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Noam chomsky: u.s. Ranked as "biggest threat to world peace today" he says international poll shows no one else is even close. He says Putin has reluctance about continuing such e+orts.
Noam chomsky: u.s. Ranked as "biggest threat to world peace today" he says international poll shows no one else is even close. He says Putin has reluctance about continuing such e+orts.
Noam chomsky: u.s. Ranked as "biggest threat to world peace today" he says international poll shows no one else is even close. He says Putin has reluctance about continuing such e+orts.
Philosopher Noam Chomsky is professor of the MIT Institute of Linguistics
(Emeritus). (Photo: tele!"#file) An international poll found that the United States is ranked far in the lead as the biggest threat to world peace today, far ahead of second-place Pakistan, with no one else even close. Published ! "ctober !#$ %&agine that the lead article in Pravda reported a study by the '() that reviews &a*or terrorist operations run by the 're&lin around the world, in an e+ort to deter&ine the factors that led to their success or failure, ,nally concluding that unfortunately successes were rare so that so&e rethinking of policy is in order. Suppose that the article went on to -uote Putin as saying that he had asked the '() to carry out such in-uiries in order to ,nd cases of ,nancing and supplying ar&s to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn.t co&e up with &uch. So he has so&e reluctance about continuing such e+orts. %f, al&ost uni&aginably, such an article were to appear, cries of outrage and indignation would rise to the heavens, and /ussia would be bitterly conde&ned 0 or worse -- not only for the vicious terrorist record openly acknowledged, but for the reaction a&ong the leadership and the political class1 no concern, e2cept how well /ussian state terroris& works and whether the practices can be i&proved. %t is indeed hard to i&agine that such an article &ight appear, e2cept for the fact that it *ust did 0 al&ost. "n "ctober #$, the lead story in the 3ew 4ork 5i&es reported a study by the 6%A that reviews &a*or terrorist operations run by the 7hite 8ouse around the world, in an e+ort to deter&ine the factors that led to their success or failure, ,nally concluding that unfortunately successes were rare so that so&e rethinking of policy is in order. 5he article went on to -uote "ba&a as saying that he had asked the 6%A to carry out such in-uiries in order to ,nd cases of ,nancing and supplying ar&s to an insurgency in a country that actually worked out well. And they couldn.t co&e up with &uch. So he has so&e reluctance about continuing such e+orts. 5here were no cries of outrage, no indignation, nothing. 5he conclusion see&s -uite clear. %n western political culture, it is taken to be entirely natural and appropriate that the 9eader of the :ree 7orld should be a terrorist rogue state and should openly proclai& its e&inence in such cri&es. And it is only natural and appropriate that the 3obel Peace Pri;e laureate and liberal constitutional lawyer who holds the reins of power should be concerned only with how to carry out such actions &ore e<caciously. A closer look establishes these conclusions -uite ,r&ly. 5he article opens by citing US operations fro& Angola to 3icaragua to 6uba. 9et us add a little of what is o&itted. %n Angola, the US *oined South Africa in providing the crucial support for =onas Savi&bi.s terrorist U3%5A ar&y, and continued to do so after Savi&bi had been roundly defeated in a carefully &onitored free election and even after South Africa had withdrawn support fro& this &onster whose lust for power had brought appalling &isery to his people, in the words of )ritish A&bassador to Angola >arrack (oulding, seconded by the 6%A station chief in neighboring 'inshasa who warned that it wasn.t a good idea to support the &onster because of the e2tent of Savi&bi.s cri&es. 8e was terribly brutal. ?espite e2tensive and &urderous US-backed terrorist operations in Angola, 6uban forces drove South African aggressors out of the country, co&pelled the& to leave illegally occupied 3a&ibia, and opened the way for the Angolan election in which, after his defeat, Savi&bi dis&issed entirely the views of nearly @!! foreign elections observers here that the ballotingAwas generally free and fair B3ew 4ork 5i&esC, and continued the terrorist war with US support. 6uban achieve&ents in the liberation of Africa and ending of Apartheid were hailed by 3elson >andela when he was ,nally released fro& prison. A&ong his ,rst acts was to declare that ?uring all &y years in prison, 6uba was an inspiration and :idel 6astro a tower of strengthA D6uban victoriesE destroyed the &yth of the invincibility of the white oppressor DandE inspired the ,ghting &asses of South Africa A a turning point for the liberation of our continent F and of &y people F fro& the scourge of apartheid. A 7hat other country can point to a record of greater selGessness than 6uba has displayed in its relations to AfricaH 5he terrorist co&&ander 8enry 'issinger, in contrast, was apoplectic over the insubordination of the pips-ueak 6astro who should be s&ashDedE, as reported by 7illia& 9eogrande and Peter 'ornbluh in their book )ack 6hannel to 6uba, relying on recently declassi,ed docu&ents. 5urning to 3icaragua, we need not tarry on /eagan.s terrorist war, which continued well after the %nternational 6ourt of =ustice ordered 7ashington to cease its illegal use of force 0 that is, international terroris& -- and pay substantial reparations, and after a resolution of the U3 Security 6ouncil that called on all states B&eaning the USC to observe international law 0 vetoed by 7ashington. %t should be acknowledged, however, that /eagan.s terrorist war against 3icaragua 0 e2tended by )ush %, the states&an )ush -- was not as destructive as the state terroris& he backed enthusiastically in Il Salvador and (uate&ala. 3icaragua had the advantage of having an ar&y to confront the US-run terrorist forces, while in the neighboring states the terrorists assaulting the population were the security forces ar&ed and trained by 7ashington. %n a few weeks we will be co&&e&orating the (rand :inale of 7ashington.s terrorist wars in 9atin A&erica1 the &urder of si2 leading 9atin A&erican intellectuals, =esuit priests, by an elite terrorist unit of the Salvadoran ar&y, the Atlacatl )attalion, ar&ed and trained by 7ashington, acting on the e2plicit orders of the 8igh 6o&&and, and with a long record of &assacres of the usual victi&s. 5his shocking cri&e on 3ove&ber #J, #K@K, at the =esuit University in San Salvador was the coda to the enor&ous plague of terror that spread over the continent after =ohn :. 'ennedy changed the &ission of the 9atin A&erican &ilitary fro& he&ispheric defense 0 an outdated relic of 7orld 7ar %% 0 to internal security, which &eans war against the do&estic population. 5he after&ath is described succinctly by 6harles >aechling, who led US counterinsurgency and internal defense planning fro& #KJ# to #KJJ. 8e described 'ennedy.s #KJ decision as a shift fro& toleration of the rapacity and cruelty of the 9atin A&erican &ilitary to direct co&plicity in their cri&es, to US support for the ðods of 8einrich 8i&&ler.s e2ter&ination s-uads. All forgotten, not the right kind of facts. %n 6uba, 7ashington.s terror operations were launched in full fury by President 'ennedy to punish 6ubans for defeating the US-run )ay of Pigs invasion. As described by historian Piero (lei*eses, =:' asked his brother, Attorney (eneral /obert 'ennedy, to lead the top-level interagency group that oversaw "peration >ongoose, a progra& of para&ilitary operations, econo&ic warfare, and sabotage he launched in late #KJ# to visit the Lterrors of the earthL on :idel 6astro and, &ore prosaically, to topple hi&. 5he phrase terrors of the earth is -uoted fro& 'ennedy associate and historian Arthur Schlesinger, in his -uasi-o<cial biography of /obert 'ennedy, who was assigned responsibility for conducting the terrorist war. /:' infor&ed the 6%A that the 6uban proble& carries DtEhe top priority in the United States (overn&ent -- all else is secondary -- no ti&e, no e+ort, or &anpower is to be spared in the e+ort to overthrow the 6astro regi&e, and to bring the terrors of the earth to 6uba. 5he terrorist war launched by the 'ennedy brothers was no s&all a+air. %t involved $!! A&ericans, ,!!! 6ubans, a private navy of fast boats, and a MN! &illion annual budget, run in part by a >ia&i 6%A station functioning in violation of the 3eutrality Act and, presu&ably, the law banning 6%A operations in the United States. "perations included bo&bing of hotels and industrial installations, sinking of ,shing boats, poisoning of crops and livestock, conta&ination of sugar e2ports, etc. So&e of these operations were not speci,cally authori;ed by the 6%A but carried out by the terrorist forces it funded and supported, a distinction without a di+erence in the case of o<cial ene&ies. 5he >ongoose terrorist operations were run by (eneral Idward 9ansdale, who had a&ple e2perience in US-run terrorist operations in the Philippines and Oietna&. 8is ti&etable for "peration >ongoose called for open revolt and overthrow of the 6o&&unist regi&e in "ctober #KJ, which, for ,nal success will re-uire decisive U.S. &ilitary intervention after terroris& and subversion had laid the basis. "ctober #KJ is, of course, a very signi,cant &o&ent in &odern history. %t was in that &onth that 3ikita 'hrushchev sent &issiles to 6uba, setting o+ the &issile crisis that ca&e o&inously close to ter&inal nuclear war. Scholarship now recogni;es that 'hrushchev was in part &otivated by the huge US preponderance in force after 'ennedy had responded to his calls for reduction in o+ensive weapons by radically increasing the US advantage, and in part by concern over a possible US invasion of 6uba. 4ears later, 'ennedy.s ?efense Secretary /obert >c3a&ara recogni;ed that 6uba and /ussia were *usti,ed in fearing an attack. %f % were in 6uban or Soviet shoes, % would have thought so, too, >c3a&ara observed at a &a*or international conference on the &issile crisis on the $!th anniversary. 5he highly regarded policy analyst /ay&ond (artho+, who had &any years of direct e2perience in US intelligence, reports that in the weeks before the "ctober crisis erupted, a 6uban terrorist group operating fro& :lorida with US govern&ent authori;ation carried out a daring speedboat stra,ng attack on a 6uban seaside hotel near 8avana where Soviet &ilitary technicians were known to congregate, killing a score of /ussians and 6ubans. And shortly after, he continues, the terrorist forces attacked )ritish and 6uban cargo ships and again raided 6uba, a&ong other actions that were stepped up in early "ctober. At a tense &o&ent of the still- unresolved &issile crisis, on 3ove&ber @, a terrorist tea& dispatched fro& the United States blew up a 6uban industrial facility after the >ongoose operations had been o<cially suspended. :idel 6astro alleged that $!! workers had been killed in this operation, guided by photographs taken by spying planes. Atte&pts to assassinate 6astro and other terrorist attacks continued i&&ediately after the crisis ter&inated, and were escalated again in later years. 5here has been so&e notice of one rather &inor part of the terror war, the &any atte&pts to assassinate 6astro, generally dis&issed as childish 6%A shenanigans. Apart fro& that, none of what happened has elicited &uch interest or co&&entary. 5he ,rst serious Inglish-language in-uiry into the i&pact on 6ubans was published in !#! by 6anadian researcher 'eith )olender, in his Ooices :ro& 5he "ther Side1 An "ral 8istory "f 5erroris& Against 6uba, a very valuable study largely ignored. 5he three e2a&ples highlighted in the 3ew 4ork 5i&es report of US terroris& are only the tip of the iceberg. 3evertheless, it is useful to have this pro&inent acknowledg&ent of 7ashington.s dedication to &urderous and destructive terror operations and of the insigni,cance of all of this to the political class, which accepts it as nor&al and proper that the US should be a terrorist superpower, i&&une to law and civili;ed nor&s. "ddly, the world &ay not agree. An international poll released a year ago by the 7orldwide %ndependent 3etworkP(allup %nternational Association B7%3P(%AC found that the United States is ranked far in the lead as the biggest threat to world peace today, far ahead of second-place Pakistan Bdoubtless inGated by the %ndian voteC, with no one else even close. :ortunately, A&ericans were spared this insigni,cant infor&ation. Poste$ %y Tha&am