Eleven tribal women allege gang-rape

VISAKHAPATNAM: Eleven Girijan women of Vakapalli under Nurmati panchayat in G. Madugula mandal in the Visakha agency area alleged that they had been gang-raped by Greyhound policemen in their village on Monday morning.

The women were brought to Paderu by local MLA Lake Raja Rao where they lodged a complaint with Sub-Collector D. S. Lokesh Kumar in the evening.

The 11 women were sent to the King George Hospital here for medical examination.

The alleged gang-rape took place in the background of the police intensively searching for the accused in the ZPP Vice-Chairman S. Ravishankar’s murder case.

Meanwhile, Superintendent of Police Akun Sabharwal denied the gang-rape incident.

“No complaint was lodged with the police anywhere in the district. But I have asked Additional SP B. Ananda Rao to probe the matter. A case was also registered against the Greyhound policemen under the SC, ST Atrocities (Prevention) Act. Action would be taken depending on the result of the inquiry”.

In fact, the police party had been withdrawn from the village on Monday night, Dr. Sabharwal said.

According to the victims, the 21 Greyhound policemen entered the village around 6 a.m. along with two youth of the village — Pangi Prakash and Pangi Suryam — who were found missing since August 14.

The police raided their houses and destroyed household articles.

The women said they were raped in their homes or in the fields or near a stream to where they had gone to fetch water.

Soon after the incident, all the villagers moved to Nurmati. Some reporters met the victims at Nurmati.

The women said the police who denied earlier that they had picked up Prakash and Suryam, brought them to Vakapalli on Monday.

Report demanded

 

Meanwhile the State Human Rights Commission directed the SP to submit a report on the incident by 10.30 a .m. on Tuesday, its Chairman Justice B. Subhashan Reddy told The Hindu from Hyderabad.

The Hindu

In The Line of Fire – State launches witch hunt against Human Rights Activists

Human rights activists fear a witch-hunt as Karnataka Police lists them as Naxal sympathisers. M. Radhika reports

Rights activists in Karnataka have a new reason to be wary of the state police after the police put out a list of Naxal sympathisers that included organisations working for communal harmony, human rights, for farmers’ welfare and even academicians.

The activists allege the police is on a witch-hunt in the garb of controlling Naxalism. In June, the Karnataka Police released a list (originally meant for intelligence agencies) of 19 suspected Naxals, nine organisations and 33 suspected Naxal supporters. The activists were particularly alarmed with the listing of Kadidal Shamanna, a farmers’ leader from the Malnad region, Rajendra Chenni, a lecturer from Kuvempu University, KL Ashok, secretary of Komu Souharda Vedike (a forum for communal harmony) and Kalkuli Vittal Hegde who leads the agitation against the creation of the Kudremukh National Park that will displace of thousands of tribals.

Shamanna found place in the list for a speech he made against the government at a farmers’ rally. Unwilling to accept the government’s decision to drop his name from the list later, he filed a case along with two others named in the list.

It turns out that the list had been compiled in 2003 but was released now. Widespread protests forced the ruling JD (S)-BJP government to withdraw the list on July 2. But rights activists in the Malnad region and elsewhere still live in fear of being branded Naxals. Their fears have gained strength after a staged encounter at Wadeyarahalli in Chikmagalur where five “Naxalites” were killed. These hamlets are very close to Sringeri, home to Bharati Theertha, the Sringeri Sankaracharya.

Contrary to police claims, only one of the five — Gautham — was a Naxalite, say activists. Another casualty, Paramesh, was the secretary of the Kudremukh Rashtriya Udhyana Virodhi Okkuta (KRUVO). For the last 10 years, kruvo has been fighting for the rights of tribals in the Kudremukh region, who will be evicted if the national park comes into existence.

Reacting to this, Additional DGP Shankar Bidari says, “I do not know about that (of Paramesh not being a Naxal). An encounter has happened, and that is how he was killed.” But the rights activists counter: why did the police not arrest Paramesh when he led a protest ten days before the encounter?

They say Paramesh, Rame Gowda, a tribal, his wife Kaveri and Sunderesh, who had visited the village to spray pesticides on his crop, were also killed in the July 10 encounter. Gautham’s body was found at Gowda’s house, but activists allege his body was dragged there.

An independent fact-finding team visited the spot and found holes in the police story. Even media reports took note of the fact that the victims were shot at close range. Meanwhile, the tribals continue to live in fear of both the police and the Naxals.

“The police are filing false cases to harass us. They filed a case against me stating I should not talk in public,” says Vittal Hegde, who has led kruvo for the last 12 years. While Hegde agreed that some people from kruvo joined the Naxals later, he says the government has been using the “Naxal” label to suppress the tribal agitation. “They find it convenient to brand us Naxals. And they’re doing it even as we have declaring that we have nothing to do with them. The police make survival difficult for all of us,” says Hegde.

He says the tribals have been warned not to venture out of their homes after 6 pm, not to wear plastic sheets over their heads as “only Naxals wear them”, and not to entertain Naxals.

Kannada tabloid Lankesh editor Gauri Lankesh, who is also part of the Komu Souharda Vedike, says, “There is an effort to suppress people’s voice and anti-communal activists by branding them Naxals. An effort is also being made to club human rights activists with Islamic fundamentalists.” She says the Vedike has been targeted because it was involved with the Bababudangiri shrine controversy that was used by the bjp to further its communal agenda. Another Vedike member, Shivasunder, says the list was a clear message to intellectuals while the encounter was to instill fear among the tribals against supporting the Naxals.

Activists say that though the government withdrew the June list, it is preparing another list that will not be published. Replying to allegations, Addl dgp Bidari dismisses the whole controversy. “It’s all over. We have removed their labels. No one has been evicted from the park area and no one will be either,” says Bidari.

Tehelka

Fake Independence and the Mercurial Stance of Undivided Communist Party: CPM’s Hotchpotch View on Semi Colony and Neo colony

Via maoistresistance

We repost an article published by CPI (Maoist) on the occasion of the so called Independence day.

It is not the CPI(Maoist) to declare such a bitter truth for the first time in India. The editorial in the People’s Age (the CPI mouthpiece) of 21^st January 1948 said that it is “a blasphemous lie to assert that freedom has been achieved…. our national leadership has accepted sham freedom.” The Second Congress of the CPI under Ranadive leadership had taken many adventurist policies but rightly called the power-transfer of August 1947 as sham independence. So also the editorial of the Lasting Peace of 27 January, 1948 assertively stated, “a sham independence (was) bestowed on India” [Cited in M.B.Rao(ed). Documents of the Communist Party of India , vol. VII, 1948-50, PPH, New Delhi, 1976, p.viii] It is well known to the serious readers of the Marxist movement in India that after the extremely rightist policy of the CPI under P.C.Joshi he was ousted from the post of General Secretary and B.T.Ranadive assumed the highest post and pursued a ‘left’ adventurist policy conforming to the line of Tito.

Ranadive had to go and by this time the Telangana Uprising kindled the fire of revolution on the Maoist lines. The Telangana struggle put the CPI leadership under strong pressure to accept some of the formulations of the Andhra CPI unit. The C.C. members from Andhra submitted their critique of the CPI PB’s vacillating position and the failure to ‘learn from the Chinese experience’. In their critique, popularly known as the Andhra Thesis and accepted by the Polit buro of the CPI for the time being, they made serious criticisms of the Polit buro’s ‘Tactical Line‘. They clearly charged the PB with reviving the position on the Mount Batten Award, mistaking the “distinction between the colonial and semi-colonial countries on the one hand and the independent, capitalist, imperialist countries on the other”. ['Report on Left Deviation Inside the CPI' (Draft Critique submitted by the member of the CC in its May-June 1950 meeting, In M.B.Rao (ed) Documents…Ibid. p.786 ]

Like the CPI(Maoist) the Andhra C.C. members also then quoted from comrade Lenin’s “preliminary Draft Theses on the National and Colonial Questions” for the second congress of the Communist International. We quote what they quoted from Lenin. It runs

“Sixth, that it is necessary constantly to explain and expose among the broadest masses of the toilers of all countries, and particularly of the backward countries, the deception systematically practiced by the imperialist powers in creating under the guise of politically independent states, states which are wholly dependent upon them economically, financially and militarily…” [Ibid. p.790]. The Andhra C.C leaders also justly criticized the tactical line of the P.B. for “starting with relegating the aspect of imperialist oppression and enslavement into the background, ended with clean bypassing the national-liberationist aspect of our struggle and nullifying the distinction between the revolution in independent imperialist countries and revolution in colonial and dependent countries…”[Ibid p.795]

The CPI(Maoist) is fully at one with such a view and is devoted to rekindling the fire of Telangana . Mention should be made here that the revisionist CPI leadership within years backtracked and from 1955 officially declared that what it called fake independence before was actually real independence. Thus the view on semi-colonial India was dismissed and the CPI and then the CPI(M) have faithfully following that revised position to dive into the path of parliamentarism.

Anil Biswas is saying nothing new when he dismisses very easily and perfunctorily the crucial fact of ‘Transfer of power‘ on 15^th August 1947, reducing the colonial status of India to a semi-colonial one. It is known to many veterans of the communist movement that even the CPI in 1947-51 period officially rubbished Indian independence as sham. The 1951 CPI Programme also identified India as semi-colonial and semi-feudal. The leader of the British Communist Party [CPGB] and great theoretician influencing the CPI leaders in the 1940s and 50s Rajni Palm Dutt held the view in 1947-48 period that the so-called independence was merely a “a change from the direct rule of imperialism to its indirect rule”. (India Today, Editions of 1947 and 1948).

When the CPI had preferred plunging into the rosy path of parliamentary politics, even shelving the 1951 programme, it re-discovered and re-identified the ‘independent progress of India‘ under Nehru. Khruschev’s betrayal provided a handle to the majority of the CPI leaders and the theory of ‘peaceful transition to socialism’ possibility of ‘ fundamental social change‘ in a number of ‘capitalist and former colonial countries’ by “winning a stable parliamentary majority backed by mass revolutionary movement” of the working people, etc. were easily courted by them. [Quoted in the Report of CPSU, In The Fourth Congress Documents, In Mohit Sen (ed.), Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India, Vol. III (1951-56), Peoples' Publishing House, New Delhi, 1977 p. 295].

The Palghat Congress of the CPI in 1953-54 had already started singing pro-Nehru song in its way to strengthen ‘freedom’ and acclaimed the “significant” role played by the Indian government “In a number of important international issues”. [Political Resolution of the Communist Party of India, Adopted by the Third Party Congress, Madhurai, 27^th December 1953 to 4^th January 1954, In Ibid. p.295]. The Tebhaga struggle had already ended and the revisionist CPI leadership withdrew the Great Telangana Armed Uprising. And by then the path of electoral politics accepting Indian “democratic system” made the CPI abandon the past official announcement on the fake independence embodied in the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system. It is worth remembering that even the Second Party Congress of the CPI raised such calls like “complete severance from the British empire and full and real independence”, “self-determination of nationalities including the right to secession”, etc. [Political Thesis adopted at the Second Party Congress of the CPI, In M.B.Rao(ed), Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India, Vol. III, 1948-50, PPH, 1976, pp. 85-87]

The ideology of reformism demanded of the CPI to abandon openly the earlier view-points on the Transfer of Power by consent in 1947. Already the extended plenum of the C.C. of the CPI held in 1952-53 went into raptures to declare that in the 1952 elections “The entire party went into election campaign immediately after the all-India party conference held in October 1951″. This plenum also had shown signs of sympathy for the colossal burdens on all classes ” including industrialists and merchants and other class of common people.” [The Extended Plenum of the Central Committee held in Calcutta from 30^th December 1952 to 10^th January 1953, PPH, New Delhi, 1977, pp. 199, 201]

This journey in the path of parliamentarism with the bizarre policy of equal love for Nehru, industrialists along with the common people, abandoning the fundamentals of revolutionary Marxism, led the CPI to declare the independent status of India suppressing the surrenderist policy of the government and the comprador big bourgeoisie to imperialist interests. Notable is that with Khruschev’s new line and the CPI’s topsy-turvy the CPGB theoretician Rajni Palme Dutta too uncermoniously turned a somersault by rejecting his earlier view on the fake independence of India in 1947 and joined the chorus of revisionism to declare India as an independent, bourgeois state and that the independence was “a landmark of world history“. [Rajni Palme Dutt, India Today, Preface, Manisha Granthalaya, 1970]

Anil Biswas in his writing preferred rambling to prove the independent – not comprador character – by any means but ended up in proving the CPI(M) theorization inherently contradictory as well as bankrupt. However, except parroting the Dange view on the so-called national bourgeoisie Biswas and his party have nothing to write new. What is lacking in his so-called critique of Maoists is virtual silence on the part under the sub-heading “….the country is not semi-colonial”. Perhaps Biswas felt tired of proving by any means the independent, freedom loving character of the Indian big bourgeoisie and so averted further delving into the question of refuting the Maoist theorization of semi-colonial India. Although Anil’s and the CPI(M)’s hotch-potch theory on the independent capitalist development by virtue of the supposed positive role of the big capitalists like the Tatas, Birlas, etc. and the implied view on ‘independence of India’ convinced Anil Biswas that the less is said on the latter, the better to avoid showing off big holes in the whole theorization.

Let us deal with the Maoist position on semi-colony with our acceptance of Comrade Lenin’s brilliant pronouncements. While dealing with the transitional forms of state dependence in the stage of imperialism based on finance capital Lenin clearly stated: “Since we are speaking of colonial policy in the epoch of capitalist imperialism, it must be observed that finance capital and its foreign policy, which is the struggle of the great powers for the economic and political division of the world, give rise to a number of transitional forms of state dependence. Not only are the two main groups of countries, those owning colonies, and the colonies themselves, but also the diverse forms of dependent countries which, politically, are formally independent, but in fact, are enmeshed in the net of financial and diplomatic dependence, typical of this epoch. We have already referred to one form of dependence — the semi-colony.” [Lenin, 'Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism', Collected Works, XXII, Moscow, 1974, p.263, stress in Lenin's].

Anil Biswas smacks of his and his party’s bankrupt position. While weaving a web of fantastic theorization on the independent character of the Indian and other third world big bourgeoisie in the present period he takes recourse to idealist fallacy without any foundation in Marxism-Leninism. Rejecting the above formulation of comrade Lenin this revisionist coward writes, “It has been the main and general tendency of the owners of capital the world over to try to cooperate with the international finance capital and to be its partner. Indian big bourgeoisie has taken recourse to such cooperation standing own their on strong basis. It is not business of the comprador bourgeoisie. The flow of international finance has surely influenced the Indian big bourgeoisie with regard to their economic decision and role. While keeping intact their own capital, they are used to taking necessary decision to increase profit. Besides that, from the position of their own strength with the help of foreign investment they are entering new field. If ‘dependence’, ‘co-operation’, ‘relation’ express the compradorial character, then we have to say the capitalists of the whole of the third world are compradors. To tell the truth, then the bourgeoisie of many European countries are to be called comprador bourgeoisie for their keeping close relations with and partial dependence on imperialist capital….”[p.19]

We learn many an anti-Leninist sweeping decision from the above and all are premised on the stock-in-trade preconceived view that the India is independent and her big bourgeoisie have grown enough strength to dictate their own terms while dealing with the tycoons of the industrial west. First, Anil Biswas rejects the ‘diverse forms of dependent countries’ in the stage of imperialism based on finance capital. Based on such assumption, Anil Biswas and the CPI(M) are driven to the conclusion that despite influence of the ‘international finance’ the supposed ‘free’ country’s bourgeoisie do have independent role regarding profit making for “keeping their capital intact”. The novelty of Anil’s brilliance leads him to offer the second gem. He then sets up an enemy (here it is none but the Maoists) to drum into his/her ears that ‘dependence’, ‘cooperation’ and ‘relation’ do not mean loss of independence as occurs in case of compradors. Here also Anil Biswas slips into another contradiction.

The tenor of his entire write-up is a deliberate and conscious effort at holding a brief for the Indian bourgeoisie’s independent and freedom-loving powerful character. Here Anil has added ‘dependence’ to co-operation’ and ‘relation’ of the Indian big bourgeoisie vis a vis the international finance capital. What a pathetic condition of the CPI(M)’s supremo in West Bengal! We are forced to believe that the entire tie-up in different names between the small partners and their big tycoons is as innocuous and pure as ‘co-operation’ and ‘relation’! And as the state of India being led by this class of big bourgeoisie – so the CPI(M) Programme says – the inflow of capital through the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, MNCs, etc. is pure and simple ‘cooperation’, ‘relation’, etc. This is the pet argument of all the successive governments at the Centre and of the current CPI(M) led government that in such deals no strings are attached.

Anil Biswas himself pats on his own back by such silly comments considering it that his frivolous way of presentation shall let down the Maoists and assure the captains of foreign capital an unrestrained flow of capital to India, West Bengal in particular. With such pronouncements Anil Biswas actually wants to arrogate to himself the role of a Khruschevite “Lenin” by dismissing comrade Lenin’s farsighted view on a number of ‘transitional forms of state dependence’, ‘diverse forms of semi-colony’. With such use of words like ‘cooperation’, ‘relation’ Anil conceals the fact that they are possible only in conditions of equality and mutual understanding, but never in conditions of monumental dimension of giant powers poised for domination and exploitation of the people and resources of the countries with whose big bourgeoisie (obviously weak and tied to the former in numerous ways) they lend, yet the sophisticated foolish Anil Biswas problematises his and his party’s scheme by including ‘dependence’ – as if this were a mere word, not a concept. The anachronism becomes glaring. To belittle comrade Lenin’s view on dependence under the cloak of “formally independent” but actually semi-colony, Anil Biswas shrewdly pushes the Khruschevite thesis of independence of India under the leadership of the big bourgeoisie.

So for Anil Biswas and his party ‘dependence’ on imperialist capital is “cooperation”, “relation” and such sugar-coated pills with which that social-fascist organisation, the CPI(M) and its leadership has been justifying globalization, FDIs, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and such imperialist finance capital to smoothly make inroads into India, West Bengal imparticular. There always exists multi-dimensional loot and the great drain of resources, natural and man-made. We may recall the brilliant exposure of so-called selfless imperialist ‘aid’ by Teresa Hayter in Aid as Imperialism that created a lot of flutter in the 70s. Hayter writes, “It may help to crate and sustain within third world countries, a class which is dependent on the continued existence of aid and foreign private investment and which therefore becomes an ally of imperialism.” [p.9] This ‘dependence’ in the cloak of ‘co-operation’, ‘relation, etc. not only limited to comprador bourgeoisie, this ‘dependence’ also breeds a servile class of elite and politicians as well as political parties like the Congress, CPI(M), etc. Those spineless forces are danger to the Indian people and society.

Anil Biswas then sucks up the big bourgeoisie of the Third world by superciliously trampling underfoot Lenin’s and Mao’s lessons on the so-called signboard of freedom of the backward third world countries at one stroke. Armed with the CPI(M)’s revisionist thesis (the revised official view based on the topsy turvy of the CPI on the supposed genuine independence attained on 15^th August 1947 under the leadership of the big bourgeoisie) on free India from the clutches of imperialism Anil Biswas generalizes it with the power transfers in countries of the 3^rd world as symbols of genuine independence and the big bourgeoisie of those countries are genuinely national having revolutionary role in those countries, they are not compradors. This formulation of bankruptcy is placed in a round about way when Anil Biswas scrambles to prove the CPI(M)’s fallacious view by way of a vainglorious attempt, weak at its very core, interrogating the Maoists: “If ‘dependence’, ‘cooperation’, ‘relation’ express the compradorial character, then we have to say the capitalists of the whole of the third world are compradors.” Who cares to listen to Anil’s and his party’s sermon concealing neo-colonial exploitation and playing second fiddle to imperialist capital’s owners and ambassadors? Instead of citing numberless deals and cases of plunder, we only help Anil Biswas and his social-fascist party to fortify their position further with a cue from what the U.S. ambassador in India Mr. Mulford really said in a speech on 1^st September, 2005 at a meeting of the C.I.I. in Chennai: “American capital does not want to come to rule India. The aim behind this coming is solely for fulfilling the dream of India’s development” (sic.) [Source: Kalantar, 7^th September, 2005]. Does not Mr. Anil speak his Master’s Voice?

Anil, in his flight to the world of absurdity, thinks that Maoist formulation of semi-colonial and comprador character of the Indian big bourgeoisie has been demolished with the above generalization. Actually he befools himself and his party’s followers. In his over-statement through the generalization of the non-comprador character of the third world’s big bourgeoisie and their ‘genuine independence’ he foolishly challenges the Maoists: “To tell the truth, then the bourgeoisie of many European countries are to be called comprador bourgeoisie for their keeping close relation with and partial dependence on imperialist capital”. Here also the premise of the argument is to put on the same footing the big bourgeoisie of many European countries and the Indian or other third world’s big bourgeoisie. However, the clever Anil Biswas has added phrases like ‘keeping close relation’, ‘partial dependence’ etc. to avoid bitter controversy but with such phrases Anil Biswas has actually compounded his and his party’s problem further. We can also echo in Anil’s voice that the English capital has close relations with the U.S. finance capital, and it is ‘partially dependent’ on the latter on certain cases, so also is the case of Italy, Canada, France, East-European countries, etc. But what does it suggest? Does it suggest that the growth, development and flourishing of the big bourgeoisie in those European countries particularly with the U.S. hegemony of the current stage reduce them to a mere subservient and completely dependent role tied-up to the U.S. capital without any freedom like the Indian big comprador bourgeoisie? Do their relations, etc. (among the European continental countries) are comparable to India’s, or for that matter third world’s big bourgeoisie’s perpetually dependent role in multifarious ways except the possibility of courting the capital from the U.S. or any other capitalist country? Anil Biswas had better brush up his knowledge bank despite his behind the scene engagement in state administrative duties by taking a look at classics by Marx, Lenin, et al. However, it is our opinion that people like Anil Biswas can not do the basic homework as is evident in their production of page after page of shallow writings.

Anil, representing the CPI(M), is dangerously oblivious to the fact that in the capitalist countries in Europe the growth and development was not dependent on the imperialist masters as in India. The Tatas’, the Birlas’, the Goenkas’ infamous birth lay in the cradles of British colonialists. How come then Anil Biswas crows about the supposedly same status of the big bourgeoisie of the capitalist west confusing them with that of the third world, especially India’s big bourgeoisie? The Maoists are not fools like the ideologues of the CPI(M) to characterize the former as compradors.

Let us shed some light from the pages of history. Some comrades in the Soviet Union cried that after the World War II “the USA has brought the other capitalist countries sufficiently under its sway to be able to prevent them going to war among themselves and weakening one another; that the foremost capitalist minds have been sufficiently taught by the two world wars and the severe damage they caused to the world capitalist world not to venture to involve the capitalist countries in war with one another again….” [ J.V.Stalin, Economic Problems of Socialism In The U.S.S.R, Foreign Language Publishing Press, Peking, 1972, pp.32-33].

It is well known to the people with minimum knowledge about the rise of the U.S.A and the fall of the U.K after the end of the World War II and the U.S. efforts with Marshall Plan and various measures to play the leadership role in the capitalist world along with suppressing communism worldwide and to encircle the socialist camp. Comrade Stalin categorically rejected the view of permanent U.S. hegemony in the aftermath of the war-torn economies of other capitalist countries (of course having genuine independence and free development of capitalism). Comrade Stalin’s farsight proved true with the passage of time. He asserted “Outwardly, everything would seem to be “going well”; the U.S.A has put Western Europe, Japan and other capitalist countries on rations; Germany (Western), Britain, France, Italy and Japan have fallen into the clutches of the U.S.A and are meekly obeying its commands. But it would be mistaken to think that things can continue to “go well” for “all eternity”, that these countries will tolerate the domination and oppression of the United Sates endlessly, that they will not endeavour to tear loose from American bondage and take the path of independent development.” [Ibid. p.33]

The pronouncements are clear and straight-forward. Such possibility of those war – ravaged economies to come out on their own was a reality since those were independent capitalist countries, temporarily finding themselves under U.S. domination. Stalin concluded brilliantly: “…..Would it not be truer to say that capitalist Britain, and, after her, capitalist France, will be compelled in the end into conflict with it in order to secure an independent position and, of course, high profit?” [Ibid. p.34]. And here lies the truth of comrade Lenin’s thesis that the struggle among the capitalist countries for markets and their desire to crush their competitors are inevitable. For this Comrade Stalin adds that Lenin’s thesis of the inevitability of war is not obsolete. Mr. Anil Biswas and his party, the CPI(M), imagine that the Indian big capitalists are on equal footing with the French or British capitalists and so this leads to the extreme view that they may develop so much strength and courage to be imperialistic like the latter to crush west European competitors even at the risk of war. Sorry to state that Anil’s and his party’s thesis would have us believe about such imaginary culmination. Only a mad can blow up out of proportion that ‘American bondage’ of France, Great Britain, etc. after the war is same as the colonial or neo-colonial bondage structurally binding a 3^rd World state like India to Great Britain or latter to the U.S.A., U.K, etc.

Now we like to add a few more words on Anil’s [and that of the CPI(M)] pronouncement that India is not semi-colonial but independent. We may start with reference to Mr. Attle’s statement made in British Parliament on 20^th February, 1947 on the transfer of power. In point 14 Attle, the chief of British government made it clear that “HMG (His Majesty’s Government) believe that British commercial and industrial interests in India can look forward to a fair field for their enterprise under the new conditions. The commercial connection between India and the United Kingdom has been long and friendly and will continue to be their mutual advantage.” [In Dhirendra Nath Sen, Revolution By Consent? Saraswati Library, Calcutta, 1947, Appendices, p.318, Emphasis ours].

This was a clear statement a few months before the actual Transfer of Power. And obviously the phrase “the mutual advantage” sounds like Mr. Anil Biswas’s ‘relation’, ‘cooperation’, etc. The actual meaning lies in the fact of advantage for the British capitalists and then of the Indian big comprador capitalists nurtured and developed in the lap of the former. The top of the Indian big bourgeoisie, in the CPI(M)’s view a leader of the freedom movement, declared in 1946 itself “I don’t believe this [British capital in India] will ever be expropriated. The British firms will carry on”. [G.D.Birla's Statement in Hindustan Times 11^th April 1946, cited in Rajni Palme Datt, India Today, Bombay, 1947, p.160]. This is mutual love for mutual advantage.

We are not referring in detail to the volcanic situation in the post-war period created by the revolt of the R.I.N., the militant mass demonstrations, the large-scale strikes by Post & Telegraph workers and others, the Tebhaga struggle, etc. that shook the British rule in India. Simultaneously, it should be remembered that with the decline of the British power, America began to make inroads in the economic field. In a leading article, Eastern Economist wrote in July 1945 that “It is a happy sign that Americans have begun taking intimate interest in Indo-American economic relations.” It also stated that as America could “maintain conditions of full employment by large-scale manufacturing and export of capital goods, India’s post war requirements can, therefore, be absolutely dovetailed into each other.” ["India Britain and the U.S.A", Eastern Economist, 13^th July 1945, Cited in Suniti Kumrr Ghosh, The Indian Big Bourgeoisie , New Horizon Book Trust, Calcutta 2000, p.262]. So alongside the British capital, the American capital too started extending its stranglehold over the Indian economy on the eve of so-called independence.

What Mr. Anil Biswas and his party wants to hush up is the naked reality that after 15 ^th August 1947, India became a Dominion of His Majesty’s Government. So many people along with Mr. M.K.Gandhi died in 1948 not as Free Indian Citizens but as British Subjects! What a novelty of ‘freedom’! Such dishonest social fascists suppress the glaring facts that “In their own interests…. the British volunteered to train us in the art of ‘democratic way’ of life and the services of a British Governor – General, Lord Mount batten, to preside over the destiny of the newly created ‘Independent Dominion version of the Government of India Act. 1935…” [Dhirendra Nath Sen, 'The Paradox of Freedom', Vidyodaya Library Pvt. Ltd., Calcutta, 1958, p.1].

The peddlers of such “genuine” freedom suppress the fact as to how the last governor under the direct colonial rule of the British could assume the office of free India’s governor general; how two British governors and one Indian governor during the British period could continue in their respective posts after the “freedom” of India; how could the British generals remain the head of the army, navy and air force after the transfer of power? Why the appeal was made to the British army officers and soldiers to serve as before for the “free India’s” security? Why 49% percent British army officers and 94% British soldiers responded to “free India’s” call to stay back in India? Those revisionist liars shall never disclose the fact that the ‘India Allowance’ for the ordinary British soldiers was hiked as high as 50 percent. Those dishonest leaders under the garb of ‘Marxists’ hush up the crucial fact that the rebel soldiers of the Historic Naval Revolt (1946) and the soldiers who joined the I.N.A were not allowed to serve the “free India’s” military service. Their ‘offence’ was that they were patriots!

The entire system of bureaucracy, judiciary, etc. remained as usual after the Transfer of Power. And the same colonial Acts and even various sections of the Acts were retained intact. The height of the paradox of ‘freedom’ was reached when during the “Freedom at Midnight” or to borrow Nehru’s words, “Tryst with Destiny” on the 15^th day of August 1947 the ‘freedom’ was celebrated according the first prioty to the colonial regime’s national anthem “God Save the King” and only after then the national anthem of “free” India “Jana Gana Mana….” It was not surprising at all that though the tricolour was hoisted on that day at Delhi, Union Jack was allowed to keep fluttering. This is ‘indepence’ by consent! [N. Mansergh, editor in chief, Constitutional Relations Between Britain and India: The Transfer of Power 1942-47, London, 1971-81 – Vol. XII, Cited in Suniti kr. Ghosh, India and the Raj, Vol. II, pp.317-25]

The Transfer of Power also led to the membership of the British Commonwealth headed by the British King. These are only some of the instances to be known by the people of India. Let Anil Biswas and his party answer how to justify this ‘Transfer of Power’ in the name of freedom, not a semi-colony what the Maoists have enough courage and theoretical basis to declare, to the chagrin of all such people and parties enjoying various sorts of opportunities and benefits in the post 15^th August, 1947 India. Mr. Anil Biswas and his party project things in such a fashion as if the CPI(Maoist) has introduced this view of India’s ‘freedom’ out of nothing.

Anil’s [i.e. the CPI(M)'s] knowledge of Marxism and comprehension of the post-world war II situation leading to the transfer of powers to many countries are really full of revisionist radiance and flight of fantasy. Anil Biswas does not know what neo-colony is! His sarcasm against the Maoists proves him as a simpleton of the first degree. Poor Anil Biswas says “If the analysis of the Maoists is accepted then it amounts to saying that with the break-down of the old colony imperialism took recourse to neo-colonial tactics….” [p.20] Mr. Anil makes such utterances in wonders as if the Maoists are inventing something new. He is in great confusion as the much-known Marxist-Leninist concept of new-colonialism, if accepted, will automatically destroy the whole CPI and later the CPI(M) formulation of the state character, to the disturbance of their native and foreign masters.

It is an indisputable fact that the two consecutive world wars, the march of socialism throughout the world and the massive volcanic eruptions of people’s anti-colonial struggles forced the imperialist master to come to terms with the big bourgeoisie and feudal landlords of the third world countries like India to transfer powers on the condition that the new rulers will safeguard the interests of imperialism. This indirect rule in the form of neo-colony has remained as the perpetual dependence on imperialism as evident in the so-called free countries like India. Secondly, the decline of the enormous powers of the British imperialism and vast changes in the international scenario with contradictions among the imperialist countries provided some bargaining space to the new rulers but by no means this bargaining of different degrees meant the change of character of the ruling comprador bourgeois.

During the Great Debate the CPC under Mao Ze Dong while defining the general line of the international communist movement unequivocally stated that after the World War II the imperialists have not surely abandoned colonialism, rather they have assumed a new form which is neo-colonialism. Rejecting the revisionist propaganda of the Soviet Union which Mr. Anil Biswas and his party clings to, the CPC referred to the important feature of such neo-colonialism as witnessed in the world is the change of their old method of direct rule under a compulsive situation and they have taken recourse to a new form of colonial rule and exploitation depending on their trained and selective agents. The CPC referred to the fact how the imperialists led by US imperialism were forming military alliance, establishing military base, making “Federation” or “Community” and also through their puppets do trample and control those countries which have announced freedom. The CPC in its polemics with the revisionist headquarters of the CPSU referred to economic ‘aid’ and various other forms by which the imperialists keep those “free” countries as markets of their commodities, as source of raw materials and for exporting their capital to loot those countries and exploit their masses. Besides that, those imperialists interfere into the internal affairs of those so-called free countries and make use of the UNO to carry on military, economic and cultural aggression on them. And when all such steps fail to carry on neo-colonial measures in a “peaceful” way, the imperialists engineer coup de ta , resort to subversive activities or direct intervention and aggression.

Comrade Lenin referred to many types of semi-colonies, this neo-colonialism has assumed greater importance particularly since World War II. Comrade Lenin also referred to the fact how under the guise of political freedom of mainly the backward countries how the imperialist countries build up dependent states economically, militantly and through the investment of capital.

Can Mr. Anil Biswas refute any of the formulations about neo-colonialism as stated above? Can Mr. Anil Biswas dismiss the fact that this phenomenon of moribund capitalism at the stage of imperialism is more dangerous and more subtle with many different forms of imperialist exploitation and intervention have been the order of the day particularly since the World War II? Can our CPI(M) ideologue dismiss the neo-colonial rule of India with a number of imperialist countries now led by US imperialism? Anil’s party, the CPI(M) has the habit of using the words like ‘imperialism’, ‘Indian big bourgeoisie’s wavering role’, ‘US pressure’ and what not but as the CPI(M) programme has dictated to define India’s status as ‘free’ since 1947 can the Anils, Buddhas, Karats say otherwise even facing the stark reality of neo-colonialism in India? In any case, we the Maoists put the counter question to Mr. Theoretician Anil Biswas could you say where imperialism is absconding for decades after the “freedom” of almost all the 3 ^rd world countries? The CPI(M) deserves our pity for such childish talks as presented by Mr. Anil Biswas and his party suffering from acute parliamentary cretinism!

However, Anil’s party further compounds the problem while rejecting semi-colony, neo-colony and such Leninist, Maoist formulations. The CPI(M) even went many paces ahead in its habitual tall talks to prove its anti-imperialist position. In its latest Congress it even talked about ‘re-colonization’ under the globalisation spree and Anil Biswas too being used to double talks – one in party’s theoretical mouthpiece and the other in support of West Bengal ‘Left’ Front’s total surrender to imperialism and native exploiters – has recently not only talked of ‘class struggle’, of fight against imperialist institutions like the World Bank , WTO, globalisation and all such high-sounding words, he even said “Under the exploitative drive of neo-colonialism, the so-called developed nations indulged in rapacious economic exploitation in the lesser-developed nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America.” [People's Democracy, October 09, 2005]. We take note of the conscious use of the phrase “lesser – developed nations” – obviously an escape route to keep India under the CPI(M) propped Congress government and the ‘Left’ government in West Bengal, etc. out of such ‘rapacious economic exploitation’. Still it begs the question what do you understand by the “exploitative drive of neo-colonialism”? However, here too the wily hypocrat used the CPI(M)’s pet theory like “tilting towards imperialism” or “drive of neo-colonialism”, etc. i.e. the process shall not see an end and India like countries shall ever remain independent and its big bourgeoisie shall flourish and flourish with full independence despite some compromising tendency. So it is natural for Anil Biswas & Co. to declare at one go India is neither semi-colony and the Indian big bourgeoisie are not compradors, a Khruschevite thesis first accepted by the Dangeites and then the Namboodripads of the CPI(M).

Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Cartoon

Buddha is anti-peasant

Chhattisgarh Government stops Doctors Without borders

Chhattisgarh Government asks Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to stop providing health services to indigenous people

Wed, 2007-08-08 04:26

By Subash Mohapatra

The Chhattisgarh Government asked Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to stop its humanitarian and medical aid in the conflict hit rural villages of Chhattisgarh, a central tribal state of India. There are allegations that MSF is providing health services to Maoists rebels.

Salwa Judum camp

MSF (Doctors without borders) is an international, medical, humanitarian aid movement। The organization provides urgently needed medical assistance without discrimination. By stopping the MSF to work in the remote villages affected by the Maoist insurgency, the government denies the right to life to thousands of indigenous people. The government itself is not present in these villages and is not providing any medical health services.

The state of Chhattisgarh in the heart of the tribal belt of India has witnessed Maoist rebel activities since the 1970s। The Maoist rebels (also called Naxalites) are mainly active in the remote tribal regions of the state. The tribal population, the Adivasis, are the base of their recruitment. A dramatic turn in the conflict occurred in 2005 with the formation of Salwa Judum. This state-sponsored paramilitary movement was created to counter the Naxalite threat. Since then, tens of thousands indigenous people were forced to abandon their villages and forests and to settle in Salwa Judum run relief camps.
The Dantewada District Collector K.R. Pisda, speaking to the media, explained that the government has asked MSF to restrict its activities to the relief camps run by Salwa Judum. The allegations directed at MSF are based on the claim that the organization gives medical treatment to injured Naxalites in the remote areas of Dantewada. Further one of its volunteers, Kamlesh Paikara, is accused of assisting journalists with getting contacts and interviews with injured Maoist rebels. Kamlesh Paikara denies allegations.As K.R. Pisda stated, the Chhattisgarh police informed him that MSF is supplying the Maoists injured in police encounters with medical services. MSF is no more allowed to provide medical aid to the Naxal affected villages.

“We maintain neutrality in providing medical treatment in the camps for the displaced people in Dantewada district, located in south Chhattisgarh। Medical teams also provide mobile health services and nutritional support to those in need in remote rural areas. Surprisingly, the situation in Chhattisgarh is only one of several armed conflicts occurring throughout India for years, with civilians caught between various belligerent parties. As a consequence, many people continue to live in an atmosphere of fear and violence with little or no access to health care”, says a MSF spokes person. She further added, “MSF has been providing free medical services to conflict hit indigenous people in camps and in villages since 2006″.

MSF is a well reputed organization and won the Nobel peace prize in 1999 for its exemplary service in providing healthcare across the world, especially in disaster and conflict affected zones (see box). In its own annual report, MSF termed the clashes in central India as one of the 10 most underreported humanitarian stories of 2006. It is also present in the states of Manipur and Nagaland and various other conflict zones such as the Kashmir region.

The government hopes strengthening the Salwa Judum movement could pose a major challenge to the Naxalites. As the Ministry of Home Affairs stated in its ‘Status Paper on the Naxal Problem’ in May 2006: “Keeping in view the importance of the Salwa Judum movement as a major bulwark in the sustained campaign against Naxals, and in view of the Naxalite attacks on innocent Salwa Judum activists, the State Government has been advised to enhance the deployment of security forces to provide effective area domination, ensure safety of Salwa Judum activists and strengthen security of relief camps.”

Hut of a relief camp

Experts say that this latest move of the Chhattisgarh government is just one more step in a larger strategy that should force the remaining Adivasis in the remote villages to join Salwa Judum and their camps. Nearly 1400 villages in the remotest areas of Dantewada were never reached by governmental health services since 60 years of independence. The intention is to bring these villagers to the relief camps by denying them access to health facilities, water and nutritious food. Local sources confirmed that there never were any governmental health care facilities in many remote villages. Villagers accuse the government to push them out of their forests and into the camps by deliberately stopping the MSF activities.

Mr. K.R. Pisda confirmed that MSF has been barred after complaints that MSF were giving medical treatment to Naxalites were found to be true. MSF has been asked to work only in the 25 relief camps.

Sunil Kumar, editor of the Daily Chhattisgarh newspaper, which was the first to report about this development, reaffirmed: “We have enough evidence to substantiate whatever we have published. We also have more detailed information which we cannot publish as they were shared with us in confidence.” He further added, “The restriction imposed on MSF is in contradiction to India’s policy in other states”. Nandini Sundar, a research scholar said it is a breach of the Geneva Convention to which India is a State party.

The Chhattisgarh government by banning MSF from providing medical assistance denies the right to health and medical treatment to injured armed rebel Maoists and innocent indigenous people.

http://www.asiantribune.com

Vedanta group conning Indian people

Anil Agrawal – Owner Vedanta Group,Erstwhile Balco and now Sterlite,Korba,Chhattisgarh

Raman Singh- Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh

Nexus- Both exploiting the Indigenous People of Chhattisgarh

Facts- Vedanta Group sold electricity to the State Government at higher rates on the pretext that they have to Import coal.
Its been three years and not a single piece of coal has been imported.

Thousands of acres of land has been forcefully occupied by the Vedanta Group at Korba but State Government has not taken any action so far.Is it because Electricity Department is under Raman Singh?????

Today 08/08/07 foundation is being laid for Vedanta Groups Cancer Hospital and Research Center at Raipur

and also a MOU is being signed by Vedanta Group with the State Government for the expansion of their Balco Unit

at Korba.

Irony- Produce Cancer Patients by polluting the environment at Korba and then send them to their Cancer Hospital at Raipur

via bhumkal

Ranveer Sena goons training children in using fire arms in gunda raj Bihar

Ranvir sena is a private army of upper-caste landowners and is known to be operating in central Bihar.

Sena came into existence primarily to counter the influence of various Maoist/ Naxalite, parties in central Bihar. It was founded in September 1994 in Belaur village of Udwantnagar block, Bhojpur district following the merger of private caste armies like Savarna Liberation Army and the Sunlight Sena.

The forerunners to the Ranvir Sena in Bhojpur district were the Brahmarshi Sena and Kuer Sena, Kisan Morcha and Ganga Sena.This group is responsible for the murder of hundreds of people.

Deaths In Other Nations Since WW II Due To Us Interventions

By James A. Lucas 24 April, 2007
Countercurrents.org

INTRODUCTION

After the catastrophic attacks of September 11 2001 monumental sorrow and a feeling of desperate and understandable anger began to permeate the American psyche. A few people at that time attempted to promote a balanced perspective by pointing out that the United States had also been responsible for causing those same feelings in people in other nations, but they produced hardly a ripple. Although Americans understand in the abstract the wisdom of people around the world empathizing with the suffering of one another, such a reminder of wrongs committed by our nation got little hearing and was soon overshadowed by an accelerated “war on terrorism.”

But we must continue our efforts to develop understanding and compassion in the world. Hopefully, this article will assist in doing that by addressing the question “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” This theme is developed in this report which contains an estimated numbers of such deaths in 37 nations as well as brief explanations of why the U.S. is considered culpable.

The causes of wars are complex. In some instances nations other than the U.S. may have been responsible for more deaths, but if the involvement of our nation appeared to have been a necessary cause of a war or conflict it was considered responsible for the deaths in it. In other words they probably would not have taken place if the U.S. had not used the heavy hand of its power. The military and economic power of the United States was crucial.

This study reveals that U.S. military forces were directly responsible for about 10 to 15 million deaths during the Korean and Vietnam Wars and the two Iraq Wars. The Korean War also includes Chinese deaths while the Vietnam War also includes fatalities in Cambodia and Laos. ……………..

The American public probably is not aware of these numbers and knows even less about the proxy wars for which the United States is also responsible. In the latter wars there were between nine and 14 million deaths in Afghanistan, Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, East Timor, Guatemala, Indonesia, Pakistan and Sudan.

But the victims are not just from big nations or one part of the world. The remaining deaths were in smaller ones which constitute over half the total number of nations. Virtually all parts of the world have been the target of U.S. intervention.

The overall conclusion reached is that the United States most likely has been responsible since WWII for the deaths of between 20 and 30 million people in wars and conflicts scattered over the world.

To the families and friends of these victims it makes little difference whether the causes were U.S. military action, proxy military forces, the provision of U.S. military supplies or advisors, or other ways, such as economic pressures applied by our nation. They had to make decisions about other things such as finding lost loved ones, whether to become refugees, and how to survive.

And the pain and anger is spread even further. Some authorities estimate that there are as many as 10 wounded for each person who dies in wars. Their visible, continued suffering is a continuing reminder to their fellow countrymen.

It is essential that Americans learn more about this topic so that they can begin to understand the pain that others feel. Someone once observed that the Germans during WWII “chose not to know.” We cannot allow history to say this about our country. The question posed above was “How many September 11ths has the United States caused in other nations since WWII?” The answer is: possibly 10,000.

Comments on Gathering These Numbers

Generally speaking, the much smaller number of Americans who have died is not included in this study, not because they are not important, but because this report focuses on the impact of U.S. actions on its adversaries.

An accurate count of the number of deaths is not easy to achieve, and this collection of data was undertaken with full realization of this fact. These estimates will probably be revised later either upward or downward by the reader and the author. But undoubtedly the total will remain in the millions.

The difficulty of gathering reliable information is shown by two estimates in this context. For several years I heard statements on radio that three million Cambodians had been killed under the rule of the Khmer Rouge. However, in recent years the figure I heard was one million. Another example is that the number of persons estimated to have died in Iraq due to sanctions after the first U.S. Iraq War was over 1 million, but in more recent years, based on a more recent study, a lower estimate of around a half a million has emerged.

Often information about wars is revealed only much later when someone decides to speak out, when more secret information is revealed due to persistent efforts of a few, or after special congressional committees make reports

Both victorious and defeated nations may have their own reasons for underreporting the number of deaths. Further, in recent wars involving the United States it was not uncommon to hear statements like “we do not do body counts” and references to “collateral damage” as a euphemism for dead and wounded. Life is cheap for some, especially those who manipulate people on the battlefield as if it were a chessboard.

To say that it is difficult to get exact figures is not to say that we should not try. Effort was needed to arrive at the figures of 6six million Jews killed during WWI, but knowledge of that number now is widespread and it has fueled the determination to prevent future holocausts. That struggle continues.

The author can be contacted at jlucas511@woh.rr.com

37 VICTIM NATIONS

Afghanistan

The U.S. is responsible for between 1 and 1.8 million deaths during the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan, by luring the Soviet Union into invading that nation. (1,2,3,4)

The Soviet Union had friendly relations its neighbor, Afghanistan, which had a secular government. The Soviets feared that if that government became fundamentalist this change could spill over into the Soviet Union.

In 1998, in an interview with the Parisian publication Le Novel Observateur, Zbigniew Brzezinski, adviser to President Carter, admitted that he had been responsible for instigating aid to the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan which caused the Soviets to invade. In his own words:

“According to the official version of history, CIA aid to the Mujahadeen began during 1980, that is to say, after the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan on 24 December 1979. But the reality, secretly 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.” (5,1,6)

Brzezinski justified laying this trap, since he said it gave the Soviet Union its Vietnam and caused the breakup of the Soviet Union. “Regret what?” he said. “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?” (7)

The CIA spent 5 to 6 billion dollars on its operation in Afghanistan in order to bleed the Soviet Union. (1,2,3) When that 10-year war ended over a million people were dead and Afghan heroin had captured 60% of the U.S. market. (4)

The U.S. has been responsible directly for about 12,000 deaths in Afghanistan many of which resulted from bombing in retaliation for the attacks on U.S. property on September 11, 2001. Subsequently U.S. troops invaded that country. (4)

Angola

An indigenous armed struggle against Portuguese rule in Angola began in 1961. In 1977 an Angolan government was recognized by the U.N., although the U.S. was one of the few nations that opposed this action. In 1986 Uncle Sam approved material assistance to UNITA, a group that was trying to overthrow the government. Even today this struggle, which has involved many nations at times, continues.

U.S. intervention was justified to the U.S. public as a reaction to the intervention of 50,000 Cuban troops in Angola. However, according to Piero Gleijeses, a history professor at Johns Hopkins University the reverse was true. The Cuban intervention came as a result of a CIA – financed covert invasion via neighboring Zaire and a drive on the Angolan capital by the U.S. ally, South Africa1,2,3). (Three estimates of deaths range from 300,000 to 750,000 (4,5,6)

Argentina: See South America: Operation Condor

Bangladesh: See Pakistan

Bolivia

Hugo Banzer was the leader of a repressive regime in Bolivia in the 1970s. The U.S. had been disturbed when a previous leader nationalized the tin mines and distributed land to Indian peasants. Later that action to benefit the poor was reversed.

Banzer, who was trained at the U.S.-operated School of the Americas in Panama and later at Fort Hood, Texas, came back from exile frequently to confer with U.S. Air Force Major Robert Lundin. In 1971 he staged a successful coup with the help of the U.S. Air Force radio system. In the first years of his dictatorship he received twice as military assistance from the U.S. as in the previous dozen years together.

A few years later the Catholic Church denounced an army massacre of striking tin workers in 1975, Banzer, assisted by information provided by the CIA, was able to target and locate leftist priests and nuns. His anti-clergy strategy, known as the Banzer Plan, was adopted by nine other Latin American dictatorships in 1977. (2) He has been accused of being responsible for 400 deaths during his tenure. (1)

Also see: See South America: Operation Condor

Brazil: See South America: Operation Condor

Cambodia

U.S. bombing of Cambodia had already been underway for several years in secret under the Johnson and Nixon administrations, but when President Nixon openly began bombing in preparation for a land assault on Cambodia it caused major protests in the U.S. against the Vietnam War.

There is little awareness today of the scope of these bombings and the human suffering involved.

Immense damage was done to the villages and cities of Cambodia, causing refugees and internal displacement of the population. This unstable situation enabled the Khmer Rouge, a small political party led by Pol Pot, to assume power. Over the years we have repeatedly heard about the Khmer Rouge’s role in the deaths of millions in Cambodia without any acknowledgement being made this mass killing was made possible by the the U.S. bombing of that nation which destabilized it by death , injuries, hunger and dislocation of its people.

So the U.S. bears responsibility not only for the deaths from the bombings but also for those resulting from the activities of the Khmer Rouge – a total of about 2.5 million people. Even when Vietnam latrer invaded Cambodia in 1979 the CIA was still supporting the Khmer Rouge. (1,2,3)

Also see Vietnam

Chad

An estimated 40,000 people in Chad were killed and as many as 200,000 tortured by a government, headed by Hissen Habre who was brought to power in June, 1982 with the help of CIA money and arms. He remained in power for eight years. (1,2)

Human Rights Watch claimed that Habre was responsible for thousands of killings. In 2001, while living in Senegal, he was almost tried for crimes committed by him in Chad. However, a court there blocked these proceedings. Then human rights people decided to pursue the case in Belgium, because some of Habre’s torture victims lived there. The U.S., in June 2003, told Belgium that it risked losing its status as host to NATO’s headquarters if it allowed such a legal proceeding to happen. So the result was that the law that allowed victims to file complaints in Belgium for atrocities committed abroad was repealed. However, two months later a new law was passed which made special provision for the continuation of the case against Habre.

Chile

The CIA intervened in Chile’s 1958 and 1964 elections. In 1970 a socialist candidate, Salvador Allende, was elected president. The CIA wanted to incite a military coup to prevent his inauguration, but the Chilean army’s chief of staff, General Rene Schneider, opposed this action. The CIA then planned, along with some people in the Chilean military, to assassinate Schneider. This plot failed and Allende took office. President Nixon was not to be dissuaded and he ordered the CIA to create a coup climate: “Make the economy scream,” he said.
What followed were guerilla warfare, arson, bombing, sabotage and terror. ITT and other U.S. corporations with Chilean holdings sponsored demonstrations and strikes. Finally, on September 11, 1973 Allende died either by suicide or by assassination. At that time Henry Kissinger, U.S. Secretary of State, said the following regarding Chile: “I don’t see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist because of the irresponsibility of its own people.” (1)

During 17 years of terror under Allende’s successor, General Augusto Pinochet, an estimated 3,000 Chileans were killed and many others were tortured or “disappeared.” (2,3,4,5)

Also see South America: Operation Condor

China An estimated 900,000 Chinese died during the Korean War. For more information, See: Korea.

Colombia

One estimate is that 67,000 deaths have occurred from the 1960s to recent years due to support by the U.S. of Colombian state terrorism. (1)

According to a 1994 Amnesty International report, more than 20,000 people were killed for political reasons in Colombia since 1986, mainly by the military and its paramilitary allies. Amnesty alleged that “U.S.- supplied military equipment, ostensibly delivered for use against narcotics traffickers, was being used by the Colombian military to commit abuses in the name of “counter-insurgency.” (2) In 2002 another estimate was made that 3,500 people die each year in a U.S. funded civilian war in Colombia. (3)

In 1996 Human Rights Watch issued a report “Assassination Squads in Colombia” which revealed that CIA agents went to Colombia in 1991 to help the military to train undercover agents in anti-subversive activity. (4,5)

In recent years the U.S. government has provided assistance under Plan Colombia. The Colombian government has been charged with using most of the funds for destruction of crops and support of the paramilitary group.

Cuba

In the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba on April 18, 1961 which ended after 3 days, 114 of the invading force were killed, 1,189 were taken prisoners and a few escaped to waiting U.S. ships. (1) The captured exiles were quickly tried, a few executed and the rest sentenced to thirty years in prison for treason. These exiles were released after 20 months in exchange for $53 million in food and medicine.

Some people estimate that the number of Cuban forces killed range from 2,000, to 4,000. Another estimate is that 1,800 Cuban forces were killed on an open highway by napalm. This appears to have been a precursor of the Highway of Death in Iraq in 1991 when U.S. forces mercilessly annihilated large numbers of Iraqis on a highway. (2)

Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire)

The beginning of massive violence was instigated in this country in 1879 by its colonizer King Leopold of Belgium. The Congo’s population was reduced by 10 million people over a period of 20 years which some have referred to as “Leopold’s Genocide.” (1) The U.S. has been responsible for about a third of that many deaths in that nation in the more recent past. (2)

In 1960 the Congo became an independent state with Patrice Lumumba being its first prime minister. He was assassinated with the CIA being implicated, although some say that his murder was actually the responsibility of Belgium. (3) But nevertheless, the CIA was planning to kill him. (4) Before his assassination the CIA sent one of its scientists, Dr. Sidney Gottlieb, to the Congo carrying “lethal biological material” intended for use in Lumumba’s assassination. This virus would have been able to produce a fatal disease indigenous to the Congo area of Africa and was transported in a diplomatic pouch.

Much of the time in recent years there has been a civil war within the Democratic Republic of Congo, fomented often by the U.S. and other nations, including neighboring nations. (5)

In April 1977, Newsday reported that the CIA was secretly supporting efforts to recruit several hundred mercenaries in the U.S. and Great Britain to serve alongside Zaire’s army. In that same year the U.S. provided $15 million of military supplies to the Zairian President Mobutu to fend off an invasion by a rival group operating in Angola. (6)

In May 1979, the U.S. sent several million dollars of aid to Mobutu who had been condemned 3 months earlier by the U.S. State Department for human rights violations. (7) During the Cold War the U.S. funneled over 300 million dollars in weapons into Zaire (8,9) $100 million in military training was provided to him. (2) In 2001 it was reported to a U.S. congressional committee that American companies, including one linked to former President George Bush Sr., were stoking the Congo for monetary gains. There is an international battle over resources in that country with over 125 companies and individuals being implicated. One of these substances is coltan, which is used in the manufacture of cell phones. (2)

Dominican Republic

In 1962, Juan Bosch became president of the Dominican Republic. He advocated such programs as land reform and public works programs. This did not bode well for his future relationship with the U.S., and after only 7 months in office, he was deposed by a CIA coup. In 1965 when a group was trying to reinstall him to his office President Johnson said, “This Bosch is no good.” Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Mann replied “He’s no good at all. If we don’t get a decent government in there, Mr. President, we get another Bosch. It’s just going to be another sinkhole.” Two days later a U.S. invasion started and 22,000 soldiers and marines entered the Dominican Republic and about 3,000 Dominicans died during the fighting. The cover excuse for doing this was that this was done to protect foreigners there. (1,2,3,4)

East Timor

In December 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor. This incursion was launched the day after U.S. President Gerald Ford and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had left Indonesia where they had given President Suharto permission to use American arms, which under U.S. law, could not be used for aggression. Daniel Moynihan, U.S. ambassador to the UN. said that the U.S. wanted “things to turn out as they did.” (1,2) The result was an estimated 200,000 dead out of a population of 700,000. (1,2)

Sixteen years later, on November 12, 1991, two hundred and seventeen East Timorese protesters in Dili, many of them children, marching from a memorial service, were gunned down by Indonesian Kopassus shock troops who were headed by U.S.- trained commanders Prabowo Subianto (son in law of General Suharto) and Kiki Syahnakri. Trucks were seen dumping bodies into the sea. (5)

El Salvador

The civil war from 1981 to1992 in El Salvador was financed by $6 billion in U.S. aid given to support the government in its efforts to crush a movement to bring social justice to the people in that nation of about 8 million people. (1)
During that time U.S. military advisers demonstrated methods of torture on teenage prisoners, according to an interview with a deserter from the Salvadoran army published in the New York Times. This former member of the Salvadoran National Guard testified that he was a member of a squad of twelve who found people who they were told were guerillas and tortured them. Part of the training he received was in torture at a U.S. location somewhere in Panama. (2)

About 900 villagers were massacred in the village of El Mozote in 1981. Ten of the twelve El Salvadoran government soldiers cited as participating in this act were graduates of the School of the Americas operated by the U.S. (2) They were only a small part of about 75,000 people killed during that civil war. (1)

According to a 1993 United Nations’ Truth Commission report, over 96 % of the human rights violations carried out during the war were committed by the Salvadoran army or the paramilitary deaths squads associated with the Salvadoran army. (3)

That commission linked graduates of the School of the Americas to many notorious killings. The New York Times and the Washington Post followed with scathing articles. In 1996, the White House Oversight Board issued a report that supported many of the charges against that school made by Rev. Roy Bourgeois, head of the School of the Americas Watch. That same year the Pentagon released formerly classified reports indicating that graduates were trained in killing, extortion, and physical abuse for interrogations, false imprisonment and other methods of control. (4)

Grenada

The CIA began to destabilize Grenada in 1979 after Maurice Bishop became president, partially because he refused to join the quarantine of Cuba. The campaign against him resulted in his overthrow and the invasion by the U.S. of Grenada on October 25, 1983, with about 277 people dying. (1,2) It was fallaciously charged that an airport was being built in Grenada that could be used to attack the U.S. and it was also erroneously claimed that the lives of American medical students on that island were in danger.

Guatemala

In 1951 Jacobo Arbenz was elected president of Guatemala. He appropriated some unused land operated by the United Fruit Company and compensated the company. (1,2) That company then started a campaign to paint Arbenz as a tool of an international conspiracy and hired about 300 mercenaries who sabotaged oil supplies and trains. (3) In 1954 a CIA-orchestrated coup put him out of office and he left the country. During the next 40 years various regimes killed thousands of people.

In 1999 the Washington Post reported that an Historical Clarification Commission concluded that over 200,000 people had been killed during the civil war and that there had been 42,000 individual human rights violations, 29,000 of them fatal, 92% of which were committed by the army. The commission further reported that the U.S. government and the CIA had pressured the Guatemalan government into suppressing the guerilla movement by ruthless means. (4,5)

According to the Commission between 1981 and 1983 the military government of Guatemala – financed and supported by the U.S. government – destroyed some four hundred Mayan villages in a campaign of genocide. (4)
One of the documents made available to the commission was a 1966 memo from a U.S. State Department official, which described how a “safe house” was set up in the palace for use by Guatemalan security agents and their U.S. contacts. This was the headquarters for the Guatemalan “dirty war” against leftist insurgents and suspected allies. (2)

Haiti

From 1957 to 1986 Haiti was ruled by Papa Doc Duvalier and later by his son. During that time their private terrorist force killed between 30,000 and 100,000 people. (1) Millions of dollars in CIA subsidies flowed into Haiti during that time, mainly to suppress popular movements, (2) although most American military aid to the country, according to William Blum, was covertly channeled through Israel.

Reportedly, governments after the second Duvalier reign were responsible for an even larger number of fatalities, and the influence on Haiti by the U.S., particularly through the CIA, has continued. The U.S. later forced out of the presidential office a black Catholic priest, Jean Bertrand Aristide, even though he was elected with 67% of the vote in the early 1990s. The wealthy white class in Haiti opposed him in this predominantly black nation, because of his social programs designed to help the poor and end corruption. (3) Later he returned to office, but that did not last long. He was forced by the U.S. to leave office and now lives in South Africa.

Honduras

In the 1980s the CIA supported Battalion 316 in Honduras, which kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of its citizens. Torture equipment and manuals were provided by CIA Argentinean personnel who worked with U.S. agents in the training of the Hondurans. Approximately 400 people lost their lives. (1,2) This is another instance of torture in the world sponsored by the U.S. (3)

Battalion 316 used shock and suffocation devices in interrogations in the 1980s. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves. Declassified documents and other sources show that the CIA and the U.S. Embassy knew of numerous crimes, including murder and torture, yet continued to support Battalion 316 and collaborate with its leaders.” (4)

Honduras was a staging ground in the early 1980s for the Contras who were trying to overthrow the socialist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. John D. Negroponte, currently Deputy Secretary of State, was our embassador when our military aid to Honduras rose from $4 million to $77.4 million per year. Negroponte denies having had any knowledge of these atrocities during his tenure. However, his predecessor in that position, Jack R. Binns, had reported in 1981 that he was deeply concerned at increasing evidence of officially sponsored/sanctioned assassinations. (5)

Hungary

In 1956 Hungary, a Soviet satellite nation, revolted against the Soviet Union. During the uprising broadcasts by the U.S. Radio Free Europe into Hungary sometimes took on an aggressive tone, encouraging the rebels to believe that Western support was imminent, and even giving tactical advice on how to fight the Soviets. Their hopes were raised then dashed by these broadcasts which cast an even darker shadow over the Hungarian tragedy.“ (1) The Hungarian and Soviet death toll was about 3,000 and the revolution was crushed. (2)

Indonesia

In 1965, in Indonesia, a coup replaced General Sukarno with General Suharto as leader. The U.S. played a role in that change of government. Robert Martens,a former officer in the U.S. embassy in Indonesia, described how U.S. diplomats and CIA officers provided up to 5,000 names to Indonesian Army death squads in 1965 and checked them off as they were killed or captured. Martens admitted that “I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that’s not all bad. There’s a time when you have to strike hard at a decisive moment.” (1,2,3) Estimates of the number of deaths range from 500,000 to 3 million. (4,5,6)
From 1993 to 1997 the U.S. provided Jakarta with almost $400 million in economic aid and sold tens of million of dollars of weaponry to that nation. U.S. Green Berets provided training for the Indonesia’s elite force which was responsible for many of atrocities in East Timor. (3)

Iran

Iran lost about 262,000 people in the war against Iraq from 1980 to 1988. (1) See Iraq for more information about that war.

On July 3, 1988 the U.S. Navy ship, the Vincennes, was operating withing Iranian waters providing military support for Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war. During a battle against Iranian gunboats it fired two missiles at an Iranian Airbus, which was on a routine civilian flight. All 290 civilian on board were killed. (2,3)

Iraq

A. The Iraq-Iran War lasted from 1980 to 1988 and during that time there were about 105,000 Iraqi deaths according to the Washington Post. (1,2)

According to Howard Teicher, a former National Security Council official, the U.S. provided the Iraqis with billions of dollars in credits and helped Iraq in other ways such as making sure that Iraq had military equipment including biological agents This surge of help for Iraq came as Iran seemed to be winning the war and was close to Basra. (1) The U.S. was not adverse to both countries weakening themselves as a result of the war, but it did not appear to want either side to win.

B: The U.S.-Iraq War and the Sanctions Against Iraq extended from 1990 to 2003.

Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990 and the U.S. responded by demanding that Iraq withdraw, and four days later the U.N. levied international sanctions.

Iraq had reason to believe that the U.S. would not object to its invasion of Kuwait, since U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, had told Saddam Hussein that the U.S. had no position on the dispute that his country had with Kuwait. So the green light was given, but it seemed to be more of a trap.

As a part of the public relations strategy to energize the American public into supporting an attack against Iraq the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the U.S. falsely testified before Congress that Iraqi troops were pulling the plugs on incubators in Iraqi hospitals. (1) This contributed to a war frenzy in the U.S.

The U.S. air assault started on January 17, 1991 and it lasted for 42 days. On February 23 President H.W. Bush ordered the U.S. ground assault to begin. The invasion took place with much needless killing of Iraqi military personnel. Only about 150 American military personnel died compared to about 200,000 Iraqis. Some of the Iraqis were mercilessly killed on the Highway of Death and about 400 tons of depleted uranium were left in that nation by the U.S. (2,3)

Other deaths later were from delayed deaths due to wounds, civilians killed, those killed by effects of damage of the Iraqi water treatment facilities and other aspects of its damaged infrastructure and by the sanctions.

In 1995 the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. reported that U.N sanctions against on Iraq had been responsible for the deaths of more than 560,000 children since 1990. (5)

Leslie Stahl on the TV Program 60 Minutes in 1996 mentioned to Madeleine Albright, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. “We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And – and you know, is the price worth it?” Albright replied “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price – we think is worth it.” (4)

In 1999 UNICEF reported that 5,000 children died each month as a result of the sanction and the War with the U.S. (6)

Richard Garfield later estimated that the more likely number of excess deaths among children under five years of age from 1990 through March 1998 to be 227,000 – double those of the previous decade. Garfield estimated that the numbers to be 350,000 through 2000 (based in part on result of another study). (7)

However, there are limitations to his study. His figures were not updated for the remaining three years of the sanctions. Also, two other somewhat vulnerable age groups were not studied: young children above the age of five and the elderly.

All of these reports were considerable indicators of massive numbers of deaths which the U.S. was aware of and which was a part of its strategy to cause enough pain and terror among Iraqis to cause them to revolt against their government.

C: Iraq-U.S. War started in 2003 and has not been concluded

Just as the end of the Cold War emboldened the U.S. to attack Iraq in 1991 so the attacks of September 11, 2001 laid the groundwork for the U.S. to launch the current war against Iraq. While in some other wars we learned much later about the lies that were used to deceive us, some of the deceptions that were used to get us into this war became known almost as soon as they were uttered. There were no weapons of mass destruction, we were not trying to promote democracy, we were not trying to save the Iraqi people from a dictator.

The total number of Iraqi deaths that are a result of our current Iraq against Iraq War is 654,000, of which 600,000 are attributed to acts of violence, according to Johns Hopkins researchers. (1,2)

Since these deaths are a result of the U.S. invasion, our leaders must accept responsibility for them.

Israeli-Palestinian War

About 100,000 to 200,000 Israelis and Palestinians, but mostly the latter, have been killed in the struggle between those two groups. The U.S. has been a strong supporter of Israel, providing billions of dollars in aid and supporting its possession of nuclear weapons. (1,2)

Korea, North and South

The Korean War started in 1950 when, according to the Truman administration, North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25th. However, since then another explanation has emerged which maintains that the attack by North Korea came during a time of many border incursions by both sides. South Korea initiated most of the border clashes with North Korea beginning in 1948. The North Korea government claimed that by 1949 the South Korean army committed 2,617 armed incursions. It was a myth that the Soviet Union ordered North Korea to attack South Korea. (1,2)

The U.S. started its attack before a U.N. resolution was passed supporting our nation’s intervention, and our military forces added to the mayhem in the war by introducing the use of napalm. (1)

During the war the bulk of the deaths were South Koreans, North Koreans and Chinese. Four sources give deaths counts ranging from 1.8 to 4.5 million. (3,4,5,6) Another source gives a total of 4 million but does not identify to which nation they belonged. (7)

John H. Kim, a U.S. Army veteran and the Chair of the Korea Committee of Veterans for Peace, stated in an article that during the Korean War “the U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy were directly involved in the killing of about three million civilians – both South and North Koreans – at many locations throughout Korea…It is reported that the U.S. dropped some 650,000 tons of bombs, including 43,000 tons of napalm bombs, during the Korean War.” It is presumed that this total does not include Chinese casualties.

Another source states a total of about 500,000 who were Koreans and presumably only military. (8,9)

Laos

From 1965 to 1973 during the Vietnam War the U.S. dropped over two million tons of bombs on Laos – more than was dropped in WWII by both sides. Over a quarter of the population became refugees. This was later called a “secret war,” since it occurred at the same time as the Vietnam War, but got little press. Hundreds of thousands were killed. Branfman make the only estimate that I am aware of , stating that hundreds of thousands died. This can be interpeted to mean that at least 200,000 died. (1,2,3)

U.S. military intervention in Laos actually began much earlier. A civil war started in the 1950s when the U.S. recruited a force of 40,000 Laotians to oppose the Pathet Lao, a leftist political party that ultimately took power in 1975.

Also See Vietnam

Nepal

Between 8,000 and 12,000 Nepalese have died since a civil war broke out in 1996. The death rate, according to Foreign Policy in Focus, sharply increased with the arrival of almost 8,400 American M-16 submachine guns (950 rpm) and U.S. advisers. Nepal is 85 percent rural and badly in need of land reform. Not surprisingly 42 % of its people live below the poverty level. (1,2)

In 2002, after another civil war erupted, President George W. Bush pushed a bill through Congress authorizing $20 million in military aid to the Nepalese government. (3)

Nicaragua

In 1981 the Sandinistas overthrew the Somoza government in Nicaragua, (1) and until 1990 about 25,000 Nicaraguans were killed in an armed struggle between the Sandinista government and Contra rebels who were formed from the remnants of Somoza’s national government. The use of assassination manuals by the Contras surfaced in 1984. (2,3)

The U.S. supported the victorious government regime by providing covert military aid to the Contras (anti-communist guerillas) starting in November, 1981. But when Congress discovered that the CIA had supervised acts of sabotage in Nicaragua without notifying Congress, it passed the Boland Amendment in 1983 which prohibited the CIA, Defense Department and any other government agency from providing any further covert military assistance. (4)

But ways were found to get around this prohibition. The National Security Council, which was not explicitly covered by the law, raised private and foreign funds for the Contras. In addition, arms were sold to Iran and the proceeds were diverted from those sales to the Contras engaged in the insurgency against the Sandinista government. (5) Finally, the Sandinistas were voted out of office in 1990 by voters who thought that a change in leadership would placate the U.S., which was causing misery to Nicaragua’s citizenry by it support of the Contras.

Pakistan

In 1971 West Pakistan, an authoritarian state supported by the U.S., brutally invaded East Pakistan. The war ended after India, whose economy was staggering after admitting about 10 million refugees, invaded East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and defeated the West Pakistani forces. (1)

Millions of people died during that brutal struggle, referred to by some as genocide committed by West Pakistan. That country had long been an ally of the U.S., starting with $411 million provided to establish its armed forces which spent 80% of its budget on its military. $15 million in arms flowed into W. Pakistan during the war. (2,3,4)

Three sources estimate that 3 million people died and (5,2,6) one source estimates 1.5 million. (3)

Panama

In December, 1989 U.S. troops invaded Panama, ostensibly to arrest Manuel Noriega, that nation’s president. This was an example of the U.S. view that it is the master of the world and can arrest anyone it wants to. For a number of years before that he had worked for the CIA, but fell out of favor partially because he was not an opponent of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. (1) It has been estimated that between 500 and 4,000 people died. (2,3,4)

Paraguay: See South America: Operation Condor

Philippines

The Philippines were under the control of the U.S. for over a hundred years. In about the last 50 to 60 years the U.S. has funded and otherwise helped various Philippine governments which sought to suppress the activities of groups working for the welfare of its people. In 1969 the Symington Committee in the U.S. Congress revealed how war material was sent there for a counter-insurgency campaign. U.S. Special Forces and Marines were active in some combat operations. The estimated number of persons that were executed and disappeared under President Fernando Marcos was over 100,000. (1,2)

South America: Operation Condor

This was a joint operation of 6 despotic South American governments (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay) to share information about their political opponents. An estimated 13,000 people were killed under this plan. (1)

It was established on November 25, 1975 in Chile by an act of the Interamerican Reunion on Military Intelligence. According to U.S. embassy political officer, John Tipton, the CIA and the Chilean Secret Police were working together, although the CIA did not set up the operation to make this collaboration work. Reportedly, it ended in 1983. (2)

On March 6, 2001 the New York Times reported the existence of a recently declassified State Department document revealing that the United States facilitated communications for Operation Condor. (3)

Sudan

Since 1955, when it gained its independence, Sudan has been involved most of the time in a civil war. Until about 2003 approximately 2 million people had been killed. It not known if the death toll in Darfur is part of that total.

Human rights groups have complained that U.S. policies have helped to prolong the Sudanese civil war by supporting efforts to overthrow the central government in Khartoum. In 1999 U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with the leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) who said that she offered him food supplies if he would reject a peace plan sponsored by Egypt and Libya.

In 1978 the vastness of Sudan’s oil reservers was discovered and within two years it became the sixth largest recipient of U.S, military aid. It’s reasonable to assume that if the U.S. aid a government to come to power it will feel obligated to give the U.S. part of the oil pie.

A British group, Christian Aid, has accused foreign oil companies of complicity in the depopulation of villages. These companies – not American – receive government protection and in turn allow the government use of its airstrips and roads.

In August 1998 the U.S. bombed Khartoum, Sudan with 75 cruise míssiles. Our government said that the target was a chemical weapons factory owned by Osama bin Laden. Actually, bin Laden was no longer the owner, and the plant had been the sole supplier of pharmaceutical supplies for that poor nation. As a result of the bombing tens of thousands may have died because of the lack of medicines to treat malaria, tuberculosis and other diseases. The U.S. settled a lawsuit filed by the factory’s owner. (1,2)

Uruguay: See South America: Operation Condor

Vietnam

In Vietnam, under an agreement several decades ago, there was supposed to be an election for a unified North and South Vietnam. The U.S. opposed this and supported the Diem government in South Vietnam. In August, 1964 the CIA and others helped fabricate a phony Vietnamese attack on a U.S. ship in the Gulf of Tonkin and this was used as a pretext for greater U.S. involvement in Vietnam. (1)

During that war an American assassination operation,called Operation Phoenix, terrorized the South Vietnamese people, and during the war American troops were responsible in 1968 for the mass slaughter of the people in the village of My Lai.

According to a Vietnamese government statement in 1995 the number of deaths of civilians and military personnel during the Vietnam War was 5.1 million. (2)

Since deaths in Cambodia and Laos were about 2.7 million (See Cambodia and Laos) the estimated total for the Vietnam War is 7.8 million.

The Virtual Truth Commission provides a total for the war of 5 million, (3) and Robert McNamara, former Secretary Defense, according to the New York Times Magazine says that the number of Vietnamese dead is 3.4 million. (4,5)

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia was a socialist federation of several republics. Since it refused to be closely tied to the Soviet Union during the Cold War, it gained some suport from the U.S. But when the Soviet Union dissolved, Yugoslavia’s usefulness to the U.S. ended, and the U.S and Germany worked to convert its socialist economy to a capitalist one by a process primarily of dividing and conquering. There were ethnic and religious differences between various parts of Yugoslavia which were manipulated by the U.S. to cause several wars which resulted in the dissolution of that country.

From the early 1990s until now Yugoslavia split into several independent nations whose lowered income, along with CIA connivance, has made it a pawn in the hands of capitalist countries. (1) The dissolution of Yugoslavia was caused primarily by the U.S. (2)

Here are estimates of some, if not all, of the internal wars in Yugoslavia. All wars: 107,000; (3,4)

Bosnia and Krajina: 250,000; (5) Bosnia: 20,000 to 30,000; (5) Croatia: 15,000; (6) and

Kosovo: 500 to 5,000. (7)

NOTES

Afghanistan

1.Mark Zepezauer, Boomerang (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2003), p.135.

2.Chronology of American State Terrorism
http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_
terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html

3.Soviet War in Afghanistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in_Afghanistan

4.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.76

5.U.S Involvement in Afghanistan, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_in Afghanistan)

6.The CIA’s Intervention in Afghanistan, Interview with Zbigniew Brzezinski, Le Nouvel Observateur, Paris, 15-21 January 1998, Posted at globalresearch.ca 15 October 2001, http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/BRZ110A.html

7.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p.5

8.Unknown News, http://www.unknownnews.net/casualtiesw.html

Angola

1.Howard W. French “From Old Files, a New Story of the U.S. Role in the Angolan War” New York Times 3/31/02

2.Angolan Update, American Friends Service Committee FS, 11/1/99 flyer.

3.Norman Solomon, War Made Easy, (John Wiley & Sons, 2005) p. 82-83.

4.Lance Selfa, U.S. Imperialism, A Century of Slaughter, International Socialist Review Issue 7, Spring 1999 (as appears in Third world Traveler www. thirdworldtraveler.com/American_Empire/Century_Imperialism.html)

5. Jeffress Ramsay, Africa , (Dushkin/McGraw Hill Guilford Connecticut), 1997, p. 144-145.

6.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.54.

Argentina : See South America: Operation Condor

Bolivia

1. Phil Gunson, Guardian, 5/6/02,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/archive /article/0,4273,41-07884,00.html

2.Jerry Meldon, Return of Bolilvia’s Drug – Stained Dictator, Consortium, www.consortiumnews.com/archives/story40.html.

Brazil See South America: Operation Condor

Cambodia

1.Virtual Truth Commissiion http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/ .

2.David Model, President Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and the Bombing of Cambodia excerpted from the book Lying for Empire How to Commit War Crimes With A Straight Face, Common Courage Press, 2005, paper http://thirdworldtraveler.com/American_Empire/Nixon_Cambodia_LFE.html.

3.Noam Chomsky, Chomsky on Cambodia under Pol Pot, etc., http//zmag.org/forums/chomcambodforum.htm.

Chad

1.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 151-152 .

2.Richard Keeble, Crimes Against Humanity in Chad, Znet/Activism 12/4/06 http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=11560&sectionID=1).

Chile

1.Parenti, Michael, The Sword and the Dollar (New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1989) p. 56.

2.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 142-143.

3.Moreorless: Heroes and Killers of the 20th Century, Augusto Pinochet Ugarte,

http://www.moreorless.au.com/killers/pinochet.html

4.Associated Press,Pincohet on 91st Birthday, Takes Responsibility for Regimes’s Abuses, Dayton Daily News 11/26/06

5.Chalmers Johnson, Blowback, The Costs and Consequences of American Empire (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2000), p. 18.

China: See Korea

Colombia

1.Chronology of American State Terrorism, p.2

http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html).

2.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 163.

3.Millions Killed by Imperialism Washington Post May 6, 2002) http://www.etext.org./Politics/MIM/rail/impkills.html

4.Gabriella Gamini, CIA Set Up Death Squads in Colombia Times Newspapers Limited, Dec. 5, 1996, www.edu/CommunicationsStudies/ben/news/cia/961205.death.html).

5.Virtual Truth Commission, 1991

Human Rights Watch Report: Colombia’s Killer Networks–The Military-Paramilitary Partnership).

Cuba

1.St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture – on Bay of Pigs Invasion http://bookrags.com/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion.

2.Wikipedia http://bookrags.com/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion#Casualties.

Democratic Republic of Congo (Formerly Zaire)

1.F. Jeffress Ramsey, Africa (Guilford Connecticut, 1997), p. 85

2. Anup Shaw The Democratic Republic of Congo, 10/31/2003) http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/Africa/DRC.asp)

3.Kevin Whitelaw, A Killing in Congo, U. S. News and World Report http://www.usnews.com/usnews/doubleissue/mysteries/patrice.htm

4.William Blum, Killing Hope (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995), p 158-159.

5.Ibid.,p. 260

6.Ibid.,p. 259

7.Ibid.,p.262

8.David Pickering, “World War in Africa, 6/26/02,
www.9-11peace.org/bulletin.php3

9.William D. Hartung and Bridget Moix, Deadly Legacy; U.S. Arms to Africa and the Congo War, Arms Trade Resource Center, January , 2000 www.worldpolicy.org/projects/arms/reports/congo.htm

Dominican Republic

1.Norman Solomon, (untitled) Baltimore Sun April 26, 2005
http://www.globalpolicy.org/empire/history/2005/0426spincycle.htm
Intervention Spin Cycle

2.Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Power_Pack

3.William Blum, Killing Hope (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995), p. 175.

4.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.26-27.

East Timor

1.Virtual Truth Commission, http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/date4.htm

2.Matthew Jardine, Unraveling Indonesia, Nonviolent Activist, 1997)

3.Chronology of American State Terrorism http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html

4.William Blum, Killing Hope (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995), p. 197.

5.US trained butchers of Timor, The Guardian, London. Cited by The Drudge Report, September 19, 1999. http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/indon.htm

El Salvador

1.Robert T. Buckman, Latin America 2003, (Stryker-Post Publications Baltimore 2003) p. 152-153.

2.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 54-55.

3.El Salvador, Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Salvador#The_20th_century_and_beyond)

4.Virtual Truth Commissiion http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/.

Grenada

1.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p. 66-67.

2.Stephen Zunes, The U.S. Invasion of Grenada, http://wwwfpif.org/papers/grenada2003.html .

Guatemala

1.Virtual Truth Commissiion http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/

2.Ibid.

3.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.2-13.

4.Robert T. Buckman, Latin America 2003 (Stryker-Post Publications Baltimore 2003) p. 162.

5.Douglas Farah, Papers Show U.S. Role in Guatemalan Abuses, Washington Post Foreign Service, March 11, 1999, A 26

Haiti

1.Francois Duvalier, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois_Duvalier#Reign_of_terror).

2.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p 87.

3.William Blum, Haiti 1986-1994: Who Will Rid Me of This Turbulent Priest, http://www.doublestandards.org/blum8.html

Honduras

1.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p. 55.

2.Reports by Country: Honduras, Virtual Truth Commission http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/honduras.htm

3.James A. Lucas, Torture Gets The Silence Treatment, Countercurrents, July 26, 2004.

4.Gary Cohn and Ginger Thompson, Unearthed: Fatal Secrets, Baltimore Sun, reprint of a series that appeared June 11-18, 1995 in Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, School of Assassins, p. 46 Orbis Books 2001.

5.Michael Dobbs, Negroponte’s Time in Honduras at Issue, Washington Post, March 21, 2005

Hungary

1.Edited by Malcolm Byrne, The 1956 Hungarian Revoluiton: A history in Documents November 4, 2002 http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB76/index2.htm

2.Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia,
http://www.answers.com/topic/hungarian-revolution-of-1956

Indonesia

1.Virtual Truth Commission http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/.

2.Editorial, Indonesia’s Killers, The Nation, March 30, 1998.

3.Matthew Jardine, Indonesia Unraveling, Non Violent Activist Sept–Oct, 1997 (Amnesty) 2/7/07.

4.Sison, Jose Maria, Reflections on the 1965 Massacre in Indonesia, p. 5. http://qc.indymedia.org/mail.php?id=5602;

5.Annie Pohlman, Women and the Indonesian Killings of 1965-1966: Gender Variables and Possible Direction for Research, p.4, http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2004/Pohlman-A-ASAA.pdf

6.Peter Dale Scott, The United States and the Overthrow of Sukarno, 1965-1967, Pacific Affairs, 58, Summer 1985, pages 239-264. http://www.namebase.org/scott.

7.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.30.

Iran

1.Geoff Simons, Iraq from Sumer to Saddam, 1996, St. Martins Press, NY p. 317.

2.Chronology of American State Terrorism http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html.

3.BBC 1988: US Warship Shoots Down Iranian Airliner http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/default.stm )

Iraq

Iran-Iraq War

1.Michael Dobbs, U.S. Had Key role in Iraq Buildup, Washington Post December 30, 2002, p A01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A52241-2002Dec29?language=printer

2.Global Security.Org , Iran Iraq War (1980-1980) globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm.

U.S. Iraq War and Sanctions

1.Ramsey Clark, The Fire This Time (New York, Thunder’s Mouth), 1994, p.31-32

2.Ibid., p. 52-54

3.Ibid., p. 43

4.Anthony Arnove, Iraq Under Siege, (South End Press Cambridge MA 2000). p. 175.

5.Food and Agricultural Organizaiton, The Children are Dying, 1995 World View Forum, Internationa Action Center, International Relief Association, p. 78

6.Anthony Arnove, Iraq Under Siege, South End Press Cambridge MA 2000. p. 61.

7.David Cortright, A Hard Look at Iraq Sanctions December 3, 2001, The Nation.

U.S-Iraq War 2003-?

1.Jonathan Bor 654,000 Deaths Tied to Iraq War Baltimore Sun , October 11,2006

2.News http://www.unknownnews.net/casualties.html

Israeli-Palestinian War

1.Post-1967 Palestinian & Israeli Deaths from Occupation & Violence May 16, 2006 http://globalavoidablemortality.blogspot.com/2006/05/post-1967-palestinian-israeli-deaths.html)

2.Chronology of American State Terrorism

http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html

Korea

1.James I. Matray Revisiting Korea: Exposing Myths of the Forgotten War, Korean War Teachers Conference: The Korean War, February 9, 2001 http://www.truman/library.org/Korea/matray1.htm

2.William Blum, Killing Hope (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1995), p. 46

3.Kanako Tokuno, Chinese Winter Offensive in Korean War – the Debacle of American Strategy, ICE Case Studies Number 186, May, 2006 http://www.american.edu/ted/ice/chosin.htm.

4.John G. Stroessinger, Why Nations go to War, (New York; St. Martin’s Press), p. 99)

5.Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, as reported in Answers.com http://www.answers.com/topic/Korean-war

6.Exploring the Environment: Korean Enigma www.cet.edu/ete/modules/korea/kwar.html)

7.S. Brian Wilson, Who are the Real Terrorists? Virtual Truth Commisson http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/

8.Korean War Casualty Statistics www.century china.com/history/krwarcost.html)

9.S. Brian Wilson, Documenting U.S. War Crimes in North Korea (Veterans for Peace Newsletter) Spring, 2002) http://www.veteransforpeace.org/

Laos

1.William Blum Rogue State (Maine, Common Cause Press) p. 136

2.Chronology of American State Terrorism http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html

3.Fred Branfman, War Crimes in Indochina and our Troubled National Soul

www.wagingpeace.org/articles/2004/08/00_branfman_us-warcrimes-indochina.htm).

Nepal

1.Conn Hallinan, Nepal & the Bush Administration: Into Thin Air, February 3, 2004

fpif.org/commentary/2004/0402nepal.html.

2.Human Rights Watch, Nepal’s Civil War: the Conflict Resumes, March 2006 )

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/03/28/nepal13078.htm.

3.Wayne Madsen, Possible CIA Hand in the Murder of the Nepal Royal Family, India Independent Media Center, September 25, 2001 http://india.indymedia.org/en/2002/09/2190.shtml.

Nicaragua

1.Virtual Truth Commission
http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/.

2.Timeline Nicaragua
www.stanford.edu/group/arts/nicaragua/discovery_eng/timeline/).

3.Chronology of American State Terrorism,
http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/ChronologyofTerror.html.

4.William Blum, Nicaragua 1981-1990 Destabilization in Slow Motion

www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Nicaragua_KH.html.

5.Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran-Contra_Affair.

Pakistan

1.John G. Stoessinger, Why Nations Go to War, (New York: St. Martin’s Press), 1974 pp 157-172.

2.Asad Ismi, A U.S. – Financed Military Dictatorship, The CCPA Monitor, June 2002, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives http://www.policyaltematives.ca) www.ckln.fm/~asadismi/pakistan.html

3.Mark Zepezauer, Boomerang (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2003), p.123, 124.

4.Arjum Niaz ,When America Look the Other Way by,

www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=2821&sectionID=1

5.Leo Kuper, Genocide (Yale University Press, 1981), p. 79.

6.Bangladesh Liberation War , Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_Liberation_War#USA_and_USSR)

Panama

1.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’s Greatest Hits, (Odonian Press 1998) p. 83.

2.William Blum, Rogue State (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2000), p.154.

3.U.S. Military Charged with Mass Murder, The Winds 9/96, www.apfn.org/thewinds/archive/war/a102896b.html

4.Mark Zepezauer, CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 1994), p.83.

Paraguay See South America: Operation Condor

Philippines

1.Romeo T. Capulong, A Century of Crimes Against the Filipino People, Presentation, Public Interest Law Center, World Tribunal for Iraq Trial in New York City on August 25,2004.
http://www.peoplejudgebush.org/files/RomeoCapulong.pdf).

2.Roland B. Simbulan The CIA in Manila – Covert Operations and the CIA’s Hidden Hisotry in the Philippines Equipo Nizkor Information – Derechos, derechos.org/nizkor/filipinas/doc/cia.

South America: Operation Condor

1.John Dinges, Pulling Back the Veil on Condor, The Nation, July 24, 2000.

2.Virtual Truth Commission, Telling the Truth for a Better America www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/condor.htm)

3.Operation Condor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Condor#US_involvement).

Sudan

1.Mark Zepezauer, Boomerang, (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press, 2003), p. 30, 32,34,36.

2.The Black Commentator, Africa Action The Tale of Two Genocides: The Failed US Response to Rwanda and Darfur, 11 August 2006 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/091706X.shtml.

Uruguay See South America: Operation Condor

Vietnam

1.Mark Zepezauer, The CIA’S Greatest Hits (Monroe, Maine:Common Courage Press,1994), p 24

2.Casualties – US vs NVA/VC,
http://www.rjsmith.com/kia_tbl.html.

3.Brian Wilson, Virtual Truth Commission
http://www.geocities.com/~virtualtruth/

4.Fred Branfman, U.S. War Crimes in Indochiona and our Duty to Truth August 26, 2004

www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=6105&sectionID=1

5.David K Shipler, Robert McNamara and the Ghosts of Vietnam nytimes.com/library/world/asia/081097vietnam-mcnamara.html

Yugoslavia

1.Sara Flounders, Bosnia Tragedy:The Unknown Role of the Pentagon in NATO in the Balkans (New York: International Action Center) p. 47-75

2.James A. Lucas, Media Disinformation on the War in Yugoslavia: The Dayton Peace Accords Revisited, Global Research, September 7, 2005 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=
viewArticle&code=LUC20050907&articleId=899

3.Yugoslav Wars in 1990s
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yugoslav_wars.

4.George Kenney, The Bosnia Calculation: How Many Have Died? Not nearly as many as some would have you think., NY Times Magazine, April 23, 1995

http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/
war_crimes/srebrenica/bosnia_numbers.html)

5.Chronology of American State Terrorism

http://www.intellnet.org/resources/american_terrorism/
ChronologyofTerror.html.

6.Croatian War of Independence, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatian_War_of_Independence

7.Human Rights Watch, New Figures on Civilian Deaths in Kosovo War, (February 7, 2000) http://www.hrw.org/press/2000/02/nato207.htm

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