Thursday, December 29, 2011

Blowback and an American Father


Blowback and an American Father

Blowback:
 : Blowback is the espionage term for unintended consequences of a covert operation that are suffered by the civil population of the aggressor government.”

Consequence:
 “The relation between a result and its cause”, “something that follows as a result”
  MSword – Encarta

Reaction:
 “A reaction or effect resulting from an action or cause, usually a negative reaction”
  MSword – Encarta


 Regardless of what you may believe, blowback is real and it does have severe consequences for our country. I will do my best to explain it in a way that I can understand it; because if I can understand it, then anyone can.

 Listed below are a summary of events that I have looked into over the years and their consequences. I have only listed those that have a clear and direct intervention with a US hand. There are many theories about wars and attacks over the last two hundred years, but I will not go into those here. I challenge you to check these facts and seek the truth for yourself. All I can do is plant the seed, it is up to you to water and nurture the tree. Once you do, I know you will agree that our foreign policy needs to change.

1)      We invaded a land and began to consume its resources, develop the land and kill and displace the indigenous people. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Death to thousands of American people at the hands of the Native Americans.

2)      We infringed on the rights of the several states to determine the morality and legality of slavery. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Secession of several states from the union.
·        A Civil war with close to one million deaths.
·        The assassination of President Lincoln.

3)      We directed the CIA to support an insurgency of rebels to overthrow the Iranian regime in 1953/54. We set up the Shah Mohammad Rezā Shāh Pahlavi who later, was overthrown by the people in an effort to regain their democracy and freedom. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Iranian nationals attacking the U.S. Embassy holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The matter was resolved when the U.S. and Iran signed the Algerian Accord.

4)      In 1958 the U.S. installed medium range ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in Russia’s backyard, Turkey. In 1961 we installed similar missiles in the UK. All of these missiles had the capability of delivering their payload to Moscow. In 1961/62 the U.S. launched a covert attack against Cuba in an attempt to over throw the regime of Fidel Castro; this is known as the Bay of Pigs/Operation mongoose. The operation failed and was an embarrassment to JFK and his administration. Blowback came in the form of:
·  The Cuban Missile Crisis. I am sure everyone has heard of this at least once, but it is basically where the U.S. & Russia and perhaps the world, barely avoided destruction by nuclear war. This problem was solved when Kennedy and Khrushchev picked up the phone and talked to each other. What a concept!
·  In 1963 President John F. Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. It is known that Oswald was a communist sympathizer having lived in Russia for some time. It is believed the assassination was orchestrated by Communist Russia and Cuba in retaliation for the Cuban missile crisis and other events.

5)      In the mid 1950’s the U.S. refused to sign the Geneva Accords which would have prevented them from engaging in any political activity with respect to Vietnam. It also created a ceasefire between France and Vietnam. The U.S. could not do this because they were supporting the Vietnamese Prime minister Diem (who later installed himself as President) with intelligence and foreign aid (Operation Plan 34-Alpha,). When they grew tired of Deim’s regime and found they could no longer adequately control him, they refused to provide intelligence or stop a coup by various generals and political rivals on Deim’s regime (1963). The U.S. had already been covertly attacking NV from the sea and was complicit in the aid of the SV in military actions (1961). Blowback came in the form of:
·        The USS Maddox Incident
·        The Vietnam war

6)      The Iran-Contra Affair took place in the mid eighties. A terrorist group captured six American citizens and held them hostage. They wanted the complete withdrawal of Israel from the Golan Heights and probably one or two other things. The U.S. said no and things deteriorated. We ended up selling arms through Israel to some terrorists, military persons and the Iranian government (they were not an enemy at this time, but they were not exactly friendly to us either) and sending some of the proceeds to fund the Contras in Central America. We wanted to overthrow the communist government of Nicaragua, but we couldn’t just march in and do it. We also could not directly fund the Contras due to the Boland Amendment. So we gave millions of dollars to a cruel military force and in exchange we were able to entrench ourselves even deeper into the drug trade of Central and South America. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Arming terrorist nations and persons that would later use those arms against our allies and soldiers.
·        Expanding the drug trade and increasing trafficking to the U.S.
·        Creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America that ultimately led to a renewed commitment in the war on drugs, by incarcerating blacks, Hispanics and other minorities including poor white people, at a disproportionately high rate.
·        Establishing a dialogue with terrorist organizations that we would later cultivate into a partnership against communism.
7)      Afghanistan vs. Communist Russia. Over the course of the ten year war the U.S.S.R. waged in Afghanistan (1979-1989) the U.S.’s involvement in the war remained covert and clandestine. We could not allow communist Russia to gain a foot hold in a land so rich with natural resources and we could not allow the region to become “destabilized”. We not only funded the start up Al-Qaeda network, but we established training camps for their fighters and provided them with arms, most notably, the stinger missiles. We were helping them under the guise of freedom for there land, but we had other reasons as well. We needed to make sure that Russia did not gain control of this area as we had designs on it ourselves. We also needed to make sure that the war lasted as long as it could, as we were undermining Russia’s economy during this time. When the Russians finally retreated the Mujahadeen celebrated a great victory and praised their new friends and allies, the Americans. The victory was short lived though as we started to establish embassies in their holy land. We effectively cut them off from funding and arms and for all intents and purposes deemed them a threat. Having no need for the Mujahadeen any longer we left them to hang in the wind on one or two occasions. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Thousands of new enemy combatants and terrorists were now trained in the art of war by the U.S. military and CIA.
·        Terrorists were now supplied with modern weapons and bomb making technologies.
·        In 1992 a hotel was bombed in an attempt to kill U.S. soldiers en-route to Somalia. Two persons were killed, none of them Americans.
·        In 1993 the World Trade Center towers were attacked with a car bomb, killing six people and injuring over a thousand.
·        In 1998 the U.S. embassy in East Africa was bombed killing over 300 persons.
·        In 2000 the USS COLE was bombed killing 17 U.S. soldiers.
·        In 2001 the Twin Towers were again attacked and destroyed killing around 3000 people and destroying three buildings.

8)      After the war in Afghanistan Russia could barely afford to keep its government running. The U.S. interests had been undermining its economy for sometime and the prolonged war in Afghanistan all but ensured the downfall of communist Russia. The Gorbachev-Reagan “Tear down this wall” speech was nothing if not show. Russia by this time had become largely insolvent and there was no way for it to maintain its empire (Hmm, sounds familiar). The fall had to be carefully orchestrated so as not to create a panic in the mother land as well as in the rest of the world. The next few years in Russia were extremely difficult for the average citizen as the economy all but ground to a halt. Blowback from the fall of the U.S.S.R came in the form of:
·        Thousands of arms sold on the black market, many going to terrorist organizations.
·        Thousands of troops and scientists now “for hire” to anyone who could pay.
·        Complete destabilization of the region and states resulting in far more “terrorist” organizations and activities than before.
·        Our “enemies” had now multiplied and were better armed than they had previously been.
·        Genocide and ethnic cleansings took place in more than one Slavic nation formerly in the U.S.S.R.

9)      Saddam Hussein and Iraq: In the early sixties, the U.S. was covertly undermining the regime of General Abdul Karim Qassim. The General has successfully deposed a regime that was loyal to the west. After asserting the country’s sovereignty and threatening American interests in Iraq, The Kennedy administration sought to have him removed. The CIA recruited various persons in the Ba’athist party, Hussein being one, and sought to instigate a regime change. Several years after the initial coup, Hussein came to power. The U.S. had not been in communication with the new regime for some time, but now sought new relations with the new president of Iraq. The U.S. sold him weapons including, guns, ammo, viruses, chemical agents fro use in civilian and military applications, nuclear technologies and a host of other items. I am sure we also provided funding to his regime. The U.S. allowed the Attack on Iran and was complicit in the deaths of over 5000 kurds through chemical and biological agents. When the U.S. found it could no longer control Saddam in a satisfactory manner, they sought to tie him to the terrorists believed responsible for 9/11 and WMD’s in that region. The U.S. Invaded Iraq in 2003 with the ultimate goal of deposing Saddam and gaining control over the region. Blowback came in the form of:
·        Terrorist persons now actively engaged in Iraq where none had been previously.
·        The Iraq war
·        The loss of thousands of American soldiers in this war.
·        Increased agitation of Iran and various other Arab/Muslim nations as to our presence in the region.

10)  Due to the U.S.’s overwhelming and insidious interventions across the globe, lots and lots of people are pissed off at us. They now hate our government and therefore hate America. They cannot kill our leaders so they kill us. This is blowback. This is the consequence of our military campaign, of our meddling in the affairs of other nations and our constant nation building and “peace keeping”. The reaction of an attacked nation or people is to attack the aggressor and in case you did not notice, the U.S. has long since stopped merely defending this country; they have been actively attacking other nations. What we now see at home in the from of blowback is:
·        The Patriot Act
·        The National Defense Authorization Act (2011)
·        SOPA
·        The beginning of a Police State:

I have heard many people talk of the “terrorists” and the reasons why they hate us and want to kill us. I can’t help but laugh when I hear people say that they hate us because we are free. They hate us because we are rich. They hate us because we are infidels and we do not follow Islamic law. It sounds good to the average American that gets his or her news from Fox News, but the reality is actually much darker. They hate us, because we are bombing their countries, killing their men, women and children, poisoning their lands and stealing their resources. It’s just that simple.

 These “terrorist” organizations have stated many times, they want all U.S. military presence out of the holy land. They do not want our western democracy and they certainly do not want or need us to tell them how to live. They don’t want a Starbucks or Rite Aid on every corner. They don’t want our western religion corrupting their children. They don’t want our western music and films corrupting their society.

 I can see that and I can understand that. While I agree with what they are saying, I don’t agree with the murder of innocent people-by either side.

 Whenever I am faced with a person who parrots words from the tele-prompted-AP-wire-fed-news that is spoken as if it were indeed the truth, I use this layman’s argument. When I am done I ask two simple questions, I always get the same responses.

 “My family has owned a piece of land for over a hundred years. I have a modest sized house on it, but mostly the land is open and wild. The boys and I love to walk the land and explore. My wife and I love to sit on the back porch and watch the sunsets in the summer.

 One day a wealthy man decides that it is not right that I should have all this land, yet it is going to waste so he decides to start building a house on it. I try talking to him, but he either ignores me or becomes increasingly violent and threatening towards me. He calls me names and says that I am just being greedy, selfish and close-minded.

 So I go to the police, who in turn refuse to stop him. After arguing with the police for several weeks they threaten me with arrest for harassment and falsifying police reports.

 Again I try to talk to the man and reason with him, but he doesn’t listen, nor does he care. The construction crew the man hired to build the house calls my wife names and is constantly saying vulgar and indecent things to her.

 Then I file suit in court. The man has the best lawyers and he plays golf with the judge so naturally, my case is tossed out after I am ridiculed by the judge for being calloused and selfish.

 After the house is built I get a letter from the county assessor stating that due to recent improvements the taxes on the land have gone up. Arguing with the department does no good, because just as the judge, the assessor and the man are good friends. The assessor states that he will take my land if I am even one day late on a payment.

 After months of battling with the county, state, police and courts, the days grow long and start to heat up. So the man decides he wants to have a pool put in.

 At this point I am almost ready to throw in the towel.

 The man decides that having the pool right next to his house is not an option, so he tears down the fence I just had built and puts the pool in my backyard.

 We argued, but of course, he won again.

 So I pleaded with the man to build a small fence around the pool, for the sake of my sons.

He declines and says it would detract from the aesthetics of the waterfall.

 I relent again and tell my wife that the boys can’t go outside unless she or I are with them.

 Over the next few weeks with put up with the man and his loud pool parties that last well into the night. Bleary eyed we roll out of bed only to have to clean up the mess his guest leave, and we pay to have the extra trash hauled away.

 Then one day, my son Ben, sneaks out of the house while I am at work. He knows to stay away form the pool, but he is running around and playing. He is not paying attention to what he is doing and he falls into the pool. My wife is in the house, she doesn’t hear his cries for help.

 My four year old son, Benjamin, drowned in a pool put on my land by a man that thought he could do whatever he wanted just because he felt like it.”

 A man stole my land. Destroyed my property, belittled and insulted my family; caused the death of my son, and all the while he was protected by his money and friends.

 What do you think I am going to do to that man and his family? What do you think I am going to do to all of his friends and their families?

What would you do?



In Liberty,
 Richard Camacho

Ron Paul 2012

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Let's keep it fairly clean and civil. Calling someone a liberal-moron or a right-wing-nut does little to get your point across.