Londons Falling

Tip Of An Iceberg

Rating: 5/5
Comments:
Wake up people, read this fantastic book, if only more writers like
William Blum research and write books like "Rouge State" we would at
least know (a little at least) of the rotten truths that the US
Government is keeping from the public ( all in the new name of
National Security)
Come forward ex-employee's of Government Departments, expose their war
crimes.
Well done William Blum.

Brilliant survey of US foreign policy

Rating: 5/5
Comments:
This is an indispensable guide to the domestic and foreign policies of the US state. In Part I, Blum analyses the US state's use of terrorists, particularly those who fought in Afghanistan, and its use of mass murderers like Pol Pot. In Part II, he analyses the US uses of weapons of mass destruction - bombing, depleted uranium, cluster bombs, chemical and biological weapons. In Part III, he analyses the US role in the world, its relationships with democracy and elections.

He looks at the notion that 9/11 is explicable only in terms of evil. He cites the Pentagon's own Defense Science Board, which quoted, and contradicted, Bush when it said, "Muslims do not `hate our freedom', but rather they hate our policies." He writes, "This idée fixe - that the rise of anti-American terrorism owes nothing to American policies - in effect postulates an America that is always the aggrieved innocent in a treacherous world, a benign United States government peacefully going about its business but being `provoked' into taking extreme measures to defend its people, its freedom and its democracy."

He writes, "Throughout the period of the Cuban revolution, 1959 to the present, Latin America has witnessed a terrible parade of human rights violations - systematic, routine torture; legions of `disappeared' people; government-supported death squads picking off selected individuals; massacres en masse of peasants, students and other groups, shot down in cold blood. The worst perpetrators of these acts during this period have been the military and associated paramilitary squads of El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay, Haiti and Honduras. Not even Cuba's worst enemies have made serious charges against the Castro government for any of these violations ..." Now the US state is encouraging Florida-based Cuban anti-communist terrorists to help Venezuelan fascist to overthrow President Chavez.

Blum concludes that, to the US state, "'democracy', at best, or at most, is equated solely with elections and civil liberties. Neither jobs, food or shelter, nor education or health care are part of the equation. Thus, a nation with hordes of hungry, homeless, untended sick, barely literate, unemployed, and/or tortured people, whose loved ones are being disappeared and/or murdered with state connivance, can be said to be living in a `democracy' ... provided that every two years or four years they have the right to go to a designated place and put an X next to the name of one or another individual who promises to relieve their miserable condition, but who will, typically, do virtually nothing of the kind ..."

Essential for anyone's political library

Rating: 5/5
Comments:
This book is one of those that I keep having to purchase and repurchase. Every time I get into a discussion about the infallibility of the United States with someone, I "loan" them a copy of this book. And it seems like I never get it back (the other book I keep giving away is Peter McWilliams' Ain't Nobody's Business if You Do).
This is a slim book and I would have liked much more background information and detail on a number of issues, but it does detail some of the less-than-perfect moments in recent American history. In particular, it contrasts America's lip service to freedom and democracy with our support of totalitarian and often brutal regimes (Chile, El Salvador, Iran and Panama to name a few). The other part I found interesting was the part about the US involvement in the UN and how we have frequently vetoed measures that would benefit the rest of the world in order to further our own interests.
If you can accept the premise that the United States is not perfect, then this book is an eye-opener. If you think our country is infallible, this book will just make you mad.