List of Dictators that America has supported throughout history

[Kal EL]

GENERAL SANI ABACHA
President of Nigeria

General Sani Abacha is a corrupt and repressive dictator in the oil-rich country of Nigeria.
Supported by oil wealth, Abacha has tried to cover his repression under a mantle of democracy by
allowing fraudulent elections which only serve to guarantee his continued control. During elections in
1994, Chief Moshood Abiola, considered to be the likely winner, was arrested and placed in
prison before the rigged results were announced; Abacha retained control. More than 100
government executions occurred in 1994, and numerous pro-democracy demonstrators were killed
by police. Shell Oil provides most of the country's wealth by extracting oil from the Ogoniland
region, while in the process causing severe environmental destruction and devastating the local
economy. More than 700 Ogoni environmentalists protesting the destruction of their way of life,
were executed in recent years. The greatest travesty occurred in November 1995, when
environmental leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and 8 associates, were hanged despite an international
outcry. Shell supported Abacha's policies by its silence. Despite an outcry that Nigerian oil be
boycotted, the US government refused to do so.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



IDI AMIN
General of Uganda

Amin was one of the most notorious of Africa's post-independence dictators. A former
heavyweight boxing champion in Uganda and a non-commissioned officer in the British Army there,
Amin caught the attention of his superiors because of his efficient management of concentration
camps in Kenya during the Mau Mau rebellion in the 1950s, where he earned the title of "The
Strangler". Because of his loyalty to Britain and his strongly anti-communist stance, Amin was
picked by the British to replace the elected Ugandan government in a 1971 coup. While in power,
he earned a reputation as a "clown" in some circles in the West, but he was no joke at home. Amin
brutalized his people with British and US military aid and with Israeli and CIA training of his troops.
The body count of his friends, the clergy, soldiers, and ordinary Ugandans rose daily, but the West
ignored his cruelty. As he continued to demand more aid and sophisticated weapons, he finally lost
support. In 1979, his quest for more power lead him to invade Tanzania. In retaliation, he was
overthrown by an invading Tanzanian / Ugandan army. Amin fled to Saudi Arabia, where he now
lives a quiet life in a modest villa outside Jeddah, looking after his goats and chickens and cultivating
his vegetable garden. Traditional Arab garb has replaced the bemedalled Field Marshal's uniform of
his heyday.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



COLONEL HUGO BANZER
President of Bolivia

In 1970, in Bolivia, when then-President Juan Jose Torres nationalized Gulf Oil properties and tin
mines owned by US interests, and tried to establish friendly relations with Cuba and the Soviet
Union, he was playing with fire. The coup to overthrow Torres, led by US-trained officer and Gulf
Oil beneficiary Hugo Banzer, had direct support from Washington. When Banzer's forces had a
breakdown in radio communications, US Air Force radio was placed at their disposal. Once in
power, Banzer began a reign of terror. Schools were shut down as hotbeds of political subversive
activity. Within two years, 2,000 people were arrested and tortured without trial. As in Paraguay,
Argentina and Brazil, the native Indians were ordered off their land and deprived of tribal identity.
Tens-of-thousands of white South Africans were enticed to immigrate with promises of the land
stolen from the Indians, with a goal of creating a white Bolivia. When Catholic clergy tried to aid
the Indians, the regime, with CIA help, launched terrorist attacks against them, and this "Banzer
Plan" became a model for similar anti-Catholic actions throughout Latin America.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



FULGENCIO BATISTA
President of Cuba

Cuban Army Sergeant Fulgencio Batista first seized power in a 1932 coup. He was President
Roosevelt's handpicked dictator to counteract leftists who had overthrown strongman Cerardo
Machado. Batista ruled or several years, then left for Miami, returning in 1952 just in time for
another coup, against elected president Carlos Prio Socorras. His new regime was quickly
recognized by President Eisenhower. Under Batista, U.S. interests flourished and little was said
about democracy. With the loyal support of Batista, Mafioso boss Meyer Lansky developed
Havana into an international drug port. Cabinet offices were bought and sold and military officials
made huge sums on smuggling and vice rackets. Havana became a fashionable hot spot where
America's rich and famous drank and gambled with mobsters. As the gap between the rich and
poor grew wider, the poor grew impatient. In 1953, Fidel Castro led an armed group of rebels in a
failed uprising on the Moncada army barracks. Castro temporarily fled the country and Batista
struck back with a vengeance. Freedom of speech was curtailed and subversive teachers, lawyers
and public officials were fired from their jobs. Death squads tortured and killed thousands of
"communists". Batista was assisted in his crackdown by Lansky and other members of organized
crime who believed Castro would jeopardize their gambling and drug trade. Despite this, Batista
remained a friend to Eisenhower and the US until he was finally overthrown by Castro in 1959.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




SIR HASSANAL BOLKIAH

The Sultan of Brunei

To illegally fund what they referred to as the "Democratic Resistance" in Nicaragua, Oliver North
and Former Assistant Secretary d State Elliot Abrams solicited funds from several authoritarian
regimes, including Taiwan, South Korea and the more obscure Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam. Sir
Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, the world's richest monarch, was indeed generous to the
Contras -- to the tune of $10 million. But, this generosity was not because of any commitment to
democracy in Nicaragua or anywhere else, for Brunei is a monarchical dictatorship, under a State
of Emergency since 1982. The Sultan also allows Brunei to be the ClA's ears on the explosive
Malaysian-lndonesian border. His Royal Highness was also involved with the infamous Nugan
Hand Bank of Australia, a 1960s-70s CIA front for South East Asian drug operations and money
laundering. In fact, according to a secret 1978 memo, Nugan Hand submitted a proposal to
provide His Highness the Sultan with a bank structure and depository system which he alone can
control should any change of government take place. The Sultan lives in a new palace that may
have cost as much as a billion dollars, while over 90% of his subjects live in abject poverty. Those
who protest such inequalities don't fare well with the authorities. According to Amnesty
International, Brunei's jails hold "at least five prisoners of conscience who have spent 25 years in
detention without having been convicted of any crime."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



P.W. BOTHA

President of South Africa

During P.W. Botha's first term as President, the former Secretary of Defense altered the structure
of government, giving the military and police unprecedented power. To justify this, he pointed to
increasingly vocal discontent among South Africa's disenfranchised blacks, the large number of
black states In Africa, and a so-called "growing Marxist" threat in the region. South Africa, he said,
was engaged in a "total war' and must develop a "total strategy" to fight the battle. South Africa's
apartheid regime was quietly supported by the US government, despite a UN boycott and
Congressional efforts to reduce US investment there, Ronald Reagan significantly increased military
expenditures in the country. But few Americans realized that Botha's total strategy against blacks
had turned his nation into a ruthless aggressor. When Portugal withdrew from its colonies in
Mozambique and Angola, Botha, claiming he wanted to strengthen capitalism on the continent,
financed the Mozambique National Resistance (MNR) against the country's popular government.
The MNR, who receive direct training from South Africa, cut off the ears, noses, and limbs of
civilians. After killing their parents and raping young women in front of 10 year old boys, they
recruited these boys to fight. In 1989, P.W. Botha suffered a stroke and later resigned. In early
1990 his successor, F.W. De Klerk, watching as international sanctions ruined S. Africa's
economy, legalized political opposition parties and freed several important black political prisoners,
including Nelson Mandela who had been imprisoned for 27 years for political activities against
apartheid. Apartheid finally fell when Nelson Mandela was elected President of South Africa.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 



GENERAL HUMBERTO BRANCO

President of Brazil

In 1961, Brazilian President Jaao Goulart sought to trade with communist nations, supported the
labor movement, and had limited the profits multi-nationals could take out of the country. These
policies were clearly unacceptable to the American business interests. In 1964, the US took part in
the overthrow of Goulart by General Humberto de Alencar Castello Branco, although US
government officials have denied involvement. As an example of US support for Branco, just prior
to the coup, US officials cabled Washington a request for oil for Branco's soldiers in case Goulart's
troops blew up the refineries. Brancos regime was short but brutal. Labor unions were banned,
criticism of the President became unlawful, and thousands of suspected communists (including
children) were arrested and tortured. As in Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia, land was stolen from
native Indians and their culture was destroyed. Drug dealers, many of them government officials,
were given protection because they maintained national security interests. Brazil formed ties with
the World Anti-communist League and assisted General Videla in his takeover of Argentina. When
Branco stepped down in 1967, he left behind a constitution with greatly increased military and
executive powers, crippling Brazil's efforts to restore democracy.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



RAOUL CEDRAS

General of Haiti

General Cedras seized power in Haiti in 1991 after the election of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. He ruled
with the rod of iron associated with Haiti's infamous former dictators, the Duvaliers -- there were at
least 4.000 political assassinations and more than 40,000 fled the country in boats for the US. He
fled into exile in September 1994 when the US sent an invasion force under the banner of the UN.

Cedras is now in Panama, the only rival to France as the favorite haven for former dictators -- Juan
Domingo Peron of Argentina and the Shah of Iran once took refuge there, and Guatemala's Jorge
Serrano is a great success as a racehorse owner. Cedras has a penthouse suite in Panama City's
wealthy Punta Paitilla area. He is not short of cash -- the US State Department alone pays him
$5,000 a month in rent for his properties in Haiti. Panama University Professor Miguel Antonio
Bernal complains: 'Our country is being used as a wastebasket for the political toxic waste of the
world.'



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



VINICIO CEREZO

President of Guatemala

According to Amnesty International, arbitrary arrest, torture, disappearance, and political killings
were everyday realities for Guatemalans during decades of US financed military dictatorship. In
January 1986, Christian Democrat leader Vinicio Cerezo was elected President and said he had
"the political will to respect the rights of man", but it didn't take long to find out that his political will
was irrelevant in the face of Guatemala's well-oiled military machine. Hopes for change were
dashed when Cerezo announced that Guatemala would continue to provide amnesty for all past
military offenses committed from General Elrain Rios Montt's coup in 1982 through the 1986
elections. Although Ronald Reagan's State Department asserted "there has not been a single
clear-cut case of political killing, within months of Cerezo's inauguration, opposition leaders
attributed 56 murders to security forces and death squads, while Americas Watch claimed that
"throughout 1986, violent killings were reported in the Guatemalan press at the rate of 100 per
month". Altogether, Americas Watch says, tens-of-thousands were killed and 400 rural villages
were destroyed by government death squads during Reagan's term in office. Colonel D'Jalma
Dominguez, former army spokesman, explains "For convenience sake a civilian government is
preferable, such as the one we have now. If anything goes wrong, only the Christian Democrats will
get the blame. It's better to remain outside. The real power will not be lost." Today, the real power
still resides with the military.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



CHIANG KAI-SHEK

President of Taiwan

The Chinese civil war pitted Mao Tse-Tung's Communists against Chiang Kai-Shek's Nationalists.
The US-backed Chiang, but when he couldn't do the job they also supported Japanese troops
fighting the Communists, even before WWll had ended. Hated for his wanton cruelty, corruption,
and decadence, Chiang did not enjoy the support of the Chinese people; entire divisions of the
Nationalist army defected and fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). A presidential commission
appointed by Harry Truman reported after Chiang's arrival there that his forces "ruthlessly,
corruptly, and avariciously imposed their regime on the population. Under Nationalist rule, 85% of
the population was disenfranchised, but the onset of the Korean War and the anti-communist
hysteria of the McCarthy era led the US to declare that the tiny island represented the real
government of China. The US was crucial in keeping mainland China out of the UN until 1971.
Chiang gave the World Anti-Communist League (an international organization with links to Nazis,
drug smugglers, and the CIA) its first home, permitting WACL members to use a military academy
there to train troops for Latin American military coups. President Carter tried to cut US ties to
WACL, but Ronald Reagan received campaign funds from the group, and WACL became
involved with training and supplying contras in Argentina and Taiwan. Chiang Kai-Shek died in
1975, but many of his policies continue in Taiwan.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ROBERTO SUAZO CORDOVA

President of Honduras

Honduras was the original "Banana Republic" -- its history inextricably intertwined with that of the
US-based United Fruit Company, but in 1979, when Anastasio Somoza was overthrown in
Nicaragua, Honduras got a new nickname -- "The Pentagon Republic". In 1978 Honduras
received $16.2 million in US aid. By 1985, it was getting $231 million, primarily because President
Suazo Cordova, working with the US Ambassador and the Honduran military, allowed Honduras
to become a training center for U.S. funded Nicaraguan contras. General Alvarez assisted in
training programs and founded a special "hit squad", the Cobras. Victims of the Cobras were
stripped, bound, thrown into pits, and tortured. The Reagan Administration claimed ignorance of
these human rights violations, but US advisors have admitted knowledge. Alvarez who made
enemies among his troops because he pocketed U.S. aid and because he belonged to the
"Moonies", a far-right South Korean religious cult, was overthrown by the military in 1984. Suazo's
ties to Alvarez cost him his bid in the next election, but death squad activity and US aid to
Honduras continued. Many high ranking government and military personnel during and after
Suazo's term were drug traffickers, and although the US government denies knowledge of this,
there is evidence to the contrary. In fact, the US embassy was renting space from known drug dealers.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ALFREDO CRISTIANI

President of El Salvador

General Hernandez Martinez's 1932 anti-communist purge, was carried out on behalf of El
Salvador's rich coffee oligarchy, the so-called "Fourteen Families". New president Alfredo Cristiani
is a member of those same " Fourteen Families", and his ARENA party is linked to brutalities
surpassing Hernandez Martinez's. Cristiani is moderate-sounding, schooled in Washington D. C.,
and indebted to the military for power. As puppet - president, he yielded to ARENA founder
Roberto D'Aubuisson, whom a former US Ambassador called a "pathological killer". D'Aubuisson,
a former Army Major with ties to Jesse Helms and the US right, studied unconventional warfare in
the U S and Taiwan. According to D'Aubuisson, "the Christian Democrats (Ex-President Jose
Napoleon Duarte's party) are communists, but Jesuit priests are "the worst scum of all". US State
Department cables indicate D'Aubuisson "planned and ordered the assassination of the late
Archbishop Oscar Amulfoo Romero". It's believed he was behind the White Warriors Union
(UGB), whose slogan was "Be patriotic-kill a priest". In 1989 six priests were slain and Cristiani
soon admitted his US trained soldiers had committed the murders. Yet, although assassinations of
priests are notable, 70,000 other civilians were killed by the Salvadoran military and the death
squads since 1980.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



NGO DINH DIEM

President of South Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem oppressed the Vietnamese people so badly that many of them turned to the
communists for protection from his ruthless rule. Even President Eisenhower admitted that "had
elections been held, possibly 80% of the population would have voted for Ho Chi Minh, the
communist leader". Yet Diem, who had once lived in the US, had connections, in Washington, who
liked his anti-communism. He founded the Can Lao Party (CLP), a secret police force overseen by
his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, and Nhu's wife, Madame Nhu. The three were notorious for their
ineptitude and cruelty. The CLP was not even their idea, it was originally promoted by the US
State Department to rid the country of communists. Diem alienated urban professionals by
suppressing all opposition to his regime. He alienated peasants by canceling their age-old local
elections, forcing them off their land, and moving them into "agrovilles" surrounded by barbed wire,
which even US officials conceded bore a striking resemblance to concentration camps. Ultimately,
he angered his own military officers because he promoted on the basis of loyalty, not merit. In an
effort to keep Diem in power, the US tried to persuade him to make political reforms. He refused,
so they persuaded him to make military reforms. But when Diem was finally overthrown and
assassinated in 1963, none of his generals rose to defend him. Nor did the US, which, after 8
years, had finally realized that Diem wasn't popular.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL SAMUEL DOE

President of Liberia

Samuel Doe came to power in a bloody 1980 coup, a Master Sergeant in military gear. Today, he
is a self-made General in a suit, living on US aid and corporate kickbacks. But while Doe and his
cronies live in luxury, the rest of Liberia dwells in squalor. Under his regime, the gross domestic
product has decreased by 13%, the country's health statistics are among the world's worst, 80% of
the population is illiterate, all opposition parties but one were forbidden to participate in the 1985
national elections, and those who protest these inequities are jailed or killed. Doe, a pro-American
anti-communist, received $500 million in U.S. aid between 1980 and 1985. When Congress
threatened to cut off funds because of Liberia's human rights abuses, Doe requested "American
financial advice" as a show of good will. The U.S. sent 17 accountants, bank examiners, and
economists to help Doe balance his budget, but they realized a difficult task lay ahead when they
learned that Doe had purchased over sixty $60,000 Mercedes Benz cars for his government
ministers and had given the Liberian soccer team $1 million for winning a match against rival Ghana.
Ultimately Doe refused to allow access to records concerning 40% of Liberia's funds, for this
"second budget", revenues from gasoline and lodging taxes, goes directly into the President's bank
account. The American advisors returned home in 1989, mission not accomplished, and Samuel
Doe remains in office, despite early 1990 rumblings of rebel plots against him.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



FRANCOIS & JEAN CLAUDE DUVALIER

Presidents of Haiti

In 1957 Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier became Haiti's President-For-Life, establishing a strategic
relationship with the US that lasted until 1971, when he was succeeded by his son Jean Claude
"Baby Doc" Duvalier. During the 30 years that they ruled with an iron hand, 60,000 Haitians were
killed and countless more were tortured by the Duvaliers' Tonton Macoutes death squads. While
Haiti became the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, the Duvaliers enriched themselves by
stealing foreign aid money. In 1980, for instance, the International Monetary Fund granted Haiti a
$22 million budget supplement. Within weeks, $16 million was "unaccounted for". Baby Doc made
Haiti into a trans-shipment point for Colombian cocaine. Nevertheless, as long as Papa and Baby
Doc were anti-communists, they could do no wrong in the US government's eyes. Their regime
finally ended in 1986, when Baby Doc fled angry mobs of Haitians for asylum in France, with a
fortune estimated at $400 million. It has been estimated that under Baby Doc's rule 40,000 Haitians
were murdered.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



KING FAHD BIN 'ABDUL-'AZIZ

King of Saudi Arabia

King Fahd bin 'Abdul -'Aziz is the absolute monarch of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fahd and
2000 related royals rule with an iron grip of medieval feudalism. Control over the lives of their
citizens is total and arbitrary. Torture is common, and amputation is frequently ordered by the
courts. Women have few rights, and adultery by women is punished by death by stoning.
Executions by hanging are public -- there were at least 60 such executions in 1994. The main
opposition is from Sunni Islamists, and hundreds are in prison. Saudi Arabia is supported by the
United States and other western democracies because of the enormous oil wealth that lies below
the country's desert sands, its pro-West stance, and the royal family's staunch anti-fundamentalist
position. The irony of American policy in Saudi Arabia is that the US, the world's most vocal
advocate for democracy, supports one of the most undemocratic regimes in the world.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL FRANCISCO FRANCO

President of Spain

General Francisco Bahamonde Franco was not the most popular leader in Spain during the early
1930s. A man of humble origins, he had worked his way up the military ladder fighting colonial
wars in Africa. Franco, a staunch conservative, was infuriated when a Republican alliance of
socialists, Marxists, and liberals won Spain's first free elections in 1936. So the General decided to
restore order by force. Franco's Nationalists were losing the civil war, but military support from
Hitler, Mussolini, and the US corporations that backed Hitler, turned the tide in his favor. Italy and
Germany sent 6,060 trucks to Franco's fascists, but 12,000 were supplied by Ford, General
Motors and Studebaker. The US claimed neutrality but didn't stop these companies from aiding
Franco. The failure of the US and other democratic nations to assist Spain's democratic
government was ultimately responsible for Franco's victory in 1939, and sadly, American
volunteers who fought for the Republic were relentlessly persecuted during the US anti-communist
hysteria of the 1950s. Under Franco, all political parties and labor unions were banned, books
were burned, and dissenters were tortured and executed. Spain was ostracized by the international
community, but the US considered Franco a Cold War ally and sank millions into the country.
After Franco's death in 1975, Spain became a democratic republic once again. (Note: Spain is a
parliamentary monarchy, with a Constitution since 1978 and democratic representative elections.
Franco was not a President of Spain, but a "Generalísimo" supreme military commander).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ADOLF HITLER

Chancellor of Germany

As German bombs fell on London and Nazi tanks rolled over US troops, Sosthenes Behn
president and founder of the US based ITT corporation, met with his German representative to
discuss improving German communication systems. ITT was designing and building Nazi phone and
radio systems as well as supplying crucial parts for German bombs. Our government knew all
about this, for under a presidential order, US companies were licensed to trade with the Nazis. The
choice of who would be licensed was odd, though. While the Secretary of State gave the Ford
Motor Company permission to make Nazi tanks, he simultaneously blocked aid to German-Jewish
refugees because the US wasn't supposed to be trading with the enemy. Other US companies
trading with the Third Reich were General Motors, DuPont, Standard Oil of New Jersey, Davis Oil
Co., and the Chase National Bank. President Roosevelt did not stop them, fearing a scandal might
lead to another stock market crash or lower US moral. Besides, the same companies that traded
with Hitler were supplying the US with its armaments, and some corporate leaders threatened to
withdraw their support if Roosevelt exposed them. Henry Ford was a good friend of Hitler's. His
book -- The International Jew -- had Inspired Hltler's Mein Kampf. The Fuhrer kept Ford's
picture in his office, and Ford was one of only four foreigners to receive Germany's highest civilian
award. As for Sosthenes Behn, at the end of the war, he received the highest civilian award for
service to his country -- the United States of America.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



HASSAN II

King of Morocco

Like his former ally, the Shah of Iran, King Hassan ll of Morocco spares himself no earthly delight.
He has seven principal palaces, keeps 260 horses in just one of his many stables, boards most of
his camels, ostriches, and zebras with his 945 head of cattle at his 1500 acre dairy farm, and he's
got a couple of harems. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Morocco is over 20%, and 95% of
the population lives in abject poverty, sheltering in makeshift huts in the country's increasingly
swollen cities. Citing dubious historical ties, in 1975, Hassan took his nation into a war in the
Western Sahara that is costing the country over $l million a day. Although the International Court of
Justice ruled that Morocco has no historical claims to the territory, the US continues to back
Hassan diplomatically and financially in his war to annex the area. The US also takes an active role
in stopping coup attempts against the King. According to one dissident, the CIA gave Hassan a
video tape that enabled him to catch the plotters in the act. The favor was returned when Hassan
visited Washington in 1982 -- he and President Reagan agreed that the US could use Morocco as
an emergency base for its planes. Although Hassan has been less repressive in recent years,
members of the opposition are still arrested and tortured. But as his people start to make
connections between the rising cost of living and the war in the Sahara, criticism grows, and even
the CIA has admitted that Hassan may not be able to keep the lid on dissent much longer.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




FERDINAND MARCOS

President of the Philippines

Ferdinand Marcos began his career with a bang. At age 21, convicted of gunning down Julio
Nalundasan, his father's victorious opponent in the Philippines first national elections, he went to
prison. He was later release by a Supreme Court Justice who, like Marcos and his father, was a
Nazi collaborator. Despite Marcos's record as murderer, fake WWll hero and Nazi agent, he was
elected Philippine President in 1965. Under Marcos, the Philippine national debt grew from $2
billion to $30 billion, but US corporations in the Philippines prospered, perhaps explaining why the
US didn't protest Marcos's imposition of martial law in 1972. The Marcoses enjoyed a luxurious
lifestyle, and they salted away billions of dollars in the course of their US-backed rule between
1965 and 1986.

The Carter Administration engineered an $88 million World Bank loan to Marcos, increased
military aid to him by 300%, and called him a "soft dictator". But a 1976 Amnesty International
report identified 88 government torturers, and stated that alleged subversives had their heads
slammed into walls, their genitals and pubic hair torched, and were beaten with clubs, fists, bottles,
and rifle butts. By 1977, the armed forces had quadrupled and over 60,000 Filipinos had been
arrested for political reasons. Yet, in 1981, Vice President George Bush praised Marcos for his
"adherence to democratic principals and to the democratic processes". Marcos was overthrown in
1986 by followers of Corazon Aquino, widow of an assassinated opposition leader.

Ferdinand and Imelda fled to Hawaii, only to be indicted in 1988 for fraud and tax evasion.
Marcos died in 1989. Imelda returned to the Philippines in 1991 and stood unsuccessfully in the
Presidential elections of 1992. In 1993 she was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment for criminal
graft and to other long sentences for corruption. She is still free while she appeals. She was elected
to Congress in May 1995. Meanwhile, in it attempts to recover the lost Marcos billions from Swiss
bank accounts and other shadier locations the Philippines Government has, after paying its US
lawyers, recovered the princely sum of $2,000.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



MAXIMILIANO HERNANDEZ MARTlNEZ

General of El Salvador

Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez seized power El Salvador in a 1931 coup. His philosophy with
regard to human rights was clear -- "It is a greater crime to kill an ant than a man," said the General.

Hernandez Martinez initiated an anti-communist purge in 1932 in El Salvador. Subsequent
massacres left 40,000 peasants dead and wiped out the country's Indian culture. An uprising, six
weeks later, organized by El Salvador's Communist Party founder, Farabundo Marti, failed, and
was followed by the crackdown on "communists". Roadways and drainage ditches were littered
with bodies. Hotels were raided, individuals with blond hair were dragged out and killed as
suspected Russians. Many were executed and then shoved into mass graves they had first been
forced to dig. U.S. warships were stationed off-shore, ready to send in Marines to aid the General
in case he ran into serious opposition. Hernandez Martinez was run out of the country in 1944, but
his memory was celebrated as recently as 1980, when the Maximiliano Hernandez Martinez
Brigade carried out a series of death-squad assassinations of prominent Salvadoran leftists.
Farabundo Marti, killed during the purge, has also left a legacy -- the rebels who fought the U.S.
backed government of El Salvador during the 1980s, call themselves the FMLN, the Farabundo
Marti Liberation Front.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



MOBUTU SESE SEKO

President of Zaire

When Zaire's first elected President, Patrice Lumumba, appeared to be getting too close to
socialism, US companies feared they might lose control of Zaire's precious cobalt, copper, and
diamonds. So the CIA stepped in, assassinated Lumumba, and replaced him with Mobutu Sese
Seko. Since 1965, Mobutu has been the US's main man in Central Africa. Mobutu has amassed an
estimated $5 billion personal fortune at his nation's expense. He is perhaps the only world leader
who could pay his national debt from his own bank account. In fact, there seems to be no division
between his pocket and the national treasury. In 1974, when the US sent $1.4 million to assist
troops fighting a civil war, Mobutu pocketed the entire sum. And no foreign company sets itself up
in Zaire without a tribute to Mobutu. Although Zaire has more resources than most other countries
in the region, it is the fifth poorest. Malnutrition takes the lives of one-third of Zaire's children, and
one child out of two dies before age five. But Mobutu has vowed to keep the world safe for
democracy and according to Amnesty International, in the name of anti-communism, he imprisons
and tortures, often without trial, anyone who threatens his power base. While some members of
Congress grumble about giving assistance to Mobutu, they continue to reward his work against
communism and his warm reception of American corporations.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL EFRAIN RIOS MONTT

President of Guatemala

"A Christian has to walk around with his Bible and his machine gun", said born-again General Efrain
Rios Montt, military ruler of Guatemala from March 1982 to August 1983. Rios Montt was one in
a long series of dictators who ran Guatemala after the Dulles brothers and United Fruit, backed by
the CIA, decided that democratically-elected President Jacobo Arbenz was too reform-minded.
And so, they overthrew the country's constitutional democracy in 1954. The succession of corrupt
military dictators ruled Guatemala for over 30 years, one anti-communist tyrant after another
receiving U.S. support, aid, and training. After the 1982 coup that brought Rios Montt to power,
the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala said "Guatemala has come out of the darkness and into the
light". President Reagan claimed Rios Montt was given "a bum rap" by human rights groups, and
that he was cleaning up problems inherited from his predecessor, General Romeo Lucas Garcia.
Ironically, Garcia had given $500,000 to Reagan's 1980 campaign, and his henchman, Mario
Sandoval Alarcon, the 'Godfather' of Central American death squads, was a guest at Reagan's first
inaugural celebration. Sandoval proudly calls his National Liberation Movement " the party of
organized violence". Montt simply moved Garcia's dirty war from urban centers to the countryside
where "the spirit of the lord" guided him against "communist subversives', mostly indigenous Indians.
As many as 10,000 Indians were killed and over 100,000 fled to Mexico as a result of Rios
Montt's "Christian" campaign.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL MANUEL NORIEGA

Chief of Defense Forces, Panama

The US command post for covert Latin American operations is located in the Canal Zone where a
series of figurehead presidents, some backed by General Manuel Noriega, had involved Panama in
US intelligence operations. General Noriega became commander-in-chief of the National Guard in
Panama in 1983, and for the next six years was more powerful than the President. He was the kind
of ruthless leader the US favored in the rest of Central America. Noriega first met with then CIA
Director George Bush in 1976, while Noriega was collecting $100 thousand a year as a CIA asset.
Their friendly relationship persisted even after Noriega's drug dealing was revealed by a 1975 DEA
investigation. During the Reagan era, Noriega collaborated with Oliver North on covert actions
against Nicaragua, training contras and providing a transshipment point for CIA supported
operations that flew weapons to the contras and cocaine into the US.

But he fell foul of the US when he failed to support their plan to invade Nicaragua -- they withdrew
aid and imposed sanctions. In 1987, a Miami grand jury indicted him for drug-trafficking, and the
CIA tried to destabilize his regime. Noriega warned Bush that he had information which could
change the course of the 1988 US elections and the CIA backed off. When Noriega annulled
Panama's 1989 elections, citing CIA interference, Bush renewed attempts to unseat his one-time
ally. Critics called Bush's failure to support an abortive 1989 coup "indecisive", but his response to
that criticism, the December 1989 invasion of Panama, led to world condemnation. Noriega
eventually surrendered to face US drug charges. The invasion of 26,000 American troops led to
over 4,000 Panamanian deaths and installed a regime with similar close links to drugs, plus a
willingness to alter Panama Canal treaties to serve US interests.

Noriega was taken prisoner and stood trial in Miami on charges of drug trafficking and was
sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment. He is still in a Florida jail contemplating the irony that he was
once also the protégé of the US Drug Enforcement Agency. Meanwhile the legal office of the
President the US installed in his place was discovered to have connections with 14 companies that
had laundered drug money.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



TURGUT OZAL

Prime Minister of Turkey

Turgut Ozal was elected prime minister of Turkey in 1983, after several years of harsh military rule.
But while free expression in Turkey has opened up somewhat in recent years, torture and long
prison terms for political opponents and government critics have remained a way of life. In 1988,
according to Amnesty International, "thousands of people were imprisoned for political
reasons...and the use of torture continued to be widespread and systematic". Turkey's torturers are
ruthless. Says one victim: " I loosened the blindfold and looked around. The scene was horrific.
People were piled up in the corridor waiting their turn to be tortured. Ten people were being led,
blindfolded and naked, up and down the corridor and were being beaten to force them to sing
reactionary marches. Others, incapable of standing, were tied to hot radiator pipes. A man was
forced to watch while his children were tortured." Regardless of the repression that a succession of
governments have subjected the country to, US-Turkish relations remain cordial. In the past, US
officials have even attributed the torture problem to "the violent nature of the Turkish people."
Retired Turkish General Turgut Sunalp explains it a different way. "There has been, still is, and will
be torture in Turkey because there is torture everywhere in the world," he said. But despite its
human rights abuses, Turkey can do no wrong in US eyes, for it is one of the CIA's key listening
posts on the Soviet border. Not surprisingly, in 1987, Turkey was the third largest recipient of U.S.
aid.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLEVI

Shah of Iran

1953 was a busy year for Allen Dulles. Even as he readied the CIA for a coup in Guatemala, his
agents were toppling the liberal left government of Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq and paving the way
for the Shah of Iran. With Dulles' encouragement, the Shah made the Iranian people an offer they
couldn't refuse -- join his party or go to jail. Thousands who refused to yield were imprisoned or
murdered. During regional elections in 1954, the Shah's agents raided a religious school and hurled
hundreds of students to their deaths from the roof. His regime received 100% of the vote that year,
in an election which registered more votes than there were voters.

The Shah's subsequent solidification of power led to an iron fisted rule enforced by fear and torture.
His secret police agency, SAVAK, was created in 1957 and managed by the CIA at all levels of
daily operation, including the choice and organization of personnel, selection and operation of
equipment, and the running of agents. SAVAK's torture methods included electric shock, whipping,
beating, inserting broken glass and pouring boiling water into the rectum, tying weights to the
testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails. Iran under the Shah became a devoted US ally and a
base for spy operations on the border of the Soviet Union. But eventually, the Shah was
overthrown in 1978 by an indigenous people's revolution that held sway until fundamentalist
religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Iran from exile and reasserted his power during the
1979 US hostage crisis.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS

Prlme Minister of Greece

When President Lyndon Johnson offered a solution to the Greek Ambassador for the dispute
between Greece and Turkey over Cyprus, the Ambassador protested, saying the solution was
unacceptable to the Greek parliament and constitution. Three years later, in 1967, a military coup
overthrew the freely elected government of Andreas Papandreou. The coup was headed by CIA
employee and ex-Nazi George Papadopoulolis. He had been on the CIA payroll for 15 years
when he came to power, and during WW ll he was a captain in the Nazi Security Battalions, whose
main purpose was to catch members of the Greek Resistance. Almost anyone who even said the
word "communist" was jailed. During Papadopoulos's first month in power, 8,000 so-called "leftist"
were imprisoned and tortured. Greece was expelled from the European Commission on Human
Rights, but continued to receive US aid. In return, Greece kept the world safe for democracy by
housing US military bases. Papadopoulos was ousted in 1973 after falling from grace with the inner
clique that helped him rule. When the entire government fell in 1974, he and his comrades were
tried for human rights abuses.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



PARK CHUNG HEE

President of South Korea

Free and open expression has not come easily to South Koreans. Beatings, torture, and execution
of the regimes' political opponents have been a way of life since the Korean War. The tenure of
former President Park Chung Hee, who came to power in a 1961 military coup, exemplifies the
kind of leader South Koreans have been forced to endure. Park's virulent anti-communism won
him U.S. support. The water torture, which leaves no physical marks on the victim, was a favored
technique of Park's security forces. Cold water was forced up the nostrils through a tube, while a
cloth was placed in the victim's mouth to prevent breathing. Many anti-communist interrogations
were run by the KCIA, a US creation modeled after the American CIA. One victim told Amnesty
International, " I was taken to KCIA headquarters, my hands tied together, and I was tied to a
chair. I was not allowed to have any sleep. At night, they would drag me to the basement where
they would beat me with a long, heavy stick, and jump on me. They were trying to make me
confess that I was a spy. Despite such brutal behavior, the US has maintained a first-rate strategic
relationship with South Korea, providing successive repressive regimes with extensive US aid. Park
Chung Hee was assassinated by the KCIA in 1979, but South Korea is still a nation troubled by
lack of human rights.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL AUGUSTO PINOCHET

President of Chile

Augusto Pinochet deposed democratically elected President Salvador Allende in 1973, and buried
Chile's 150 year old democracy. "Democracy is the breeding ground of communism", says
Pinochet. The bloody coup, in which Allende was assassinated, was carefully managed by the CIA
and ITT. Tens of thousands of Chileans have been tortured, killed, and exiled since then, according
to Amnesty International. A U.S. congressional delegation was told by inmates at San Miguel
Prison that they had been tortured by "the application of electric shock, simultaneous blows to the
ears, cigarette burns, and simulated executions by firing squads." Despite Chile's bad human rights
record, the U.S. government continued to support Pinochet with international loans. Even the
state-sponsored car-bomb assassination of Chile's former Ambassador to the U.S., Orlando
Letelier, did not convince the U.S. to break with Pinochet. In 1988 a plebiscite refused to extend
Pinochet's rule, so he altered the constitution to reduce the powers of the incoming elected
President, and left himself head of the armed forces. All the other South American dictators are
gone but Pinochet has found the perfect solution: Chile now has the squeaky-clean sheen of
democracy yet he still has his finger on the trigger.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



POL POT

Commander of the Khmer Rouge

The bombing of Cambodia by the US from 1969 to 1972, left 600,000 civilians dead, millions of
refugees, tens-of-thousands dying from disease and starvation, and the Cambodian economy and
culture in ruins. Cambodians blamed the US and the puppet regime of Lon Nol for the country's
destruction, and gradually sided with the guerrilla army of the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot, which
finally defeated Lon Nol, and took power in April, 1975. Once in power, Pol Pot emptied the
cities, forcing the people into the countryside. Virtually all educated people were killed and more
than 1.5 million people perished in this "holocaust". Only when the Khmer Rouge was ousted by
Vietnam in 1979, did the terror stop. Washington took steps to preserve the Khmer Rouge as a
counter force to the Vietnamese. International relief agencies were pressured by the US to provide
food and humanitarian assistance to the Khmer Rouge, which had fled to Thailand, and the US sent
military aid as well. In 1982, in an effort to isolate the Vietnamese, the US forced together the three
contending anti-Vietnamese groups, insisting that the Khmer Rouge be part of the negotiations.
Cambodia continues to suffer from the devastation produced by both the US bombing and the
Khmer Rouge atrocities. Pol Pot is considered to still be the power behind the Khmer Rouge,
which has a strong presence in Cambodia today, thanks to the US.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL SITIVENI RABUKA

Commander, Armed Forces of Fiji

On May, 1987, General Sitiveni Rabuka stormed the Fijian Parliament and arrested the newly
elected Prime Minister, Dr. Timoci Bavadra. Bavadra's fledgling Labor Party had just defeated
Fiji's pro-US puppet Prime Minister, Ratu Slr Kamese Mara, and although Bavadra's support for a
nuclear free South Pacific was welcomed by the regional populace, a nuclear free zone was be
unacceptable to the US. Thirty-two days after his electoral victory, Dr. Bavadra was overthrown
by the pro-nuclear General Rabuka, with the help of the US. Once in control, General Rabuka
quickly allied himself with some of the most brutal regimes in the world. "Military dictators seem to
like other military dictators", says deposed Fijian Prime Minister Bavadra. "It did not take long for
our illegal rulers to establish strong ties with Indonesia, Taiwan, and South Korea". Under General
Rabuka's US supported police state, Amnesty International has reported, for the first time in Fijian
history, cases of illegal detention and torture -- the beginning of the Latinization of the Pacific.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




ANTONIO DE OLIVEIRA SALAZAR

Prlme Minister of Portugal

Antonio de Oliveira Salazar worshipped Hitler and Mussolini, but after they lost, he joined the
Allies and became a card-carrying member of NATO. However, he always kept a piece of fascism
alive in Portugal. His secret police, the PIDE, were much like the Gastapo; concentration camps
were set up for "enemies of the state", news organizations were merely propaganda machines, and
all schools had their lesson plans carefully monitored by "Big Brother". Salazar also kept a little
piece of the Dark Ages alive in Western Europe. In 1970, 30% of the population was illiterate, and
the infant mortality rate was the second worst in Europe. The Portugese economy stagnated. Most
of the land was held by 5% of the population, the vast majority of Portuguese worked in
agriculture, and all union activities were forbidden. Portugal was the last stronghold of European
colonialism. Salazar refused to give up colonies in East Timor, Portuguese Guiana, Mozambique,
and Angola. He believed the "white man" must bring higher civilization to the " black man". The
U.S. openly backed Portugal's colonial claims, due to the strategic importance of military bases
such as the one in the Portugese Azores. Salazar died in 1968, after 40 years in power. His regime
fell in 1974, at which point Portugal left Angola, but the US continued to back South African efforts
there.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



HALIE SELASSIE

Emperor of Ethiopla

Emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people. In
1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed
beef to his Great Danes. Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as
a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other governors were
taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time.
But, under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the
annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in
Africa. Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any other African country and
Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the
province of Eritrea, the US sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our
support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a place for a
strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was
overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his
outraged troops.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



IAN SMITH

Prime Minister of Rhodesia

lan Smith promised the whites who elected him Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1982 that he would
keep Rhodesia white, at any cost. To stop the black guerrilla fighters trying to overthrow his
regime, Smith rationed food for Africans whom he believed were feeding the guerrillas. This cruel
measure only served to starve the already undernourished black population. Studies found that over
90% of Rhodesia's black children were malnourished and nutritional deficiencies were the major
cause of infant death. Smith rounded up blacks into concentration camps he called "protective"
villages. Believing that ignorant people were less likely to revolt, he cut funding for black education,
spending $5 on each black child compared to $80 on each white child. His all white Parliament
passed a law protecting officials who took actions for the suppression of "terrorism", enabling the
police and military to commit atrocities. An international trade boycott against Rhodesia arose, but
while the US publicly condemned the government, it continued to do business there. In 1971,
President Nixon lifted the chrome embargo against Rhodesia at a time when there was a surplus of
chrome in the US. Blacks were eventually given the right to vote for some officials, but the
opposition to Smith's government grew so strong that he was ultimately forced to give up some
power to blacks. In 1979, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a country primarily ruled by blacks.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ANASTASIO SOMOZA, SR. AND JR.

Presidents of Nicaragua

The Marines invaded Nicaragua in 1912, and stayed until 1933, fighting but never defeating the
revolutionary Augusto Sandino. They created the Nicaraguan National Guard and installed
Anastasio Somoza Garcia in power. Then Sandino, who had signed a truce and put down his arms,
was assassinated by Somoza. A general who led the Marines into Nicaragua, explained, " I was a
high class muscle-man for big business, for Wall Street and for the banks. In short, I was a
racketeer for capitalism. l helped purify Nicaragua for an International banking house." President
Franklin Roosevelt put it another way. "Somoza may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he's our
son-of-a-bitch." Corruption, torture, and wholesale murder of dissidents continued for 45 years
under two generations of Somozas, for after Somoza Garcia was gunned down in the streets in
1956, his son Anastasio Somoza Debayle took control. The Somozas plundered Nicaragua and
became millionaires. The younger Somoza, made $12 million a year buying the blood of his people
and selling it abroad at a 300% mark-up. In 1972 after an earthquake killed and wounded
hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans, Somoza had his National Guard seize $30 million in
international relief supplies and sold them to the highest bidder. Near the end of his reign, he aerially
bombed his own capital to stay in power, but he was overthrown in 1979 by a rebel group who
called themselves the Sandinistas, after the revolutionary hero his father had slain.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



ALFREDO STROESSNER

President of Paraguay

Alfredo Stroessner seized power in Paraguay in 1954. European correspondents who visited
Paraguay during his rule used the term the "poor man's Nazi regime" to describe the Paraguayan
government. Of German descent, Stroessner was a great admirer of Nazism, and this showed not
only in the refuge he offered to many Nazi war criminals, such as Joseph Mengele, but also in his
ruthless methods.

From the Nazis the Paraguayan military learned the art of genocide. The native Ache Indians were
in the way of progress, progress represented by American and European corporations who
planned to exploit the nation's forests, mines, and grazing lands. The Indians were hunted down,
parents killed, and children sold into slavery. Survivors were herded into reservations headed by
American fundamentalist missionaries, some of whom had participated in the hunts.

Between 1962 and 1975, Paraguay received $146 million in U.S. aid. Paraguayan officials
seemingly wanted more, however, for in 1971, high ranking members of the regime were implicated
in the Marseilles drug ring, with Paraguay their transfer point for shipments from France to the US.
In the 1980s, America finally condemned Paraguayan civil rights abuses and drug trafficking.
Stroessner still looked as if he'd be dictator for life, but in 1988 one of his closest generals, Andres
Rodriguez, a known drug dealer, took over after a coup. Rodriguez promised to restore
democracy, and President Bush called the 1989 elections a democratic opening, but opponents
declared them a massive fraud. Rodriguez's Colorado party won 74% of the vote. Stroessner took
refuge in Brasilia, Brazil. He still lives there, in comfort.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



GENERAL SUHARTO

President of Indonesia

Indonesia is a totalitarian state and its uncontested ruler for over 20 years, General Suharto, is one
of the most brutal dictators in history. After a CIA organized coup brought him to power in 1965,
Suharto, decided to purge every communist subversive from Indonesian soil. General Nasution, a
close associate of Suharto, called for the extermination of three million Indonesian communist party
members, and with the CIA supervised the murderous purge.

Paratroopers would arrive in a region with a list of "subversives" and provide it to local vigilante
groups. Using machetes and other crude weapons, the vigilantes would hack the alleged
subversives to death. Entire populations of towns and villages were herded to central locations and
massacred. Children would be asked to identify communists who would then be executed on the
spot. In addition to the half million people who were killed outright after the coup, another 750,000
were arrested and tortured. Ultimately, one million people died in one of the most savage mass
slaughters of modern political history. The US continues to this day to train and arm the Indonesian
military with the latest high-tech equipment. (Suharto resigned in 1999 after mass public protest)



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




RAFAEL LEONIDAS TRUJILLO

President of the Dominican Republic

The US occupied the Dominican Republic in 1916 and created the National Guard to put Rafael
Leonidas Trujillo into power. The fact that Trujillo was court-martialed for kidnapping and rape in
1920 did not impede his rise to power or taint his relationship with the US. As dictator of the
Dominican Republic for 30 years, Trujillo had a penchant for self-adulation, and put his personal
stamp on everything, including the capital, village water pumps, and homes for the aged. Trujillo
won the 1930 presidential election with more votes than there were registered voters, but because
he was anti-communist, Washington was happy. He invoked anti-communism to justify mass
deportations, torture and summary executions. Workers who asked for wage increases were
labeled communists, and shot on the spot, as were farmers who tried to stop Trujillo from
confiscating their land. He eventually controlled over 80% of the country's sugar plantations, using
slave labor provided by neighboring Haiti to keep profits high. In 1937, he decided to blame
depressed sugar prices on the Haitian workers, and massacred 20,000 them. Trujillo was finally
assassinated by the CIA in 1961 after he attempted to have President Romulo Betancourt of
Venezuela murdered because of his criticism of Trujillo's brutal regime. It was only then that the
Marine Corps made public the fact that our ally Trujillo was a convicted rapist.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




GENERAL JORGE RAFAEL VIDELA

President of Argentina

Soon after the coup that brought him to power in 1976 General Jorge Rafael Videla began
Arg

[7even]

One hand washes the other. Human rights? Heck no. $.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

Let's not forget that the U.S. is the only country to drop a nuclear weapon. Just remember that when they talk about ridding "evil" country's of nuclear weapons.

A little of topic I know...

[K A I N]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HALIE SELASSIE

Emperor of Ethiopla

Emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people. In
1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed
beef to his Great Danes. Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as
a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other governors were
taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time.
But, under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the
annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in
Africa. Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any other African country and
Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the
province of Eritrea, the US sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our
support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a place for a
strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was
overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his
outraged troops.

We were never a province but anyways we smashed American and Russian support.

Dipset Bitch we got the Red Sea now.

[Teddy Roosevelt]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HALIE SELASSIE

Emperor of Ethiopla

Emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people. In
1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed
beef to his Great Danes. Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as
a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other governors were
taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time.
But, under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the
annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in
Africa. Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any other African country and
Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the
province of Eritrea, the US sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our
support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a place for a
strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was
overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his
outraged troops.

We were never a province but anyways we smashed American and Russian support.

Dipset Bitch we got the Red Sea now.

Why do you mention Dipset in the same sentence that you refer to Eritrea? Disgraceful in my opinion. (to Eritrea, that is)

[Eihtball]

Well, never say that "freedom" and "democracy" are the United States' real aims.  Since the Cold War, this country's foreign policy has been determined largely by neo-realist notions of "allies" and "enemies" - they are chosen largely on the basis of whether or not they can help us gain a foothold in a certain region.  How their governments have acted towards their own people is all but irrelevent.  The fact that we supported the Khmer Rogue (a violent, hard-line Communist regime) simply because they were the enemy of our former enemy (Vietnam, also Communist) goes to show you just how serious we were about figthing against "communism" all along during the Vietnam War.

[K A I N]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HALIE SELASSIE

Emperor of Ethiopla

Emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people. In
1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed
beef to his Great Danes. Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as
a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other governors were
taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time.
But, under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the
annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in
Africa. Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any other African country and
Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the
province of Eritrea, the US sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our
support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a place for a
strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was
overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his
outraged troops.

We were never a province but anyways we smashed American and Russian support.

Dipset Bitch we got the Red Sea now.

Why do you mention Dipset in the same sentence that you refer to Eritrea? Disgraceful in my opinion. (to Eritrea, that is)

You didn't even mention Eritrea until I did 

Anyways I was refering to the countries I typed in above 

[Teddy Roosevelt]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HALIE SELASSIE

Emperor of Ethiopla

Emperor Halie Selassie may have been a better king to the animals of Ethiopia than to its people. In
1973, during the height of a drought in which 200,000 Ethiopians died of starvation, Salassie fed
beef to his Great Danes. Selassie was a fairer ruler than many of those around him. For example, as
a young provincial governor, he only took 50% of his peasants crops while other governors were
taking 90%, and in the 1950s as few as 100 political prisoners were tortured in his jails at one time.
But, under his long rule, Ethiopia remained in the dark ages. Just after his overthrow in 1974, the
annual per capita income was $90, the literacy rate was 7% and Ethiopia was the poorest nation in
Africa. Under Selassie, Ethiopia received more US aid than any other African country and
Washington purchased a $2 million yacht for the Emperor. When Selassie faced an uprising in the
province of Eritrea, the US sent advisors and arms to help him smash the revolt. In return for our
support, Selassie provided the United States with a naval oasis in the Red Sea and a place for a
strategic communications station. Selassie's kindness to his animals was his downfall; he was
overthrown when photos of him feeding his dogs during the 1973 famine were circulated among his
outraged troops.

We were never a province but anyways we smashed American and Russian support.

Dipset Bitch we got the Red Sea now.

Why do you mention Dipset in the same sentence that you refer to Eritrea? Disgraceful in my opinion. (to Eritrea, that is)

You didn't even mention Eritrea until I did 

Anyways I was refering to the countries I typed in above 

I see.
Well I didn't read all (*counting*) err... 38 of them. So I didn't see Eritrea. I read like the first 10 then said "fuck it."

[Kal EL]

Well, never say that "freedom" and "democracy" are the United States' real aims.  Since the Cold War, this country's foreign policy has been determined largely by neo-realist notions of "allies" and "enemies" - they are chosen largely on the basis of whether or not they can help us gain a foothold in a certain region.  How their governments have acted towards their own people is all but irrelevent.  The fact that we supported the Khmer Rogue (a violent, hard-line Communist regime) simply because they were the enemy of our former enemy (Vietnam, also Communist) goes to show you just how serious we were about figthing against "communism" all along during the Vietnam War.

vietnam eventually went to the commies. i posted this to show in FACT what exactly American foreign policy really is. many americans don't have a clue what their gov't is really about when dealing with other countries. Case in point...Iran Contra. protecting the trafficing drugs in urban communites to pay for a covert war. Read Dark Alliance for more details. the paradigmns of blue and red are just an illusion both parties have the same aim. globalism is real and whether one chooses to believe it or not alot of these messes are ochestrated.

coincidence is not a "kosher" word. many of these monsters are created; i.e. funded, supported and trained. then later when the time is right many of them are slain or put down.

[Don Rizzle]

IAN SMITH

Prime Minister of Rhodesia

lan Smith promised the whites who elected him Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1982 that he would
keep Rhodesia white, at any cost. To stop the black guerrilla fighters trying to overthrow his
regime, Smith rationed food for Africans whom he believed were feeding the guerrillas. This cruel
measure only served to starve the already undernourished black population. Studies found that over
90% of Rhodesia's black children were malnourished and nutritional deficiencies were the major
cause of infant death. Smith rounded up blacks into concentration camps he called "protective"
villages. Believing that ignorant people were less likely to revolt, he cut funding for black education,
spending $5 on each black child compared to $80 on each white child. His all white Parliament
passed a law protecting officials who took actions for the suppression of "terrorism", enabling the
police and military to commit atrocities. An international trade boycott against Rhodesia arose, but
while the US publicly condemned the government, it continued to do business there. In 1971,
President Nixon lifted the chrome embargo against Rhodesia at a time when there was a surplus of
chrome in the US. Blacks were eventually given the right to vote for some officials, but the
opposition to Smith's government grew so strong that he was ultimately forced to give up some
power to blacks. In 1979, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a country primarily ruled by blacks.

this doesn't make any sense Ian Smith became the premier of southern rhodesia in 1962 which was renamed rhodesia in 1964, he remained in power until 1979 when Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the prime minister of the again renamed zimbabwe rhodesia (the rhodesia part was dropped shortly afterwards), in 1980 new elections were held with previously banned communist backed ZANU and ZAPU groups participating which lead to mugabe coming into power and ian smith became the leader of the opposition but reitired after mugabe abolished the white seats in 1987.

[Kal EL]

IAN SMITH

Prime Minister of Rhodesia

lan Smith promised the whites who elected him Prime Minister of Rhodesia in 1982 that he would
keep Rhodesia white, at any cost. To stop the black guerrilla fighters trying to overthrow his
regime, Smith rationed food for Africans whom he believed were feeding the guerrillas. This cruel
measure only served to starve the already undernourished black population. Studies found that over
90% of Rhodesia's black children were malnourished and nutritional deficiencies were the major
cause of infant death. Smith rounded up blacks into concentration camps he called "protective"
villages. Believing that ignorant people were less likely to revolt, he cut funding for black education,
spending $5 on each black child compared to $80 on each white child. His all white Parliament
passed a law protecting officials who took actions for the suppression of "terrorism", enabling the
police and military to commit atrocities. An international trade boycott against Rhodesia arose, but
while the US publicly condemned the government, it continued to do business there. In 1971,
President Nixon lifted the chrome embargo against Rhodesia at a time when there was a surplus of
chrome in the US. Blacks were eventually given the right to vote for some officials, but the
opposition to Smith's government grew so strong that he was ultimately forced to give up some
power to blacks. In 1979, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe, a country primarily ruled by blacks.

this doesn't make any sense Ian Smith became the premier of southern rhodesia in 1962 which was renamed rhodesia in 1964, he remained in power until 1979 when Bishop Abel Muzorewa became the prime minister of the again renamed zimbabwe rhodesia (the rhodesia part was dropped shortly afterwards), in 1980 new elections were held with previously banned communist backed ZANU and ZAPU groups participating which lead to mugabe coming into power and ian smith became the leader of the opposition but reitired after mugabe abolished the white seats in 1987.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
his dates are skewed.

[Don Rizzle]

which ones?

[Kal EL]

his dates on Ian Smith being elected.

[big mat]

usa are now a decading empire, just like rome, they're starting to fell off, in 20 years china will be the #1 country and usa will be a mess like in those apocalyptic movies, it will be chaos and gangs will fight everywhere to get whatever they can and maybe robots will be send by china to kill people and shit. if not, my scenario would make a great movie

[J @ M @ L]

usa are now a decading empire, just like rome, they're starting to fell off, in 20 years china will be the #1 country and usa will be a mess like in those apocalyptic movies, it will be chaos and gangs will fight everywhere to get whatever they can and maybe robots will be send by china to kill people and shit. if not, my scenario would make a great movie

u clown