I just finished reading Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins (Thanks Conrad and Amanda!) If you want to know why 911 happened, why Americans are in Iraq, and how the trans national corporations are in total control of the US government and the world, you need to read this book. If you are serving in Iraq, it is essential that you read this (this means you David! and everyone you are working with). This book is not a conspiracy theory, it is not leftist, rightest, pro communist or anti capitalist. As it says on the cover, “Confessions of an Economic Hitman is the story of one man’s experiences inside the intrigue, greed, corruption, and little known government and corporate activities that America has been involved in since World War II, and which have dire consequences for the future of democracy and the world.” If you think that foreign aid, the World Bank, and th IMF are the keys to helping the world’s poor, think again. They are among the tools used to consolidate power and create a global empire. So are the US Military, construction companies like Haliburton and Bechtel, and oil companies. Just get this book and read it. A more thorough analysis and an interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! can be found here.
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I read that book about a year and a half ago, then read Sorrows of Empire, then Yamashita’s Gold. All that practically turned me into a raving conspiracy theorist. But now I’ve sort of tuned that down to alter-ego level. I think the point that’s sticking in my head now is to trust no one without doing your own verification.
When I was growing up outside the country, I ran into a few hitman type operations, and everyone who wasn’t in on the deal certainly understood what was going down and didn’t like it. Just like we don’t like what’s being done to us through this ridicously sinister sounding Homeland Security, or in our name in Iraq–giving all these contractors money and accounting for no results, the people in those other countries didn’t like what we were doing to them to “help” them.
However, let me say this–whenever any of those people have gotten half a whiff of power, they’ve steamrolled common sense and freedom with the best of em. I think power simply corrupts, no matter what the original intentions were, and if there aren’t offsetting checks and balances that can’t be gamed, it’s only a matter of time until they are.
The US is quite a ways down that road–I think it would be wise to see how Carthage fell. Everyone loved a winner, and Carthage was the winner, but when the first tendril of weakness was hinted at, all the fairweather friends turned into rabid enemies, and Carthage imploded like building seven–they even sacrificed tons of their own kids, but it didn’t help.
What we’re going to have a problem with is the dollar, that could be where the first hint of weakness is seen. Keep an eye on it.