Here's a video of Ron Paul cleaning a floor. The person impersonating a mop is our Secretary Of State, also known as She Whose Name Is Not Spoken.
Here's the accompanying article from ABC News:
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex, has made a career out of being the contrarian in Congress, and with uprisings sweeping across the Middle East he took the opportunity today to point out one of the inconvenient truths of American foreign policy: its support across successive administrations for key Middle East leaders who ally themselves with the United States in a difficult region, yet do not respect basic human rights and democracy in their own countries.
“A lot of people in this country have come to the conclusion that our policy overhaul has been inconsistent; that sometimes we support the bad guys and the bad guys become our enemies,” Paul told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a hearing of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Rep. Paul pointed to America’s support for Osama bin Laden when he was fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, its collaboration with Saddam Hussein against Iran in the 1980s, and its propping up the Shah in Iran for decades before that.
“But we keep supporting Algeria, Morocco, Yemen, all these dictators, and yet we pretend that as soon as, well, it looks like the dictator might fall, we're all for democracy and we're for freedom and we're against these dictators,” he said.
Here's the money quote from She Whose Name Is Not Spoken:
“Congressman, you make a very passionate argument, and my response is that, you know, the United States, over the course of its entire diplomatic history, has had to make some very difficult decisions,” she said.
“We try to balance what we believe to be in our interests. Sometimes, and I would argue most times, we get it right. Sometimes we don't,” America’s top diplomat conceded.
Precisely. That's why James Monroe came up with something eventually known as The Monroe Doctrine. We're going to stay out of everyone else's business, because we "sometimes don't" get it right.
In fact, I'm going through a mental list of dictators, trying to think of one we've supported and got it right by doing so.
Can anyone out there help me out? How many of these guys were instances where we got it right?
I've swiped a list of dictators supported by the U.S. from this dude. Lord have mercy, I wish that the Congressman had done a roll call through the list, asking when we "got it right".
{Update from 3-3-2011, to eliminate any confusion....If you follow all of the links back to the originator of this list, his basis for inclusion is "rulers who received aid (economic/military), training of military/intelligence/security forces, and/or political support from the US". It's freakin' terrifying. See the comment field below about Pol Pot.}
Please respond with the names that give you that warm, fuzzy feeling of supporting a great cause.
MOBUTU SESE SEKO
Dictator of Zaire 1965-1997
MOHAMMED SIAD BARRE
President/Dictator of Somalia 1969-1991
GEN. IBRAHIM BABANGIDA
Military Dictator/President of Nigeria 1985-1993
GEN. SANI ABACHA
Dictator of Nigeria 1993-1998
HASTINGS KAMUZU BANDA
Dictator of Malawi 1966-1994
LAURENT-DÉSIRÉ KABILA
President/Dictator of the Democratic Republic of the Congo 1997-2001
GNASSINGBE ETIENNE EYADEMA
Dictator of Togo 1967-2005
FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY
Dictator/President of the Ivory Coast 1960-1993
HASSAN II
King of Morocco 1961-1999
TEODORO OBIANG NGUEMA MBASOGO
President/Dictator of Equatorial Guinea 1979-present
ZINE EL ABIDINE BEN ALI
President-Prime Minister/Dictator of Tunisia 1987-2011
ANWAR EL-SADAT
President/Dictator of Egypt 1970-1981
HOSNI MUBARAK
President/Dictator of Egypt 1981-present
IAN SMITH
Prime Minister of Rhodesia (white minority regime) 1965-1979
PIETER WILLEM BOTHA
Prime Minister of South Africa (white minority regime) 1978-1984, President 1984-1989
DANIEL ARAP MOI
President/Dictator of Kenya 1978-2002
HAILE SELASSIE (RAS TAFARI)
Emperor of Ethiopia 1928-1974
WILLIAM J. S. TUBMAN
President/Dictator of Liberia 1944-1971
SAMUEL KANYON DOE
Dictator of Liberia 1980-1990
Asia
MOHAMED SUHARTO
Dictator of Indonesia 1966-1998
NGO DINH DIEM
President/Dictator of South Vietnam 1955-1963
GEN. NGUYEN KHANH
Dictator of South Vietnam 1964-1965
NGUYEN CAO KY
Dictator of South Vietnam 1965-1967
GEN. NGUYEN VAN THIEU
President/Dictator of South Vietnam 1967-1975
TRAN THIEM KHIEM
Prime Minister of South Vietnam 1969-75
BAO DAI
Emperor of Vietnam 1926-1945, chief of state 1949-1955
LEE KUAN YEW
Prime Minister/Dictator of Singapore 1959-1990; behind-the scenes ruler since then.
EMOMALI RAHMONOV
President/Dictator of Tajikistan 1992-present
NURSULTAN NAZARBAYEV
President of Kazakhstan 1990-present
ISLAM A. KARIMOV
President/Dictator of Uzbekistan 1990-present
SAPARMURAD ATAYEVICH NIYAZOV
President/Dictator of Turkmenistan 1990-2006
MARSHAL LUANG PIBUL SONGGRAM
Dictator of Thailand 1948-1957
FIELD MARSHAL THANOM KITTIKACHORN
Prime Minister/Dictator of Thailand 1957-58, 1963-1973
CHIANG KAI-SHEK
President/Dictator (Nationalist) of China 1928-1949
President/Dictator of Taiwan 1949-1975
CHIANG CHING-KUO
President/Dicator of Taiwan 1978-1988; Prime Minister 1972-1978
DENG XIAOPING
De facto ruler of China from circa 1978 to the early 1990s
FERDINAND MARCOS
President/Dictator of the Philippines 1965-1986
SYNGMAN RHEE
President/Dictator of South Korea 1948-1960
GEN. PARK CHUNG HEE
President/Dictator of South Korea 1962-1979
GEN. CHUN DOO HWAN
President/Dictator of South Korea 1980-1988
SIR MUDA HASSANAL BOLKIAH
Sultan of Brunei 1967-present
GEN. LON NOL
Prime Minister/Dictator of Cambodia 1970-1975
POL POT
Dictator of Cambodia 1975-1979
MAJ. GEN. SITIVENI RABUKA
Dictator of Fiji 1987-1999
ASKAR AKAYEV
President of Kyrgyzstan 10/27/1990-2005
Europe
FRANCISCO FRANCO
Dictator of Spain 1939-1975
ANTONIO SALAZAR DE OLIVEIRA
Dictator of Portugal 1928-1968
COL. GEORGIOS PAPADOPOULOS
Prime Minister/President/Dictator of Greece 1967-1973
Latin America
ANASTASIO SOMOZA GARCIA
Dictator of Nicaragua 1937-1947, 1950-1956
ANASTASIO "TACHITO" SOMOZA DEBAYLE
Dictator of Nicaragua 1967-1972, 1974-1979
MANUEL ESTRADA CABRERA
Dictator of Guatemala 1898-1920
GEN. JORGE UBICO CASTANEDA
Dictator of Guatemala 1931-1944
COL. CARLOS ENRIQUE CASTILLO ARMAS
Dictator of Guatemala 1954-1957
GEN. JOSE MIGUEL YDIGORAS FUENTES
President/Dictator of Guatemala 1958-1963
COL. ENRIQUE PERALTA AZURDIA
Military Junta, Guatemala 1963-1966
COL.CARLOS ARANA OSORIO
Dictator of Guatemala 1970-1974
GEN. FERNANDO ROMEO LUCAS GARCIA
Dictator of Guatemala 1978-1982
GEN. JOSE EFRAIN RIOS MONTT
Dictator of Guatemala 1982-1983
MARCO VINICIO CEREZO ARÉVALO
President/Dictator of Guatemala 1986-1991
MAXIMILIANO HERNANDEZ MARTINEZ
Dictator of El Salvador 1931-1944
COL. OSMIN AGUIRRE Y SALINAS
Dictator of El Salvador 1944-1945
CIVILIAN-MILITARY JUNTA, EL SALVADOR
1961-1962
COL. ARTURO ARMANDO MOLINA BARRAZA
Dictator of El Salvador 1972-1977
JUNTA, EL SALVADOR
1979-1982
ALFREDO FÉLIX CRISTIANI BUKARD
President/Dictator of El Salvador 1989-1994
TIBURCIO CARIAS ANDINO
Dictator of Honduras 1932-1948
COL. OSWALDO LOPEZ ARELLANO
Dictator of Honduras 1963-1975
ROBERTO SUAZO CORDOVA
President/Dictator of Honduras 1982-1986
GEN. OMAR HERRERA-TORRIJOS
Dictator of Panama 1969-1981
GEN. MANUEL ANTONIO MORENA NORIEGA
Dictator of Panama 1982-1989
AUGUSTO PINOCHET UGARTE
Dictator of Chile 1973-1990
GEN. JORGE RAFAEL VIDELA
Dictator of Argentina 1976-1981
COL. MARCOS PEREZ JIMENEZ
Dictator of Venezuela 1950-1958
GEN. ALFREDO STROESSNER
Dictator of Paraguay 1954-1989
ALBERTO FUJIMORI
Dictator of Peru 1990-2000
FRANCOIS "PAPA DOC" DUVALIER
Dictator of Haiti 1957-1971
JEAN-CLAUDE "BABY DOC" DUVALIER
Dictator of Haiti 1971-1986
MILITARY JUNTA / LT. GEN. RAOUL CEDRAS, GEN. PHILIPPE BIAMBY and LT. COL. MICHEL-JOSEPH FRANCO
Haiti 1991-1994
GEN. RENE BARRIENTOS ORTUNO
President/Dictator of Bolivia 1964-1969
GEN. HUGO BANZER SUAREZ
Dictator of Bolivia 1971-1978
DR. GETULIO VARGAS
Dictator of Brazil 1930-1945, 1951-1954
GEN. HUMBERTO DE ALENCAR CASTELLO BRANCO
Dictator of Brazil 1964-1967
CARLOS PRIO SOCARRAS
Dictator of Cuba 1948-1952
FULGENCIO BATISTA
Dictator of Cuba 1933-44, 1952-1959
GERARDO MACHADO MORALES
Dictator of Cuba 1925-1933
RAFAEL LEONIDAS TRUJILLO
Dictator of the Dominican Republic 1930-1961
Middle East
MOHAMMED REZA PAHLAVI
Shah of Iran 1941-1979
SADDAM HUSSEIN
Dictator of Iraq 1969 (1979)-2003
GEN. MOHAMMED AYUB KHAN
President/Dictator of Pakistan 1958-1969
GEN. AGHA MUHAMMAD YAHYA KHAN
President/Dictator of Pakistan 1969-1971
GEN. MOHAMMAD ZIA UL-HAQ
President/Dictator of Pakistan 1977-1988
PERVEZ MUSHARRAF
Dictator of Pakistan 1999-2008
ABDUL IBN HUSSEIN I
King of Jordan 1952-1999
TURGUT ÖZAL
Prime Minister of Turkey 1983-1989, President 1989-1993
SHEIK JABIR AL-AHMAD AL SABAH
Emir of Kuwait 1977-2006
Prime Minister of Kuwait 1962-1963, 1965-1978
FAHD IBN ABDUL-AZIZ AL SAUD
King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia 1982-2005
7 comments:
Hey the government didn't support Hitler, so they must get it right every once in a while, right!
I've actually gotten emails from several of these people. They all start the same:
"First I must solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of it's nature as being utterly confidential and 'top secret'. I am sure and have confidence of your ability and reliability to prosecute a transaction of this great magnitude involving a pending transaction requiring maxiimum confidence."
First, let me be the first (I hope) to say "Paullah Akbar!!" (Ron Paul is Great)....
Secondly, I think the list has a few clunkers. As in, I'm not sure they're very accurate at all. Did we support Pol Pot? Seems like we were bombing Cambodia about the time he was in power. Actually, on second thought, we may have bombed prior to his reign - so maybe we precipitated his rise to terror.
Oh well, even the blogger this was swiped from said he didn't think it was accurate. So, in the words of 'she whose name cannot be spoken': "You get some right and you get some wrong."
By the way, maybe we should call Dr. Paul "The Janitor". After all, he mops the floor with Sec. Clinton. Then he cleans Bernanke's clock. Then he mops the floor with anyone debating him.... He's squeaky clean!
The list includes many who never received any material support from the US. De Facto diplomatic recognition does not translate into moral or financial support for a nation's government/rulers. Neither does leasing a broom closet in a foreign country equal "maintaining a military base". Hyperbole, which generally contains a minimal element of truth is not considered a legitimate debating strategy.
Tarrant Liberty Guy,
I did some random Googling and came up with this terrifying snippet on us and Pol Pot:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/US_PolPot.html
This is definitely a subject for further research. Good lord in heaven.
Leo,
Great to hear from you again. Follow the links back to the originator, and you'll see the guy's criteria for inclusion. It's not very broad, BTW.
I agree with Leonidas.
We never supported Osama bin Laden - ever - in any capacity. We supported some Mujahadeen groups, but never his.
We never "supported" Saddam Hussein as much as we opposed Iran. Imagine if Iran, with its newly minted theocracy, defeated Saddam who ruled over a country that was 60% Shi'ite. Now, Iraqi Shi'ites are Arab and Iranian Shi'ites are Persian, but the Iranian clerics would have found many allies, suppressed the rest, and would have created an Islamic superstate.
The "support" we gave Iraq was utility helicopters, light arms, agricultural chemicals, and trucks. Our most important contribution to them in the war was intelligence information. France gave Iraq 30 times our contribution, and Russia gave Iraq 100 times our contribution. With a bloody stalemate, I think it turned out exactly as we wanted.
That's a formidable list of dictators, but I'm going on a limb for a few:
King Faud: friendly to us, much preferred to Wahhabist radicals
Pinochet: deposed the Soviet puppet Allende who illegally nationalized firms, banks, and farms. Pinochet killed communist rebels - not a crime in my book. Pinochet opened up a wave of privatization and market liberalization that swept through all of Latin America. Chile's models were used in the newly liberated Eastern Europe as well as social welfare states like Sweden. They made mistakes, but they learned from them.
Musharraf: Although his ISI was secretly supporting our enemies, I think he was our boy. He kept a lid on Islamic fundamentalism, and also held back the corrupt so-called liberal opposition.
Many of these corrupt and incompetent dictators were, I'm quite sorry to say, preferable to the alternatives. Would you say Rhee was worse than Kim Il Sung? Nguyen and Tran were worse than Ho Chi Minh and his successors? Chiang was worse than Mao?
If you consider it unwise for us to be meddling in the affairs of foreign states, then that is tacit endorsement of all these dictators. We are accused of "supporting" them only because we had a preference in the outcome of their battles. I suppose we'd be better off having kept to ourselves and allowed communism to overrun the world, scarfing up all its resources, and garnering manpower for an all-out assault.
The notion of isolationism is as obsolete as the notion that the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans provide us protection. We're part of the world whether we like it or not. The tragedy of too many wars isn't that we got involved, but that we didn't realize or accept sooner that we already were involved. We waited until our allies were weakened before we joined them.
Imagine how far Japan and Germany would have gotten if Japan had not attacked Pearl Harbor.
Read The Road to Serfdom by Hayek and learn how indifference to collectivism is surrendering to it. He explains how all collectivist efforts eventually lead to oppression. He recognized early that socialism was a cancer spreading throughout the world, and that the different varieties (Nazis, Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Trotsky) all lead to the same end.
Japan, Germany, and South Korea all turned out OK.
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