to senior military and intelligence sources in Europe and the US the Chinese embassy was removed from a prohibited targets list after Nato electronic intelligence (Elint) detected it sending army signals to Milosevic's forces. The story is confirmed in detail by three other Nato officers - a flight controller operating in Naples, an intelligence officer monitoring Yugoslav radio traffic from Macedonia and a senior headquarters officer in Brussels. They all confirm that they knew in April that the Chinese embassy was acting as a 'rebro' [rebroadcast] station for the Yugoslav army (VJ) after alliance jets had successfully silenced Milosevic's own transmitters" The Observer. Nato bombed Chinese deliberately Nato hit embassy on purpose Kosovo: special report Sun 17 Oct 1999 "Congressional leaders generally expressed support for the attack on Libya, but a leading Democrat warned that the raid could lead to more violence. [ Page A10. ] French Embassy Reported Hit The French Foreign Ministry said the French Embassy in Tripoli was hit in the bombing raid, but a spokesman said no one was injured.Foreign reporters in Tripoli, after a Government-conducted tour of a residential district today, said that the rear of the French Embassy was heavily damaged, with windows blown out, and that five or six houses in the district were also damaged. A Libyan Government spokesman said an unknown number of civilians had been killed… Mr. Weinberger said American planes were forced to fly a long route to Libya from Britain because France refused to allow the United States to fly over French territory." U.S. Jets Hit Terrorist Centers in Libya; Reagan Warns of New Attacks If Needed The New York Times April 15, 1986 "A deadly poison said to be at the heart of a terrorist conspiracy against Britain led to a dire warning of another al-Qa'ida attack in the West. The Government was swift to act on the fear that such a find generated. But, as Severin Carrell and Raymond Whitaker report, far from being a major threat, the real danger existed only in the mind of a misguided individual living in a dingy north London bedsit. It was a weapon of mass destruction, a warning that we all needed to be "vigilant and alert". Weeks before the invasion of Iraq, it was presented as the final proof that Saddam Hussein was in league with al-Qa'ida. Anyone wanting to exploit the politics of fear could scarcely conjure up anything more potent than the news that a suspected terrorist cell had been making ricin, one of the deadliest poisons known to man, in a north London flat. But there was no ricin - a fact suppressed for more than two years. There was no terrorist cell, just one deluded and dangerous man who killed a police officer during a bungled immigration raid." Ricin: The plot that never was The Independant Sunday 17 April 2005 Orlando Bosch "Rather: Let me come directly to point. Does Iraq possess nuclear weapons? Aziz: No. No we do not possess any nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons. We are not interested in them. My president has made it clear. We don't have, and we are ready to challenge anybody who makes allegations contrary to what I am saying. But it should be done in a perfect manner, not done by the means of UNSCOM and by the means Mr. Blix is suggesting because they will not report the truth. They will not reach a conclusion about realities. Let us think if the American government is genuinely concerned about that let them come and propose any credible manner to come and inspect and search and then reach the conclusion about the reality. We are ready to discuss with them, with the American government, all reliable efficient means to reach the conclusion." Aziz: Abu Nidal Committed Suicide CBS AUGUST 22, 2002 "And, indeed, in order to make the case absolutely clear that Iraq was no longer in possession of any such…weapons. Iraq accepted to agree to deal with that resolution. That is why, when you talk about such missiles, these missiles have been destroyed. There are no missiles that are contrary to the prescription of the United Nations in Iraq. These missiles were des - missiles that were proscribed - have been destroyed and are no longer there." Transcript: Saddam Hussein Interview, Pt. 1 CBS 26th of February 2003, Dan Rather interviews Saddam Hussein "Gen. Hussein Kamel, the former head of Iraq's secret weapons program and a son-in-law of President Saddam Hussein, told a United Nations delegation in a secret meeting in Amman, Jordan, on Aug, 22, 1995, that Iraq had halted the production of VX nerve agent in the late 1980s and destroyed its banned missiles, stocks of anthrax and other chemical agents and poison gases soon after the Persian Gulf War." Iraqi Defector Claimed Arms Were Destroyed by 1995, The Washington Post March 1, 2003 PELLEY : And what did he tell you about how his weapons of mass destruction had been destroyed? PIRO : He told me that most of the WMD had been destroyed by the U.N. inspectors in the ’90s, and those that hadn’t been destroyed by the inspectors were unilaterally destroyed by Iraq. PELLEY : He had ordered them destroyed? PIRO : Yes. PELLEY : So why keep the secret? Why put your nation at risk? Why put your own life at risk to maintain this charade?" CBS 27th of January 2008 60 minutes Scott Pelly interviewing George Piro (Team Leader and Lead Interrogator of the Saddam Hussein Interrogation Team in 2004) Minute 1:50 "BAGHDAD -- The Bush administration does not intend to seek any new funds for Iraq reconstruction in the budget request going before Congress in February, officials say. The decision signals the winding down of an $18.4 billion U.S. rebuilding effort in which roughly half of the money was eaten away by the insurgency, a buildup of Iraq's criminal justice system and the investigation and trial of Saddam Hussein. Just under 20 percent of the reconstruction package remains unallocated. When the last of the $18.4 billion is spent, U.S. officials in Baghdad have made clear, other foreign donors and the fledgling Iraqi government will have to take up what authorities say is tens of billions of dollars of work yet to be done merely to bring reliable electricity, water and other services to Iraq's 26 million people. "The U.S. never intended to completely rebuild Iraq," Brig. Gen. William McCoy, the Army Corps of Engineers commander overseeing the work, told reporters at a recent news conference. In an interview this past week, McCoy said: "This was just supposed to be a jump-start." U.S. Has End in Sight on Iraq Rebuilding Documents Show Much of the Funding Diverted to Security, Justice System and Hussein Inquiry The Washington Post January 2, 2006 "And increasingly, we believe that the United States may well become the target of those activities. . . . I think the accurate thing to say is, we don't know when he might actually complete that process. All of the experience we have points in the direction that, in the past, we've underestimated the extent of his program. We've underestimated the speed at which it was developing. . . This just isn't a guy who is now back trying once again to build nuclear weapons. It's the fact that we had also seen him in these other areas — in chemicals, but also especially in biological weapons — increase his capacity to produce and deliver these weapons upon his enemies" With Few Variations, Top Bush Advisers Present Their Case Against Iraq NYT Sept. 9, 2002, Dick Cheyney Basra Prison Incident "But we must never forget: This is not a war of choice. This is a war of necessity. Those who attacked America on 9/11 are plotting to do so again. If left unchecked, the Taliban insurgency will mean an even larger safe haven from which al Qaeda would plot to kill more Americans. So this is not only a war worth fighting. This is a -- this is fundamental to the defense of our people." August 17, 2009 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT AT THE VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS CONVENTION "One of our goals is to stabilize Afghanistan, so it can become a conduit and a hub between South and Central Asia so that energy can flow to the south." Remarks to Paul H. Nitze School for Advanced International Studies Richard A. Boucher, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Washington, DC September 20, 2007 "A senior delegation from the Taleban movement in Afghanistan is in the United States for talks with an international energy company that wants to construct a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan across Afghanistan to Pakistan. A spokesman for the company, Unocal, said the Taleban were expected to spend several days at the company's headquarters in Sugarland, Texas.Unocal says it has agreements both with Turkmenistan to sell its gas and with Pakistan to buy it." World: West Asia BBC December 4th 1997, Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline "The region’s total oil reserves may well reach more than 60 billion barrels of oil. Some estimates are as high as 200 billion barrels … From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of the pipeline we have proposed across Afghanistan could not begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, leaders, and our company." U.S. Interests in the Central Asian Republics: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific of the Committee on International Relations, House of Representatives, One Hundred Fifth Congress, Second Session, February 12, 1998, Volume 4 Page 18,50. Testifying Unocal representative John Maresca "Germany's president, Horst Köhler, resigned without warning today, after intense criticism of remarks in which he suggested military deployments were central to the country's economic interests… In a radio interview given on his return from a tour of German military bases in Afghanistan earlier this month, Köhler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, said that the largely pacifist German public was finally coming to terms with the concept that their country could no longer avoid involvement in military missions, which helped "protect our interests, for example, free trade routes, or to prevent regional instability, which might certainly have a negative effect on our trade, jobs and income" German president Horst Köhler quits over Afghanistan gaffe Abrupt resignation over 'misunderstandings' adds to pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Guardian Mon 31 May 2010 "Before U.S. warplanes fired missiles into Belgrade's 23-story Socialist Party headquarters in late April, NATO planners bluntly spelled out the risks in a document circulated to President Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and French President Jacques Chirac. Next to a photograph of the party headquarters, the document said: "Collateral damage: Tier 3 -- High. Casualty Estimate: 50-100 Government/Party employees. Unintended Civ Casualty Est: 250 -- Apts in expected blast radius." In short, NATO anticipated that the attack could, in the worst case, kill up to 350 people, including 250 civilians living in nearby apartment buildings. Officials in Washington and London approved the target, but the French were reluctant, noting that the party headquarters also housed Yugoslav television and radio studios. "In some societies, the idea of killing journalists -- well, we were very nervous about that," said a French diplomat. One of the myths of the war is that the leaders of NATO's 19 member countries ran the air campaign by committee. But that is not the way the decision-making looked to the alliance's generals and political leaders. Inside the alliance, it was clear that the important choices -- such as whether to bomb targets that had a largely civilian character -- were made by the leaders of three countries: the United States, Britain and France." France Balked at NATO Targets, The Washington Post September 20, 1999 "In October 1978 the Taraki regime issued Decree No. 7. Its main purpose was to reduce indebtedness caused by bride - price and to improve women's status . The decree had three parts : prohibition of bride - price in excess of a mahr of 300 afghanis ( for value of the afghani — see Glossary ) , provisions of complete freedom of choice of marriage partner, and fixation of the minimum age at marriage at 16 for women and 18 for men . In addition, it imposed the penalty of imprisonment for three months to three years for violation of the decree." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 121 "The seventh decree attempted to promote equality between the sexes in married life . It fixed a maximum amount for the bride - price ( mahr ) , established a minimum age for marriage at 18 years for men and 16 years for women , abolished forced marriages , and established legal penalties of imprisonment for violating the decree's provisions" US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986)Page 232 "The effect of Decree No. 7 on women's status was not known as of 1985. The Democratic Women's Organization of Afghanistan ( DWOA ) was organized by Dr. Anahita Ratebzad after the foundation of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan ( PDPA ) . Its function was to educate women , bring them out of seclusion , and initiate social programs . It was still functioning and growing in the mid - 1980s." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 128 "Before the April Revolution Afghanistan had one of the world's highest rates of illiteracy . The new government ranked education high on its list of priorities . The revolutionary regime initiated extensive literacy programs , especially for women , because as of 1978 few women who lived outside of Kabul could read. The school system, which before 1978 had consisted of eight years of primary school and four of secondary, was changed. In 1985 primary school included grades one through five, and secondary education comprised grades six through 10. Textbook reforms were also instituted . The content of the books was changed to include the concept of dialectical materialism, and the number of languages in which the texts were printed was expanded, reflecting Karmal's stated policy that children should be able to learn in their mother tongue." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 130 "The Khalqi policy of encouraging the education of girls, for example, aroused deep resentment in the villages. Local sensibilities were also offended by the secular character of new curricula and the practice of putting girls and boys in the same classroom." US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 232 Although both PDPA groups were concerned with changing gender roles and giving women a more active role in politics, women such as Ratebzad, one of the four PDPA members elected to the Wolesi Jirgah in 1965, were more prominent in Parcham" US Department of the Army, Afghanistan, A Country Study (1986) Page 223 "Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said a few months ago in a series of closed discussions that in her opinion that Iranian nuclear weapons do not pose an existential threat to Israel, Haaretz magazine reveals in an article on Livni to be published tomorrow.Livni also criticized the exaggerated use that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is making of the issue of the Iranian bomb, claiming that he is attempting to rally the public around him by playing on its most basic fears." Haaretz October 25, 2007 "three leading Israeli security experts – the Mossad chief, Tamir Pardo, a former Mossad chief, Efraim Halevy, and a former military chief of staff, Dan Halutz – all recently declared that a nuclear Iran would not pose an existential threat to Israel." Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Peacefully Jan. 15, 2012 "In addition to influencing Iranian leaders directly, [a US intelligence official] says another option here is that [sanctions] will create hate and discontent at the street level so that the Iranian leaders realize that they need to change their ways. The intelligence official’s remarks pointed to what has long been an unstated reality of sanctions: Although designed to pressure a government to change its policies, they often impose broad hardships on a population. The official spoke this week on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration assessments." Public ire one goal of Iran sanctions, U.S. official says January 10, 2012 The Washington Post "For 50 years, we equipped our football team, practiced five days a week and never played a game. We had a clear enemy with demonstrable qualities, and we had scouted them out. [Now] we will have to practice day in and day out without knowing anything about the other team. We won’t have his playbook, we won’t know where the stadium is, or how many guys he will have on the field. That is very distressing to the military establishment, especially when you are trying to justify the existence of your organization and your systems." While Fear of Big War Fades, Military Plans for Little Ones NYT Feb. 3, 1992, Col Dennis Long "Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the Near East bureau of the State Department. It was a proposal from Iran for a broad dialogue with the United States, and the fax suggested everything was on the table -- including full cooperation on nuclear programs, acceptance of Israel and the termination of Iranian support for Palestinian militant groups. But top Bush administration officials, convinced the Iranian government was on the verge of collapse, belittled the initiative. Instead, they formally complained to the Swiss ambassador who had sent the fax with a cover letter certifying it as a genuine proposal supported by key power centers in Iran, former administration officials said…. Richard N. Haass, head of policy planning at the State Department at the time and now president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said the Iranian approach was swiftly rejected because in the administration "the bias was toward a policy of regime change." In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran's Offer of Dialogue Some Officials Lament Lost Opportunity, The Washington Post June 18, 2006 "Leon E. Panetta, the White House pick to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, on Thursday left open the possibility that the agency could seek permission to use interrogation methods more aggressive than the limited menu that President Obama authorized under new rules … Mr. Panetta also said the agency would continue the Bush administration practice of ‘rendition’ – picking terrorism suspects off the street and sending them to a third country. But he said the agency would refuse to deliver a suspect into the hands of a country known for torture or other actions ‘that violate our human values." Panetta Open to Tougher Methods in Some C.I.A. Interrogation, NYT Feb. 5, 2009 "Approximately 60,000 military personnel were used as human subjects in the 1940s to test two chemical agents, mustard gas and lewisite [blister gas]. Most of these subjects were not informed of the nature of the experiments and never received medical followup after their participation in the research. Additionally, some of these human subjects were threatened with imprisonment at Fort Leavenworth if they discussed these experiments with anyone, including their wives, parents, and family doctors. For decades, the Pentagon denied that the research had taken place, resulting in decades of suffering for many veterans who became ill after the secret testing" Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, ‘Is Military Research Hazardous to Veterans’ Health? Lessons Spanning Half a Century,’ December 8, 1994, Page 5 "The Pentagon announced last week that a long-awaited computer model of Khamisiyah estimates that nearly 100,000 U.S. soldiers could have been exposed to trace amounts of sarin gas. The number is five times greater than the Pentagon originally estimated." CIA EXPLORES GULF EXPOSURE TO MUSTARD GAS The Washington Post July 31, 1997 "The hepatitis B virus was responsible for an outbreak of jaundice that struck 50,000 soldiers after they received yellow fever vaccines during World War II, a report today concludes. The virus was long suspected to be the cause of the illness, but this was not confirmed until doctors sampled the blood of veterans two years ago. They estimate that as many as 330,000 soldiers may have been infected with hepatitis B spread by tainted vaccines, making it the biggest such outbreak ever recorded." World War II Hepatitis Outbreak Was Biggest in History April 16, 1987 AP "After a night of heavy explosions and fires, this city was strangely calm early today. Serbs seemed at ease, if angry over the NATO bombing; ethnic Albanians were anxious, even terrified of what was to come…Though Serbs said that much of the damage and fires around the city had been caused by NATO missiles, it was the ethnic Albanians who bore the brunt of the violence overnight, as Serbian forces apparently used the NATO attacks as a pretext to go out and wreak still more havoc… with the NATO bombing already begun, a deepening sense of fear took hold in Pristina [Kosovo’s main city] that the Serbs would now vent their rage against ethnic Albanian civilians in retaliation" CONFLICT IN THE BALKANS: IN KOSOVO; Ethnic Albanians Now Fear Wrath of Serbs NYT March 26, 1999 "I am obviously not commenting on any allegations of violations of international humanitarian law supposedly perpetrated by nationals of NATO countries. I accept the assurances given by NATO leaders that they intend to conduct their operations in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in full compliance with international humanitarian law." Press release from Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour, The Hague, May 13, 1999. "By holding individuals accountable regardless of their position, the Tribunal has dismantled the tradition of impunity for war crimes. The Tribunal indicted heads of state, prime ministers, army chiefs-of-staff, government ministers and many other leaders from various parties to the Yugoslav conflicts. Thanks to the Tribunal, the question is no longer whether leaders should be held accountable, but rather how best to ensure they will be called to account." Legacy Website of ICTY Carla del Ponte made her name attacking her own country's habit of accommodating tyrants and gangsters with numbered bank accounts. Now, if she concludes that Nato broke the Geneva Conventions, she will indict those responsible. "If I am not willing to do that, I am not in the right place: I must give up the mission,' she said last week in an interview after 100 days in the job. 'So I will read it very attentively and I will decide what to do. I must do my job because otherwise I am not independent and the independence of the prosecutor is the most important element." Dossier of Nato 'crimes' lands in prosecutor's lap Either I pursue this or quit, Carla del Ponte tells Emma Daly in The Hague, 26 Dec 1999 Observer/ Guardian "NATO is not under investigation by the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There is no formal inquiry into the actions of NATO during the conflict in Kosovo. During the past six months, the Prosecutor has met with and received information from a variety of individuals and groups urging an investigation of NATO's actions during the Kosovo conflict, including members of the Russian Duma and several international legal experts. As with any other information provided to the Prosecutor, this information is reviewed by her staff." Statement by Madame Carla Del Ponte, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The Hague, 30 December 1999 "One of America's most senior diplomats claimed at the United Nations security council that Muammar Gaddafi is supplying his troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape, according to diplomats… A UN diplomat at the closed session on Thursday said: "I was in the room when she mentioned Viagra. The remark did not cause a stir at the time. It was during a discussion about whether there is moral equivalence between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels. She listed human rights abuses by Gaddafi's forces, including snipers shooting children in the street and the Viagra story." Gaddafi ‘supplies troops with Viagra to encourage mass rape’, claims diplomat US ambassador Susan Rice The Guardian Fri 29 Apr 2011 "The rebels feel no loyalty to the truth in shaping their propaganda, claiming nonexistent battlefield victories, asserting they were still fighting in a key city days after it fell to Qaddafi forces, and making vastly inflated claims of his barbaric behavior." 21st of March 2011 NYT, Hopes for a Qaddafi Exit, and Worries of What Comes Next "The example of a successful elected Marxist government in Chile would surely have an impact on – and even precedent value for – other parts of the world, especially in Italy; the imitative spread of similar phenomena elsewhere would in turn significantly affect the world balance and our own position in it." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976, VOLUME XXI, CHILE, 1969–1973. 172. Memorandum From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to President Nixon1 Washington, November 5, 1970 "I mean, we’ve got Chávez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He’s a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others." U.S. orders expulsion of Venezuelan diplomat February 3rd 2006 NBC "The majority of Cubans support Castro… The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. If the above are accepted or cannot be successfully countered, it follows that every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1958–1960, CUBA, VOLUME VI 499. Memorandum From the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Mallory) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs (Rubottom) Washington, April 6, 1960. "First, we are strengthening re-enforcement of those travel restrictions to Cuba that are already in place. (Applause.) U.S. law forbids Americans to travel to Cuba for pleasure. That law is on the books and it must be enforced. We allow travel for limited reasons, including visit to a family, to bring humanitarian aid, or to conduct research. Those exceptions are too often used as cover for illegal business travel and tourism, or to skirt the restrictions on carrying cash into Cuba. We're cracking down on this deception. I've instructed the Department of Homeland Security to increase inspections of travelers and shipments to and from Cuba. We will enforce the law. (Applause.) We will also target those who travel to Cuba illegally through third countries, and those who sail to Cuba on private vessels in violation of the embargo." For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary October 10, 2003. President Bush Discusses Cuba Policy in Rose Garden Speech "2. (U) NEWS: USINT is always looking for human interest stories and other news that shatters the myth of Cuban medical prowess, which has become a key feature of the regime's foreign policy and its self-congratulatory propaganda." US embassy cables: US seeks out bad news about Cuban healthcare Fri 17 Dec 2010 The Guardian "José Wilfredo Salgado says he collected baby skulls as trophies in the 1980s, when he fought as a government soldier in El Salvador's civil war. They worked well as candleholders, he recalls, and better as good-luck charms.In the most barbaric chapters of a conflict that cost more than 75,000 lives, he enthusiastically embraced the scorched-earth tactics of his army bosses, even massacres of children, the elderly, the sick -- entire villages. It was all in the name of beating back communism, Salgado, now the mayor of San Miguel, said he remembers being told. But as El Salvador commemorates the 15th anniversary of the war's end this month, Salgado is haunted by doubts about what he saw, what he did and even why he fought. A 12-year U.S.-backed war that was defined at the time as a battle over communism is now seen by former government soldiers such as Salgado, and by former guerrillas, as less a conflict about ideology and more a battle over poverty and basic human rights. "We soldiers were tricked -- they told us the threat was communism… But I look back and realize those weren't communists out there that we were fighting -- we were just poor country people killing poor country people." Salgado said he once thought that the guerrillas dreamed of communism, but now that those same men are his colleagues in business and politics, he is learning that they wanted what he wanted: prosperity, a chance to move up in the world, freedom from repression. All of which makes what they see around them today even more heartbreaking and frustrating. For all their sacrifices, El Salvador is still among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere -- more than 40 percent of Salvadorans live on less than $2 a day, according to the United Nations. The country is still racked by violence, still scarred by corruption. For some the question remains: Was it all worth it? "We gave our blood, we killed our friends and, in the end, things are still bad," said Salgado, who has served three terms as mayor of El Salvador's second-largest city. "Look at all this poverty, and look how the wealth is concentrated in just a few hands." Former Salvadoran Foes Share Doubts on War Fifteen Years Later, Problems of Poverty Remain at Forefront The Washington Post January 29, 200 "When the junta took over in 1967 here the United States allowed its interests in prosecuting the cold war to prevail over its interest – I should say its obligation – to support democracy, which was, after all, the cause for which we fought the cold war. It is important that we acknowledge that" Clinton Tries To Subdue Greeks' Anger At America NYT Nov. 21, 1999 Bill Clinton "The whole idea is to kill the bastards! At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!’ The response from one of those present was: ‘Well, you’d better" General Thomas Power, The Atlantic August 2013 (not a primary source) "AIDS patients suffering from debilitating nerve pain got as much or more relief by smoking marijuana as they would typically get from prescription drugs – and with fewer side effects – according to a study conducted under rigorously controlled conditions with government-grown pot." Research supports medicinal marijuana Feb 13th 2007 NBC The traditional forces of supply and demand cannot fully account for these increases [in crude oil, gasoline, etc.]. While global demand for oil has been increasing … global oil supplies have increased by an even greater amount. As a result, global inventories have increased as well. Today, U.S. oil inventories are at an 8-year high, and OECD [mainly European] oil inventories are at a 20–year high. Accordingly, factors other than basic supply and demand must be examined. … Over the past few years, large financial institutions, hedge funds, pension funds, and other investment funds have been pouring billions of dollars into the energy commodities markets … to try to take advantage of price changes or to hedge against them. Because much of this additional investment has come from financial institutions and investment funds that do not use the commodity as part of their business, it is defined as ‘speculation’ by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). According to the CFTC, a speculator ‘does not produce or use the commodity, but risks his or her own capital trading futures in that commodity in hopes of making a profit on price changes.’ The large purchases of crude oil futures contracts by speculators have, in effect, created an additional demand for oil, driving up the price of oil to be delivered in the future in the same manner that additional demand for the immediate delivery of a physical barrel of oil drives up the price on the spot market. … Although it is difficult to quantify the effect of speculation on prices, there is substantial evidence that the large amount of speculation in the current market has significantly increased prices." US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006 "Persons within the United States seeking to trade key U.S. energy commodities – U.S. crude oil, gasoline, and heating oil futures – now can avoid all U.S. market oversight or reporting requirements by routing their trades through the ICE Futures exchange in London instead of the NYMEX in New York. … To the extent that energy prices are the result of market manipulation or excessive speculation, only a cop on the beat with both oversight and enforcement authority will be effective. … The trading of energy commodities by large firms on OTC [over-the-counter] electronic exchanges was exempted from CFTC oversight by a provision inserted at the behest of Enron and other large energy traders into the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000." US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006 "There has been no shortage, and inventories of crude oil and products have continued to rise. The increase in prices has not been driven by supply and demand. (Lord Browne, group chief executive of BP, formerly British Petroleum) ...Senator … I think I have been very clear in saying that I don’t think that the fundamentals of supply and demand – at least as we have traditionally looked at it – have supported the price structure that’s there. (Lee Raymond, chairman and CEO, ExxonMobil) ...What’s been happening since 2004 is very high prices without record-low stocks. The relationship between U.S. [oil] inventory levels and prices has been shredded, has become irrelevant. (Jan Stuart, global oil economist, UBS Securities, which calls itself ‘the leading global wealth manager’)" US Senate, Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, The Role of Market Speculation in Rising Oil and Gas Prices, June 27, 2006 "In all, the three‐month investigation by The Times found that at least 22 American news organizations had employed, though sometimes only on a casual .basis, American journalists who were also working for the C.I.A. In a few instances the organization's were aware of the C.I.A. connection, but most of them appear not to have been. The organizations, which range from some of the most influential in the nation to some of the most obscure, include ABC and CBS News, Time, Life and Newsweek magazines. The New York Times, The New York Herald Tribune, The Associated Press and United Press International. Also included were the Scripps‐Howard chain of newspapers. The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall Street Journal, The Louisville Courier‐Journal and Fodor's, a publisher of travel guides. Among the lesser known organizations were the College Press Service, Business International, the McLendon Broadcasting Organization, Film Daily and a defunct underground newspaper published Washington, The Quicksilver Times." C.I.A. Established Many Links To Journalists in U.S. and Abroad NYT Dec. 27, 1977 "Another who acknowledged a connection was Elliott Haynes, with his father a co‐founder of Business International, a widely respected business information service. He said that his father, Eldridge Haynes, had provided cover for four C.I.A. employees in various countries between 1955 and 1960." C.I.A. Established Many Links To Journalists in U.S. and Abroad NYT Dec. 27, 1977 "Question: The former director of the CIA, Robert Gates, stated in his memoirs that the American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahideen in Afghanistan six months before the Soviet intervention. Is this period, you were the national security advisor to President Carter. You therefore played a key role in this affair. Is this correct? Brzezinski: Yes. According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahiddin began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on December 24, 1979. But the reality, closely guarded until now, is completely otherwise: Indeed, it was July 3, 1979 that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion this aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention [emphasis added throughout]. Q: Despite this risk, you were an advocate of this covert action. But perhaps you yourself desired this Soviet entry into the war and looked for a way to provoke it? B: It wasn’t quite like that. We didn’t push the Russians to intervene, but we knowingly increased the probability that they would. Q : When the Soviets justified their intervention by asserting that they intended to fight against secret US involvement in Afghanistan , nobody believed them . However, there was an element of truth in this. You don’t regret any of this today? B: Regret what? That secret operation was an excellent idea. It had the effect of drawing the Russians into the Afghan trap and you want me to regret it? The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter, essentially: “We now have the opportunity of giving to the USSR its Vietnam war." Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war that was unsustainable for the regime , a conflict that bought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire. Q: And neither do you regret having supported Islamic fundamentalism, which has given arms and advice to future terrorists? B : What is more important in world history? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some agitated Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war? Q : “Some agitated Moslems”? But it has been said and repeated: Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today... B: Nonsense! It is said that the West has a global policy in regard to Islam. That is stupid: There isn’t a global Islam. Look at Islam in a rational manner, without demagoguery or emotionalism. It is the leading religion of the world with 1.5 billion followers. But what is t h ere in com m on among fundamentalist Saudi Arabia , moderate Morocco, militarist Pakistan, pro-Western Egypt, or secularist Central Asia? Nothing more than what unites the Christian countries…" The Brzezinski Interview with Le Nouvel Observateur (1998), University Of Arizona "Muslims do not hate our freedom, but rather they hate our policies. The overwhelming majority voice their objections to what they see as one-sided support in favor of Israel and against Palestinian rights, and the long-standing, even increasing, support for what Muslims collectively see as tyrannies, most notably Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Pakistan and the Gulf states. Thus, when American public diplomacy talks about bringing democracy to Islamic societies, this is seen as no more than self-serving hypocrisy." Report says Muslims hate US policies in the Middle East Al-Jazeera 25 Nov 2004 "REPORTER : The American people are being asked to die and pay for this, and you’re saying that they have no say in this war? PERINO : I didn’t say that … this President was elected – REPORTER : Well, what it amounts to is you saying we have no input at all. PERINO : You had input. The American people have input every four years, and that’s the way our system is set up" White House press briefing, March 20, 2008. Min 4:50 Unverified Sources "THOMAS : What is really lacking always for us is you don’t give the motivation of why they want to do us harm. … What is the motivation? We never hear what you find out or why. BRENNAN : : Al Qaeda is an organization that is dedicated to murder and wanton slaughter of innocents … [They] attract individuals like Mr. Abdulmutallab and use them for these types of attacks. He was motivated by a sense of religious sort of drive. Unfortunately, al Qaeda has perverted Islam, and has corrupted the concept of Islam, so that [they’re] able to attract these individuals. But al Qaeda has the agenda of destruction and death. THOMAS : And you’re saying it’s because of religion? BRENNAN : I’m saying it’s because of an al Qaeda organization that uses the banner of religion in a very perverse and corrupt way. THOMAS : Why? BRENNAN : I think … this is a long issue, but al Qaeda is just determined to carry out attacks here against the homeland. THOMAS : But you haven’t explained why." White House press briefing, January 7, 2010 ‘I have seen no evidence in my 24 years in Congress of one instance where because of American military involvement with another military that the Americans have stopped that foreign army from carrying out atrocities against their own people. No evidence, none.’ Senator Tom Harkin (D.–Iowa) observed in 1999, 20th of September 1999 NYT "The biggest problem for the United States is not Iran getting a nuclear weapon and testing it, it’s Iran getting a nuclear weapon and not using it. Because the second that they have one and they don’t do anything bad, all of the naysayers are going to come back and say, ‘See, we told you Iran is a responsible power. We told you Iran wasn’t getting nuclear weapons in order to use them immediately.’ … And they will eventually define Iran with nuclear weapons as not a problem." Danielle Pletka "Now, I am under attack by the biggest force in military history, my little African son, Obama wants to kill me, to take away the freedom of our country, to take away our free housing, our free medicine, our free education, our free food, and replace it with American style thievery, called ‘capitalism,’ but all of us in the Third World know what that means, it means corporations run the countries, run the world, and the people suffer, so, there is no alternative for me, I must make my stand, and if Allah wishes, I shall die by following his path, the path that has made our country rich with farmland, with food and health, and even allowed us to help our African and Arab brothers and sisters to work here with us … I do not wish to die, but if it comes to that, to save this land, my people, all the thousands who are all my children, then so be it. … In the West, some have called me ‘mad’, ‘crazy’. They know the truth but continue to lie, they know that our land is independent and free, not in the colonial grip." Recollections of My Life, written by Col. Muammar Gaddafi, April 8, 2011

"If we see that Germany is winning, we ought to help Russia, and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and that way let them kill as many as possible, although I don’t want to see Hitler victorious in any circumstances." Harvard Crimson, wiki, Politico (No Primary source) "Actually, at least in more routine operations, case officers most fear the US ambassador and his staff, then restrictive headquarters cables, then curious, gossipy neighbors in the local community, as potential threats to operations. Next would come the local police, then the press. Last of all is the KGB—in my twelve years of case officering I never saw or heard of a situation in which the KGB attacked or obstructed a CIA operation." In Search of Enemies, John Stockwell (Ex-CIA) Page 101 "It isn’t done. If a CIA case officer has a flat tire in the dark of night on a lonely road, he will not hesitate to accept a ride from a KGB officer—likely the two would detour to some bar for a drink together. In fact CIA and KGB officers entertain each other frequently in their homes. The CIA’s files are full of mention of such relationships in almost every African station." In Search of Enemies, John Stockwell (Ex-CIA) Page 238 "The experiment which we tried in Ghana was essentially one of developing the country in co-operation with the world as a whole. Non-alignment meant exactly what it said. We were not hostile to the countries of the socialist world in the way in which the governments of the old colonial territories were. It should be remembered that while Britain pursued at home co-existence with the Soviet Union this was never allowed to extend to British colonial territories. Books on socialism, which were published and circulated freely in Britain, were banned in the British colonial empire, and after Ghana became independent it was assumed abroad that it would continue to follow the same restrictive ideological approach. When we behaved as did the British in their relations with the socialist countries we were accused of being pro-Russian and introducing the most dangerous ideas into Africa." Kwame Nkrumah, Dark Days in Ghana (London, 1968), Page 71,72 "Clandestine warfare against North Vietnam, for example, is not seen … as violating the Geneva Accords of 1954, which ended the French Indochina War, or as conflicting with the public policy pronouncements of the various administrations. Clandestine warfare, because it is covert, does not exist as far as treaties and public posture are concerned. Further, secret commitments to other nations are not sensed as infringing on the treaty-making powers of the Senate Because they are not publicly acknowledged." The Pentagon Papers (N.Y. Times edition, 1971) "Architects of U.S. policy would have to make their case “clearer than the truth,” and “bludgeon the mass mind of top government,” as Secretary of State Dean Acheson … puts it. They do. The new Central Intelligence Agency begins a systematic overstatement of Soviet military expenditures. Magically, the sclerotic Soviet economy is made to hum and climb on U.S. government charts. To Stalin’s horse-drawn army—complete with shoddy equipment, war- torn roads and spurious morale—the Pentagon adds phantom divisions, then attributes invasion scenarios to the new forces for good measure. U.S. officials “exaggerated Soviet capabilities and intentions to such an extent,” says a subsequent study of the archives, “that it is surprising anyone took them seriously.” Fed by somber government claims and reverberating public fear, the U.S. press and people have no trouble." The Life and Death of the Cold War: The Long Battle Between West and East : Russia: U.S. policy-makers seemed proud of their ignorance when it came to the Soviet Union, and this led to many wrong moves. By ROGER MORRIS, LA Times DEC. 29, 1991 "It was perfectly clear to us that if we told the Japanese to lay down their arms immediately and march to the seaboard, the entire country would be taken over by the Communists. We therefore had to take the unusual step of using the enemy as a garrison until we could airlift Chinese National [Chiang’s] troops to South China and send Marines to guard the seaports" The Memoirs of Harry S. Truman: A Reader's Edition edited by Raymond H. Geselbracht Page 466 "The Government of the United States has borne in mind the fact that the Chinese Government has long claimed suzerainty over Tibet and that the Chinese constitution lists Tibet among areas constituting the territory of the Republic of China. This Government has at no time raised a question regarding either of these claims" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES: DIPLOMATIC PAPERS, 1943, CHINA 893.24/1594 "The Commission has come to the following conclusions. The peoples of Korea and China have indeed been the objective of bacteriological weapons. These have been employed by units of the U. S. A. armed forces , using a great variety of different methods for the purpose, some of which seem to be developments of those applied by the Japanese army during the second world war. The Commission reached these conclusions, passing from one logical step to another. It did so reluctantly because its members had not been disposed to believe that such an inhuman technique could have been put into execution in the face of its universal condemnation by the peoples of the nations. It is now for all peoples to redouble their efforts to preserve the world from war and prevent the discoveries of science being used for the destruction of humanity" INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST ACTIVITIES NEW YORK AREA - PART 5 ( SUMMER CAMPS ) HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON UN - AMERICAN ACTIVITIES HOUSE OF.REPRESENTATIVES EIGHTY - FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JULY 25, 28, 29, AND AUGUST 1, 1955 Page 1652 "Thousands of Americans of Italian origin feel deeply humiliated by the continuous flow of suggestions, advice and pressure put on the Italians, as though they were unable to decide for themselves whom to elect" NYT 8th of April 1948 "Stalin… adhered strictly and faithfully to our agreement of October, and during all the long weeks of fighting the Communists in the streets of Athens not one word of reproach came from Pravda or Izvestia" Greece, Spain, and the Southern NATO Strategy: Hearings, Ninety-second congress of The United States Page 465 (Quote from Churchill) "It is possible that during your stay in Greece you and the Ambassador will come to the conclusion that the effectiveness of your Mission would be enhanced if a reorganization of the Greek Government could be effected. If such a conclusion is reached, it is hoped that you and the Ambassador will be able to bring about such a reorganization indirectly through discreet suggestion and otherwise in such a manner that even the Greek political leaders will have a feeling that the reorganization has been effected largely by themselves and not by pressure from without." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1947, THE NEAR EAST AND AFRICA, VOLUME V, 868.00/7–1147, To The Secretary of State to Governor Dwight P. Griswold, at Washington From George Marshall "During the course of your work you and the members of your Mission will from time to time find that certain Greek officials are not, because of incompetence, disagreement with your policies, [Page 223]or for some other reason, extending the type of cooperation which is necessary if the objectives of your Mission are to be achieved. You will find it necessary to effect the removal of these officials. It is important that such a removal be effected quietly and in a manner which will create a minimum amount of resentment from fellow officials and the Greek people. You will probably find it desirable to establish regular channels through which you may present to the Greek Government your views regarding incompetent or uncooperative Greek officials." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1947, THE NEAR EAST AND AFRICA, VOLUME V, 868.00/7–1147, To The Secretary of State to Governor Dwight P. Griswold, at Washington From George Marshall (Extended quote) A recently published book brings to light certain considerations that bear on this conclusion. The book to which I refer in "Conversations With Stalin," by Milovan Djilas. On May 14, Djilas was again sent to prison by the Communist government of Yugoslavia. He was convicted of divulging official secrets in the book,“Conversations With Stalin." Have you seen the book? Mr. BALL. I have a copy which I received only yesterday, and which I haven't yet read. Senator THURMOND. One of the conversations between Djilas and Stalin related in this book took place on February 10, 1948. Djilas had this to say about Stalin's comments on the Communists 'insurgency then in progress in Greece, and I quote from "Conversations with Stalin": Do you believe in the success of the uprising in Greece?” Kardelj replied, “If foreign intervention does not grow, and if serious political and military errors are not made.” Stalin went on, without paying attention to Kardelj’s opinion: “If, if! No, they have no prospect of success at all. What, do you think that Great Britain and the United States—the United States, the most powerful state in the world—will permit you to break their line of communication in the Mediterranean? Nonsense. And we have no navy. The uprising in Greece must be stopped, and as quickly as possible.” Military Cold War Education and Speech Review Policies: Hearings Before the United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Armed Forces Page 2837 "I walked the floor of the White House night after night until midnight; and I am not ashamed to tell you, gentlemen, that I went down on my knees and prayed (to) Almighty God for light and guidance more than one night. And one night late it came to me this way—I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them [the Philippine Islands] back to Spain—that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France or Germany—our commercial rivals in the Orient—that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves—they were unfit for self-government—and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) that there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all, and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow-men for whom Christ also died." —William McKinley, President of the United States, 1899, Charles S. Olcott, The Life of William McKinley (Boston, 1916) vol. 2 Page 110-111 "Gave equal rights to Americans in the development of the nation’s natural resources and the operation of its public utilities" NYT 12th of March 1947 (Philippine-US Trade act Passed in congress) In the Philippines, lumbering interests and major sugar interests have forced tens of thousands of simple, backward villagers to leave areas where they have lived for centuries. When these poor people flee to other areas, it should be quite obvious that they in turn then infringe upon the territorial rights of other villagers or landowners. This creates violent rioting or at least sporadic outbreaks of banditry, that last lowly recourse of dying and terrorized people. Then when the distant government learns of the banditry and rioting, it must offer some safe explanation. The last thing that regional government would want to do would be to say that the huge lumbering or paper interests had driven the people out of their ancestral homeland. In the Philippines it is customary for the local/regional government to get a 10 percent rake-off on all such enterprise and for national politicians to get another 10 percent. So the safe explanation becomes “Communist-inspired subversive insurgency.” The word for this in the Philippines is Huk." COL Fletcher Prouty, The Secret Team: The CIA and its Allies in Control of the World Page 103 “But in Korea there seemed to be lack of precise information that could enable the Council to pin responsibility. The thing for the council to do… was to call for a cease-fire, not blame anybody, not ask for a withdrawal of northern troops and set out on an investigation that would bring out the facts for a final decision. Mr Nincitch presented a resolution to that effect and saw it defeated. Only Yugoslavia voted for her proposal" NYT 26th of June 1950 Page 6 Col 5 "He (Soviet Foreign Minister) put forward a motion to hear from representatives from both North and South Korea. The Committee voted him down, 46 to 6 with 7 abstentions and instead it was decided to extend an invitation to South Korea alone." NYT October 1st 1950 Page 4 "While we recognise that the burden of the operation would fall on the United States, the token forces supplied by these other nations, as in Korea, would lend real moral standing to a venture that otherwise could be made to appear as a brutal example of imperialism. The need was particularly acute because there was no incontrovertible evidence of overt Red Chinese participation in the Indochina conflict" Dwight Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change, 1953-1956 Page 304 (Extended quote) "probably over 100,000 were killed without any trial whatsoever when ROK soldiers and Counter intelligence Corps recaptured such areas of lefist repute as Yonggwang" Gregory Henderson, Korea : The Politics of the Vortex (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1968) Page 167 "A napalm raid hit the village three or four days ago when the Chinese were holding up the advance, and nowhere in the village have they buried the dead because there is nobody left to do so. … The inhabitants throughout the village and in the fields were caught and killed and kept the exact postures they had held when the napalm struck—a man about to get on his bicycle, fifty boys and girls playing in an orphanage, a housewife strangely unmarked, holding in her hand a page torn from a Sears-Roebuck catalogue crayoned at Mail Order No. 3,811,294 for a $2.98 “bewitching bed jacket—coral”. There must be almost two hundred dead in the tiny hamlet" NYT February 9th 1951 Page 3 Col 2 "The unadorned way that an apparently increasing number of them [American soldiers in Korea] see the situation right now is that the Communists have made important concessions, while the United Nations Command, as they view it, continues to make more and more demands. … The United Nations truce team has created the impression that it switches its stand whenever the Communists indicate that they might go along with it" NYT 12th November 1951 "Whenever we want to subvert any place,” confided Frank Wisner, the CIA’s head of covert operations, to Philby, “we find that the British own an island within easy reach" Kim Philby, My Silent War (Great Britain, 1968 Page 160-161 "A resolution nationalizing the oil industry was approved by both houses of the Iranian Parliament. On April 28th Dr Mossadegh was elected prime minister and May 1st the nationalization law was passed. The Iranian people, Mossadegh declared, “were opening a hidden treasure upon which lies a dragon” Anthony Eden, The Memoirs of the Right Honourable Sir Anthony Eden: Full Circle (London, 1960) Page 194 "that there was ‘no substantial evidence’ to indicate that Iran was cooperating with Russia. On the whole, he added, Moslem opposition to communism is predominant, although at times the Iranian Government appears to rely for support on the Tudeh party, which is communistic." NYT 10th of July 1953 page 4 "It seemed to me appropriate that I should deliver a parting message from President Eisenhower. Since he had neglected to send one, I put into words what he must surely be feeling. “Your Majesty, I received earlier this evening a cable from Washington. President Eisenhower had asked that I convey to you this word: ‘I wish Your Imperial Majesty godspeed. If the Pahlavis and the Roosevelts working together cannot solve this little problem, then there is no hope anywhere. I have complete faith that you will get this done!’" Kermit Roosevelt, Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran (New York, 1979) Page 167 "Loy grunted. “And what in heaven’s name do I say?” “My suggestion would be that you complain about the way Americans here are being harassed. Anonymous telephone calls saying ‘Yankee go home!’ or calling them obscene names. Even if a child picks up the phone the caller just shouts dirty words at him.” ...Loy responded vigorously. “That’s fine. I’ll certainly do it. But what if he asks me about American support for the Shah?” “I think you should tell him that while Americans do not want to, and will not, get involved in the domestic politics of a foreign country, they are bound to be sympathetic to the man they regard as the legitimate sovereign.” … The old man shrilled at him: “What are your citizens saying about my country? Why are they criticizing it, trying to work against it, voicing their support for a tyrant who has wisely, if somewhat cravenly, fled to foreign lands? This is most improper. They have no business trying to pressure us in any way, particularly on behalf of a man who is now no more than a rebel!” Loy could not resist a very pointed reply. … Loy grew no more “diplomatic” as he proceeded: “My fellow citizens are understandably disturbed at seeing a man whom they have regarded as the friendly chief of a friendly state sent into exile—for reasons which,” he added sharply, “they don’t understand any more than do I.” Observing with satisfaction the effect of his remarks, Loy went on: “Furthermore I must tell you that my fellow citizens are being harassed most unpleasantly. Not only do they get threatening telephone calls, often answered by their children who are then subjected to rude words children should not even hear. Not only are they insulted on the streets when going peacefully about their business; in addition to all the verbal aggression they are exposed to, their automobiles are damaged whenever they are left exposed. Parts are stolen, headlights are smashed, tires are deflated”—Mossadegh looked puzzled by that word, but Henderson did not pause to explain it—“and if the cars are left unlocked their upholstery is cut to pieces. “Unless this kind of harassment is stopped, Your Excellency, I am going to ask my government to recall all dependents and also all men whose presence here is not required in our own national interest.” Visibly shaken by the force of Loy’s expression, the old gentleman became confused, almost apologetic. “I would not want you to do that, Mr. Ambassador. Let me call my police chief. I’ll see that your compatriots are given proper protection.” Before Loy had taken his leave, the police had been called and given their instructions. Later, Loy and I were to agree that this indeed had been a helpful move, encouraging the pro-Shah police force. For the time being, however, I was still restricted—except for a cautious ambassadorial evening visit—to the radio shack. And by the next time I saw Loy there was much else to talk about." Kermit Roosevelt, Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran (New York, 1979) Page 183-185 By now the crowd of demonstrators, including many uniformed soldiers and police, was streaming past our chancery. Its vanguard had already reached Mossadegh’s house, some half a dozen blocks beyond us. The crackle of rifles, and the boom-thud of an occasional mortar, could clearly be heard… Then a voice—not that of Mohsen—came on the air. Once again we heard the shout “Zindabad. Shah! Long live the Shah!” And, alternating Farsi and English, our unknown speaker came out with the well-intended lies, or “pre-truths,” which Mohsen had been planning to broadcast. “The Shah’s instruction that Mossadegh be dismissed has been carried out. The new Prime Minister, Fazlollah Zahedi, is now in office. And His Imperial Majesty is on his way home!” … They were headed, full of the best intentions, for Dr. Mossadegh’s house several blocks away. And in their midst I spotted a figure in full uniform—the general in command of the air force. I remembered the last meeting in John Foster Dulles’ office. “What about General Guilanshah?” he had asked. I could see again his faint grin at my surprise; I could also remember my reply that I could see no role for the general. Now I damn well could. He had recognized me at the same time I’d caught sight of him. We fought our way through the mob until we could communicate. He gave me a broad smile. “There must be something I can do to help. ” I sought for no explanation of his question but responded quickly, “Damn right there is! Pick up a tank if you can and meet me one block west of here in fifteen minutes. I’ll be in a small black Citroen, and I’ll turn over General Zahedi to your care.” Kermit Roosevelt, Countercoup: The Struggle for the Control of Iran (New York, 1979) Page 191-193 Now, when this crisis came on and the thing was about to collapse, we violated our normal criteria and among the other things we did, we provided the army immediately on an emergency basis, blankets, boots, uniforms, electric generators, and medical supplies that permitted and created the atmosphere in which they could support the Shah … The guns that they had in their hands, the trucks that they rode in, the armored cars that they drove through the streets, and the radio communications that permitted their control, were all furnished through the military defense assistance program" Hearings in 1954 before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on “The Mutual Security Act of 1954” Page 503, 569-570 "INVESTIGATION OF COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN GUATEMALA AND ITS EFFECT ON PRICE OF IMPORTED COFFEE Mrs. SMITH of Maine submitted the following resolution (S. Res. 211), which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations: Whereas it is reported that the Communist movement has gained such economic and political strength within the Republic of Guatemala that it now largely dominates and controls economic and political affairs within that country; and • Whereas it appears that the prices charged by Guatemalan producers for coffee imported into the United States have been drastically increased, and that such increases have been a contributing factor in the establishment of the exorbitant prices now charged consumers for coffee-within the United States: Therefore be it Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the President should (a) direct the appropriate agencies of the Government to conduct promptly such investigation as may be necessary to ascertain (1) the extent to which the Communist movement now controls economic and political affairs within the Republic of Guatemala, and (2) the extent to which unjustified increases in the price of coffee imported into the United States have been imposed by Guatemala producers; and (b ) take such action as may be required to exclude from importation into the United States all coffee originating in the Republic of Guatemala until such time as he is satisfied that ( 1) the economic and political affairs of that country no longer are dominated and controlled by the Communist movement, and (2) the unjustified prices for coffee imposed by producers in that country have been reduced to reasonable levels" Congressional Record, 8 February 1954 Senator Margaret Chase Smith Page 1475 "the Communist dictatorship” establishing “an outpost on this continent to the detriment of all the American nations" NYT 20th May 1954 Page 18, President Einsenhower "Colonel Carlos Castillo armas, was provided food and housing on the Fruit Company property just across the Guatemalan border in Honduras and that the invading troops were assembled from… Arbenz was overthrown within a matter of days. The incident even produced some reasonable atrocity photos. I don't know where they came from but somehow we got a hold of some photographs of several dead bodies - some had been castrated - about to be buried in a mass grave. The photos got the widest possible circulation and Arbenz got all the credit. For all I know they could just as easily have been the victims of either side—or of an earthquake. The point is, they were widely accepted for what they were purported to be—victims of communism.” Thomas P. McCann, An American Company: The Tragedy of United Fruit (New York, 1976) Page 60 "During this same period, the CIA put into practice a plan to create an “incident”. Agency planes were dispatched to drop several harmless bombs on Honduran territory. The Honduran government then complained to the UN and the Organization of American States, claiming that the country had been attacked by Guatemalan planes." Quote from book, incident reported in the NYT 24th June 1954 (They did report the CIA did this just the alleged incident) "My role in Guatemala prior to the revolution was strictly that of a diplomatic observer … The revolution that overthrew the Arbenz government was engineered and instigated by those people in Guatemala who rebelled against the policies and ruthless oppression of the Communist-controlled government." John Peurifoy Ex US Guatemala Ambassador, Communist Aggression in Latin America: Ninth Interim Report ..., Volumes 73-75. By United States. Congress. House. Select Committee on Communist Aggression Page 114 "The events in Guatemala] expose the evil purpose of the Kremlin to destroy the inter-American system … having gained control of what they call the mass organizations, [the communists] moved on to take over the official press and radio of the Guatemalan Government. They dominated the social security organization and ran the agrarian reform program … dictated to the Congress and to the President … Arbenz … was openly manipulated by the leaders of communism … The Guatemalan regime enjoyed the full support of Soviet Russia … [the] situation is being cured by the Guatemalans themselves" Secretary John Foster Dulles Congressional Record: Proceedings and Debates of the 83rd congress Volume 100, Part 7, By United States. Congress Page 9622 "Figueres accused the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency of aiding the Somoza movement against him. He claimed that the CIA felt indebted to Somoza for the help he had given in overthrowing the Arbenz regime. He asserted that the same pilots and planes (the F-47) that had participated in the attack upon Guatemala, “afterwards came from Nicaragua and machine-gunned eleven defenseless towns in our territory.” According to Figueres, at the same time that the U.S. Department of State arranged the sale of fighter planes for Costa Rica’s defense, CIA planes and pilots were flying sorties for the rebels" Charles D. Ameringer, Don Pepe, A Political Biography of José Figueres of Costa Rica Page 124-125 "take control of Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, and Hamah. The frontier posts with Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon would also be captured in order to seal Syria’s borders until the radio stations announced that a new government had taken over under Colonel Kabbani, who would place armored units at key positions throughout Damascus. Once control had been established, Ilyan would inform the civilians he’d selected that they were to form a new government, but in order to avoid leaks none of them would be told until just a week before the coup." Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East By Wilbur Crane Eveland (Ex CIA) Macmillan backed Syria assassination plot Documents show White House and No 10 conspired over oil-fuelled invasion plan Ben Fenton Fri 26 Sep 2003, The Guardian "I was shocked. Who, I wondered, had reached this determination of what the Arabs considered a danger? Israel’s army had just invaded Egypt and still occupied all of the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip. And, had it not been for Russia’s threat to intervene on behalf of the Egyptians, the British, French, and Israeli forces might now be sitting in Cairo, celebrating Nasser’s ignominious fall from power." Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East By Wilbur Crane Eveland (Ex CIA) "The Central Intelligence Agency for 20 years has made secret annual payments totaling millions of dollars to King Hussein of Jordan, The Washington Post has learned...As justification for the direct cash payments to Hussein, the CIA claimed that Hussein was allowing U.S. intelligence agencies to operate freely in his strategically placed Middle Eastern country. Hussein himself provided intelligence to the CIA and forwarded money from the payments to other government officials who provided intelligence or cooperated with the CIA." CIA Paid Millions to Jordan's King Hussein, The Washington Post, Feb 18th 1977 If leaders of Iraq and Jordan) “felt it necessary to take actions against aggression by the Syrian government, the United States would undertake to expedite shipments of arms already committed to the Middle Eastern countries and, further, would replace losses as quickly as possible.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, The White House Years: Waging Peace, 1956-1961 Page 198 "Abdul Illah, insisted on British participation in anything covert, but the Saudis had severed relations with Britain and refused. As a result, the CIA dealt separately with each: agreeing to fund King Saud’s part in a new area scheme to oppose Nasser and eliminate his influence in Syria; and to the same objective, coordinating in Beirut a covert working group composed of representatives of the British, Iraqi, Jordanian, and Lebanese intelligence services.” Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East By Wilbur Crane Eveland (Ex CIA) "So obvious, were their ‘covert’ gyrations, with British, Iraqi, Jordanian and Lebanese liaison personnel coming and going nightly, that the Egyptian ambassador in Lebanon was reportedly taking bets on when and where the next U.S. coup would take place.” Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East By Wilbur Crane Eveland (Ex CIA) "we began to feed the State and Defense departments intelligence that no one could deny was a useful contribution to understanding Indonesia. When they had read enough alarming reports, we planned to spring the suggestion we should support the colonels’ plans to reduce Sukarno’s power. This was a method of operation which became the basis of many of the political action adventures of the 1960s and 1970s. In other words, the statement is false that CIA undertook to intervene in the affairs of countries like Chile only after being ordered to do so by … the Special Group. … In many instances, we made the action programs up ourselves after we had collected enough intelligence to make them appear required by the circumstances. Our activity in Indonesia in 1957-1958 was one such instance." Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1976) Page 220-221 (Ex-CIA) "Actually the theme wasn't something we invented simply by brooding about this obvious vulnerability of Sukarno. There had been reports that a good-looking blond stewardess had been aboard his aircraft everywhere he went in the Soviet Union in 1956. We had a report that this same woman had come to Indonesia with Voroshilov and had been seen several times in the company of Sukarno. This formed the foundation of our flights of fancy. We had, as a matter of fact, considerable success with this theme. It appeared in the press around the world, and when Round Table, the serious British quarterly of inter- national affairs, came to analyze the Indonesian revolt in its March, 1958, issue, it listed Sukarno's being blackmailed by a Soviet female spy as one of the reasons that caused the uprising." Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1976) Page 231 "What our special Sukarno committee was formed to accomplish was the production of a film, or at least, some still photos, showing Sukarno and his Russian girlfriend engaged in his favorite activity. We ourselves were going to produce some proof of our theme—the very films with which the Soviets were blackmailing Sukarno. Movies that in those days were called blue films, which.indeed they were when compared with the full-color, full- length features that have become standard viewing throughout the country today, were acquired for us by CIA's chief of security, Sheffield Edwards, through his close, friendly contact with the police chief of Los Angeles. Los Angeles's supply of blue films suited our purpose, we thought, because they included dark male.subjects, like the Mexican, who might be made to look like Sukarno with a little touching up. The problem was the female partner. They did not use talent in blue films.in Los Angeles in those days that could compare with that of a decade later. We saw no likely candidates for the beautiful blond Soviet agent...One idea we had was to ask the Los Angeles police department to find us a dark and bald male lead. Sukarno.never permitted himself to be photographed without his pitji, the traditional black cap worn by Malayan and Indonesian male Moslems, lest his balding head be seen. We figured he surely didn't wear his pitju in bed. We.thought we would expose his vanity while we were exposing him. We saw a number of bald Chicanos but no Sukarnos. Finally, we decided that we would try to develop us a full-face mask of Sukarno. We planned to ship this out to Los Angeles and ask the police to pay some blue film star to wear it during his big scene" Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1976) Page 214 "Participation in the recruitment effort in Washington was eagerly sought by younger officers on the desk. At least one important part of the process offered them very pleasant duty. Whether the police officers were bent on emulating their national leader or were just guys out for a good time away from home, I can't say. All had an absorbing desire to sleep with a white woman. They were convinced that this would be a different experience from enjoying the little brown maidens at home. So the Washington case officers hauled them off to the Oasis in Baltimore to accomplish this mission. This strippers' dive at Baltimore and Frederick streets offered them quick, direct action." Joseph Burkholder Smith, Portrait of a Cold Warrior (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1976) Page 232 "I repeat that we are here faced by part of the international Communist conspiracy to set up totalitarian states and to plant their ideas wherever they think the soil will prove fertile. Hon. Members must really make up their minds—and pretty soon—upon which side they are going to take up their position. Her Majesty's Government are not prepared to tolerate the setting up of Communist states in the British Commonwealth, and I have no doubt that, in taking up that position, we have the support of the overwhelming majority of the people of this country behind us." Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons , 22 October 1953, column 2170, speech by Oliver Lyttleton "The document is headed "Police Headquarters", and then appear the words "Assistant Commissioner of Crime". It then says: I have investigated 19 reports of crimes which occurred between 8th June, 1963 and 21st July, 1963, which include placing explosives in buildings and destroying buildings with explosives and arson. I am of opinion that there is evidence to support a charge of conspiracy contrary to Section 34 of the Criminal Law Offence Ordinance, Chapter 10. It then say: The following persons are involved in these crimes. It deals with a number of explosions and acts of arson which took place in 1963, such as the blowing up of the Transport and Harbours Department office, blowing up the Campbell Ville Government School, arson and fire at the Georgetown ferry stelling, an attempt to demolish by explosives the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Labour, Health and Housing, an attempt to blow up the Central Housing Planning Department, and an attempt to blow up the Education Department in Georgetown. Many of these buildings were demolished. In the case of the Rice Marketing Board a large quantity of dynamite was placed under a wharf where 200 workmen were engaged in loading rice on to a ship. An interesting point about this document, which was prepared as recently as 11th December, 1963, is that there are 25 people whose names are set down, and in these cases it is not a question of suspicion but the police have formulated charges. I do not want to read the whole of the document. It sets out circumstantial details. The evidence is set out, and it is suggested that there is sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy under the Criminal Law Offence Ordinance. Was any action taken about this by the Governor? Were there any detentions? No. Was there any trial? No. One action only was taken. The document was suppressed. At that time the Government in power, or nominally in power, against which these actions were taken was Mr. Jagan's Government. It is interesting to examine some of the 25 names in the document. One of them is the present Prime Minister, Mr. Burnham. Another is Mr. Graham, now head of the Marketing Division of the Government. Mr. Hamilton Green is 1767the Secretary of the P.N.C., the party now in power. Mr. Llewellyn John is the Minister of Agriculture. Dr. Reid is the Minister of Home Affairs in whose house detonators were found. He is now Minister of Home Affairs. Twelve months before it was suggested that he should be prosecuted for conspiracy, arson and carrying explosives. This is an extraordinary metamorphosis. It is like making Guy Fawkes the Serjeant at Arms of this House. Mr. Richard Ishmail is a large hotel owner, President of the Trades Union Congress and also a supporter of the present Administration." Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons , 4 May 1966, columns 1765-7 "There is an irony which we all recognize in the fact of America urging us all over the world towards colonial freedom except when it approaches her own doorstep.When I was last in America, in May and June of last year, I discussed with many people, including President Kennedy, this particular question which weighs anxiously on their minds. I myself think that their fears are exaggerated. I do not think, for example, that Dr. Jagan himself is a Communist. In any case, it is no part of my argument in support of the Secretary of State that he is. The American attitude seems to me to be dangerous in this respect" Parliamentary Debates, House of Commons , 27 April 1964 It was a small clandestine operation in a little South American country three decades ago. President Kennedy ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to subvert the country's leader. The leader fell, and the C.I.A.'s men quietly left town. Time passed, and the wheels of history turned. The cold war ended, and with its end the fallen leader was elected President of what is now independent Guyana. United States law says it is time to unseal the secret documents that detail Kennedy's plot against him. But State Department and C.I.A. officials refuse to release them, saying it is not worth the embarrassment. Keeping secrets can cause embarrassment too. In June the Clinton Administration prepared to send a new Ambassador to the little country -- apparently unaware that the prospective nominee had helped to undermine the restored leader" New York Times, 30 October 1994 "The story begins in 1953, when British Guiana, an English-speaking colony peopled by the descendants of slaves and laborers from Africa and India, elected its first native-born Prime Minister: Cheddi Jagan, a son of the colonial plantations, an American-educated dentist and an admirer of the works of Karl Marx. Four months later, Churchill suspended British Guiana's Constitution and ordered its Government dissolved. Dr. Jagan was too leftist for Churchill's taste, though the people of British Guiana liked him. Dr. Jagan and his wife, the former Janet Rosenberg of Chicago, were freed from jail after the British restored constitutional government, and he was re-elected in 1957 and 1961." New York Times, 30 October 1994 "Though many Presidents have ordered the C.I.A. to undermine foreign leaders, they say, the Jagan papers are a rare smoking gun: a clear written record, without veiled words or plausible denials, of a President's command to depose a Prime Minister… The British, at the suggestion of the Kennedy Administration, delayed their colony's scheduled independence and changed its electoral system in October 1963. Now the electorate had to vote for parties instead of people, and a still popular but politically weakened Dr. Jagan fell from power. Once he fell, the British granted independence to the new republic of Guyana. For the next 20 years the country was governed by Forbes Burnham -- "as the British described him, an opportunist, racist and demagogue intent only on personal power," to quote from "A Thousand Days." He held power through force and fraud until his death in 1985." New York Times, 30 October 1994 "He ran up a foreign debt of more than $2 billion, a sum more than five times Guyana's gross domestic product. Interest on that debt now consumes 80 percent of the country's revenue and more than half of its foreign earnings. They made a mistake putting Burnham in," Janet Jagan said. "The regrettable part is that the country went backwards." One of the better-off countries in the region 30 years ago, Guyana today is among the poorest. Its principal export is people." New York Times, 30 October 1994 "Washington, D.C. February 7, 2017 – CIA covert aid to Italy continued well after the agency’s involvement in the 1948 elections – into the early 1960s – averaging around $5 million a year, according to a draft Defense Department historical study published today for the first time by the National Security Archive at The George Washington University. The study, declassified in 2016, focuses on the role of Clare Boothe Luce as ambassador to Italy, 1953-1957. In addition to overseeing a program of covert financial support to centrist Italian governments, she used the awarding of contracts under the Department of Defense Offshore Procurement Program to weaken the Italian Communist Party's hold on labor unions. The author concludes that the Eisenhower administration, faced with the possibility of civil war in Italy or the Communist Party coming to power legally, was "willing to intervene militarily only if the Communists seized power forcibly and then only in concert with other European nations." Nation Security Archive, CIA Covert Aid to Italy Averaged $5 Million Annually from Late 1940s to Early 1960s, Study Finds "CIA is reported to give $6 million to Anti-Reds in Italy" New York Times , 7 January 1976, p. 1 “We ‘had’ at least one newspaper in every foreign capital at any given time,” one C.I.A. man said, and those that the agency did not own outright or subsidize heavily it infiltrated with paid agents or staff officers who could have stories printed that were useful to the agency and not print those it found detrimental" Worldwide Propaganda Network Built by the C.I.A NYT Dec. 26, 1977 "The President's Special Committee submits recommendations concerning longer range policy and courses of action for possible future contingencies in Southeast Asia not covered by NSC 5405. It is recommended that the US accept nothing short of military victory , oppose a negotiated settlement at Geneva , pressure the Associated States to continue the war with the US support even if negotiations succeed, and seek participation of other nations . Regardless of the outcome of current operations in Indochina , the US in all prudence should develop a regional defense posture incorporating all the Southeast Asian states. Part II , Special Committee Report ori Southeast Asia , 5 April 1954" United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967, Book 9 By the United States. Department of Defense Page XI "Conduct air operations in support of allied forces in Indochina. The employment of atomic weapons is contemplated in the event that such course appears militarily advantageous" United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967, Book 9 By the United States. Department of Defense Page 491 "I have never talked or corresponded with a person knowledgeable in Indochinese affairs who did not agree that had elections been held as of the time of the fighting, possibly 80 percent of the population would have voted for the Communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader rather than Chief of State Bao Dai" Dwight Eisenhower, The White House Years: Mandate for Change, 1953-1956 Page 372 “ A network television correspondent said , ' Surely , Arthur , you don't expect the American press to be the handmaidens of the government . ' " ' That's exactly what I expect , ' came the reply . " An agency man raised the problem that had preoccupied Ambassador Taylor and Barry Zorthian - about the credibility of American officials . Responded the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs : " ' Look , if you think any American official is going to tell you the truth , then you're stupid . Did you hear that ? —stupid . ' “ One of the most respected of all the newsmen in Vietnam - a veteran of World War II , the Indochina War and Korea - suggested that Sylvester was being deliberately provocative . Sylvester replied : “ Look , I don't even have to talk to you people . I know how to deal with you through your editors and publishers back in the States . ' “ At this point , the Hon . Arthur Sylvester put his thumbs in his ears , bulged his eyes , stuck out his tongue and wiggled his fingers . “ A correspondent for one of the New York papers began a question . He never got beyond the first few words . Sylvester interrupted : " ' Aw , come on . What does someone in New York care about the war in Vietnam?" HEARINGS BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS UNITED STATES EIGHTY - NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION 1966 ON NEWS POLICIES IN VIETNAMESTINO AUGUST 17 AND 31, 1966 Page 66 "John Foster Dulles had called on me in his capacity as Secretary of State, and he had exhausted every argument to persuade me to place Cambodia under the protection of the South-East Asia Treaty Organization. I refused … I considered SEATO an aggressive military alliance directed against neighbors whose ideology I did not share but with whom Cambodia had no quarrel. I had made all this quite clear to John Foster, an acidy, arrogant man, but his brother [CIA Director Allen Dulles] soon turned up with a briefcase full of documents “proving” that Cambodia was about to fall victim to “communist aggression” and that the only way to save the country, the monarchy and myself was to accept the protection of SEATO. The “proofs” did not coincide with my own information, and I replied to Allen Dulles as I had replied to John Foster: Cambodia wanted no part of SEATO. We would look after ourselves as neutrals and Buddhists. There was nothing for the secret service chief to do but pack up his dubious documents and leave." Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Wilfred Burchett, My War With The CIA (London, 1974, revised edition) Page 75-6 "It was clear in the White House that the CIA station in Phnom Penh knew the plotters well, probably knew their plans, and did nothing to alert Sihanouk. They informed Washington well in advance of the coup" Roger Morris, Uncertain Greatness: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy Page 173 (Part of the National Security Council under Nixon and Kissinger) Cambodian Campaign "angry resignations of four men from Henry Kissinger’s National Security Council staff, including Roger Morris. (Kissinger labeled the resignations as “the cowardice of the Eastern establishment” Roger Morris, Uncertain Greatness: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy Page 174 (Part of the National Security Council under Nixon and Kissinger) "When I read your question, is there any hope of negotiation with anyone at all? Frankly, I am not sure. I would tend to doubt it because of the ferocity with which this war is being waged. The fact that for 5 years the Khmer Rouge suffered first under our B - 52's and our bombing; second, they fight an enemy which has not been taking prisoners ; third, the fact that some 5,000 to 6,000 were taken north to Hanoi and trained, and we perhaps share the blame because we took Cambodians into South Vietnam and trained them, and I can only tell you my emotional reaction, getting into that country, if I could have found the military or State Department leader who has been the architect of this policy, my instinct would be to string him up . Why they are there and what they have done to the country is greater evil than we have done to any country in the world, and wholly without reason, except for our own benefit to fight against the Vietnamese.” Pete McClosky, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hearings on Supplemental Assistance to Cambodia, 24 February 1975 Page 63-64 "By merely withholding the monthly payment to the troops the United States could create the conditions for toppling any Lao government whose policies it opposed. As it turned out, in fact, the United States used this weapon twice—to bring down the government of one Lao leader and to break the will of another.” Roger Hilsman, To Move a Nation (New York, 1967) Page 111-2 (Ex intelligence, Army and Aide) "Over nine years -- from 1964 to 1973 -- the United States dropped more than two million tons of bombs here in Laos -- more than we dropped on Germany and Japan combined during all of World War II. It made Laos, per person, the most heavily bombed country in history. As one Laotian said, the “bombs fell like rain.” Villages and entire valleys were obliterated. The ancient Plain of Jars was devastated. Countless civilians were killed. And that conflict was another reminder that, whatever the cause, whatever our intentions, war inflicts a terrible toll, especially on innocent men, women and children." The White House Office of the Press Secretary September 06, 2016 Remarks of President Obama to the People of Laos "Yesterday morning the United States Airforce Command and Control Aircraft that directs American air strikes over Laos left its station. Before flying off to Thailand, the pilot of the plane sent a radio message saying "Good-bye and see you next war.” New York Times, 23 February 1973, Page 11 "On September 5, 1960, President Kasavubu dismissed Premier Lumumba from the government despite the strong support for Lumumba in the Congolese Parliament. After losing the ensuing power struggle with Kasavubu and Mobutu, who seized power by a military coup, on September 14, Lumumba asked the United Nations peace-keeping force for protection. The evidence indicates that the ouster of Lumumba did not alleviate the concern about him in the United States government. Rather, CIA and high Administration officials continued to view him as a threat. During this period, CIA officers in the Congo advised and aided Congolese contacts known to have an intent to assassinate Lumumba. The officers also urged the "permanent disposal" of Lumumba by some of these Congolese contacts. Moreover, the CIA opposed reopening Parliament after the coup because of the likelihood that Parliament would return Lumumba to power" Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders, The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate), 20 November 1975, Page 16-17 "For your personal information only, the following decisions have been taken in order be in a position to render assistance at appropriate time to anti-Goulart forces if it is decided this should be done. 1. Dispatch of US Navy tankers bearing POL from Aruba, first tanker expected off Santos between April 8 and 13; following three tankers at one day intervals.2 2. Immediate dispatch of naval task force for overt exercises off Brazil. Force to consist of aircraft carrier (expected arrive in area by April 10), four destroyers, two destroyer escorts, task force tankers (all expected arrive about four days later).3 3. Assemble shipment of about 110 tons ammunition, other light equipment including tear gas4 for mob control for air lift to Sao Paulo (Campinas). Lift would be made within 24 to 36 hours upon issuance final orders and would involve 10 cargo planes,5 6 tankers, and 6 fighters. Unloading of POL by US Navy tankers (item 1) and dispatch of airlift (item 3) would require further development politico-military situation to point where some group having reasonable claim to legitimacy could formally request recognition and aid from us and if possible from other American Republics. Dispatch of tankers from Aruba and of naval task force does not immediately involve us in Brazilian situation and is regarded by us as normal naval exercise." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1964–1968, VOLUME XXXI, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA; MEXICO 198. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Brazil Unlike the many previous anti-Goulart coup groups who have approached us during the past two and one half years, the Castello Branco movement shows prospects of wide support and competent leadership. If our influence is to be brought to bear to help avert a major disaster here—which might make Brazil the China of the 1960s—this is where both I and all my senior advisors believe our support should be placed. We hold this view even should Castello Branco be relieved as Army Chief of Staff… Within the coming week, we will be apprised of their estimates of needed arms through contact between ARMA and Gen. Cintra, righthand man of Castello Branco. POL needs would include the navy fuel now being sought by Byington together with motor fuel and aviation gasoline. 13. Given the absolute uncertainty of timing of a possible trigger incident (which could occur tomorrow or any other day); we recommend (a) that measures be taken soonest to prepare for a clandestine delivery of arms of non-US origin, to be made available to Castello Branco supporters in Sao Paulo as soon as requirements known and arrangements can be worked out. Best delivery means now apparent to us is unmarked submarine to be off-loaded at night in isolated shore spots in state of Sao Paulo south of Santos, probably near Iguape or Gananeia. (b) This should be accompanied by POL availabilities (bulk, packaged, or both may be required), also avoiding USG identification, with deliveries to await outbreak active hostilities. Action on this should proceed forthwith. 14. The above two actions might suffice to secure victory for friendly forces without any overt US logistical or military participation, especially if politically covered by prompt US recognition our side as legitimate GOB… To minimize possibilities of a prolonged civil war and secure the adherence of large numbers of band-wagon jumpers, our ability to demonstrate commitment and some show of force with great speed could be crucial. For this purpose and in keeping with our Washington talks March 21, one possibility appears to be the early detachment of a naval task force for maneuvers in south Atlantic, bringing them within a few days’ steaming distance of Santos… Carrier aircraft would be most important for psychological effect… 16. We are meanwhile undertaking complementary measures with our available resources to help strengthen resistance forces. These include covert support for pro-democracy street rallies (next big one being April 2 here in Rio, and others being programmed), discreet passage of word that USG deeply concerned at events, and encouragement democratic and anti-Communist sentiment in Congress, armed forces, friendly labor and student groups, church, and business. We may be requesting modest supplementary funds for other covert action programs in near future. 17. I also believe that it would be useful, without entering into detail, for Sec State or Presidential press conference response to indicate concern at reports of economic deterioration and political restlessness in Brazil and importance to future of hemisphere that Brazil, true to its deep-rooted democratic and constitutional traditions, will continue its economic and social progress under representative democracy. We recommend such statement in next few days." FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1964–1968, VOLUME XXXI, SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA; MEXICO, 187. Telegram From the Ambassador to Brazil (Gordon) to the Department of State Rio de Janeiro, March 28, 1964. "Some of them were so active that they became intimately involved in some of the clandestine operations of the revolution before it took place on April 1. What happened in Brazil on April 1 did not just happen—it was planned—and planned months in advance. Many of the trade union leaders—some of whom were actually trained in our institute—were involved in the revolution, and in the overthrow of the Goulart regime." Survey of the Alliance for Progress: Labor Policies and Programs , Staff Report of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Subcommittee on American Republics Affairs, 15 July 1968, Page 14, American Institute for Free Labour Development (AIFLD), AIFLD executive William Doherty Senator Gore Ambassador "I am particularly concerned, with the part you may have played, if any, in encouraging, promoting, or causing that overthrow.” Lincoln Gordon: “The answer to that, senator, is very simple. The movement which overthrew President Goulart was a purely, 100 percent—not 99.44—but 100 percent purely Brazilian movement. Neither the American Embassy nor I personally played any part in the process whatsoever.” Hearing on the Nomination of Lincoln Gordon to be Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, 7 February 1966, Page 44 "The coming to power of the Castelo Branco government in Brazil last April saved that country from an immediate dictatorship which could only have been followed by Communist domination.” Foreign Assistance Act of 1965 , Hearings before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, 25 February 1965, Page 346, General Andrew O’Meara, head of the US Southern Latin America Command "Roberto Campos said this week that he would go to Moscow in September to explore the Soviet Union's willingness to provide a major industrial project in Brazil … trade between the two countries was running at $120 million per year." New York Times , 11 July 1965, Page 13 (After the Coup due to claimed communist worries and influence) "Rather than dwell on the authoritarian aspects of the regime, they emphasize assertions by the Brazilian armed forces that they believe in, and support, representative democracy as an ideal and would return government to civilian control if this could be done without sacrifice to security and development. This withdrawal from the political arena is not seen as occurring in the near future. For that reason they emphasize the continued importance of the military assistance training program as a means of exerting U.S. influence and retaining the current pro-U.S. attitude of the Brazilian armed forces. Possible disadvantages to U.S. interests in being so closely identified with an authoritarian regime are not seen as particularly important." Special Study Mission to Latin America on Military Assistance Training , House Committee on Foreign Affairs Report, 1970 Page 5 U"I think we ought to take every step that we can, be prepared to do everything that we need to do… we just can't take this one… I'd get right on top of it and stick my neck out a little," Lyndon B Johnson tells George Ball in a telephone call "In Peru, the Government has already made good progress against guerrilla concentrations, and U.S. trained and supported Peruvian army and air force units have played prominent roles in this counter-guerrilla campaign.” Hearings before the Committee on Armed Services and the Subcommittee on Department of Defense of the Committee on Appropriations (US Senate), 23 February 1966, Page 38 "Eisenhower approved a contingency plan for the Dominican Republic which provided, in part, that if the situation deteriorated still further: the United States would immediately take political action to remove Trujillo from the Dominican Republic as soon as a suitable successor regime can be induced to take over with the assurance of U.S. political, economic, and—if necessary—military support.” Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders , The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate), 20 November 1975, Page 192 "The Americans had surrounded our country with military bases and threatened us with nuclear weapons, and now they would learn just what it feels like to have enemy missiles pointing at you; we’d be doing nothing more than giving them a little of their own medicine. … After all, the United States had no moral or legal quarrel with us. We hadn’t given the Cubans anything more than the Americans were giving to their allies. We had the same rights and opportunities as the Americans. Our conduct in the international arena was governed by the same rules and limits as the Americans" The Atlantic The real Cuban Missile Crisis Jan Feb 2013 (couldn't find primary source) "Between April and November 1956, the U.S. Army Chemical Corps conducted Operation Drop Kick to test the practicality of employing mosquitoes to carry an entomological warfare agent in different ways. The Corps released uninfected female mosquitoes into a cooperative residential area of Savannah, Georgia, and then estimated how many mosquitoes entered houses and bit people. Within a day the mosquitoes had bitten many people. In 1958, the Corps released 600,000 mosquitoes in Avon Park, Florida." Wiki, US Chemical Corps "Within a period of three years , five serious diseases and epidemics have struck Cuban livestock , crops , and people . These are : swine fever blue mold ( tobacco ) , red rot ( sugar cane ) and hemorrhagic dengue and conjunctivitis . These calamities have caused considerable material and human damage . A serious and well - supported study made by Cuban technicians and scientists with advice from qualified foreign specialists arrived at the conclusion that the dengue virus had been deliberately introduced into Cuba . Analyses revealed that at the time the dengue epidemic occurred in Cuba no African or Southeast Asian country with which we have relations had experienced any epidemic of the Type 2 virus , the one which affected the Cuban population . It was also proven that no Cuban or foreign individual coming from those areas , or from other areas , had been a carrier of the disease . The same results were obtained when the epidemiological situation in the Americas was studied . Whereas virus No. 1 was present in some of these countries and virus No. 4 others , outbreaks of virus No. 2 had not occurred in the Latin American and Caribbean Basin countries since 1979. Virus No. 2 appeared in Cuba suddenly without any logical or natural explanation . Moreover , it is widely known that dengue virus No. 2 is one of those that has been receiving the greatest attention in the U.S. centers that are engaged in developing biological weapons The Government of the Republic of Cuba wishes to call the attention of the United States Department of State to the fact that the use of bacteriological substances against Cuba , encouraged by the United States Central Intelligence Agency , is not a new phenomenon. Actions that fit into this same context are known facts that no one questions and which have even been investigated and acknowledged by the United States Senate itself" Special Report - The Department of StateBy United States. Department of State. Office of Public Communication Page 3/655 "a mission to carry some germs to introduce them in Cuba to be used against the Soviets and against the Cuban economy, to begin what was called chemical war, which later on produced results that were not what we had expected, because we thought that it was going to be used against the Soviet forces, and it was used against our own people, and with that we did not agree" Special Report - The Department of StateBy United States. Department of State. Office of Public Communication Page 3/655 "At the time of the attempted Communist coup and military counter-coup [sic] of October 1965, more than 1,200 Indonesian officers including senior military figures, had been trained in the United States. As a result of this experience, numerous friendships and contacts existed between the Indonesian and American military establishments, particularly between members of the two armies. In the post-coup period, when the political situation was still unsettled, the United States, using these existing channels of communication, was able to provide the anti-Communist forces with moral and token material support." Military Assistance Training in East and Southeast Asia , a Staff Report for the Subcommittee on National Security Policy and Scientific Developments of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, 16 February 1971 Page 18 "[Accra CIA Station] was given a generous budget, and maintained intimate contact with the plotters as a coup was hatched. So close was the station’s involvement that it was able to coordinate the recovery of some classified Soviet military equipment by the United States as the coup took place.” John Stockwell, In Search of Enemies (New York, 1978) Page 201 Dan Mitrione - US Uruguayan torture "To manage the election effort, an electoral committee was established in Washington, consisting of the Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, Thomas Mann the Western Hemisphere Division Chief of the CIA, Desmond Fitzgerald; Ralph Dungan and McGeorge Bundy from the White House; and the Chief of the Western Hemisphere Division Branch Four, the branch that has jurisdiction over Chile. This group was in close touch with the State Department Office of Bolivian and Chilean Affairs. In Santiago there was a parallel Election Committee that coordinated U.S. efforts. It included the Deputy Chief of Mission, the CIA Chief of Station, and the heads of the Political and Economic Sections, as well as the Ambassador. The Election Committee in Washington coordinated lines to higher authority and to the field and other agencies. No special task force was established, and the CIA Station in Santiago was temporarily increased by only three officers." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 16 "The groundwork for the election was laid early in 1961 by establishing operational relationships with key political parties and by creating propaganda and organizational mechanisms capable of influencing key sectors of the population. Projects that had been conducted since the 1950's among peasants, slum dwellers, organized, labor, students, and the media provided a basis for much of the pre-election covert action." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 14 "The 1964 presidential election was the most prominent example of a large-scale election project. The Central Intelligence Agency spent more than $2.6 million in support of the election of the Christian Democratic 'candidate, in part to prevent the accession to the presidency of Marxist Salvador Allende. More than half of the Christian Democratic candidate's campaign was financed. by the United States, although he was not informed of this assistance." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 9 "In addition to support for political parties, the CIA mounted a massive anti-communist propaganda campaign. Extensive use was made of the press, radio, films, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, direct mailings, paper streamers, and wall painting. It was a “scare campaign”, which relied heavily on images of Soviet tanks and Cuban firing squads and was directed especially to women. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the anti-communist pastoral letter of Pope Pius XI were distributed by Christian Democratic organizations. They carried the designation, “printed privately by citizens without political affiliation, in order more broadly to disseminate its content.” “Disinformation” and “black propaganda”—material which purported to originate from another source, such as the Chilean Communist Party—were used as well." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 15 "The propaganda campaign was enormous. During the first week of intensive propaganda activity (the third week of June 1964), a CIA-funded propaganda group produced twenty radio spots per day in Santiago and on 44 provincial stations; twelve-minute news broadcasts five times daily on three Santiago stations and 24 provincial outlets; thousands of cartoons, and much paid press advertising. By the end of June, the group produced 24 daily newscasts in Santiago and the provinces, 26 weekly “commentary” programs, and distributed 3,000 posters daily." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 15-16 "In addition to buying propaganda piecemeal, the [CIA] Station often purchased it wholesale by subsidizing Chilean media organizations friendly to the United States. Doing so was propaganda writ large. Instead of placing individual items, the CIA supported—or even founded—friendly media outlets which might not have existed in the absence of Agency support. From 1953 through 1970 in Chile, the Station subsidized wire services, magazines written for intellectual circles, and a right-wing weekly newspaper." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 8 "The CIA regards the anti-communist scare campaign as the most effective activity undertaken by the U.S. on behalf of the Christian Democratic candidate." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 16 "The 1970 elections marked the fourth time Salvador Allende had been the presidential candidate of the Chilean left. His personality and his program were familiar to Chilean voters. His platform was similar in all three elections: efforts to redistribute income and reshape the Chilean economy, beginning with the nationalization of major industries, especially the copper companies; greatly expanded agrarian reform; and expanded relations with socialist and communist countries." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 5 "Wresting control of Chilean university student organizations from the communists; •Supporting a women’s group active in Chilean political and intellectual life; •Combatting the communist-dominated Central Unica de Trabajadores Chilenos (CUTCh) and supporting democratic [i.e., anti-communist] labor groups; and, •Exploiting a civic action front group to combat communist influence within cultural and intellectual circles." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 9 "MEETING WITH PRESIDENT ON CHILE AT 1525 SEPT 15, ’70 PRESENT: JOHN MITCHELL + HENRY KISSINGER 1 in 10 chance perhaps, but save Chile! worth spending not concerned risks involved no involvement of embassy $10,000,000 available, more if necessary full-time job—best men we have game plan make the economy scream" FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976, VOLUME XXI, CHILE, 1969–1973, 93. Editorial Note, CIA Director Richard Helms "On September 4, 1970, Allende won a plurality in Chile's presidential election. Since no candidate had received a majority of the popular vote, the Chilean Constitution required that a, joint session of its Congress decide between the first- and second-place finishers. The date set for the congressiohal session was October 24, 1970. The reaction in Washington to Allende's plurality victory was.immediate. The-40 Committee met on September 8 and 14 to discuss what action should be taken prior to the October 24 congressional vote. On September 15, President Nixon informed CIA Director Richard Helms that an Allende regime in Chile would not be acceptable to the United States and instructed the CIA to play a direct role in organizing a military coup d'etat in Chile to prevent Allende's accession to the Presidency. Following the September 14 meeting of the 40 Committee and President Nixon's September 15 instruction to the CIA, U.S. Government efforts to prevent Allende from assuming office proceeded on two tracks. 3 Track I comprised all covert activities approved by the 40 Committee, including political, economic and propaganda activities. These activities were designed to induce Allende's opponents in Chile to prevent his assumption of power, either through political or military means. Track II activities in Chile were undertaken in response to President Nixon's September 15 order and were directed toward actively promoting and encouraging the Chilean military to move against Allende" Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 23 "On September 29, 1970, the 40 Committee met. It was agreed that the Frei gambit had been overtaken by events and was dead. The "second-best option"-the cabinet resigning and being replaced with a military cabinet-was also deemed dead. The point was then made that there would probably be no military action unless economic pressures could be brought to bear on Chile. It was agreed that an attempt would be made to have American business take steps in line with the U.S. government's desire for immediate economic action. The economic offensive against Chile, undertaken as a part of Track I, was intended to demonstrate the foreign economic reaction to Allende's accession to power, as well as to preview the future consequences of his regime. Generally, the 40 Committee approved cutting off all credits, pressuring firms to curtail investment in Chile and approaching other nations to cooperate in this venture. These actions of the 40 Committee, and the establishment of an interagency working group to coordinate overt economic activities towards Chile (composed of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division Chief and representatives from State, the NSC, and Treasury), adversely affected the Chilean economy; a. major financial panic ensued. However, U.S. efforts to generate an economic crisis did not have the desired impact on the October 24 vote, nor did they stimulate a military intervention to prevent Allende's accession." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 25 "The Ambassador was also authorized to make his contacts in the Chilean military aware that if Allende were seated, the military could expect no further military assistance (MAP) from the United States. Later, Korry was authorized to inform the Chilean military that all MAP and military sales were being held in abeyance pending the outcome of the congressional election on October 24." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 26 "Third, special intelligence and "inside".' briefings were given to U.S.journalists, at their request.One Time cover story was considered particularly noteworthy. According to CIA documents, the Time correspondent in Chile apparently had accepted Allende's protestations of moderation and constitutionality at face value. Briefings requested by Time and provided by the CIA in Washington resulted in a change in the basic thrust of the Time story on Allende's September 4 victory and in the timing of that story. A few statistics convey the magnitude of the CIA's propaganda campaign mounted during the six-week interim period in the Latin American and European media. According to the CIA, partial returns showed that 726 articles, broadcasts, editorials, and similar items directly resulted from Agency activity. The Agency had no way to measure the scope of the multiplier effective, how much its "induced" news focused media interest on the Chilean issues and stimulated additional coverage-but concluded that its contribution was both substantial and significant." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 25 "In response to criticisms of El Mercurio by candidate Allende, the CIA, through its covert action resources, orchestrated cables of support and protest from foreign newspapers, a protest statement from an international press association, and world press coverage of the association's protest. In addition, journalists-agents and otherwise-traveled to Chile for on-the-scene reporting. By September 28, the CIA had agents who were journalists from ten different countries in or en route to Chile.This group was supplemented by eight more journalists from five countries under the direction of high-level agents who were, for the most part, in managerial capacities in the media field." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 24 "A Coup has no pretext or justification that it can offer to make it acceptable in Chile or Latin America. It therefore would seem necessary to create one to bolster what will probably be [the military’s] claim to a coup to save Chile from communism… You may wish to include a variety of themes in justification for a coup to the military for their use. These could include... Firm intel[ligence] that Cubans planned to reorganize all intelligence services along Soviet/Cuban mold thus creating structure for police state … With appropriate military contact can determine how to “discover” intel[ligence] report which could even be planted during raids planned by Carabineros [the police]." Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders , The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 20 November 1975, Page 234, A cable sent from CIA headquarters to Santiago on 19 October "The Agencies task was then to overcome the apolitical, constitutional-oriented inertia of the Chilean military” Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders , The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 20 November 1975, Page 240 "United States foreign economic policy toward Allende's government.was articulated at the highest levels of the U.S. government, and coordinated by interagency task forces. The policy was clearly framed during the Track II period. Richard Helms' notes from his Septem- ber 15, 1970, meeting with President Nixon, the meeting which initiated Track II, contain the indication: "Make the economy scream." A week later Ambassador Korry reported telling Frei, through his Defense Minister, that "not a nut or bolt would be allowed to reach Chile under Allende." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 33 "The pattern of U.S. deliberations suggests a careful distinction between supporting the opposition parties and funding private sector groups trying to bring about a military coup. However, given turbulent conditions in Chile,the interconnections among the CIA-sup- ported political parties, the various militant trade - associations (gremios) and paramilitary groups prone to terrorism and violent disruption were many. The CIA was aware that links between these groups and the political parties made clear distinctions difficult. The most prominent of the right-wing paramilitary groups was Patria y Libertad (Fatherland and Liberty), which formed following Allende's September 4 election, during so-called Track II. The CIA provided Patriat y Libertad with $38,500 through a third party during the Track II period, in an effort to create tension and a possible pretext for intervention by the Chilean military. After Allende took office, the CIA occasionally provided the group small sums through third parties for demonstrations or specific propaganda activity. Those disbursements, about seven thousand dollars in total, ended-in 1971. It is possible that CIA funds given to political parties reached Patria y Libertad and a similar group, the Rolando Matus Brigade, given the close ties between the parties and these organizations." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 31 "Intelligence reporting on coup plotting reached tivo peak periods, one in the last week of June 1973 and the other during the end of August and the first two weeks in September. It is clear the CIA received intelligence reports on the coup planning of the group which carried out the successful September 11 coup throughout the months of July. August, and September 1973. The CIA's information-gathering efforts with regard to the Chilean military included activity which went beyond the mere collection of information. More generally, those efforts must be viewed in the context of United States opposition, overt and covert, to the Allende government. They put the United States Government in contact with those Chileans who sought a military alternative to the Allende presidency." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 39 "A 1972 Chile NIE focused on the Soviet attitude to the Allende regime and noted that Soviet overtures to Allende had thus far been characterized by caution and restraint. This was, in part, due to Soviet reluctance to antagonize the U.S. and, more importantly, a Soviet desire to avoid with Allende the type of open-ended commitment for aid that they had entered into with Castro. A 1972 Intelligence. Note, prepared by the State Depaitment, stated that a Soviet-Chilean communique, issued following Allende's December visit to the USSR, reflected Moscow's decision to continue a cautious policy toward Chile and to avoid a major open-ended commitment of aid-to. Allende. According to the Intelligence Note, the Soviets apparently advised Allende to negotiate his differences with the U.S." Covert Action in Chile, 1963-1973 , a Staff Report of The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 18 December 1975, Page 47 "1. The U.S. has no vital national interests within Chile. There would, however, be tangible economic losses. 2. The world military balance of power would not be significantly altered by an Allende government. 3. An Allende victory would, however, create considerable political and psychological costs: a. Hemispheric cohesion would be threatened by the challenge that an Allende government would pose to the OAS [Organization of American States], and by the reactions that it would create in other countries. … b. An Allende victory would represent a definite psychological set-back to the U.S and a definite psychological advantage for the Marxist idea" Interim Report: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders , The Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities (US Senate) 20 November 1975, Page 229, A CIA study of 7 September 1970 "Then listen to me, Mr. Ambassador,” said the President of the United States, “fuck your Parliament and your Constitution. America is an elephant. Cyprus is a flea. If these two fleas continue itching the elephant, they may just get whacked by the elephant’s trunk, whacked good. … We pay a lot of good American dollars to the Greeks, Mr. Ambassador. If your Prime Minister gives me talk about Democracy, Parliament and Constitutions, he, his Parliament and his Constitution may not last very long.” Philip Deane Gigantes(Secretary-General to King Constantine II of Greece), I Should Have Died (Atheneum, New York, 1977) Page 113-114 CIA Chief-of-Station in Athens, John Maury, had “worked in behalf of the palace in 1965. He helped King Constantine buy Center Union Deputies so that the George Papandreou Government was toppled.” NYT August 2nd 1974 Page 3 Col 1 "Your Excellency, having always believed in the peaceful solution of disputes including those between Iran and Iraq, we are pleased to see that their two countries have come to some agreement … However, our hearts bleed to see that an immediate byproduct of their agreement is the destruction of our defenseless people … Our movement and people are being destroyed in an unbelievable way with silence from everyone. We feel your Excellency that the United States has a moral and political responsibility towards our people who have committed themselves to your country’s policy." 278 FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 1969–1976, VOLUME XXVII, IRAN; IRAQ, 1973–1976, 278. Backchannel Message From the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Scowcroft) to Secretary of State Kissinger 1 Washington, March 10, 1975, 1930Z. WH50370/Tohak 55. From Ambassador Helms, Tehran 1188 Some 200,000 Kurds escaped into Iran, of whom 40,000 were forcibly returned to Iraq. Appeals for humanitarian assistance and for political asylum in the United States were ignored. The last message recorded in the report was an April 10, 1975, cable from the CIA station chief in Tehran to Colby, saying: "If senior Americans like Kissinger who are aware of their relationship do nothing to help the Kurds in their present extremity, we may be sure that they will not lie down quietly to be buried without telling their story to the world. Hence, even if nobody in the State Department or Dr. Kissinger cares what happens to the Kurds, they had better do something to help them, if only in USG and administration interest." The report tells what happened next: "Help never arrived." It quotes a "high U.S. official" as having remarked to the committee's staff, "Covert action should not be confused with missionary work." 1975 BACKGROUND TO BETRAYAL. April 7, 1991 The Washington Post "Mr Colby: They are all independents. They are all for black Africa. They are all for some fuzzy kind of social system, you know, without really much articulation, but some sort of let’s not be exploited by the capitalist nations… Mr Aspin: Why are the Chinsease backing the moderate group Mr Colby: Because the Soviets are backing the MPLA is the simplest answer. Mr Aspin: It sounds like that is why we are doing it. Mr Colby: It is” Hearings before the House Select Committee on Intelligence Report By United States. Congress. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Page 673 "Later events have suggested that this infusion of US aid [the $300,000], unprecedented and massive in the underdeveloped colony, may have panicked the Soviets into arming their MPLA clients” Hearings before the House Select Committee on Intelligence Report By United States. Congress. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct Page 667 "Although the United States has supported the FNLA in Angola for 17 years, it is virtually impossible to find an American official, scholar or journalist, who is familiar with that party, who will testify positively about its organization or leadership. After a debate with a senior State Department official at the end of the Angolan civil war, I asked him why the United States ever bet on the FNLA. He replied, “I’ll be damned if I know; I have never seen a single report or memo which suggests that the FNLA has any organization, solid leaders, or an ideology which we could count on.” Even foreign leaders who have supported Holden Roberto, such as General Mobutu, agree with that assessment. When asked by a visiting U.S. Senator if he thought Roberto would make a good leader for Angola, Mobutu replied, “Hell no!” United States-Angolan relations Hearings before the Subcommittee on Africa of the House Committee on International Relations, 25 May 1978, Page 7 "similar assurances given concerning Chile flashed a little ominously across my mind.” Michael Manley ( Ex Jamaican PM), Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery (London, 1982) Page 116 (Concerning Kissingres commments about no covert action being taken against Jamaica) " I let Kissinger know Jamaica had decided to support the Cuban army presence in Angola because we were satisfied that they were there because of the South African invasion … I never heard another word about the hundred million dollar trade credit.” Michael Manley ( Ex Jamaican PM), Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery (London, 1982) Page 116-117 "The US Embassy in Kingston was increased. Seven new staffers were flown in. Yet all aid to Jamaica suddenly slowed to a virtual halt. The pipelines suddenly became clogged. Economic co-operation contracted as the embassy expanded" Michael Manley ( Ex Jamaican PM), Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery (London, 1982) Page 117 "The Jamaican establishment had mastered the ways of destabilization. It knew how to use fact and create fiction for maximum effect. We do not know what was the part played by the CIA in the last year. By then it may not have mattered because the Gleaner and the JLP had clearly reached postgraduate level" Michael Manley ( Ex Jamaican PM), Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery (London, 1982) Page 199-200 ''The United States has chosen to exercise its right of self-defense,'' he said. ''It is our hope this action will pre-empt and discourage Libyan attacks against innocent civilians in the future.'' PLOTS ON GLOBAL SCALE CHARGED, The New York Times, April 15, 1986 "The Europeans will ask for hard evidence [against Libya] and we won't have any. It will look like we’re crying wolf once again." The NYT 27th of August 1986 Page 7 "I have the most conclusive evidence that arms and munitions in large quantities have been on several occasions … shipped to the revolutionists in Nicaragua … I am sure it is not the desire of the United States to intervene in the internal affairs of Nicaragua or of any other Central American republic. Nevertheless, it must be said, that we have a very definite and special interest in the maintenance of order and good Government in Nicaragua at the present time … The United States cannot, therefore, fail to view with deep concern any serious threat to stability and constitutional government in Nicaragua tending toward anarchy and jeopardizing American interests, especially if such state of affairs is contributed to or brought about by outside influence or by any foreign power." New York Times , 11 January 1927 Page 1-2 "Members of Congress and other Government officials say many reports of abuses by Nicaraguan rebels against civilians have come to their attention recently as a result of Congressional investigations of the C.I.A.'s manual on guerrilla warfare.Present and former rebel leaders said in interviews over the last few weeks that some of their guerrillas had been guilty of atrocities. The leaders said they deplored the acts, and they contended that they had evidence that the Sandinistas were guilty of the same kinds of abuses…. Evidence About Crimes In testimony to the House Select Committee on Intelligence this month, the members of Congress and other sources said, Central Intelligence Agency officials and others presented evidence that the United States-backed rebels had raped, tortured and killed unarmed civilians, including children… The reports have included accounts about groups of civilians, including women and children, who were burned, dismembered, blinded or beheaded, the sources said…. The manual advised rebels to kidnap Sandinistas, to ''neutralize'' selected Government officals, to blackmail ordinary citizens so they would be forced to join the rebel cause, and to hire criminals who would arrange the shooting deaths of fellow rebels so they would become martyrs. The manual also included advice on political propogandizing intended to persuade Nicaraguans to become rebel sympathizers. Behavior Said to Improve" NICARAGUA REBELS ACCUSED OF ABUSES, The New York Times Dec. 27 1984 "The 44-page booklet, titled ''Psychological Operations in Guerrilla Warfare,'' is a primer on insurgency. Most activity of this sort in Nicaragua has been paid for by the United States through the C.I.A. The primer explains how to kidnap and kill officials, blow up public buildings and blackmail ordinary citizens… Destroy the military or police installations and remove survivors to a public place.'' - ''Cut all outside lines of communication.'' - ''Establish a public tribunal'' where the guerrillas ''shame, ridicule and humiliate'' Sandinistas and sympathizers, ''shouting slogans and jeers.'' - Make ''courtesy visits'' to the town's ''prominent people, such as doctors, priests and teachers.'' If ''it becomes necessary'' to shoot a citizen who is ''trying to leave the town,'' guerrillas should explain that ''he was an enemy of the people'' who would have ''alerted the enemy'' so that the Sandinistas could ''carry out acts of reprisals, such as rapes, pillage, destuction, captures, etc.'' 'Neutralizing' Public Officials The final lesson in the armed propaganda chapter, titled ''Selective Use of Violence,'' involves ''neutralizing'' selected public officials. The lesson stresses that ''it is absolutely necessary to gather together the population affected, so that they will be present and take part in the act.'' After the official is publicly ''neutralized,'' guerrillas should offer ''extensive explanation'' of ''why it was necessary for the good of the people'' and then ''choose carefully'' the person ''who will replace the target.'' In Chapter 3, guerrillas are taught the function of ''armed propaganda teams.'' These are recruiters who visit villages to ''exploit the socio-political weaknesses in the target society.'' At first, each team member should be ''courteous and humble'' and should ''mix in with the community,'' attending birthdays, parties and funerals. If ''one or two men'' are hostile, that ''can be overcome by eliminating the enemy in a rapid and effective manner.''... When the uprising occurs, ''professional criminals should be hired to carry out selective jobs,'' such as ''taking the demonstrators to a confrontation with the authorities to bring about uprisings and shootings that will cause the death of one or more people to create a martyr for the cause… When the ''concentration reaches its highest level of euphoria or popular discontent,'' the guerrilla commander, watching from a high vantage point, will order his men to begin chanting anti-Sandinista slogans. The commander ''can change slogans'' as the rioting progresses ''and eventually incite violence if he wishes.'' That will give the impression that there are many guerrillas and that ''they have a large popular backing.'' C.I.A. PRIMER TELLS NICARAGUAN REBELS HOW TO KILL, The New York Times, Oct. 17, 1984 “The Administration’s objections to the treaty reinforce my belief that it’s never had any real interest in a negotiated settlement." Michael Barnes, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, NYT October 3rd 1984 Page 3, Contadora group if Mexico, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela treaty about stability in Central America (Nicaragua agreed so sign, US rejected the peace treaty) The Reagan Administration, while publicly criticizing the Nov. 4 elections in Nicaragua as ''a sham,'' has privately argued against the participation of the leading opposition candidate for fear his involvement would legitimize the electoral process, according to some senior Administration officials. Since May, when American policy toward the election was formed, the Administration has wanted the opposition candidate, Arturo Jose Cruz, either not to enter the race or, if he did, to withdraw before the election, claiming the conditions were unfair, the officials said. ''The Administration never contemplated letting Cruz stay in the race,'' one official said, ''because then the Sandinistas could justifiably claim that the elections were legitimate, making it much harder for the United States to oppose the Nicaraguan Government.''... Several Administration officials who are familiar with the Administration’s activities in Nicaragua said the Central Intelligence Agency had worked with some of Mr. Cruz’s supporters to insure that they would object to any potential agreement for his participation in the election" KEY AIDES DISPUTE U.S. ROLE IN NICARAGUAN VOTE NYT, Oct. 21, 1984 "A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA," agrees Weinstein. The biggest difference is that when such activities are done overtly, the flap potential is close to zero. Openness is its own protection" The Washington Post INNOCENCE ABROAD: THE NEW WORLD OF SPYLESS COUPS, September 22, 1991 The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) NED funding too Nicaraguan Opposition parties - October 1st 1989- September 30th 1990 Annual report Page 43 "Q. -- -- and also, is it really worth it to send people to their death for this, to get Noriega? The President. We had some estimates, Helen [Helen Thomas, United Press International], on the casualties ahead of time, but not in numbers. I mean, it was more general: Look, Mr. President, no way can you do an operation this large and not have American casualties. So, the Defense Department was very up front with us about that, and every human life is precious. And yet I have to answer: Yes, it has been worth it." The President's News Conference December 21, 1989 George H W Bush "We have to put a shingle outside our door saying, ‘Superpower lives here’.” THE CONVERSION OF GEN. POWELL by December 21, 1989 "From Mexico to Argentina, Latin American governments today roundly condemned the use of force by the United States against Gen. Manuel Antonio Noriega of Panama. Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Peru criticized the action as interference in the sovereign affairs of a fellow American nation. Nicaragua placed its troops on alert, Peru recalled its Ambassador to the United States and Venezuela said it would not recognize the new Government of Guillermo Endara until United States troops were withdrawn. Leftist groups in Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico planned public rallies to protest the move. United States diplomatic employees across the continent were instructed to be on the alert for anti-American demonstrations. 'Vehement Appeal' by Brazil" Fighting in Panama: Latin America; U.S. Denounced by Nations Touchy About Intervention, The New York Times Dec. 21, 1989 "GLASPIE: I think I understand this. I have lived here for years. I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait." CONFRONTATION IN THE GULF; Excerpts From Iraqi Document on Meeting With U.S. EnvoyThe New York Times Sept. 23, 1990 "Mr Kelly: We have no defense treaty relationship with any Gulf country. That is clear. We support the security and independence of friendly states in the region. Ever since the Truman administration, we have maintained Naval forces in the Gulf because of our interest in stability in that region. We are calling for a peaceful resolution of any differences in that area and we hope and trust and believe that the sovereignty of every state in the Gulf ought to be respected. Mr. HAMILTION: Do we have a commitment to our friends in the Gulf in the event that they are engaged in oil or territorial disputes with their neighbors ? Mr. KELLY: As I said, Mr. Chairman, we have no defense treaty relationships with any of the countries. We have historically avoided taking a position on border disputes or on internal OPEC deliberations, but we have certainly, as have all administrations, resoundingly called for the peaceful settlement of disputes and differences in the area. Mr. HAMILTON: If Iraq, for example, charged across the border into Kuwait, for whatever reason, what would be our position with regard to the use of U.S. forces ? Mr. KELLY: That, Mr. Chairman, is a hypothetical or a contingency, the kind of which I can't get into. Suffice it to say we would be extremely concerned, but I cannot get into the realm of '' what if answers. Mr. HAMILTON: In that circumstance, it is correct to say, however, that we do not have a treaty commitment which would obligate us to engage U.S. forces ? Mr. KELLY: That is correct. Mr. HAMILTON: That is correct, is it not ? Mr. KELLY: That is correct , sir ..” Developments in the Middle East, July 1990: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred First Congress, Second Session, July 31, 1990, Volume 4 Page 14 "We agreed with the American side that it was important to take advantage of the deteriorating economic situation in Iraq in order to put pressure on that country’s government to delineate our common border. The Central Intelligence Agency gave us its view of appropriate means of pressure, saying that broad cooperation should be initiated between us on condition that such activities be coordinated at a high level." CIA Says Iraq’s Kuwait Document Won’t Wash : Intrigue: It describes a meeting that never took place, U.S. says. Baghdad cited the paper as proof of a conspiracy. LA Times NOV. 1, 1990 "When a reporter asked Mashat to assess why the memo seemed to run directly opposite to the thrust of Glaspie’s meeting with Hussein, the ambassador said that the Glaspie meeting “is part and parcel of the setup.” Critics of the State Department have charged that Glaspie’s message, delivered on the instructions of her superiors, gave a “green light” to the Iraqi aggression" CIA Says Iraq’s Kuwait Document Won’t Wash : Intrigue: It describes a meeting that never took place, U.S. says. Baghdad cited the paper as proof of a conspiracy. LA Times NOV. 1, 1990 "As Iraqi forces massed along Kuwait's border on Aug. 1, a Central Intelligence Agency analyst named Charlie Allen walked into the offices of the National Security Council's Middle East staff. "This is your final warning," he is reliably said to have told them. Iraq, he said, would invade Kuwait by day's end. It was not the first time that Mr. Allen, a 32-year C.I.A. veteran with the ominous-sounding title of national intelligence officer for warning, had sounded the Kuwait alarm. Until the last hours of Iraq's sword-rattling, when a handful of others joined him, Mr. Allen had been the leading doomsayer among analysts tracking Iraq's military preparations. For Mr. Allen, associates say, shunning the beaten path is standard fare. So, apparently, is what happened next. His forecast was disregarded, and top White House and Pentagon officials were surprised at home when Iraq marched into Kuwait on the morning of Aug. 2." Washington at Work; C.I.A. Sidelines Its Gulf Cassandra NYT Jan. 24, 1991 "Less than a year after political changes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union sent the defense industry reeling under the threat of dramatic cutbacks, executives and analysts say the crisis in the Persian Gulf has provided military companies with a tiny glimmer of hope. "If Iraq does not withdraw and things get messy, it will be good for the industry. You will hear less rhetoric from Washington about the peace dividend," said Michael Lauer, an analyst with Kidder, Peabody & Co. in New York" DEFENSE INDUSTRY SEES SPARK OF HOPE August 10, 1990 Washington Post "The President should be aware that, while most Americans are laboring very hard to support him, a mood of cynicism is just beneath their veneer of respect. Many are claiming that the buildup is little more than a “Pentagon budget drill,” designed to preclude cutbacks of an Army searching for a mission as bases in NATO begin to disappear." In the Gulf, the Danger of a Diplomatic Solution And the Horrors of a Desert War By James Webb.Sept. 23, 1990 NYT (James Webb was Assistant Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy in the Reagan Administration) "Two world renowned child psychologists stated that the children in Iraq were ‘the most traumatized children of war ever described’. Nearly two-thirds of children interviewed believe they will not survive to be adults" Humanitarian Crisis in Iraq: Challenge for U.S. Policy : Hearing Before the International Task Force of the Select Committee on Hunger, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, First Session, Hearing Held in Washington, DC, November 13, 1991 Page 40 "The strategic bombing of Iraq, described in wartime briefings as a campaign against Baghdad's offensive military capabilities, now appears to have been broader in its purposes and selection of targets. Amid mounting evidence of Iraq's ruined infrastructure and the painful consequences for ordinary Iraqis, Pentagon officials more readily acknowledge the severe impact of the 43-day air bombardment on Iraq's economic future and civilian population. Their explanations these days of the bombing's goals and methods suggest that the allies, relying on traditional concepts of strategic warfare, sought to achieve some of their military objectives in the Persian Gulf War by disabling Iraqi society at large. Though many details remain classified, interviews with those involved in the targeting disclose three main contrasts with the administration's earlier portrayal of a campaign aimed solely at Iraq's armed forces and their lines of supply and command. Some targets, especially late in the war, were bombed primarily to create postwar leverage over Iraq, not to influence the course of the conflict itself. Planners now say their intent was to destroy or damage valuable facilities that Baghdad could not repair without foreign assistance. Many of the targets in Iraq's Mesopotamian heartland, the list of which grew from about 400 to more than 700 in the course of the war, were chosen only secondarily to contribute to the military defeat of Baghdad's occupation army in Kuwait. Military planners hoped the bombing would amplify the economic and psychological impact of international sanctions on Iraqi society, and thereby compel President Saddam Hussein to withdraw Iraqi forces from Kuwait without a ground war. They also hoped to incite Iraqi citizens to rise against the Iraqi leader. Because of these goals, damage to civilian structures and interests, invariably described by briefers during the war as "collateral" and unintended, was sometimes neither. The Air Force and Navy "fraggers" who prepared the daily air-tasking orders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, took great care to avoid dropping explosives directly on civilians -- and were almost certainly more successful than in any previous war -- but they deliberately did great harm to Iraq's ability to support itself as an industrial society. The worst civilian suffering, senior officers say, has resulted not from bombs that went astray but from precision-guided weapons that hit exactly where they were aimed -- at electrical plants, oil refineries and transportation networks. Each of these targets was acknowledged during the war, but all the purposes and consequences of their destruction were not divulged. Among the justifications offered now, particularly by the Air Force in recent briefings, is that Iraqi civilians were not blameless for Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. "The definition of innocents gets to be a little bit unclear," said a senior Air Force officer, noting that many Iraqis supported the invasion of Kuwait. "They do live there, and ultimately the people have some control over what goes on in their country." "When they discuss warfare, a lot of folks tend to think of force on force, soldier A against soldier B," said another officer who played a central role in the air campaign but declined to be named. Strategic bombing, by contrast, strikes against "all those things that allow a nation to sustain itself." ...For critics, this was the war that showed why the indirect effects of bombing must be planned as discriminately as the direct ones. The bombardment may have been precise, they argue, but the results have been felt throughout Iraqi society, and the bombing ultimately may have done as much to harm civilians as soldiers. Pentagon officials say that military lawyers were present in the air campaign's "Black Hole" planning cell in Riyadh and emphasize that the bombing followed international conventions of war. Defense Secretary Richard B. Cheney, at a recent breakfast with reporters, said every Iraqi target was "perfectly legitimate" and added, "If I had to do it over again, I would do exactly the same thing." A growing debate on the air campaign is challenging Cheney's argument on two fronts. Some critics, including a Harvard public health team and the environmental group Greenpeace, have questioned the morality of the bombing by pointing to its ripple effects on noncombatants. The Harvard team, for example, reported last month that the lack of electrical power, fuel and key transportation links in Iraq now has led to acute malnutrition and "epidemic" levels of cholera and typhoid. In an estimate not substantively disputed by the Pentagon, the team projected that "at least 170,000 children under five years of age will die in the coming year from the delayed effects" of the bombing" ALLIED AIR WAR STRUCK BROADLY IN IRAQ June 23, 1991 NYT "The entry of our troops into Afghanistan would outrage the international community, triggering a string of extremely negative consequences in many different areas. Our common enemies are just waiting for the moment when Soviet troops appear in Afghanistan. This will give them the excuse they need to send armed bands into the country." SECRET MEMOS TRACE KREMLIN'S MARCH TO WAR Washington Post 15, 1992 "There were 58,000 dead in Vietnam and we owe the Russians one … I have a slight obsession with it, because of Vietnam. I thought the Soviets ought to get a dose of it … I’ve been of the opinion that this money was better spent to hurt our adversaries than other money in the Defense Department budget" Rep Charles Wilson Texas U.S. Covert Aid to Afghans on the Rise Washington Post January 13, 1985 "Land reform attempts undermined their village chiefs. Portraits of Lenin threatened their religious leaders. But it was the Kabul revolutionary Government’s granting of new rights to women that pushed orthodox Moslem men in the Pashtoon villages of eastern Afghanistan into picking up their guns. … “The government said our women had to attend meetings and our children had to go to schools. This threatens our religion. We had to fight.” … “The government imposed various ordinances allowing women freedom to marry anyone they chose without their parents’ consent.” Afghans Resist New Rights for Women; Attacks in Response to Changes Portraits of Lenin Distributed Workers and Troops Surrounded The New York Times Feb. 9, 1980 "to halt the infiltration into the Americas, by terrorists and by outside interference, and those who aren’t just aiming at El Salvador but, I think, are aiming at the whole of Central and possibly later South America and, I’m sure, eventually North America.” 7th of March 1981 "I asked why the guerrillas were in the hills "Fifty years of lies, fifty years of injustice, fifty years of frustration. This is a history of people starving to death, living in misery. For fifty years the same people had all the power, all the money, all the jobs, all the education, all the opportunities" Raymond Bonner, Weakness and Deceit: U.S. Policy and El Salvador Page 24 speaking to José Napoleón Duarte (He led the subsequent civil-military Junta from 1980 to 1982. He was then elected president in 1984) "In El Salvador, American aid was used for police training in the 1950’s and 1960’s and many officers in the three branches of the police later became leaders of the right-wing death squads that killed tens of thousands of people in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s." SALVADOR DIVIDED OVER AID TO POLICE New York Times , 22 October 1987 "Proclaiming a “political revolution,” Aristide, 37, has injected a spirit of hope and honesty into the affairs of government, a radical departure after decades of official venality under the Duvalier family dictatorship and a series of military strongmen. Declaring that his $10,000 monthly salary is “not just a scandal, but a crime”, Aristide announced on television that he would donate his paychecks to charity." HAITI'S POVERTY TEMPERS VIEW OF PRESIDENT-PRIEST Washington Post June 6, 1991 "Haitians suffered frequent human rights abuses throughout 1992, including extra-judicial killings by security forces, disappearances, beatings and other mistreatment of detainees and prisoners, arbitrary arrests and detention and executive interference with the judicial process." Haitian Asylum-seekers: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on International Law, Immigration, and Refugees of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundred Third Congress, Second Session, on H.R. 3663, H.R. 4114, and H.R. 4264, June 15, 1994 Page 173, State department 1992 report on Haiti "As for the United States, since shortly after the overthrow -- when Secretary of State James Baker echoed President Bush's famous "this aggression will not stand" statement about Iraq -- little consideration has been given to backing up American principles in Haiti with American muscle Virtually all observers agree that facing down Haiti's ill-equipped and undisciplined 7,000-man army would take little in the way of force. Recently, an adviser of the provisional Government of the army-backed Prime Minister Marc L. Bazin repeated Father Aristide's longtime complaint when he said that "all it would take is one phone call" from Washington to send the army leadership packing… supporters and opponents of Father Aristide agree, nothing more threatening than a leaky and ineffective embargo, quickly imposed … has ever been seriously contemplated, which reflects Washington’s deep-seated ambivalence about a leftward-tilting nationalist [who] often depicted the United States as a citadel of evil and the root of many of his country’s problems. … Despite much blood on the army’s hands, United States diplomats consider it a vital counterweight to Father Aristide, whose class-struggle rhetoric … threatened or antagonized traditional power centers at home and abroad." Aristide Seeks More Than Moral Support NYT Sept. 27, 1992 "Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival, either on the territory of the former Soviet Union or elsewhere, that poses a threat on the order of that posed formerly by the Soviet Union. … we must account sufficiently for the interests of the advanced industrial nations to discourage them from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order. … we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role" Excerpts From Pentagon's Plan: 'Prevent the Re-Emergence of a New Rival' NYT March 8, 1992 "We will engage terrestrial targets someday—ships, airplanes, land targets—from space. … We’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space." 1996 the Space Command’s commander in chief, Gen. Joseph Ashy, Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999 "In November 138 nations voted in the UN General Assembly to reaffirm the Outer Space Treaty and its provision that space “shall be for peaceful purposes.” Only the United States and Israel abstained. Assistant secretary of the Air Force for Space Keith Hall says, “Space dominance, we have it, we like it and we’re going to keep it.” Waging War in Space The Nation December 9th 1999 "The new [military preparedness] standard is to maintain military superiority over all potential rivals and to prepare now for future military rivalries even if they can not yet be identified and their eventual arrival is only speculative. … Military requirements have become detached from net assessments of actual security threats. Generic wars and generic capabilities are proffered as the basis for planning. … Particularities of real threat scenarios have become secondary to the generalized need to show raw U.S. power across the globe" U.S. Military-Strategic Ambitions: Expanding to Fill the post-Soviet Vacuum Project on Defense Alternatives Charles Knight.adapted from a panel presentation at the Council on Foreign Relations, N.Y.C. 14 June 2000 "The presence of American forces in critical regions around the world is the visible expression of the extent of America’s status as a superpower and as the guarantor of liberty, peace and stability.”Rebuilding America’s Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources For a New Century”— A report of the Project for the New American Century (Washington, DC), September 2000 Page 14 "The Bush administration, in a secret policy review completed early this year, has ordered the Pentagon to draft contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons against at least seven countries, naming not only Russia and the "axis of evil"--Iraq, Iran, and North Korea--but also China, Libya and Syria. In addition, the U.S. Defense Department has been told to prepare for the possibility that nuclear weapons may be required in some future Arab-Israeli crisis. And, it is to develop plans for using nuclear weapons to retaliate against chemical or biological attacks, as well as "surprising military developments" of an unspecified nature. These and a host of other directives, including calls for developing bunker-busting mini-nukes and nuclear weapons that reduce collateral damage, are contained in a still-classified document called the Nuclear Posture Review (NPR), which was delivered to Congress on Jan. 8." LA Times Secret Plan Outlines the Unthinkable March 10th 2002 "Our forces will be strong enough to dissuade potential adversaries from pursuing a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equaling, the power of the United States. … America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed. … We must deter and defend against the threat before it is unleashed. … We cannot let our enemies strike first. … To forestall or prevent such hostile acts by our adversaries, the United States wil, if necessary, act preemptively" Full Text: Bush's National Security StrategyNYT Sept. 20, 2002 "Since 1998 Iraq has been fundamentally disarmed; 90-95% of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction have been verifiably eliminated. This includes all of the factories used to produce chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, and long-range ballistic missiles; the associated equipment of these factories; and the vast majority of the products coming out of these factories." Even if Iraq managed to hide these weapons, what they are now hiding is harmless goo’ The Guardian 18 Sep 2002 "dismantled extensive nuclear weapons-related facilities. We neutralized Iraq’s nuclear program. We confiscated its weapon-usable material. We destroyed, removed or rendered harmless all its facilities and equipment relevant to nuclear weapons production" Inspections Are the Key By Mohamed El BaradeiOctober 21, 2002 Washington Post chief nuclear inspector for ensuring Iraq's disarmament Unverified Sources "International misunderstanding is almost wholly voluntary: it is that contradiction in terms, intentional misunderstanding—a contradiction, because in order to misunderstand deliberately, you must at least suspect if not actually understand what you intend to misunderstand. … [The US misunderstanding of the USSR has] the function of sustaining a myth—the myth of the United States as “the last, best hope of mankind.” St. George and the Dragon is a poor show without a real dragon, the bigger and scalier the better, ideally with flames coming out of its mouth. The misunderstanding of Soviet Russia has become indispensable to the self-esteem of the American nation: he will not be regarded with benevolence who seeks, however ineffectually, to deprive them of it" The Guardian (London), 10 October 1983, Enchoch Powell "the Army dug into captured Nazi chemical warfare documents describing Sarin, a nerve gas so lethal that a few pounds could kill thousands of people in minutes. … By the mid-nineteen-fifties, the Army was manufacturing thousands of gallons of Sarin" New York Times , 9 August 1970 IV Page 3 "As Americans we repudiate our Government’s threat to cut off food from Italy unless the election results please us. Hungry children must not go unfed because their parents do not vote as ordered from abroad." NYT 12th of April 1948 "Cabinet members and army generals, political party leaders and members of the Establishment, all made open references to American wishes or views in order to justify or to account for their own actions or positions" Andreas Papandreou, Democracy at Gunpoint "we have established practical control … over national budget, taxation, currency issuance, price and wage policies, and state economic planning, as well as over imports and exports, the issuance of foreign exchange and the direction of military reconstruction and relief expenditures.” memorandum from Athens dated 17 November 1947, from the American Mission to Aid Greece to the State Department in Washington sent by Horace Smith of AMAG; U.S. National Archives, Record Group 59 "It is no exaggeration to state that South Korea no longer exists as a country. Its towns have been destroyed, much of its means of livelihood eradicated, and its people reduced to a sullen mass dependent upon charity and exposed to subversive influences. When the war ends no gratitude can be expected from the South Koreans, but it is to be hoped that the lesson will have been learned that it is worse than useless to destroy to liberate. Certainly, western Europe would never accept such a “liberation” Brassey’s Annual: The Armed Forces Year-Book 1951 "The British are believed to favor active stimulation of a change in the present regime in Syria, in an effort to assure a pro-Western orientation on the part of future Syrian governments. … The United States shares the concern of the British Government over the situation in Syria" Declassified Documents Reference System 1985 volume, document no. 283, March 1957 "The USSR has shown no intention of direct intervention in any of the previous Mid-Eastern crises, and we believe it is unlikely that they would intervene, directly, to assure the success of a leftist coup in Syria" Declassified Documents Reference System , (Arlington, Va.) 1981 volume, document 471B, 17 June 1957. "[The Laos operation] is something of which we can be proud as Americans. It has involved virtually no American casualties. What we are getting for our money there… is, I think, to use the old phrase, very cost effective." US Senate Armed Services Committee, Hearings on Fiscal Year 1972 Authorizations , 22 July 1971, p . 4289. "Tortures range from simple but brutal blows from a truncheon to electric shocks. Often the torture is more refined: the end of a reed is placed in the anus of a naked man hanging suspended downwards on the pau de arara [parrot’s perch] and a piece of cotton soaked in petrol is lit at the other end of the reed. Pregnant women have been forced to watch their husbands being tortured. Other wives have been hung naked beside their husbands and given electric shocks on the sexual parts of their body, while subjected to the worst kind of obscenities. Children have been tortured before their parents and vice versa. At least one child, the three month old baby of Virgilio Gomes da Silva was reported to have died under police torture. The length of sessions depends upon the resistance capacity of the victims and have sometimes continued for days at a time." Report on Allegations of Torture in Brazil (London, 1974) Page 40 "We obviously place a priority on improving relations with our adversary. We have to seek a balance with the US, so naturally we will say [to the Cubans] calm down, we are not interested in sharpening the situation in Angola and Nicaragua.” "were out of bounds, owing to the fact that they had no reason to be there. The whole world knows that they shouldn’t have gone there. They messed up. If the United States set up a barricade anywhere and someone acted in the same way we would also start firing.” Marine in Panama "But we knew that the United States would not let us be overrun. I spent too much time in Washington to make that mistake, and received a constant stream of visitors here. The American policy was clear. Only Saddam didn’t understand it" Milton Viorst, “A Reporter At Large: After the Liberation”, The New Yorker , 30 September 1991 "Seems driven more by upcoming budget battles on Capitol Hill than a potential battle against Saddam Hussein.” Washington Post , 25 November 1990, Lawrence Korb