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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumIt seems that some people are unfamiliar with the CIA's past
Since this is a topic germane to the primaries (since Sanders once called to abolish the CIA), some folks might like to brush up a little:
http://vho.org/aaargh/fran/livres8/BLUMkillinghope.pdf
William Blum serves up a forensic overview of U.S. foreign policy spanning sixty years. For those who want the details on our most famous actions (Chile, Cuba, Vietnam, to name a few), and for those who want to learn about our lesser-known efforts (France, China, Bolivia, Brazil, for example), this book provides a window on what our foreign policy goals really are.
If you flip over the rock of American foreign policy of the past century, this is what crawls out invasions bombings overthrowing governments occupations suppressing movements for social change assassinating political leaders perverting elections manipulating labor unions manufacturing news death squads torture biological warfare depleted uranium drug trafficking mercenaries
Its not a pretty picture. Its enough to give imperialism a bad name.
Read the full details in: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II.
Far and away the best book on the topic. Noam Chomsky
I enjoyed it immensely. Gore Vidal
I bought several more copies to circulate to friends with the hope of shedding new light and understanding on their political outlooks. Oliver Stone
A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive. A. J. Langguth, author, former New York Times Bureau Chief
A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important. Thomas Powers, author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Each chapter I read made me more and more angry. Dr. Helen Caldicott, international leader of the anti-nuclear and environmental movements
http://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope/
If you flip over the rock of American foreign policy of the past century, this is what crawls out invasions bombings overthrowing governments occupations suppressing movements for social change assassinating political leaders perverting elections manipulating labor unions manufacturing news death squads torture biological warfare depleted uranium drug trafficking mercenaries
Its not a pretty picture. Its enough to give imperialism a bad name.
Read the full details in: Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II.
Far and away the best book on the topic. Noam Chomsky
I enjoyed it immensely. Gore Vidal
I bought several more copies to circulate to friends with the hope of shedding new light and understanding on their political outlooks. Oliver Stone
A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive. A. J. Langguth, author, former New York Times Bureau Chief
A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important. Thomas Powers, author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
Each chapter I read made me more and more angry. Dr. Helen Caldicott, international leader of the anti-nuclear and environmental movements
http://williamblum.org/books/killing-hope/
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It seems that some people are unfamiliar with the CIA's past (Original Post)
cyberswede
Feb 2016
OP
...one key difference being that citizens in the USSR knew they were being lied to.
cyberswede
Feb 2016
#7
amborin
(16,631 posts)1. K&R
libodem
(19,288 posts)2. Yep
We are the bad guys. It's not the Russians.
Cheney confirmed my suspicions. I'm a believer.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)7. ...one key difference being that citizens in the USSR knew they were being lied to.
Americans have been pretty gullible. Or in denial.
libodem
(19,288 posts)11. Very True
Idiots believe in 'Truth In Advertising'. We are advertized and marketed to through all the media we plug into.
Private and governmental.
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)3. The CIA does need to be dramatically reformed
But calling for it to be abolished is too much.
We do need an intelligence agency.
I'm sure Sanders will agree with me and will walk back his older comments.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)4. He said that back in 1974. nt
Cali_Democrat
(30,439 posts)5. I know. nt
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)10. oops...I see your edit now
dimple
(56 posts)8. We have several intelligence agencies (n/t)
tech3149
(4,452 posts)14. As I recall it, the original mandate was strictly intelligence
Even Truman reiterated that after Kennedy was assassinated.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)6. Thank you! I couldn't believe it when I saw that. How lost some are. nt
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)12. I'm gonna be generous and assume people are too young to remember.
They couldn't really be that uninformed, right?
haikugal
(6,476 posts)13. We can be generous and hope not, but I won't rule out a tool...:-/
kgnu_fan
(3,021 posts)9. K&R