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EX-STATE DEPT.SECURITY OFFICER SPELLS OUT 9/11 COVER-UP
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Today's Stories February 20, 2006 Cockburn
/ St. Clair February 18 / 19, 2006 Werther Uzma
Aslam Khan Joe
DeRaymond Edward
F. Mooney Paul
Craig Roberts Elaine
Cassel P.
Sainath Thomas
P. Healy Brian
Concannon, Jr. Fred
Gardner Rep.
Cynthia McKinney Brian
Tokar Chan
Chee Khoon Andrew
Freedman St.
Clair / Walker Poets'
Basement Website
of the Weekend
February 17, 2006 Floyd
Rudmin Gervasio
Rodríguez Gary
Leupp Ramzy
Baroud Amira
Hass Matthew
Koehler Niranjan
Ramakrishnan Debbie
Nathan Website
of the Day
Febrauary 16, 2006 Lila
Rajiva Norman
Solomon Ron
Jacobs Paul
Craig Roberts Website
of the Day
February 15, 2006 Brian
Conacnnon, Jr. Dave
Lindorff Saree
Makdisi Joshua
Frank Amira
Hass CounterPunch
Wire Robert
Bryce Website
of the Day February 14, 2006 John
Sugg Don
Santina William
A. Cook Ray
McGovern John
Ross Website
of the Day
Lila
Rajiva Christopher
Brauchli Dave
Lindorff Ron
Jacobs Mike
Whitney Michael
Neumann Website
of the Day
February 11 / 12, 2006 Alexander
Cockburn Ralph
Nader Paul Craig
Roberts Pat Williams Fred Gardner Saul Landau John Chuckman Roger Burbach Seth Sandronsky Website of
the Weekend
February 10, 2006 Carl
G. Estabrook Sen.
Russell Feingold Roxanne
Dunbar----Ortiz Saree Makdisi Website of
the Day
February 9, 2006 Dave Lindorff Mike Marqusee Paul Craig Roberts Peter Phillips William S. Lind Christine Tomlinson Innocent Targets in the "Long War": False Positives and Bush's Eavesdropping Program Will Youmans Robert Robideau Richard Neville Peter Rost Website of the Day
February 8, 2006 Ron Jacobs Stan Cox Sen. Russ Feingold Robert Jensen Rep. Cynthia McKinney Niranjan Ramakrishnan Don Monkerud David Swanson C.L. Cook Christopher
Fons Jeffrey Ballinger Website of
the Day
February 7, 2006 Edward Lucie-Smith Robert Fisk Paul Craig Roberts Neve Gordon Joshua Frank Peter Montague Jackie Corr Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
February 6, 2006 Christopher
Brauchli Robert Fisk John Chuckman Jenna Orkin Paul Craig
Roberts
February 4 / 5, 2006 Alexander Cockburn Mike Ferner James Petras Alan Maass Fred Gardner Ralph Nader Bill Glahn Saul Landau Laura Carlsen James Brooks Mike Roselle John Holt Sarah Ferguson William S.
Lind Niranjan Ramakrishnan Seth Sandronsky Derrick O'Keefe Michael Donnelly Ron Jacobs Elisa Salasin St. Clair / Vest Stew Albert Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
February 3, 2006 Toufic Haddad Heather Gray Tim Wise Conn Hallinan Eva Golinger Daniel Ellsberg Dave Zirin Robert Bryce Website of
the Day
February 2, 2006 Winslow T.
Wheeler Stan Cox Rachard Itani Mike Whitney Amira Hass Norman Solomon Michael Simmons Christopher
Reed Website of the Day
February 1, 2006 Sharon Smith Jason Leopold Cindy Sheehan Joseph Grosso Earl Ofari Hutchinson Steven Higgs Robert Robideau R. Siddharth Jim Retherford Rep. Cynthia
McKinney Paul Craig
Roberts Website of
the Day
January 31, 2006 Jeffrey St.
Clair Clancy Chassay Dave Lindorff Niranjan Ramakrishnan Oren Ben-Dor Winslow Wheeler John Ryan Mike Marqusee Ron Jacobs Andrew Cockburn Website of
the Day
January 30, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Winslow Wheeler Niranjan Ramakrishnan Marcus Dam John Bomar Ben Beachy Gideon Levy Michael Carmichael Missy Comley
Beattie Norman Solomon Brian Concannon,
Jr. Michael Ratner Website of
the Day
January 28 / 29, 2006 Alexander Cockburn
Ralph Nader Col. Dan Smith Paul Craig Roberts Tammara Rosenleaf Ron Jacobs Harry Browne Fred Gardner Christopher
Reed Bernard Chazelle Daniel Wolff Tom Kerr Asad Abu Khalil Chris Murphy Dr. Susan Block Kathy Deacon St. Clair /
Walker / Palmer / Shields Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
Suren Pillay Lawrence R.
Velvel J.L. Chestnut,
Jr Uri Avnery Gary Leupp Samar Assad Jeffrey St.
Clair Website of the Day
January 26, 2006 Robert Robideau Paul Craig
Roberts Gilad Atzmon Jason Leopold Joshua Frank Dave Lindorff Susan Lee Missy Comley Beattie Michael Carmichael Michael Neumann Website of
the Day
January 25, 2006 Saul Landau James Petras Lawrence R.
Velvel Vijay Prashad Kevin Zeese Alison Weir Bruce K. Gagnon Joan Roelofs Website of
the Day
January 24, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Kathy Kelly Jorge Mariscal Winslow T.
Wheeler John Walsh Youmans / Muaddi Roger Burbach Fr. Gerard
Jean-Juste Noam Chomsky Website of
the Day
Uri Avnery Susan Pynchon William Loren
Katz Christopher Brauchli Chris Floyd Joshua Frank Norman Solomon Jackie Corr Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
January 21/22, 2006 Tim Shorrock Ralph Nader Peter Feng Brian Cloughley Michael Donnelly Tom Kerr Dave Lindorff Daniel Wolff Fred Gardner Jason Leopold Matthew Koehler John Bomar Ron Jacobs Becky Akers Joanne Mariner St. Clair / Walker / Pollack Poets' Basement Website of the Day
Brian J. Foley Richard Gott Joshua Frank Pierre Tristam Bernstein /
Allegretto Elizabeth Schulte Website of
the Day
January 19, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Bill Simpich Kevin Alexander
Gray Sam Husseini Sam Smith Monica Benderman Winslow T.
Wheeler Website of the Day
January 18, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Norman Solomon Jonathan M.
Feldman Michael Carmichael Paul D'Amato Cynthia McKinney Norman Finkelstein Website of the Day
January 17, 2006 M. Shahid Alam John Ross Tariq Ali Michael Donnelly Amira Hass Doug Giebel Bill Quigley Ron Jacobs Mike Stark Werther
John Walsh Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Roger Burbach Norman Solomon Robert Jensen Sam Husseini Paul Craig
Roberts Website of the Day
January 14 / 15, 2006 Alexander Cockburn JoAnn Wypijewski James Petras Ron Jacobs Brian Cloughley Marianne McDonald Bruce Tyler Wick Fred Gardner Flavia Alaya Gary Leupp Dr. Susan Block Nicole Colson Jeffrey Kolakowski Missy Comley
Beattie Charles Thomson St. Clair /
Walker / Vest Poets' Basement Website of
the Weekend
January 13, 2006 Ralph Nader Leonard Weinglass Amira Hass Chris Kutalik
/ Jennifer Biddle Lawrence R. Velvel Dave Lindorff Mike Whitney David Price
January 12, 2006 Jennifer Van
Bergen Jeremy Brecher / Brendan Smith Lawrence R.
Velvel Ralph Nader / Robert Weissman Jackie Corr Jared Bernstein Russell D.
Hoffman Aubrey Streit Clancy Sigal Website of the Day
January 11, 2006 Kevin Zeese Ray McGovern Allan Maass
/ Joe Allen Earl Ofari
Hutchinson Annie Murphy Allan Lichtman Ramzy Baroud Joshua Frank Kathleen and
Bill Christison Website of
the Day
January 10, 2006 Uri Avnery Saul Landau Noam Chomsky Brian J. Foley Lenni Brenner Ronan Sheehan Paul Craig
Roberts
January 9, 2006 Behzad Yaghmaian George Bisharat Dave Lindorff Norman Solomon Christopher Brauchli Aharon Shabtai Andrew Cockburn
January 7 / 8, 2006 Lawrence Velvel James Petras J.L. Chestnut Mike Ely Andrew Wilson Lila Rajiva William Cook Ramor Ryan Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff Peter Montague Ron Jacobs Neve Gordon Fred Gardner Josh Mahon Dr. Susan Block Jeffrey St. Clair Poets' Basement Website of the Weekend
January 6, 2006 José
Pertierra Joe Allen Winslow T. Wheeler John Bomar Jason Leopold Norman Solomon Robert Pollin
January 5, 2006 Scott Boehm Zoltan Grossman Heather Gray Haninah Levine Pierre Tristam Remi Kanazi Gilad Atzmon Kathleen and
Bill Christison
January 4, 2006 Ron Jacobs Lila Rajiva Huibin Amee
Chew Pat Williams Linda Milazzo Nick Dearden James Petras Website of
the Day
January 3, 2006 James Ridgeway Laith al-Saud Dick J. Reavis Joshua Frank Rochelle Gause Missy Comley
Beattie Paul de Rooij
January 2, 2006 Paul Craig
Roberts Clancy Sigal Cindy Sheehan Alexander Cockburn
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February 20, 2006 The Big Gorilla in the Shadows of BoliviaThe Challenges and Opportunities Confronting Evo MoralesBy NEWTON GARVER The stunning victory of Evo Morales in the presidential election of December 18, 2005, exceeded nearly everyone's expectations, and it has been followed by a succession of other unexpected triumphs in Europe, in Asia, and on the fashion pages. Having an indigenous president in Bolivia is perhaps a small thing in itself, since Bolivia has fewer than 9,000,000 inhabitants. But Morales has captured the world's attention and his election further consolidates a growing conviction in Latin America that "free trade agreements," like IMF loans, are instruments of exploitation and oppression. In addition it has for the first time put a full-blooded AmerIndian on center stage in world affairs. Between his election and his inauguration on January 23, 2006, Morales made a dramatic trip around the world, stopping not only in Caracas and Havana but also in Madrid, Paris, Brussels, Beijing and South Africa--never wearing a suit or a tie. Following his inauguration he immediately fulfilled three of his campaign commitments by nationalizing the country's hydrocarbons (oil and gas in the ground), issuing an austerity decree that cut top government salaries (including his own) nearly in half in order to increase resources for health and education, and appointing a diverse cabinet that includes three women and at least one member from each of the nine provinces. His striped alpaca pullover has become a fashion icon (featured on the style page of the New York Times), and he still has not been seen in a suit or a tie, though he did wear a jacket (leather) for his meeting with President Chirac and another one for his inauguration. He has drawn lines, for sure, but has also shown willingness to reach out and to negotiate.
The election itself was of historic proportions. It is the first time ever in Bolivia that a candidate has won a presidential election with 54% percent of the popular vote. Morales is also the first full-blooded Indian to be elected president in any Latin American country. There were eight candidates, roughly the same number as in previous elections, and Evo's margin of victory was far greater than ever seen before. In fact his margin (about 20%) was about the same as the total vote of recent presidents, who cobbled together a coalition that allowed them to be voted in by the legislature. My own conjecture prior to the voting was that Morales would win a clear plurality, but not a clear majority, leaving a good chance that opposing forces would again deny him the presidency by means of legislative maneuvering. Just as the U. S. Supreme Court did for Al Gore. But the vote itself was utterly decisive, and the US was thereby denied its first line of rejectionism. One big change is that none
of what I have just said is news to any readers of this website,
or indeed of most major newspapers. For some years I have searched
the New York Times regularly for news of Bolivia, and until last
spring it was not unusual for months to go by with nothing new,
and reports were usually inaccurate. Now there is something nearly
every week, with greater depth as well as greater accuracy. Some
credit for this goes to the media, even the Times, but it is
mostly due to the charisma, the poise, the confidence, the sense
of timing and drama, In the left-leaning press in Bolivia there has been understandable gloating about this historic achievement, claiming that Bolivia has taught the whole world a lesson in democracy. There is a good deal to be said for that claim, since no one in Bolivia disputes the legitimacy of the election, and the other parties now need to consider how to adjust. The oldest and most "respected" parties suffered worst. Among those crushed by the vote was the MNR (National Revolutionary Movement), which gave Bolivia its first steps toward democracy under the leadership of three-time president Victor Paz Estenssoro, beginning with the election of 1951 and continuing (with interruptions) until 1985. The MNR adopted neoliberal globalization policies under the leadership of Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, elected president in 1993 and 2002 and then forced out of office by the blockades and demonstrations of October 2003. In the election of December 18, 2005, MNR garnered only a quarter of its previous vote, thoroughly discredited not only by the increasing awareness of the failure of those economic policies but also by the campesino deaths when Sánchez ordered the army to escort fuel trucks through the blockade (see Buffalo Report 17 October 2003). Following the inauguration of Morales, the MNR was the only party to oppose the austerity decree, further aligning itself with the elite rather than the impoverished. There is no doubt that the election result represents accurately the sentiments of the majority of Bolivian citizens. About 70% of Bolivians are Native Americans, American Indians who do not live in reservations or operate casinos but who are impoverished, were brutally oppressed until 1952, and are often looked down upon by the elite. Though he won in every area of the country, garnering substantial support from members of the old-line parties, he won 95% of the vote in many small towns and villages where the population is wholly indigenous. With the election there is now democracy in the realm of politics, with the indigenous voice being heard for the first time, but of course the elite continues to dominate in the realm of economics. Another historic feature is that Evo Morales is the first full-blooded Indian to be president of any country in the Western hemisphere. There are other South American presidents of Indian blood, notably in Brazil, Venezuela, and Ecuador. It does not take pure blood to be an Indian in Latin America, any more than it has required pure African blood to be "Negro" or "black" in the USA. In Bolivia both the social segregation and the oppression remained in place longer than elsewhere, and the change is therefore bound to be especially challenging for the elite, as it is especially encouraging for the indigenous people. Evo Morales is Aymara, a member of the second largest of the 23 indigenous groups in Bolivia. Since the Aymara make up about 10% of the Bolivia's 8.5 million inhabitants, ethnic differences clearly did not matter in the election. It was the social difference that mattered, and indigenous people from all the ethnic groups voted overwhelmingly for the Aymara leader. That a full-blooded Indian will be president breaks glass ceilings for all the indigenous people, and is likely to lead young people to raise their sights, a portent of other changes to come.
The world tour was almost as stunning as the election. Caracas and Havana received thanks for their support and advice, with discussion on how to continue to oppose US economic policies in South America. These stops were for consolidating the base upon which Morales will continue to build and which will continue to vex Washington. It is no accident that Washington was pointedly by-passed. Madrid and Paris were, of course, more difficult, because the determination to nationalize underground natural resources meant negative repercussions for large energy firms of Spain (Repsol YPF) and France (Total). In both countries Morales went straight to the head of government with assurances that the nationalization would not affect the wells and pipelines and other capital investments ,and with hopes that Bolivia might expand economic relations with Europe. The visit to Brussels, still wearing his black jeans and his alpaca sweater, the clothes of an Andean peasant, had two purposes: to secure elimination of debt owed to the World Bank and IMF (about $1.5 billion) and to plea for the removal of coca leaves from the international list of addictive substances. So the three European stops were carefully arranged to address pressing high-priority long-term economic and development issues in his country. Beijing and Cape Town were easier visits, again designed to make Bolivia's presence felt on the world scene and in particular among nations outside the tight reign of US economic policies. In addition Morales hopes to export more coca leaves and coca products to these countries, especially to China, and no doubt pointed out that coca leaves provide a far richer source of calcium than milk (according to a 1975 Harvard study).
One of the first acts of the new government was to nationalize the natural resources of the nation, most particularly water and hydrocarbons, and to proclaim that they will be developed for the benefit of the people. At the same time it was made clear that the infrastructure for exploitation (wells and pipelines) would remain the property of the international consortiums who installed it, signalling Bolivia's desire to work out an arrangement for developing the resources with international help, albeit on the basis of Bolivia's owning the resources. The nationalization was consummated by listing the proven gas and oil reserves as national property on the New York Stock Exchange, where they had previously been listed as property of Repsol YPF, SA. Bolivia maintains that assignment of ownership of the resources to the consortium under a presidential decree in 1997 was unconstitutional, and therefore the nationalization was without compensation. The internationals have taken a hit, but the door has been left open. It is a nuanced action, whose combination of firmness with openness suggests shrewd bargaining ahead. At roughly the same time Bechtel announced that it was dropping its suit against Bolivia, instituted in response to their contract to modernize the water supply of Cochabamba being terminated. The suit was for a huge amount, representing the amount Bechtel could hope to gain by charging its elevated fees over decades, an amount wholly unreasonable by any standards of justice but allowed by investment recovery clauses of WTO agreements. So plans for both water and hydrocarbons can begin again on a level playing field.
The headlines in US papers read that Morales had cut his own salary in half. That is roughly true, but only a small part of the story. Morales began an austerity program by issuing Presidential Decree #28,609. (By the high number one can immediately see that presidential decrees are an important part of governance in Bolivia.) This decree sets his own monthly salary at $1,500 (a reduction of 43%), that of cabinet ministers at $1,400, that of the vice-president at $1,300, and so on. Altogether 409 positions were directly affected by this decree. Beyond that, there is another long-standing Bolivian law requiring that no public salary exceed that of the President, and an undetermined number of other persons were impacted by this provision. Initial reports put the annual savings from this austerity decree at $27,000,000, which Morales decreed were to be diverted to health and education. Morales, before becoming President, had an monthly income less than $1,500, so it is doubtful that he cut his own income at all. Nor that of other Indians in his cabinet. On the other hand members of the elite have been accustomed to higher incomes, and I have no doubt that many department heads did suffer a reduction in take-home pay. As I mentioned earlier, the neo-liberal MNR, which half a century ago led the country in its first steps toward democracy, is now a party of capitalists from Santa Cruz, and was the only party to voice opposition to the austerity decree. Outside the purely political sphere, the first to oppose the decree were university professors, some of whose salaries were trimmed back by the law requiring that no public employee be paid more than the President. Since people in the village where Morales grew up are unlikely to be making more than $100 a month, the austerity decree does not leave him badly off. To portray the action as if it were a heroic personal sacrifice, as in the US press, is to misrepresent the facts and trivialize the action. It is more to the point that Morales reaffirmed his identity with peasants by reducing the salaries of members of the elite who continue to hold high positions in government (and universities).
It is well known that Evo Morales is George Bush's worst nightmare, and Morales is wasting no time trying to be conciliating. Shortly after his victory he said in an interview that George Bush is a terrorist, and the one campaign promise on which he has shown no signs of accommodation is decriminalizing growing coca. His slogan all along has been, "Zero tolerance for cocaine, total tolerance for coca," which puts him on a collision course with US policy in spite of the "zero tolerance" clause. He has decriminalized growing coca, but he has also urged farmers to plant no more than the traditional "cato" (about four-tenths of an acre) per family, and he has refused to expel the US anti-drug officials. The Bush administration responded to his victory by cautiously congratulating him and saying that it will wait to see whether he governs democratically. Since there is no definition what in the world it would mean to "govern democratically," especially given the decisive democratic victory in the elections, the threat is obvious and ominous. One can never foretell the future, although everyone persists in trying. In the case of Bolivia today there lurks in the background the matter of what the US government might do. In recent decades there has been no Latin American president half as antithetical to US policy and dominance as Morales that the US has not tried to undermine. Think of Castro, Arbenz, Allende, and the Sandinistas. Is there any reason to think that the Bush administration will do less to undermine Morales? When President Bush unveiled his budget for 2007, it contained a 96% cut in military aid to Bolivia. In the current fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2005, Bolivia is to receive about $1.7 million. Next year, according to the budget proposal, Bolivia would get only $70,000. Just over half of this year's money would be used for civil defense supplies and other nonlethal equipment. Another $792,000 would be used primarily to send Bolivian military officers to the School of the Americas in Georgia. In recent years, Bolivia has sent between 50 and 100 officers a year to the school. Both the director of the Center for international Policy and the Bolivian ambassador to Washington said that the cuts are likely to antagonize the Bolivian Military. Could someone in the Administration possibly be thinking that those hundreds of young officers, trained at our school of assassins in Georgia, might rise up and overthrow Morales? Or even kill him? Perish the thought. Bolivian campesinos are wiser and stronger than other regimes unwelcome the Washington. The blockades of the past few years have been extremely effective, shutting down the country on two occasions. In the course of organizing the blockades and preparing for a military response from the government, the campesinos developed impressive systems of communication. Furthermore the core groups are Indian, and therefore more difficult to penetrate than groups of castellanos or mestizos. I am not hopeful about the motives and policies in Washington, but the pressing issues are so far from Bolivia, the competence in executing plans so abysmally absent, and the alternative sources of support so conspicuous, that I doubt that Morales has much to fear from Washington.
On November 3 of 2003 the NY
Times editorialized that the "nationalism and economic ignorance
of the opposition to the gas deal show where the indigenous movement
is going wrong." Morales has shown himself an internationalist,
and the range of his moves in the economic domain--- $1.5 billion
in debt relief, relief from the Bechtel suit, seeking to market
both gas and coca, leveling public salaries--- exhibit an impressive
understanding of money matters. Morales has certainly laid to
rest definitively, for any impartial observer, what little justification
there ever was for the complaint of the Times. Poverty and deprivation
remain severe, the challenges are real and huge, and Morales
cannot work miracles. But Morales has claimed the attention of
the world as well as of his people. His first moves, full of
panache and often unexpected, have all been in the right direction,
and the country seems poised for continued growth and development.
He seems well on the way to showing another side to what it is
to be an American Indian. Newton Garver is SUNY Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at University at Buffalo. Eleven of his essays on war, power, ethics, truth and justice in the US during the Bush years, and the recent struggle for human rights and political decency in Bolivia, were recently published in Limits of Power: Some Friendly Reminders.
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