WANTED: Examples of American Interventionism and Consequences

[nolanchart]

I am thinking about doing a YouTube video that cites a list of the terrorists and tyrants that American interventionism has created over the years. I'm looking for suggestions from this forum's members regarding what examples to include in the video. I want as many examples as I can find. An obvious example is Bin Laden himself from 1979 to 1989. Another example is Muammar Gaddafi until the revolution this year finally gained the upper hand.

What other examples can you suggest for use in my video? Please post them here!

[vroomery]

If you have Ron's book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom" you have a ton of examples. If you don't know about that book, it's basically every speech he gave on the house floor that pertains to foreign policy with short notes about how those situations have affected us today or how we are repeating those mistakes.

[Pipeking]

I know it is a bit of stretch, but the movie the Last Samurai depicts a perfect example of US intervention in a country and the US pushing "American Exceptionalism " that lead to the US being attacked. Here is a history channel special when the movie came out that explains the before and after effect. http://youtu.be/oGAnqrQfHQ4 start about 1:56

[hazek]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WVtpao0KSM

[nolanchart]

If you have Ron's book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom" you have a ton of examples. If you don't know about that book, it's basically every speech he gave on the house floor that pertains to foreign policy with short notes about how those situations have affected us today or how we are repeating those mistakes.
Thanks for the tip, vroomery. I wasn't aware of that book. I've just now ordered it via an Amazon seller, but they say it won't arrive for at least another week. Would you mind itemizing some of the examples he lists in the book?

[nolanchart]

I know it is a bit of stretch, but the movie the Last Samurai depicts a perfect example of US intervention in a country and the US pushing "American Exceptionalism " that lead to the US being attacked. Here is a history channel special when the movie came out that explains the before and after effect. http://youtu.be/oGAnqrQfHQ4 start about 1:56
Thanks, Pipeking. Yes, it's a bit of a stretch, but it might be worth mentioning anyway in a long list.

[nolanchart]

Thanks, hazek, for the YouTube share. You're right. Iran is another great example.

[Morerockin]

Just go to my YouTube account and watch all of the Secrets of the CIA videos. There are about 5-10 different classic examples there. Http://YouTube.com/morerockin

[bunklocoempire]

This one is often overlooked.


U.S. intervention: Annexing Hawaii.

Tyrants/terrorists: Sen. Inouye, Sen. Akaka, Rep. Hirono, Rep. Hanabusa, Gov. Abercrombie.

From 2009
http://www.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2009/06/29/story1.html

Government is still big business in Hawaii, by a huge margin.

A few industries have grown faster over the past decade, but government is still No. 1 in the amount it contributes to Hawaii’s economy, well ahead of real estate and even tourism.

In fact, the economic footprint of federal, state and local government in Hawaii expanded three times more than in the nation as a whole, according to statistics recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

The statistics, adjusted for inflation, show that government’s contribution to the Hawaii economy grew from $4.8 billion in 1998 to $6.6 billion in 2008, a 36 percent increase.

By contrast, government growth for the United States during the 10-year period amounted to 12 percent.

And Hawaii is growing more dependent on government to drive its economy.

In 2008, government accounted for 24 percent of Hawaii’s $28 billion gross domestic product — which is defined as the total market value of goods and services produced during a given period — up from 22 percent in 1998, according to the data, adjusted for inflation by the University of Hawaii .University of Hawaii Latest from The Business Journals Talk is strictly business for these Social WahineHawaii gets M in new federal energy grantsMaxine Burkett part of '24 Hours of Reality' presentation Follow this company .Economic Research Organization.

Not only is government Hawaii’s biggest industry but it’s the biggest employer, with 125,000 workers.

More than half of those, 74,300, work for the state of Hawaii, according to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s second quarter economic report.


(IMO) A conquered people, when given the opportunity, will vote for themselves everything that they believe was taken from them.



Bunkloco

[ibaghdadi]

I am thinking about doing a YouTube video that cites a list of the terrorists and tyrants that American interventionism has created over the years.
Created = indirectly (by singularly creating the necessary conditions), or = literally created/supported/put in power? This is an important distinction.

If we're talking indirectly, the list is long indeed. Otherwise it's shorter but no less impressive.

[Carole]

How about Pearl Harbor? Blowback

23 Jun 1941 - Advisor Harold Ickes wrote FDR a memo the day after Germany invaded the Soviet Union, "There might develop from the embargoing of oil to Japan such a situation as would make it not only possible but easy to get into this war in an effective way. And if we should thus indirectly be brought in, we would avoid the criticism that we had gone in as an ally of communistic Russia." FDR was pleased with Admiral Richmond Turner's report read July 22: "It is generally believed that shutting off the American supply of petroleum will lead promptly to the invasion of Netherland East Indies...it seems certain she would also include military action against the Philippine Islands, which would immediately involve us in a Pacific war." On July 24 FDR told the Volunteer Participation Committee, "If we had cut off the oil off, they probably would have gone down to the Dutch East Indies a year ago, and you would have had war." The next day FDR froze all Japanese assets in US cutting off their main supply of oil and forcing them into war with the US. Intelligence information was withheld from Hawaii from this point forward.
http://www.rense.com/general10/consp.htm

http://www.rense.com/general10/consp.htm

The back story on the reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor is long and filled with conflict. After the first World War, Japan was put in charge of many of Imperial Germany's colonies located in the Far East. This led to a thirst for more conquest. By the 1930's, Japan had established a large army and navy. The next step was to begin attacks on their hated neighbor – China. The US, along with other countries in the League of Nations, found this to be deplorable and condemned Japan, sanctioning the country with diplomatic pressure. Japan didn't buckle under this pressure, however, so by 1941 the United States shut off Japan financially as well as issuing a complete oil embargo.

The oil embargo was bad news for Japan, which received 80 percent of its oil from the US. The country was forced to make a decision: back down from their quest to take over China and comply with the US and other countries, or go to war. Japan knew that if they chose not to leave China, they would risk war with the US and possibly other countries as well, but they chose that risk. As early as in the beginning of 1941, Japan, and especially Commander Yamamoto, began planning an attack on Pearl Harbor.


As the main reasons Japan attacked Pearl Harbor were to not show deference to the United States, they wanted to make the attack large and devastating. Commander Yamamoto figured if Japan wiped out the US naval fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, the US Navy would be forced to retreat to California and regroup so Japan would have more time to create their “Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere”. This plan called for Japanese troops to eliminate the United States' influence in the Pacific as well as targeting other countries' military operations at the same time.

http://www.factsmonk.com/Reasons_Japan_Attacked_Pearl_Harbor

[Carole]

How about the consequences of the failed Cuban embargo and how it has impacted both Cubans and Americans?
Would it not be better to encouraged trade and communication as Ron Paul suggests?

Cuba: Snuff Out the Embargo
http://www.businessweek.com/debateroom/archives/2008/02/cube_snuff_out.html

The U.S. should open up business opportunities by lifting its trade embargo against the island nation. Pro or con? Update! Podcast: Hear a lively discussion as Roger Johnson and José Azel respond to your reader comments

Pro: Free Up Economies
by Roger Johnson, North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner

American policy toward Cuba is an abject failure. Nine U.S. Presidents have come and gone (and a 10th is about to depart); Fidel Castro has just resigned, yet his closest supporters remain in power.

The real victims of this misguided policy are the two generations of Cubans who have grown up under the U.S. embargo that has deprived them of access to U.S. consumer products. More important, it has isolated them from the ideals of democracy and freedom, the very things we most want for them.

In the meantime, other nations, including most of our closest allies, are openly trading with and sending tourists to Cuba. There is a substantial market there, especially for our agricultural products, and we are missing out on much of it. Embargoes are almost meaningless when the rest of the world ignores them.

Since 2002, North Dakota has exported nearly $40 million in agricultural commodities—mostly pulse crops (peas, chickpeas, lentils, etc.)—to Cuba, despite the competitive disadvantage imposed on us by our own government restrictions. Lifting those restrictions would mean greater trade opportunities.

Cuba’s government is much like those of China and Vietnam, Communist nations that enjoy trade, tourism, and even the friendship of the U.S. Yet we treat Cuba, a tiny nation with virtually no political, economic, or military power, as a pariah.

The U.S. should end the trade and business embargo with Cuba and move quickly to allow tourism between our two countries. Most important, we should restore full diplomatic relations with Havana. Only then will we have the leverage to press the new Cuban leadership to restore human rights, establish a free market-based economy, and move to democracy.

Until we do these things, however, we will watch as others enjoy the benefits of trade with Cuba and play an active role in the development of the island. The U.N. General Assembly has voted repeatedly for an end to the embargo against Cuba, most recently by a margin of 183 to 4. It is time to admit we are wrong; it is time to change our policy—for ourselves and for the people of Cuba.


Con: Restrictions Make Sense
by José Azel, Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, University of Miami

The effectiveness of using economic sanctions for political influence is an often debated aspect of U.S. foreign policy. The practice, however, is not new or particularly American. Pericles’ decree banning the Megarians from the Athenian market and ports helped incite the Great Peloponnesian War in 431 B.C.

In the case of Cuba in 2008, after nearly five decades of economic sanctions, the debate continues. Critics of the U.S. embargo note that economic sanctions have failed to change the nature of the Cuban government and have allowed the country to use the embargo for propaganda purposes. Abandoning U.S. trade restrictions, they argue, would expose Cuba to the “American way of life” and help foment social pressures for economic reforms and political liberalization.

Regrettably, this outlook stems from a U.S.-centric vantage point extrapolated to the Cuban government. Embargo opponents make the flawed assumption that the current Cuban government is earnestly interested in close relations with its northern neighbor—and willing to jeopardize its total control and 50-year legacy of opposition to Yankee imperialism in exchange for an improvement in the economic well-being of Cubans. Raul Castro’s recent speech to Cuba’s National Assembly should put an end to that notion.

The embargo is not the cause of the catastrophic state of Cuba’s economy. Mismanagement and the fact that “command economy” models don’t work lie at the root of Cuba’s economic misery. Despite the existence of the embargo, the U.S. is Cuba’s sixth-largest trading partner and biggest food supplier.

Moreover, U.S. tourism will not bring democracy to Cuba. For years, hundreds of thousands of tourists from Canada, Europe, Latin America, and elsewhere have visited the island. Cuba is no more democratic today. On what mystical grounds do opponents of the embargo offer that American tourists will do the trick?

There are many negative unintended consequences to unilaterally lifting the embargo without meaningful changes in Cuba’s political and economic model. Most important of all, it would ensure the continuation of the current totalitarian regime by strengthening state enterprises that would be the main beneficiaries of currency inflows into business owned by the Cuban government.

Opinions and conclusions expressed in the BusinessWeek.com Debate Room do not necessarily reflect the views of BusinessWeek, BusinessWeek.com, or The McGraw-Hill Companies.

[nolanchart]

If you have Ron's book "A Foreign Policy of Freedom" you have a ton of examples. If you don't know about that book, it's basically every speech he gave on the house floor that pertains to foreign policy with short notes about how those situations have affected us today or how we are repeating those mistakes.
Hey vroomery...I ordered the book, and it arrived today. I didn't find a list. Is there a particular list in the book, or do I need to thumb through the entire book to pick out the examples you mentioned?

[nolanchart]

Morerockin, bunklocoempire, ibaghdadi, and Carole...thanks for the boatload of suggestions!

[SilentBull]

Look up Rafael Trujillo. The US occupied the Dominican Republic in 1916, trained the military there, and left Trujillo in charge, who eventually became a ruthless dictator (even boiled some people to death).

[tremendoustie]

A brief History lesson for Neo-Cons:

1953: US Overthrows Prime Minister Mossadeq of Iran and installs the Shah as dictator.

1954: US Overthrows Democratically-Elected President Arbenz of Guatemala.(200,000 Civilians died)

1963: US Backs assassination of South Vietnamese President Diem.

1963-1975: American military kills 4 million people in South East Asia

September 11, 1973: US Stages Coup in Chile. Democratically-elected President Salvador Allende assassinated. Dictator Augusto Pinochet installed.(5000 Chileans murdered)

1977: US Backs military rulers of El Salvador. (70,000 Salvadorans and 4 American Nuns killed)

1980's: US Trains Osama Bin Laden and fellow terrorists to kill Soviets, CIA gives them $3 Billion dollars.

1981: Reagan administration trains and funds "contras."(30,000 Nicaraguans die)

1982: US provides billions in aid to Saddam Hussein for weapons to kill Iranians.

1983: White House secretly gives Iran weapons to kill Iraqis

1989: CIA Agent Manuel Noriega, serving as President of Panama, disobeys orders from Washington. US invades Panama and removes Noriega.(3000 Panamanian civilians die)

1990: Iraq invades Kuwait with weapons from US

1991: US enters Iraq, Bush re-instates dictator of Kuwait

1998: Clinton bombs "weapons factory" in Sudan, factory turns out to be making Aspirin.

1991-Present day: American planes bomb Iraq on a weekly basis. (500,000 Iraqi children die from bombing and sanctions)

2000-2001: US gives Taliban-ruled Afghanistan $245 Million in "aid"

September 11, 2001: Osama Bin Laden uses his expert CIA training and $245 million in aid to murder 3,000 US Citizens

[dennis dujac]

this is a big one:

The Internet: In the 1960s, the government created ARPANET, which was used and developed by the Defense Department, public universities and other research organizations. In 1985, the National Science Foundation created various supercomputing centers around the country, linking the five largest together to start the Internet we know today.

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/Governmentsuccesses.htm

[LatinsforPaul]

Here is a good list...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc5E-MnDBVk

[MJU1983]

If you wanted to go REALLY far back, look to one of my least favorite Presidents, Woodrow Wilson.

Our involvement in WWI + Treaty of Versailles led to WWII. WWII led to the Cold War which led to many wars including Korea and Vietnam. It also meant we were radicalizing Islamic fundamentalists in the 1980's against the Soviets. I think they called these groups the Mujahideen, Taliban, or Al-Qaeda. Who knew?

[vroomery]

Sorry if I misled you but it's pretty much the whole book. It's Ron Paul's history in congress and how he has been warning us for a while now. Each speech is about a specific instance and how that has ended in a failed policy. I can go through and find some specifics when I have some more time.