The Darkside of the American Empire

[wkmac]

The US administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were set on developing deep “military to military” ties with the Libyan regime of Muammar Gaddafi, classified US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks on 24 August reveal.

The United States was keen to integrate Libya as much as possible into “AFRICOM,” the American military command for Africa which seeks to establish bases and station military forces permanently on the continent.

Did Wikileaks just reveal the US blueprint for Libya?

Seems to re-enforce charges about Africom made in Jan. 2010. Was the Gaddafi Takedown a message to the rest of "uppity thinking" Africa?

 

[wkmac]

Instead, Carle said he interrogated Wazir using standard rapport-building techniques and "psychological manipulation" that led the detainee to believe Carle was his "friend."
Carle concluded not long after he began interrogating Wazir that the agency had "kidnapped" the "wrong guy" and Wazir, who ran an informal money-transfer business known as a Hawala, was not a "committed jihadist" or Bin Laden's personal banker.
Wazir was "more like a train conductor who sells a criminal a ticket," Carle writes in "The Interrogator." "Slowly, progressively, first in dismay, then in anger, I had realized that on the CAPTUS case the Agency, the government, all of us, had been victims of delusion."
Wazir's life had been "destroyed" based on what Carle characterized as an "error."
But the CIA's position did not change. The agency believed Wazir was withholding intelligence due to the fact that he could not answer specific questions. So in an attempt to convince him to reveal information about Al-Qaeda, agency operatives kidnapped his older brother, Haji Ghaljai, in December 2002 and held him captive for six months at the same black site prison.
Carle documented his conclusions about Wazir, and called for his immediate release, in top-secret cables he prepared that were supposed to be sent to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. However, Carle said when he later inquired about his cables he discovered they "were never transmitted so they never formerly existed."

CIA Kidnapped, Tortured "the Wrong Guy," Says Former Agency Operative Glenn Carle


Even in immoral acts that go directly against the American tradition of virtue and justice, gov't is still inept and gets it wrong thus re-enforcing the truism that gov't is incapable of doing anything right!

But then when you are nothing more than an organized criminal gang whose managed to fool the masses into granting to themselves a monopoly on force regardless of virtue and common law, what should we expect?

 

[rickyb]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/796744141002698753

 

[Catatonic]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/796744141002698753

Right up Trumps alley.
Get our soldiers home to protect the US rather than US Business interests.

 

[newfie]

Seems logical . Countries may not like having foreign troops living amongst them?

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

Seems logical . Countries may not like having foreign troops living amongst them?

The Sicilians loved our presence there.

 

[rickyb]

Seems logical . Countries may not like having foreign troops living amongst them?

hey your not just saying that cuz of donald now are you??

 

[rickyb]

Max Keiser ‏@maxkeiser 11h11 hours ago




Snowflake alert: @SarahKSilverman

 

[rickyb]

a history of the american empire; the biggest empire in history.

surely the conservatives on this site rally against empire.

 

[newfie]

The Sicilians loved our presence there.

thank god somebody did

 

[Babagounj]

Venezuela's take over of the GM plants are actually a good thing for GM.
By law they had to keep 2700 employees on the payroll and last year not a single car was built , that was a big drain on revenues .
The car makers used to love Venezuela with a population of around 30M and the country has no railroads so everything was moved by car.
But socialism has killed off any hope of Venezuela having a future .

 

[vantexan]

a history of the american empire; the biggest empire in history.

surely the conservatives on this site rally against empire.

The biggest empire in history? You aren't familiar with the British Empire? The saying was "The sun never sets on the British Empire." Are you familiar with the British Commonwealth of Nations? All those countries were under British rule at one time and some still recognize the Queen as their head of state. The reason English is the world's language of business isn't because of the U.S..

 

[wkmac]

The biggest empire in history? You aren't familiar with the British Empire? The saying was "The sun never sets on the British Empire." Are you familiar with the British Commonwealth of Nations? All those countries were under British rule at one time and some still recognize the Queen as their head of state. The reason English is the world's language of business isn't because of the U.S..

 

[rickyb]

The biggest empire in history? You aren't familiar with the British Empire? The saying was "The sun never sets on the British Empire." Are you familiar with the British Commonwealth of Nations? All those countries were under British rule at one time and some still recognize the Queen as their head of state. The reason English is the world's language of business isn't because of the U.S..

yea i cant remember who says its the biggest one in history. i have a feeling it was either chris hedges or tariq ali.

im no expert on empires but i would guess the US one is the biggest empire in history because of technological gains.

 

[newfie]

I'd say better to give then recieve

 

[rickyb]

I'd say better to give then recieve

depends what your giving

 

[vantexan]

yea i cant remember who says its the biggest one in history. i have a feeling it was either chris hedges or tariq ali.

im no expert on empires but i would guess the US one is the biggest empire in history because of technological gains.

In sheer population numbers and territorial size the British Empire was the largest in history. You guys give the U.S. too much credit. Nowhere near the size of the British, the Romans, the Mongols, and quite a few others.

 

[vantexan]

What if I told you I've heard it all before? "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter." The winners write the history. The losers plot revenge. And the malcontents undermine whoever is on top at the moment. The U.S. has only been around so long. Much of what's going on today was set in motion hundreds, even thousands of years ago. Much of what the U.S. has meddled in was directly involved in keeping the oil flowing and keeping alternative economic systems out. We weren't always right, not always wrong either. I'm all for any economic system proven to actually work better than capitalism. And for developing energy independence that keeps us out of the Middle East. And for a political system that keeps the gov't from controlling every aspect of our lives.

 

[wkmac]

Much of what the U.S. has meddled in was directly involved in keeping the oil flowing and keeping alternative economic systems out.

I would completely agree with that statement.

And for developing energy independence that keeps us out of the Middle East.

That would be impossible in light of your first statement above.

 

[rickyb]

This moment in history marks the end of a long, sad tale of greed and murder by the white races. It is inevitable that for the final show we vomited a grotesque figure like Trump. Europeans and Americans have spent five centuries conquering, plundering, exploiting and polluting the earth in the name of human progress. They used their technological superiority to create the most efficient killing machines on the planet, directed against anyone and anything, especially indigenous cultures, that stood in their way. They stole and hoarded the planet’s wealth and resources. They believed that this orgy of blood and gold would never end, and they still believe it. They do not understand that the dark ethic of ceaseless capitalist and imperialist expansion is dooming the exploiters as well as the exploited. But even as we stand on the cusp of extinction we lack the intelligence and imagination to break free from our evolutionary past. - chris hedges new article on truthdig