Cowboys and Indians
armed robbery
© Barrie Machin 2024
Cowboys and Indians Armed Robbery
I am deeply concerned with the drift towards world war and the claim by NATO and the USA that they represent a superior moral order and are the guardians of freedom and democracy. [1]This claim rests on an arbitrary view of history. [2] The ex-colonial powers are start-ups in this flexible moral drift. The leading proponent of the rule-based order and freedom and democracy has yet to apply such lofty principles to its own population and to other countries. It continues to wage war and propaganda. It goes without saying that the motive of the American Empire’s interference in other countries is largely economic but this should not blind us to the nature of its interventions.
The United States was reared in genocide:
Historian David Stannard estimates that the extermination of Indigenous peoples took the lives of 100 million people: "...the total extermination of many American Indian peoples and the near-extermination of others, in numbers that eventually totalled close to 100,000,000." [3] [4]
WWII might have been an exception but in the long view its foreign policy continued in a similar vein. Its war propaganda took on a deeply racist tone.[5]
The US began with genocide[6] and celebrated it in countless Hollywood cowboys and Indian movies. This tradition continues in American action abroad. The enemy is inchoate and racially profiled. The death toll of foreign genocides is enormous. There are numerous estimates of those murdered in foreign interventions.
America has been in 19 wars since World War II, but we will list the death toll from three of the bloodiest conflicts: The Korean War, The Vietnam War and wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The total death toll of people killed by American troops in all these wars put together is over 12 million[7]
And post 9/11 wars cost $8 trillion[8]
American foreign policy can be characterized as essentially racist and genocidal.[9] Thinly disguised as the absurd rule-based order and defence of democracy, it is an extension of the ecocidal, genocidal internal colonisation of America.
These foreign wars are also celebrated in Hollywood movies which treat the ‘enemy’ in much the same way as Indians were portrayed in westerns. The latest example is the shameful movie The Covenant[10] but even those so-called anti-war movies anti-war movies like Platoon the enemy are faceless anonymous shadows.
Ghost dancing with the USA
There is a well-known phenomenon in social anthropology: When a more powerful nation crushes a less powerful one the response is a radical retreat into tradition. As if somehow, this will save the less powerful Nation.[11] It is a pattern which has followed American the majority of interventionist wars. I outline some important examples here.
Korea
Vietnam had its forerunner in Korea: the support of a corrupt tyranny, the atrocities, the napalm, the mass slaughter of civilians, the cities and villages laid to waste, the calculated management of the news, the sabotaging of peace talks. But the American people were convinced that the war in Korea was an unambiguous case of one country invading another without provocation. A case of the bad guys attacking the good guys who were being saved by the even better guys; none of the historical, political and moral uncertainty that was the dilemma of Vietnam. The Korean War was seen to have begun in a specific manner: North Korea attacked South Korea in the early morning of 25 June 1950; while Vietnam … no one seemed to know how it all began, or when, or why.[12]
Korea Wiki:
The combat ended on 27 July 1953 when the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, allowing the exchange of prisoners and the creation of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The conflict displaced millions of people, inflicted around 3 million fatalities and a larger proportion of civilian deaths than World War II or the Vietnam War. Alleged war crimes include the killing of suspected communists by the South Korean government and the torture and starvation of prisoners of war by the North Koreans.[citation needed] North Korea became one of the most heavily bombed countries in history.[44] Virtually all of Korea's major cities were destroyed.[45] No peace treaty was ever signed, making this a frozen conflict.[46][47][13]
The consequence of this war was a fundamentalist communist regime which, out of fear, has developed nuclear weapons.
IRAN
The overthrow of Mossadegh, an elected leader, took place in August 1953:
For the next 25 years, the Shah of Iran stood fast as the United States’ closest ally in the Third World, to a degree that would have shocked the independent and neutral Mossadegh. The Shah literally placed his country at the disposal of US military and intelligence organizations to be used as a cold-war weapon, a window and a door to the Soviet Union—electronic listening and radar posts were set up near the Soviet border; American aircraft used Iran as a base to launch surveillance flights over the Soviet Union;[14]
America interfered with the democratic development of Iran and also supported the Iraq war against Iran and as a consequence faces a hard-line radical Islamic regime.
Vietnam 1955-1973
Three million casualties.
The American invasion of Vietnam involved ecocide and genocide and a brutal and indiscriminate campaign of bombing largely framed in racial terms. US versus the gooks.[15] Its consequence: a hardlines communist regime
Cambodia And Laos 1969-1973
21. Laos 1957-1973 L’Armée Clandestine For the past two years the US has carried out one of the most sustained bombing campaigns in history against essentially civilian targets in northeastern Laos…. Operating from Thai bases and from aircraft carriers, American jets have destroyed the great majority of villages and towns in the northeast. Severe casualties have been inflicted upon the inhabitants … Refugees from the Plain of Jars report they were bombed almost daily by American jets last year. They say they spent most of the past two years living in caves or holes. Far Eastern Economic Review, Hong Kong, 1970[16]
These forces—recruited, financed, armed and trained by the CIA and the US Special Forces (Green Berets)11—began to infiltrate into Cambodia in the latter part of 1958 as part of a complex conspiracy which included, amongst others, a disloyal Cambodian general named Dap Chhuon who was plotting an armed uprising inside the country. At its most optimistic, the conspiracy aimed at overthrowing Sihanouk.[17]
The brutal and indiscriminate bombing of Cambodia led to Pol Pot, the killing fields and deaths of 3 m people and a hard-line government in Cambodia.
These forces—recruited, financed, armed and trained by the CIA and the US Special Forces (Green Berets)11—began to infiltrate into Cambodia in the latter part of 1958 as part of a complex conspiracy which included, amongst others, a disloyal Cambodian general named Dap Chhuon who was plotting an armed uprising inside the country. At its most optimistic, the conspiracy aimed at overthrowing Sihanouk. [18]
Iran-Iraq war September 1980 to August 1988 and the Second Gulf war. [19] [20]
Consequence: chaos and an increasingly radical reactionary Islam.
There are many estimates of civilian and military deaths. The second Gulf war The highest estimate for Iraqi lives lost is up to 1 m and the sanction caused deaths of 500000 children.[21]
The most serious example of the Nativistic religious response is the formation of ISIS which grew in the University of terror established by the US in Abu Ghraib.[22]
This prison certainly fanned the flames of response [23]
The usual quoted figures do not include later deaths from disease and conflict as a consequence of these wars.[24]
A similar analysis can be applied to other countries see the table of interventions below.
Afghanistan 7 October 2001 – 30 August 2021[25]
Loss of life [26]
The United States war in Afghanistan continues destroying lives due to the war-induced breakdown of the economy, public health, security, and infrastructure. Afghans have been massively impoverished by the conflict. 92% of the population faces some level of food insecurity and 3 million children are at risk of acute malnutrition. Some regions are currently facing famine. At least half the population is living on less than $1.90 per day.
The United States military in 2017 relaxed its rules of engagement for airstrikes in Afghanistan, which resulted in a dramatic increase in civilian casualties. From the last year of the Obama administration to the last full year of recorded data during the Trump administration, the number of civilians killed by U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan increased by 330 percent.[27]
The CIA armed Afghan militia groups to fight Islamist militants and these militias are responsible for serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings of civilians.[28]
Every family in Afghanistan has lost at least one person.
Consequence of this war is an increasingly Taliban radical Islamic government.
The list of interventions is huge. One of the latest to succumb to the rules is Pakistan and the number of civilians murder grows.[29]
When will it end?
The U.S. post-9/11 wars have displaced at least 38 million people in and from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, the Philippines, Libya, and Syria.[30]
These wars are examples of thinly disguised cowboys and indians and subsequent reactionary traditionalism.
The question remains: What is the nature of American Imperialism why does the USA fight so many losing wars?
My argument here is that the genocide which established America continues in its interventionist wars. [31]Most of them are fundamentally racist and most of them have involved indiscriminate bombing and destruction and all have ended in failure.
Of course, American interventions are often to protect American interests and markets but at the same time American interventions are fundamentally genocidal. It is the nature of the beast.
Why is it the US continues to wage wars and lose? I think the answer is the end game is not winning wars. The end game is the wars themselves. They are all a victory for the arms industry and a defeat of the American people. They are armed robberies in which the main victim is the American people.[32]
The latest justification includes the notorious claim that the US is upholding a rule-based order.
The rule-based order: common elements of US interventions’
(There is a table of interventions below).
Country threatens to democratize nationalise assets and seeks to be neutral.
US actions
Identify nationalism with communism/Russia.
‘Once again, they were unable, or unwilling, to distinguish nationalism from pro-communism, neutralism from wickedness.[33]
Create false neutral thinktanks with an illusion of objectivity like German Marshall Fund (GMF),[34]
Support of alternative political groups e.g. Masjumi party in Indonesia
Channel money to supposedly neutral groups and NGOs
Bribe politicians and the military.
Make spurious claims about Russian /Chinese influence.
Create honey trap movies for blackmail.
Actual military action from US bases outside the country
Lies in national media outlets about neutrality; many media outlets subsidized Create fake movies and news[35]
US Interventions
US Military and Clandestine Operations in Foreign Countries - 1798-Present
Global Policy Forum
December 2005
Note: This list does not pretend to be definitive or absolutely complete. Nor does it seek to explain or interpret the interventions. Information and interpretation on selected interventions will be later included as links. Note that US operations in World Wars I and II have been excluded.
1798-1800
France
Undeclared naval war against France, marines land in Puerto Plata.
1801-1805
Tripoli
War with Tripoli (Libya), called "First Barbary War".
1806
Spanish Mexico
Military force enters Spanish territory in headwaters of the Rio Grande.
1806-1810
Spanish and French in Caribbean
US naval vessels attack French and Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.
1810
Spanish West Florida
Troops invade and seize Western Florida, a Spanish possession.
1812
Spanish East Florida
Troops seize Amelia Island and adjacent territories.
1812
Britain
War of 1812, includes naval and land operations.
1813
Marquesas Island
Forces seize Nukahiva and establish first US naval base in the Pacific.
1814
Spanish (East Florida)
Troops seize Pensacola in Spanish East Florida.
1814-1825
French, British and Spanish in Caribbean
US naval squadron engages French, British and Spanish shipping in the Caribbean.
1815
Algiers and Tripoli
US naval fleet under Captain Stephen Decatur wages "Second Barbary War" in North Africa.
1816-1819
Spanish East Florida
Troops attack and seize Nicholls' Fort, Amelia Island and other strategic locations. Spain eventually cedes East Florida to the US.
1822-1825
Spanish Cuba and Puerto Rico
Marines land in numerous cities in the Spanish island of Cuba and also in Spanish Puerto Rico.
1827
Greece
Marines invade the Greek islands of Argentiere, Miconi and Andross.
1831
Falkland/Malvinas Islands
US naval squadrons aggress the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.
1832
Sumatra, Dutch East Indies
US naval squadrons attack Qallah Battoo.
1833
Argentina
Forces land in Buenos Aires and engage local combatants.
1835-1836
Peru
Troops dispatched twice for counter-insurgency operations.
1836
Mexico
Troops assist Texas war for independence.
1837
Canada
Naval incident on the Canadian border leads to mobilization of a large force to invade Canada. War is narrowly averted.
1838
Sumatra, Dutch East Indies
US naval forces sent to Sumatra for punitive expedition.
1840-1841
Fiji
Naval forces deployed, marines land.
1841
Samoa
Naval forces deployed, marines land.
1842
Mexico
Naval forces temporarily seize cities of Monterey and San Diego.
1843
China
Marines land in Canton.
1843
Ivory Coast
Marines land.
1846-1848
Mexico
Full-scale war. Mexico cedes half of its territory to the US by the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo.
1849
Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
Naval force dispatched to Smyrna.
1852-1853
Argentina
Marines land in Buenos Aires.
1854
Nicaragua
Navy bombards and largely destroys city of San Juan del Norte. Marines land and set fire to the city.
1854
Japan
Commodore Perry and his fleet deploy at Yokohama.
1855
Uruguay
Marines land in Montevideo.
1856
Colombia (Panama Region)
Marines land for counter-insurgency campaign.
1856
China
Marines deployed in Canton.
1856
Hawaii
Naval forces seize small islands of Jarvis, Baker and Howland in the Hawaiian Islands.
1857
Nicaragua
Marines land.
1858
Uruguay
Marines land in Montevideo.
1858
Fiji
Marines land.
1859
Paraguay
Large naval force deployed.
1859
China
Troops enter Shanghai.
1859
Mexico
Military force enters northern area.
1860
Portuguese West Africa
Troops land at Kissembo.
1860
Colombia (Panama Region)
Troops and naval forces deployed.
1863
Japan
Troops land at Shimonoseki.
1864
Japan
Troops landed in Yedo.
1865
Colombia (Panama Region)
Marines landed.
1866
Colombia (Panama Region)
Troops invade and seize Matamoros, later withdraw.
1866
China
Marines land in Newchwang.
1867
Nicaragua
Marines land in Managua and Leon in Nicaragua.
1867
Formosa Island (Taiwan)
Marines land.
1867
Midway Island
Naval forces seize this island in the Hawaiian Archipelago for a naval base.
1868
Japan
Naval forces deployed at Osaka, Hiogo, Nagasaki, Yokohama and Negata.
1868
Uruguay
Marines land at Montevideo.
1870
Colombia
Marines landed.
1871
Korea
Forces landed.
1873
Colombia (Panama Region)
Marines landed.
1874
Hawaii
Sailors and marines landed.
1876
Mexico
Army again occupies Matamoros.
1882
British Egypt
Troops land.
1885
Colombia (Panama Region)
Troops land in Colon and Panama City.
1885
Samoa
Naval force deployed.
1887
Hawaii
Navy gains right to build permanent naval base at Pearl Harbor.
1888
Haiti
Troops landed.
1888
Samoa
Marines landed.
1889
Samoa
Clash with German naval forces.
1890
Argentina
US sailors land in Buenos Aires.
1891
Chile
US sailors land in the major port city of Valparaiso.
1891
Marines land on US-claimed Navassa Island.
1893
Hawaii
Marines and other naval forces land and overthrow the monarchy. Read More | President Cleveland's Message
1894
Nicaragua
Marines land at Bluefields on the eastern coast.
1894-1895
China
Marines are stationed at Tientsin and Beijing. A naval ship takes up position at Newchwang.
1894-1896
Korea
Marines land and remain in Seoul.
1895
Colombia
Marines are sent to the town Bocas del Toro.
1896
Nicaragua
Marines land in the port of Corinto.
1898
Nicaragua
Marines land at the port city of San Juan del Sur.
1898
Guam
Naval forces seize Guam Island from Spain and the US holds the island permanently.
1898
Naval and land forces seize Cuba from Spain.
1898
Puerto Rico
Naval and land forces seize Puerto Rico from Spain and the US holds the island permanently.
1898
Philippines
Naval forces defeat the Spanish fleet and the US takes control of the country.
1899
Philippines
Military units are reinforced for extensive counter-insurgency operations.
1899
Samoa
Naval forces land
1899
Nicaragua
Marines land at the port city of Bluefields.
1900
China
US forces intervene in several cities.
1901
Colombia/Panama
Marines land.
1902
Colombia/Panama
US forces land in Bocas de Toro
1903
Colombia/Panama
With US backing, a group in northern Colombia declares independence as the state of Panama
1903
Guam
Navy begins development in Apra Harbor of a permanent base installation.
1903
Honduras
Marines go ashore at Puerto Cortez.
1903
Dominican Republic
Marines land in Santo Domingo.
1904-1905
Korea
Marines land and stay in Seoul.
1906-1909
Marines land. The US builds a major naval base at Guantanamo Bay.
1907
Nicaragua
Troops seize major centers.
1907
Honduras
Marines land and take up garrison in cities of Trujillo, Ceiba, Puerto Cortez, San Pedro, Laguna and Choloma.
1908
Panama
Marines land and carry out operations.
1910
Nicaragua
Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto.
1911
Honduras
Marines intervene.
1911-1941
China
The US builds up its military presence in the country to a force of 5000 troops and a fleet of 44 vessels patrolling China's coast and rivers.
1912
US sends army troops into combat in Havana.
1912
Panama
Army troops intervene.
1912
Honduras
Marines land.
1912-1933
Nicaragua
Marines intervene. A 20-year occupation of the country follows.
1913
Mexico
Marines land at Ciaris Estero.
1914
Dominican Republic
Naval forces engage in battles in the city of Santo Domingo.
1914
Mexico
US forces seize and occupy Mexico's major port city of Veracrus from April through November.
1915-1916
Mexico
An expeditionary force of the US Army under Gen. John J. Pershing crosses the Texas border and penetrates several hundred miles into Mexican territory. Eventually reinforced to over 11,000 officers and men.
1914-1934
Troops land, aerial bombardment leading to a 19-year military occupation.
1916-1924
Dominican Republic
Military intervention leading to 8-year occupation.
1917-1933
Landing of naval forces. Beginning of a 15-year occupation.
1918-1920
Panama
Troops intervene, remain on "police duty" for over 2 years.
1918-1922
Russia
Naval forces and army troops fight battles in several areas of the country during a five- year period.
1919
Yugoslavia
Marines intervene in Dalmatia.
1919
Honduras
Marines land.
1920
Guatemala
Troops intervene.
1922
Turkey
Marines engaged in operations in Smyrna (Izmir).
1922-1927
China
Naval forces and troops deployed during 5-year period.
1924-1925
Honduras
Troops land twice in two-year period.
1925
Panama
Marines land and engage in operations.
1927-1934
China
Marines and naval forces stationed throughout the country.
1932
El Salvador
Naval forces intervene.
1933
Naval forces deployed.
1934
China
Marines land in Foochow.
1946
Troops deployed in northern province.
1946-1949
China
Major US army presence of about 100,000 troops, fighting, training and advising local combatants.
1947-1949
Greece
US forces wage a 3-year counterinsurgency campaign.
1948
Italy
Heavy CIA involvement in national elections.
1948-1954
Philippines
Commando operations, "secret" CIA war.
1950-1953
Korea
Major forces engaged in war in Korean peninsula.
1953
CIA overthrows government of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Read More
1954
Vietnam
Financial and materiel support for colonial French military operations, leads eventually to direct US military involvement.
1954
Guatemala
CIA overthrows the government of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman.
1958
Lebanon
US marines and army units totaling 14,000 land.
1958
Panama
Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.
1959
Marines land.
1960
Congo
CIA-backed overthrow and assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba.
1960-1964
Vietnam
Gradual introduction of military advisors and special forces.
1961
CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion.
1962
Nuclear threat and naval blockade.
1962
Laos
CIA-backed military coup.
1963
Ecuador
CIA backs military overthrow of President Jose Maria Valesco Ibarra.
1964
Panama
Clashes between US forces in Canal Zone and local citizens.
1964
Brazil
CIA-backed military coup overthrows the government of Joao Goulart and Gen. Castello Branco takes power. Read More
1965-1975
Vietnam
Large commitment of military forces, including air, naval and ground units numbering up to 500,000+ troops. Full-scale war, lasting for ten years.
1965
Indonesia
CIA-backed army coup overthrows President Sukarno and brings Gen. Suharto to power.
1965
Congo
CIA backed military coup overthrows President Joseph Kasavubu and brings Joseph Mobutu to power.
1965
Dominican Republic
23,000 troops land.
1965-1973
Laos
Bombing campaign begin, lasting eight years.
1966
Ghana
CIA-backed military coup ousts President Kwame Nkrumah.
1966-1967
Guatemala
Extensive counter-insurgency operation.
1969-1975
Cambodia
CIA supports military coup against Prince Sihanouk, bringing Lon Nol to power. Intensive bombing for seven years along border with Vietnam.
1970
Oman
Counter-insurgency operation, including coordination with Iranian marine invasion.
1971-1973
Laos
Invasion by US and South Vietnamese forces.
1973
Chile
CIA-backed military coup ousts government of President Salvador Allende. Gen. Augusto Pinochet comes to power.
1975
Cambodia
Marines land, engage in combat with government forces.
1976-1992
Angola
Military and CIA operations.
1980
Special operations units land in Iranian desert. Helicopter malfunction leads to aborting of planned raid.
1981
Libya
Naval jets shoot down two Libyan jets in maneuvers over the Mediterranean.
1981-1992
El Salvador
CIA and special forces begin a long counterinsurgency campaign.
1981-1990
Nicaragua
CIA directs exile "Contra" operations. US air units drop sea mines in harbors.
1982-1984
Lebanon
Marines land and naval forces fire on local combatants.
1983
Grenada
Military forces invade Grenada.
1983-1989
Honduras
Large program of military assistance aimed at conflict in Nicaragua.
1984
Two Iranian jets shot down over the Persian Gulf.
1986
Libya
US aircraft bomb the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi, including direct strikes at the official residence of President Muamar al Qadaffi.
1986
Bolivia
Special Forces units engage in counter-insurgency.
1987-1988
Naval forces block Iranian shipping. Civilian airliner shot down by missile cruiser.
1989
Libya
Naval aircraft shoot down two Libyan jets over Gulf of Sidra.
1989
Philippines
CIA and Special Forces involved in counterinsurgency.
1989-1990
Panama
27,000 troops as well as naval and air power used to overthrow government of President Noriega.
1990
Liberia
Troops deployed.
1990-1991
Major military operation, including naval blockade, air strikes; large number of troops attack Iraqi forces in occupied Kuwait.
1991-2003
Control of Iraqi airspace in north and south of the country with periodic attacks on air and ground targets.
1991
CIA-backed military coup ousts President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
1992-1994
Somalia
Special operations forces intervene.
1992-1994
Yugoslavia
Major role in NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro.
1993-1995
Bosnia
Active military involvement with air and ground forces.
1994-1996
Troops depose military rulers and restore President Jean-Bertrand Aristide to office.
1995
Croatia
Krajina Serb airfields attacked.
1996-1997
Zaire (Congo)
Marines involved in operations in eastern region of the country.
1997
Liberia
Troops deployed.
1998
Sudan
Air strikes destroy country's major pharmaceutical plant.
1998
Attack on targets in the country.
1998
Four days of intensive air and missile strikes.
1999
Yugoslavia
Major involvement in NATO air strikes.
2001
Macedonia
NATO troops shift and partially disarm Albanian rebels.
2001
Air attacks and ground operations oust Taliban government and install a new regime.
2003
Invasion with large ground, air and naval forces ousts government of Saddam Hussein and establishes new government.
2003-present
Occupation force of 150,000 troops in protracted counter-insurgency war
2004
Marines land. CIA-backed forces overthrow President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
[1] This is not an argument about democracy versus authoritarian regimes. To paraphrase Ghandi: Democracy would be a good idea. It still has to be fully realised in America and Britain etc. see https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Level-Equality-Better-Everyone-Nor do I avoid the fact that many of the interventions are about economic control.
[2] https://theconversation.com/exploitation-brutality-and-misery-how-the-opium-trade-shaped-the-modern-world-227356https://theconversation.com/exploitation-brutality-and-misery-how-the-opium-trade-shaped-the-modern-world-227356
[3] Historian David Stannard estimates that the extermination of Indigenous peoples took the lives of 100 million people: "...the total extermination of many American Indian peoples and the near-extermination of others, in numbers that eventually totalled close to 100,000,000." Genocide definition and the facts:
https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/wjdt_665385/2649_665393/202203/t20220302_10647120.html
[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Holocaust_(book)
[5]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney%27s_World_War_II_propaganda_production#:~:text=Propaganda%20productions
One might object that all countries attempt to dehumanise the enemy but this does not detract from my argument.
[6] The colonisation of America was a continuation of the internal colonisation of Britain.
[7] https://www.worldfuturefund.org/Reports/Imperialism/usmurder.html
[8] https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/BudgetaryCosts
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers
[9] And according to a recent book opiate funded. https://theconversation.com/exploitation-brutality-and-misery-how-the-opium-trade-shaped-the-modern-world-227356
The chicken certainly has come home to roost.
[10] This fill valorizes the individual bravery of an American who returns to Afghanistan to save a native who served America’s war. Maybe it takes someone as old as me to be able to compare it with dozens of westerns I saw as a child where dozens of Indians were killed and somehow mysteriously replenished themselves. Hollywood is a war factory.
[11] https://www.si.edu/object/siris_sil_1039267 The Religions of the Oppressed
[12] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 54). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition.
[13] https://www.statista.com/topics/10172/the-korean-war/#topicOverview
[14] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 87). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition.
[15] (American Power and the New Mandarins: Historical and Political Essays Paperback – 20 February 2003 by Noam Chomsky ).
[16] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 171 and 178). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition.
And William Shawcross, , Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia,
[17] https://gsp.yale.edu/sites/default/files/walrus_cambodiabombing_oct06.pdf
[18] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 172). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition.
[19] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran–Iraq_War
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/
[20] https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2021/09/02/two-decades-later-the-enduring-legacy-of-9-11/
[21] https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2006/burnham-iraq-2006
[22] https://www.amazon.com.au/Chain-Command-Seymour-Hersh/dp/0060195916
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/11/isis-origins-anbari-zarqawi/577030/
[23] /https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/05/10/torture-at-abu-ghraib
[24] https://www.amazon.com.au/Every-Day-11-Barrie-Machin
https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2021/Costs%20of%20War_Direct%20War%20Deaths_9.1.21.pdf
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Iraq War". Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Apr. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/event/Iraq-War. Accessed 3 May 2024.
[25] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001–2021)#:~:text=On%20the%20same%20day%2C%20the,military%20presence%20in%20the%20country.
[26] https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan
[27] https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/civilians/afghan
[28] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/opinion/afghanistan-family-war.html
[29] https://law.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Stanford-NYU-LIVING-UNDER-DRONES.pdf
[30] https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human/refugees/afghan
[31] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/military/etc/cron.html
[32] https://sgp.fas.org/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf
[33] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 125). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition
[34] The principal front organizations set up by the CIA in this period was the grandly named Congress for Cultural Freedom (CCF).
https://www.wired.com/2017/01/fake-think-tanks-fuel-fake-news-presidents-tweets/
https://www.mccaininstitute.org
[35] Blum, William. Killing Hope: U.S. and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II--Updated Through 2003 (p. 130). Common Courage Press. Kindle Edition.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/military/etc/cron.html
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/00220027221117546
Introducing the Military Intervention Project: A New Dataset on US Military Interventions, 1776–2019
Sidita Kushi and Monica Duffy Toft
https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027221117546
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monroe_Doctrine