Us State Department Vietnam Policy example essay topic

US Must face the Truth: Know who is the Terrorist 25 Classic Quotes on Western Hegemony 1- 'It's really not a number I'm terribly interested in. ' -General Colin Powell [When asked about the number of Iraqi people who were slaughtered by Americans in the 1991 'Desert Storm' terror campaign (200,000 people!) ] 2- 'I will never apologize for the United States of America - I don't care what the facts are. ' -President George Bush 1988 [Bush was demonstrating his patriotism by excusing an act of cold-blooded mass-murder by the U.S. Navy. On July 3, 1988 the U.S. Navy warship Vincennes shot down an Iranian commercial airliner. All 290 civilian people in the aircraft were killed.

The plane was on a routine flight in a commercial corridor in Iranian airspace. The targeting of it by the U.S. Navy was blatantly illegal. That it was grossly immoral is also obvious. Except to a patriot.] 3- 'To maintain this position of disparity (U.S. economic-military supremacy)... we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and day-dreaming...

We should cease to talk about vague and... unreal objectives such as human rights, the raising of the living standard and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts... The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better. ' -George Kennan [Director of Policy Planning U.S. State Department 1948] 4- 'If they turn on the radars we " re going to blow up their goddamn SAMs (surface-to-air missiles). They know we own their country. We own their airspace...

We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there's a lot of oil out there we need. ' -U.S. Brig. General William Looney (Interview Washington Post, August 30, 1999) [Referring, in reality, to the brutal mass-murder of hundreds of civilian Iraqi men, women and children during 10,000 sorties by American / British war criminals in the first eight months of 1999] 5- 'The greatest crime since World War II has been U.S. foreign policy. ' -Ramsey Clark [Former U.S. Attorney General under President Lyndon Johnson] 6- 'I believe that if we had and would keep our dirty, bloody, dollar soaked fingers out of the business of these [Third World] nations so full of depressed, exploited people, they will arrive at a solution of their own. And if unfortunately their revolution must be of the violent type because the 'haves' refuse to share with the 'have-nots' by any peaceful method, at least what they get will be their own, and not the American style, which they don't want and above all don't want crammed down their throats by Americans.

' -General David Sharp [Former United States Marine Commandant 1966] 7- 'We have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. Our minimal expectation is to occupy it as an American colony and maintain social stability for our investments. This tells why American helicopters are being used against guerrillas in Colombia and Peru. Increasingly the role our nation has taken is the role of those who refuse to give up the privileges and pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment. ' -Martin Luther King, Jr. ['A Time to Break the Silence's peach given at Riverside Church New York City April 4, 1967] 8- 'Death squads have been created and used by the CIA around the world -particularly the Third World - since the late 1940's, a fact ignored by the elite-owned media.

' -Ralph McGehee [Former CIA analyst & Author] CIA BASE; The Crisis of Democracy Deadly Deceits: My 25 years in the CIA 9- 'The U.S.A. has supplied arms, security equipment and training to governments and armed groups that have committed torture, political killings and other human rights abuses in countries around the world. ' -Amnesty International ['United States of America - Rights for All " October 1998] 10- 'We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated Governments in the world - no longer a Government of free opinion, no longer a Government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a Government by the opinion and duress of small groups of dominant men. ' -Woodrow Wilson [U.S. President during World War I] 11- 'We must become the owners, or at any rate the controllers at the source, of at least a proportion of the oil which we require. ' - British Royal Commission, agreeing with Winston Churchill's policy towards Iraq, 191312- 'What we want to have in existence, what we ought to have been creating in this time is some administration with Arab institutions which we can safely leave while pulling the strings ourselves; something that won't cost very much, which the Labour government can swallow consistent with its' principles, but under which our economic and political interests will be secure. [... ] If the French remain in Syria we shall have to avoid giving them the excuse of setting up a protectorate.

If they go, or if we appear to be reactionary in Mesopotamia, there is always the risk that [King] Faisal will encourage the Americans to take over both, and it should be borne in mind that the Standard Oil company is very anxious to take over Iraq. ' - Sir Arthur Hirtzel, Head of the British government's'India Office Political Department. ' 191913- 'If war aims are stated which seem to be solely concerned with Anglo-American imperialism, they will offer little to people in the rest of the world. The interests of other peoples should be stressed. This would have a better propaganda effect.

' - Private memo from The Council of Foreign Relations to the US State Department, 194114- 'Our strategic and security interests throughout the world will be best safeguarded by the establishment in suitable spots of 'PoliceStations', fully equipped to deal with emergencies within a large radius. Kuwait is one such spot from which Iraq, South Persia, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf could be controlled. It will be worthwhile to go to considerable trouble and expense to establish and man a 'Police Station " there. ' - British Foreign Office, policy memo, 194715-?

We have about 60% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its? population. In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford today the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. We should cease to talk about such vague and unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards. ' - George Kennan, former Head of the US State Department Policy Planning Staff, Document PPS 23, 24th February 194816- 'I came to America because of the great, great freedom which I heard existed in this country.

I made a mistake in selecting America as a land of freedom, a mistake I cannot repair in the balance of my lifetime. ' -Albert Einstein, 194717- 'The target suffered a terminal illness before a firing squad in Baghdad. ' - CIA officer testifying to US Senate hearing, after bloody CIA aided Ba " th Party coup overthrew Iraqi Prime Minister Abdel K assem, 196318- 'Strikes at population targets (per se) are likely not only to create a counterproductive wave of revulsion abroad and at home, but greatly to increase the risk of enlarging the war with China and the Soviet Union. Destruction of locks and dams, however? if handled right? might offer promise.

It should be studied. Such destruction does not kill or drown people. By shallow-flooding the rice, it leads after time to widespread starvation (more than a million) unless food is provided? which we could offer to do? at the conference table? ' - John McNaughton, US State Department Vietnam policy, as quoted in?

The Mentality of the Backroom Boys.? Article by Noam Chomsky, 197319- 'The US must carry out some act somewhere in the world which shows its? determination to continue to be a world power. ' - Henry Kissinger, post-Vietnam blues, as quoted in The Washington Post, April 197520- 'It would not have been possible for a political party to be more committed to a national home for the Jews in Palestine than was Labour. ' -Harold Wilson, former British Labour Party Prime Minister, 198121- 'One hundred nations in the UN have not agreed with us on just about everything that's come before them, where we " re involved, and it didn't upset my breakfast at all. ' - Ronald Reagan, former US President, basking in the triumph that was the US invasion of Grenada, 198322- Q. 'Mr. President, have you approved of covert activity to present government of Nicaragua?' A. 'Well, no, we " re supporting them, the - oh, wait a minute, wait a minute, I'm sorry, I was thinking of El Salvador, because of the previous, when you said Nicaragua. Here again, this is something upon which the national security interests, I just - Iwill not comment.

' - Ronald Reagan, former US President, Washington press conference, February 13th, 1983, as quoted by John Pilger in 'Heroes'23- 'After seeing 'RAMBO' last night, I know what to do the next time this happens. ' - Ronald Reagan, former US President, as reported by Daily Express, July 2nd, 198524- 'Aerosol DU (Depleted Uranium) exposures to soldiers on the battlefield could be significant with potential radiological and toxicological effects. [... ] Under combat conditions, the most exposed individuals are probably ground troops that re-enter a battlefield following the exchange of armour-piercing munitions. [... ] We are simply highlighting the potential for levels of DU exposure to military personnel during combat that would be unacceptable during peacetime operations.

[... DU is... ]... a low level alpha radiation emitter which is linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and] chemical toxicity causing kidney damage. [... ] Short term effects of high doses can result in death, while long term effects of low doses have been linked to cancer. [... ] Our conclusion regarding the health and environmental acceptability of DUpenetrators assume both controlled use and the presence of excellent health physics management practices.

Combat conditions will lead to the uncontrolled release of DU. [... ] The conditions of the battlefield, and the long term health risks to natives and combat veterans may become issues in the acceptability of the continued use of DU kinetic for military applications. ' - Excerpts from the July 1990 Science and Applications International Corporation report: ' Kinetic Energy PenetratorEnvironment and Health Considerations', as included in Appendix D - US Army Armaments, Munitions and Chemical Command report: 'Kinetic EnergyPenetrator Long Term Strategy Study, July 1990' These documents state clearly and equivocally that the US army was well aware of the radioactive and toxic dangers of Depleted Uranium ammunition long before the first shots of the war were fired.

25- 'We do not have any defence treaties with Kuwait, and there are no special defence or security commitments to Kuwait. ' - Margaret Tutweiller, US State Department spokeswoman, 24th July 1990, nine days before Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.