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