About the Book
Wlliam Blum, author of the bestseller, Rogue State: A Guide to the World‘s Only Superpower, gives us a powerful account of America‘s actions in the world all the way from China in the 1940s to the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Is the United States a force for democracy? Here is the most comprehensive answer to date.
Commendations
'Far and away the best book on the topic.' - Noam Chomsky
'A valuable reference for anyone interested in the conduct of US foreign policy.' - Choice
'I enjoyed it immensely.' - Gore Vidal
'The single most useful summary of CIA history.' - John Stockwell, former CIA officer and author
'Each chapter I read makes me more and more angry.' - Helen Caldicott
'A very useful piece of work, daunting in scope, important.' - Thomas Powers, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
'A very valuable book. The research and organization are extremely impressive.' - A.J. Langguth, author and former New York Times bureau chief
'Blum has performed a very important service in collecting this information in one place, and the documentation is praiseworthy.' - Teresa Pelton Johnson, Assistant Managing Editor, International Security journal, Harvard University
'A marvelous job of bringing together a lot of loose ends from many sources' - Philip Agee, former CIA officer and author
'I bought several more copies to circulate to friends with the hope of shedding new light and understanding on their political outlooks' - Oliver Stone, film director
'I am impressed. It is a valuable contribution' - Ramsey Clark, former Attorney-General of the United States
Contents
Author‘s note
Introduction to the new edition
Introduction to the original edition
1. China 1945 to 1960s: Was Mao Tse-Tung just paranoid?
2. Italy 1947-1948: Free elections, Hollywood style
3. Greece 1947 to early 1950s: From cradle of democracy to client state
4. The Philippines 1940s and 1950s: America‘s oldest colony
5. Korea 1945-1953: Was it all that it appeared to be?
6. Albania 1949-1953: The proper English spy
7. Eastern Europe 1948-1956: Operation Splinter Factor
8. Germany 1950s: Everything from juvenile delinquency to terrorism
9. Iran 1953: Making it safe for the King of Kings
10. Guatemala 1953-1954: While the world watched
11. Costa Rica mid-1950s: Trying to topple an ally, Part one
12. Syria 1956-1957: Purchasing a new government
13. The Middle East 1957-1958: The Eisenhower Doctrine claims another backyard for America
14. Indonesia 1957-1958:War and pornography
15. Western Europe 1950s and 1960s: Fronts within fronts within fronts
16. British Guiana 1953-1964: The CIA‘s international labour Mafia
17. Soviet Union late 1940s to 1960s: From spy planes to book publishing
18. Italy 1950s to 1970s: Supporting the Cardinal‘s orphans and techno-fascism
19. Vietnam 1950-1973: The Hearts and Minds Circus
20. Cambodia 1955-1973: Prince Sihanouk walks the high-wire of neutralism
21. Laos 1957-1973: L‘Armee Clandestine
22. Haiti 1959-1963: The marines land, again
23. Guatemala 1960: One good coup deserves another
24. France/Algeria 1960s: L‘etat, c‘est la CIA
25. Ecuador 1960-1963: A textbook of dirty tricks
26. The Congo 1960-1964: The Assassination of Patrice Lumumba
27. Brazil 1961-1964: Introducing the marvellous new world of death squads
28. Peru 1960-1965: Fort Bragg moves to the jungle
29. Dominican Republic 1960-1966: Saving democracy from communism by getting rid of democracy
30. Cuba 1959-1980s: The unforgivable revolution
31. Indonesia 1965: Liquidating President Sukarno…and 500,000 others. East Timor 1975: and 200,000 more
32. Ghana 1966: Kwame Nkrumah steps out of line
33. Uruguay 1964-1970: Torture - as American as apple pie
34. Chile 1964-1973: A hammer and sickle stamped on your child‘s forehead
35. Greece 1964-1974: ‘Fuck your Parliament and your Constitution,‘ said the President of the United States
36. Bolivia 1964-1975: Tracking down Che Guevara in the land of coup d‘etat
37. Guatemala 1962 to 1980s: A less publicised ‘final solution‘
38. Costa Rica 1970-1971: Trying to topple an ally, Part two
39. Iraq 1972-1975: Covert action should not be confused with missionary work
40. Australia 1973-1975: Another free election bites the dust
41. Angola 1975 to 1980s: The Great Powers Poker Game
42. Zaire 1975-1978: Mobutu and the CIA, a marriage made in heaven
43. Jamaica 1976-1980: Kissinger‘s ultimatum
44. Seychelles 1979-1981: Yet another area of great strategic importance
45. Grenada 1979-1984: Lying - one of the few growth industries in Washington
46. Morocco 1983: A video nasty
47. Suriname 1982-1984: Once again, the Cuban bogeyman
48. Libya 1981-1989: Ronald Reagan meets his match
49. Nicaragua 1981-1990: Destabilisation in slow motion
50. Panama 1969-1991: Double-crossing our drug supplier
51. Bulgaria 1990: Teaching Communists what democracy is all about
52. Iraq 1990-1991: Desert holocaust
53. Afghanistan 1979-1992: America‘s Jihad
54. El Salvador 1980-1994: Human rights, Washington style
55. Haiti 1986-1994: Who will rid me of this man?
56. The American Empire: 1992 to the present.
Notes
Appendix I: This is how money goes round
Appendix II: Instances of use of United States Armed Forces abroad, 1798-1945
Appendix III: US Government assassination plots
About the Author
William Blum left the State Department in 1967, abandoning his aspiration of becoming a Foreign Service Officer because of his opposition to what the US was doing in Vietnam. He then became a founder and editor of the Washington Free Press, the first 'alternative' newspaper in the capital. Mr Blum has been a freelance journalist in the US, Europe and South America. His stay in Chile in 1972-3, writing about the Allende government's 'socialist experiment', and then its tragic overthrow in a CIA-designed coup, instilled in him a personal involvement and an even more heightened interest in what his government was doing in various corners of the world.
