The American Empire: Methods to the Madness | Deep Dives 12

“God created war so that Americans would learn Geography” - Mark Twain, then Vice President of the Anti-Imperialist League. 

The Center of the Chessboard

In the early 1950’s, Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, became the democratically elected President of Iran. His nationalistic campaign rode mainly on the idea that the oil industry in Iran, under British control, had a duty to benefit the Iranian people first. And for these sins he became TIME Magazine's Person of the Year in 1951, and was condemned as “The New Menace”.

Soon after, Kermit Roosevelt, the son of Theodore Roosevelt, was tasked by the CIA to travel to Iran. And with a few million dollars he replaced the democratically elected leader, “The New Menace”, with the Shah.
  
But despite Kermit’s success, the CIA saw great danger in getting caught in the act. And to prevent this, they employed private contractors. Proxies that could give them the protection of ‘plausible deniability’.

In 2004 whistle blower John Perkin’s book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” was published. He describes his experiences working as a contractor in the Chas T. Main consulting firm, where he advised CEOs of major corporations, the US Government , the World Bank, the IMF, and the UN, on how to control weaker countries through financial dependency.

Step by Step

First a country is targeted for whatever resources are desired by what Perkins refers to as a “fraternity of corporate, government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire”.   

Loans are then arranged by the World Bank, or a related organization, which are then given to corporations that build infrastructure projects in the country, IE: power plants, ports, industrial parks, etc.

After the buttering up process, the country is then left with huge debt that it usually can’t pay. This is when the game of extortion begins:

Stage 1) Economic Hit Men



This was Perkins’ role. These groups are sent to the targeted country to offer ‘solutions’ to growing debt.  These typically are:

 * Cheaper sale of oil to chosen “fraternity” companies

 * Military base installations

 * Providing military aid to western powers

 * Support in the UN

 * Privatization of infrastructure companies (water, electricity, educational systems, penal systems etc.) , and the sale of them to foreign corporations within the “fraternity”.

 * Refinancing with added interest

 * A life of riches and privileges to the elite caste of the country

Perkins adds that Saddam Hussein was offered “a deal very similar to what the House of Saud had accepted in Saudi Arabia”, but rejected it.

The World Bank and the IMF usually play an instrumental role in this Quid Pro Quo stage. If the country submits to this group, they can be trapped into a state of perpetual debt.

The weaponization of inflation and interest:

 * Devaluation of currency - Which drops the value of everything valued in it.

 * Regulation of systems by foreign groups – Bechtel bought Bolivia’s public water systems causing water bills to sky rocket.

 * Removal of foreign trade restrictions – This allows transnational corporations to import their mass produced products, and undercut the country’s own production.

 * Outsourcing – Takes advantage of the host’s regional economic hardships, and also hurts the US’ own economy.

 * Environmental Destruction – Due to unrestricted control over a weaker country.

 When the Economic Hit Men fail, the CIA and their sanctioned groups become involved.


 Stage 2) The Jackals



 * Infiltration

This is usually started with the CIA literally paying groups of people to go out in the streets and riot. All you need, Perkins says, is just “a few thousand people”, “and things start to mushroom”. The intent is to overthrow the government by starting serious upheaval from within the population.
  
Libya is a great example of this. And Mubarak’s Egypt is another that shows how a leader can be intimidated just by starting upheaval alone.

However, countries like Hugo Chavez’s Venezuela, proved to be very resilient due to a strong popular support. While countries like Saddam’s Iraq, which began as a puppet state and later went rogue, employed draconian techniques such as torture to suppress revolt.   

 * Assassination

When this fails the next step is assassination. Usually this is done by infiltrating a leader’s security detail.

Panama’s Omar Torrijos, and Ecuador’s Jaime Roldos, were both targeted this way, after Perkins failed on Stage 1. Torrijos was killed after he was given a bomb inside a tape recorder, by his own security personnel.

Saddam, was an interesting case, as he had been trained by the CIA before as an assassin. He failed in his mission, but learned how the CIA works. However because of this, he met his demise in a different way.


Stage 3) Military Solution



 * Propaganda

This is usually started by demonizing the leader of a country, to gather support from both its population and the Western population. Propaganda, which ranges form factual to outright lies, is employed. The media is controlled through direct ownership or advertising. Politicians are controlled by having their campaigns financed, compromise, or personal contributions.

 * Military Action

Military invasion that is almost always followed by occupation. Sometimes this is done indirectly by employing proxy forces to obfuscate a foreign country's involvement. This usually leads to collapse.

Perkins claims that the 1991 military action in Iraq was relatively soft handed, because Bush liked how Saddam ruled. The point was to hurt his military and have Saddam “come around”. But this failed. Ultimately George W. Bush’s 2003 Invasion of Iraq ended that saga.

Two reasons why this has been the modus operandi for regime change, for more than half a century, is because of it's complexity and secrecy. It is difficult to understand the complexity of an event, if it is hidden under the dark of a deceptive narrative. And only by understanding how the shadows move, can we know where to cast a light upon.

“It was necessary to conceal, or even to mislead, both governments and people about the nature of money and its methods of operation.” - Carroll Quigley, Council on Foreign Relations, and Professor of History at Georgetown University. 

References:

Kinzer, Stephen The True Flag: Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire Henry Holt and Co., 2017

Perkins, John The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2016

Plummer, Joseph Tragedy and Hope 101: The Illusion of Justice, Freedom and Democracy Brushfire Publishing, 2014

The Agency and the Hill, PDF pg 4 | CIA.Gov

TIME's Man of the Year Choice Portends 60 Years of US Policy

CIA Confirms Role in 1953 Iran Coup

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man – John Perkins | Short Documentary