Greg Palast: Why are Dems blaming Ecuador for Colombia's crime?

[BurtWorm]

Must read article!!!


http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/300-mllion-chavez-farc-fake

$300 MILLION FROM CHAVEZ TO FARC A FAKE

Here’s the written evidence… and - please say it ain’t so! - Obama and Hillary attack Ecuador

Friday, March 7, 2008 for TomPaine.com/Ourfuture.org
By Greg Palast

...

This past weekend, Colombia invaded Ecuador, killed a guerrilla chief in the jungle, opened his laptop – and what did the Colombians find? A message to Hugo Chavez that he sent the FARC guerrillas $300 million – which they’re using to obtain uranium to make a dirty bomb!

That’s what George Bush tells us. And he got that from his buddy, the strange right-wing President of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe.

So: After the fact, Colombia justifies its attempt to provoke a border war as a to stop the threat of WMDs! Uh, where have we heard that before?

The US press snorted up this line about Chavez’ $300 million to “terrorists” quicker than the young Bush inhaling Colombia’s powdered export.

...

Colombia’s invasion into Ecuador is a rank violation of international law, condemned by every single Latin member of the Organization of American States. And George Bush just loved it. He called Uribe to back Colombia, against, “the continuing assault by narco-terrorists as well as the provocative maneuvers by the regime in Venezuela.”

Well, our President may have gotten the facts ass-backward, but Bush knows what he’s doing: shoring up his last, faltering ally in South America, Uribe, a desperate man in deep political trouble.
...

[BurtWorm]

1. Amateur Hour in Blue

<Palast cont'd>

We can trust Correa to keep the peace South of the Border. But can we trust our Presidents-to-be?

The current man in the Oval Office, George Bush, simply can’t help himself: an outlaw invasion by a right-wing death-squad promoter is just fine with him.

But guess who couldn’t wait to parrot the Bush line? Hillary Clinton, still explaining that her vote to invade Iraq was not a vote to invade Iraq, issued a statement nearly identical to Bush’s, blessing the invasion of Ecuador as Colombia’s “right to defend itself.” And she added, “Hugo Chávez must stop these provoking actions.” Huh?

I assumed that Obama wouldn’t jump on this landmine – especially after he was blasted as a foreign policy amateur for suggesting he would invade across Pakistan’s border to hunt terrorists.

It’s embarrassing that Barack repeated Hillary’s line nearly verbatim, announcing, “the Colombian government has every right to defend itself.”

[BurtWorm]

2. But now our story gets tricky and icky.

<Palast cont'd>

The wise media critic Jeff Cohen told me to watch for the press naming McCain as a foreign policy expert and labeling the Democrats as amateurs. Sure enough, the New York Times, on the news pages Wednesday, called McCain, “a national security pro.”

McCain is the “pro” who said the war in Iraq would cost nearly nothing in lives or treasury dollars.

But, on the Colombian invasion of Ecuador, McCain said, “I hope that tensions will be relaxed, President Chavez will remove those troops from the borders - as well as the Ecuadorians - and relations continue to improve between the two.”

It’s not quite English, but it’s definitely not Bush. And weirdly, it’s definitely not Obama and Clinton cheerleading Colombia’s war on Ecuador.

Democrats, are you listening? The only thing worse than the media attacking Obama and Clinton as amateurs is the Democratic candidates’ frightening desire to prove them right.

[Echo In Light]

3. K&R

[seemslikeadream]

4. I guess EVERYONE is a little upset at their arms dealer Victor Bout

After all these years he's now in jail for..............




SELLING SAMS TO FARC


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2969379&mesg_id=2969379

[SpiralHawk]

5. The K and the R

Thank you, Mr. Palast, for being a real journalist.

[Festivito]

6. Nothing about the one killed being the go-between for the hostages.

I thought that was the real reason the attack occurred, Bush and therefore Columbia do not want the hostage situation to diffuse.

[EFerrari]

12. The Colombian Ambassador that was on CSPAN this a..m.

framed this debacle in terms of terra terra terra! She fits right into Bush Amerika.

I called in and asked if the murdered Reyes was in fact the main negotiator who was going to release hostages that very week.

[BurtWorm]

14. Your call got through?

I only heard one dumb "question" from an idiot from Maryland--actually it was a statement about how some Americans appreciate what the Colombians are doing to fight terror and contain Chavez's socialism.

:puke:

[EFerrari]

15. It did. Mine was the first to the ambassador from Ecuador.

It wasn't great because it must have been 5 a.m. here but I did try to bring up that Uribe murdered the man negotiating the release.

[L. Coyote]

7. Historical CONTEXT is all important here. George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to .. Murder

The context of an urgent criminal jeopardy concern must be taken into account to analyze the current news.

The historical context in South America is unique; liberation politics overthrew Spain's royal authoritarianism, European slavery, and oppressive, wealthy religious orders simultaneously. Liberation politics displaced theology and slavery, the United States aligned with slavery proponents, and American freebooters mounted invasions to wrest control of Latin American nations to reinstate slavery. With rare temporal exceptions such as Carter's concern for human rights, the role of the United States in Latin America has been one of unchecked criminality.

George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2459135

That is now changing, and that change is the current great threat to the Bush family.
The threat of Justice must be considered when assessing the rationale of Bush Jr.
opposing the left in Latin America (just like at oversight hearings in D.C.).

Italy: Judge issues 140 arrest warrants in "Plan Condor" case. Bush NOT YET indicted.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2528536

We must not confuse this context with the context of global energy politics, or any issue
used to rationalize the current covert war against the left in Latin America, like terror.

The current Bush relationship with the narco-right in Colombia has context, and parallel past crimes.
This is the same politics as the past, support for fascist right wing military juntas that murder their own people.

What also typically follows these situations is the politicos in the U.S. trumpeting moral authority for their immoral politics.

President Taft "The day is not far distant when three Stars & Stripes at three equidistant points will mark our territory: one at the North Pole, another at the Panama Canal and the third at the South Pole. The whole hemisphere will be ours in fact as, by virtue of our superiority of race, it already is ours morally."

Up is still Down! And Bush has already failed at least once trying to secretly overthrow democracy in Venezuela:

THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE TELEVISED - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5832390545689805144
FILM: 1 hr 14 min 31 sec - Apr 23, 2006
http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/home.htm

Some political perspective of the USA shared by Hugo Chavez and everyone else south of the border:

1855 **** William Walker, operating on behalf of bankers 
          Morgan & Garrison, invades Nicaragua and proclaims himself President. 
          During his two year rule, Walker also invaded neighbouring El Salvador 
          and Honduras (proclaiming himself head of state in each of these countries 
          also). Walker restored slavery in areas under his occupation.

1898 **** The US declares war on Spain and annexes 
          Guam, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Hawaii. US forces also occupied 
          Cuba, another former Spanish colony, after the war.

1905 **** US President Theodore Roosevelt declares 
          the United States to be "the policeman" of the Caribbean; 
          the Dominican Republic (then part of Hispaniola) is then found to have 
          committed an offence and is placed under a "customs receivership". 

1912 **** U.S. marines invade Nicaragua, beginning 
          an occupation that was to last almost continuously until 1933. 

................ more http://www.chavezthefilm.com/html/backgrd/usa.htm

[BurtWorm]

8. kick

[Junkdrawer]

9. K&R

[scarletwoman]

10. Kick -- Just when I was finally talking myself into voting this year, comes one more example of why

it's so damn hard to do so in good conscience.

I don't want to vote for this kind of Imperialist shit anymore, I just don't.

sw

[EFerrari]

11. K&R

:woohoo:

[EFerrari]

13. LOL!

"To bolster their case, the Colombians claim, with no evidence whatsoever, that the mysterious “Angel” is the code name for Chavez. But in the memo, Chavez goes by the code name … Chavez."

:rofl:

[Donald Ian Rankin]

16. All he has is ipse dixit denial. I think it very likely indeed that Chavez is supporting FARC

Given his clearly amicable relations with them, it would be surprising if he weren't.

In 15 years time, the left will be very, very embarrassed indeed that it ever supported Chavez.

[sendero]

17. Yeah..

.. and the FARQ are just SO MUCH WORSE than the right wing death squads that have plagued SA for decades.