It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House

[Judi Lynn]

It's greed, not ideology, that rules the White House

Why the US wants Iraq's debts cancelled - and Argentina's paid in full

Naomi Klein
Tuesday December 23, 2003
The Guardian

Contrary to predictions, the doors of Old Europe weren't slammed in James Baker's face as he asked forgiveness for Iraq's foreign debt last week. Germany and France appear to have signed on, and Russia is softening.
In the days leading up to Baker's drop-the-debt tour, there was virtual consensus that the former US secretary of state had been sabotaged by deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, whose move to shut out "non-coalition" partners from reconstruction contracts in Iraq of $18.6bn seemed designed to make Baker look a hypocrite.

Only now it turns out that Wolfowitz may not have been undermining Baker, but rather acting as his enforcer. He showed up with a big stick to point out "the threat of economic exclusion from Iraq's potential $500bn reconstruction" just as Baker was about to speak softly.

The Iraqi people "should not be saddled with the debt of a brutal regime", said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. No argument here. But when I heard about Baker's "noble mission", as George Bush described it, I couldn't help thinking about an under-reported story earlier this month. On December 4, the Miami Herald published excerpts from a state department transcript of a meeting on October 7 1976 between Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state under Gerald Ford, and Admiral César Augusto Guzzetti, Argentina's then foreign minister under the military dictatorship.

It was the height of Argentina's dirty war to destroy the "Marxist threat" by systematically torturing and killing not only armed guerrillas, but also peaceful union organisers, student activists and their friends, families and sympathisers. By the end of the dictatorship, approximately 30,000 people had been "disappeared".
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1112129,00.html

[Manix]

1. When will the American people wake up!!!

..hopefully before it's too late.

[kalian]

2. Will they wake up....?

Or continue to slumber through the so-called "American dream"...
that IMHO is quickly turning into a friggin nightmare.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Yeah and your point is?

You're preaching to the choir here. I doubt there's many on this board who disaggree with you on this subject.

[OneBlueSky]

5. I think the point is that you just have to keep saying it . . .

over and over in the hope that those who haven't yet taken the time to consider this reality will do so . . . maybe many here won't disagree with the proposition, but maybe there are some who just haven't given it a whole lot of serious thought yet . . . posts like this may encourage a little critical thinking, particularly among some who are new to this site . . .

[opihimoimoi]

4. When this rolls out on the floor for all to see.......

some other things will roll too.

Come, we go eat

[0007]

7. .....and when the dice come up, 'Ace, Duce'....

the whole world will know and realize that this administration has crapped out.

For those of you that are ignorant to playing or 'shooting craps' - this is bad, and junior and his cabal have booked another looser.

Sevens and Elevens are good.

[ixion]

6. feeding ideology, dining on impunity...

Yep, I think that pretty much sums it up. :grr: