A lovely situation.
Next, we'll send billions in aid, and it'll end up like Columbia or Nicaragua -
truthout.com
Having been fooled before on Latin American "unrest", here's what I'd need to see: under penalty of perjury, the heads of US departments responsible for covert international activities to swear under oath there is no covert US action to overthrow Chavez or create stories of torture, to open files on Venezuela to Congress, and be culpable if they are caught lying.
It's a conundrum, because if it's Reich or Abrams or their cronies involved, this time they don't have to sell drugs or arms to Iran, Congress has conveniently funded everyone to their heart's content -- and they've learned to shred as they go, to create "national amnesia" --
"Kissinger is not the sole beneficiary of this particular form of national amnesia... Admiral John Poindexter, one of the central figures in the Iran-Contra scandal of the 80s, was appointed the head of a new Pentagon intelligence service, with Big Brother-style access to the personal information of ordinary Americans. Poindexter was formerly better known for destroying data than collecting it, having admitted to Congress that he destroyed a document bearing Ronald Reagan's signature authorising the sale of arms to Iran in return for the release of American hostages.
The revenue was used to fund Contra guerrillas fighting the Nicaraguan government without the knowledge of Congress. Poindexter was convicted for his role but later won an appeal on a legal technicality. The motto of his new office is scientia est potentia - knowledge is power.
Meanwhile, his celebrated subordinate, Colonel Oliver North, who carried out much of the shredding of embarrassing documents and who took the legal rap for the scandal, is also back on the Washington A list....
Another Iran-Contra veteran, Elliott Abrams, who as assistant secretary of state under Reagan was convicted of misleading Congress, is now back in the national security council. Otto Reich, who masterminded pro-Contra propaganda, has also risen again, as an assistant secretary of state." |
