-- begin forwarded message: -- Covert Action Quarterly NATO and Beyond By Ellan Ray and Bill Schaap Secretary of State Madeleine Albright referred to the August 1998 missile assaults against Sudan and Afghanistan (allegedly in retaliation for the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa two weeks earlier) asÒunfortunately, the war of the future.Ó1 In one sense, she was lamenting the likelihood of various Islamic forces retaliating against American civilian targets. There is, as Albright understands, another side to these wars, more than guided missiles launched from a thousand miles away, with no danger to U.S. troops. American military strategy calls forÒthe use of overwhelming force to minimize United States casualties.Ó2 But it is not that simple. Former CIA Director Robert Gates was more precise:Ò[O]ur people and our Government must accept another reality: as potential official American targets are Ôhardened,Õ terrorists will simply turn to non-official targetsÐ businesses, schools, tourists and so on. We can perhaps channel the threat away from the United States Government, but not away from Americans.Ó3 What grand scheme, then, is in place, that may bring theseÒunfortunateÓ wars back home, against civilians? Recent U.S. strategy, to implement the administrationÕs self-appointed role as global policeman, is now defined by its evolving military unilateralism, at home and abroad. The Pathology of a Single Superpower With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the U.S. at last realized its objective to be the worldÕs only superpower. Though WashingtonÐand Wall StreetÐhad always been possessed of a rapacious ambition to control the worldÕs economy (whatÒglobalizationÓ is all about), there is now the conviction in many quarters that it is developing the military capability to do so. The acting Secretary of the Air Force, F. Whitten Peters, described the development asÒlearning a new kind of military operations [sic] in a new world.Ó4 It is unrealistic simply to wipe out every non-compliant government; and a few are too powerful for such a strategy. So the U.S. had devised a more comprehensive plan, and now, after some 20 years, is approaching its millennial end game. One critical element has been a redefinition of theÒenemy,Ó in order to disguise greed as a dispassionate desire to spread westernÒdemocracy.Ó Its complement has been the development of a military strategy for employing that definition to globalize U.S. power. The New Enemy It is commonplace to say that terrorism has replaced communism as the new enemy of western democracy. But this replacement has been selectively applied, geared to the goals of U.S. global hegemony. WashingtonÕs characterization of a foreign government can change radically when little or nothing has changed in that country. The Clinton administrationÕs most recent pledge of more billions for defense came as the Pentagon upgraded North Korea, Iran, and Iraq, which they callÒrogueÓ states, as no longer ÒdistantÓ threats of possible nuclear missile attacks, an official position they had held only a few weeks before.5 Of course, when this happens, it ought to raise eyebrows among the citizenry. That it doesnÕt is often blamed on the average AmericanÕs notoriously short political memory, but it is really due to the remarkable ability of the media to accept new policies, newÒenemies,Ó newÒthreats,Ó without ever acknowledging their prior, unquestioning acceptance of the old ones.6 Enemies can become friends overnight, too. Recent events in Kosovo demonstrate how quickly and how hypocritically the U.S. government recharacterizes a situation when it suits their needs. The Kosovo Liberation Army was branded aÒterrorist organizationÓ in early 1998, but by mid-year U.S. officials, including Richard Holbrooke, were meeting with its leaders, while claiming they were not in favor of Kosovan secession and the resulting inevitability of aÒGreater Albania.Ó Holbrooke was uncharacteristically frank:ÒI think the Serbs should get out of here.Ó7 Ironically, after the CIA financed, armed, and trained IslamicÒfriendsÓ in Afghanistan, President Clinton now believes that the threat they pose may justify creating a new military command at home to fight terrorism. As we go to press, he is weighing Pentagon advice to establish a commander-in-chief for the defense of the continental U.S., a first in peace time. [More next issue.] WMD and NATO The government and its media spin artists have incited western fears by tarring enemy states like Iraq with the brush ofÒweapons of mass destruction Ó so repeatedly that the acronym WMD is now current jargon. Part of theÒnew visionÓ for NATO, discussed below, is to focus on WMD as a justification for millitary strikes anywhere, either as deterrence or asÒpreemptive retaliation.Ó The campaign around WMD is described asÒa microcosm for the new NATO, and for its larger debates and dilemmas.Ó8 None of the analyses, however, point out that the U.S. is the only nation that has used all of these weaponsÐchemical, biological, and nuclear. The U.S. has employed biological weapons for 200 years, from smallpox in the blankets of Native Americans to spreading plagues in Cuba; from chemical weapons like mustard gas to cripple and kill in World War I to Agent Orange to defoliate VietnamÐand to create a generation of deformed children. It is the only nation that has dropped nuclear bombs, and one that now makes, uses, and sells depleted uranium weapons. The chemical weapons charges levied against Iraq are fraught with irony. When Iraq was at war with Iran, and the U.S. considered Iran the greater enemy (a view that changed under Israeli pressure), it was facilitating the sale of chemical weapons to Iraq.9 The weapons inspectors in Iraq claimed that their inventories ofÒunaccounted forÓ WMDs came from boxes of secret Iraqi documents discoveredÒhidden on a chicken farm near Baghdad,Ó10 but there were easier ways to have compiled such inventoriesÐlike reviewing the CIAÕs reports of the secret arms deals it brokered in the 1980s. Taking Control For the U.S., the United Nations has been a double-edged sword. Because of its Security Council veto, it can frustrate actions it opposes, but cannot always force actions it wishes. Thus the U.S. has fosteredÐand fundedÐU.N. tribunals to punish alleged war crimes in Bosnia and in Rwanda, but would never allow such extraterritorial tribunals to investigate crimes against humanity in Indonesia, for example, or in any of its other client states. For this reason, the U.S. refuses to ratify the proposed International Criminal Court and opposes the trial of Augusto Pinochet in Spain.11 Where geographically possible, the military planners have turned increasingly to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which Secretary Albright described asÒour institution of choice.Ó12 NATO is notÒhostageÓ to U.N. resolutions, oneÒstrategic analystÓ said.13 A U.S.ÒofficialÓ explained that the U.N.Òfigures in this as far as possible,Ó but that the new definition of NATO is meant to include the possibility of action without U.N. mandate.14 A Times editorial warned againstÒtransforming the alliance into a global strike force against threats to American and European interests.Ó15 But Secretary Albright reaffirmed that the shift is from collective defense of the NATO membersÕ territory toÒthe broader concept of the defense of our common interests.Ó16 This means, in practical terms, the U.S. forcing the NATO imprimatur on military interventions in the internal affairs of sovereign states that are not members of the alliance.17 Kosovo The most obvious and illegal expansion of NATOÕs mandate has been its intervention in Kosovo. As we go to press, NATO is voting whether to authorize air strikes against the Serbian military. The rationale for the Clinton administrationÕs push for the bombing is described as toÒdo somethingÓ for the sake ofÒcredibility,Ó especially because President Milosevic mightÒbelittle the celebration marking the WestÕs triumph over Communism,Ó planned for April in Washington.18 He might otherwise, one Pentagon official feared, try to turn the celebration into aÒKosovo summit. Ó19 After President Milosevic agreed to allow a monitoring (ÒverifyingÓ) team into Kosovo, the U.S. chose career diplomat William Walker to head the mission, under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.20 Walker, when U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador, oversaw and condoned some of the most brutal oppression and murder in the Western hemisphere. The UNSCOM Scam U.S. abuse of the U.N.Õs mandate became apparent in the UNSCOM Scam. For some time, United Nations Special Commission inspectors in Iraq had attempted to gain access to President HusseinÕs homes and similar sites on the unlikely excuse that they could be CBW laboratories or storehouses. The media continually berated Saddam Hussein when he claimed that espionage was involved. Nonetheless, it came as a surprise to some to learn in January that U.S. spies had been operating against Iraq under cover as UNSCOM inspectors. To add insult to injury, Iraq had been forced to pay for the inspectors from itsÒoil for foodÓ program income.21 UNSCOM was always beholden to the United States. From 1991 to 1997, UNSCOM had no U.N. budget,Òbut existed on handouts, especially from Washington,Ó22 like the Hague Tribunal on Yugoslavia. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Acting Alone The U.S. has increasingly preferred NATO to the U.N. to avoid having its militaristic adventures vetoed. But with some disagreements within NATO as well, the Pentagon has taken to acting alone, or with a compliant ally. The August attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan were examples of totally unilateral military action by the U.S. The recent bombing of Iraq, a joint U.S.-U.K. operation, was taken without consulting either the U.N. or NATO. As one reporter noted,Òthe global coalition arrayed against [Saddam Hussein] in the gulf war has been badly frayed. The United States and Britain are its only steadfast members.Ó23 The arrogance of such an action (compounded by the repeated failure of its rationale, the removal of Saddam Hussein, and by the UNSCOM scandal), has generated considerable anger around the world, albeit mostly by people and governments that can do little or nothing about it but voice aÒgrowing resentment.Ó24 However, some of that resentment has clout. Russia, China, and India have all voiced concerns, and the recent air strikes may have prompted Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny PrimakovÕs informal proposal for a strategic alliance between the three nations. While visiting India to discuss the initiative at the time of the attacks, he said,ÒWe are very negative about the use of force bypassing the Security Council.Ó25 France and Canada also withdrew support. To the consternation of the Americans, France, has formally ended its support for the embargo on Iraq, forcing a reexamination of sanctions and the tightly restrictedÒoil for foodÓ program.26 TheÒParallel NATOÓ Notwithstanding resentment and opposition, Washington is forging ahead with complex, ambitious, and risky plans, if not to supplant, at least to rival NATO, whenever it balks at American cowboy operations. The program is already well entrenched in Eastern Europe, where the Pentagon has bilateral military programs in 13 countries. Plans to expand into the Caucasus and former Soviet Asia are in the works.27 The resultÒis an informal alliance that parallels NATO, but is more acutely reliant on its American benefactor.Ó28 Another consequence of this operation is thatÒthe Pentagon is eclipsing the State Department as the most visible agent of U.S. foreign policy.Ó29 Funding for some of the programs has an Orwellian flair. The U.S. European Command in Stuttgart runs a program called the Joint Contact Team Program, which was, according to the Washington Post,Òinitially paid for from a discretionary fund held by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. To work within congressional prohibitions of training foreign troops, the visits by U.S. military experts are calledÔexchangesÕ and the experts are calledÔcontact teamsÕ rather than trainers.Ó30 One of the convenient side effects of the operation is the astonishing expansion of U.S. arms sales to the region. Eastern EuropeÒhas become the largest recipient of U.S.-funded military equipment transfers after the Middle East.Ó Some Eastern Europeans are justifiably concerned aboutÒwhether the United States is fueling a regional arms race.Ó31 Another sobering aspect of the PentagonÕs preeminence is its growing collaboration with the Central Intelligence Agency.ÒEver since the Persian Gulf war, when military commanders and CIA officials became convinced of the need for closer coordination between their services, planning for covert missions has been conducted jointly.Ó32 The New Balkanization The western powers, having successfully re-Balkanized the Balkans, find this Nineteenth Century tactic to their liking. Indications are that there is a serious and far-flung effort under way to Balkanize Africa, redrawing its borders. Three of the largest nations on that continent, Congo, Angola, and Sudan, face violent struggles to divide their territories. In Angola and Sudan, the rebellions, supported quite actively by the U.S., have gone on for years. The move to divide the Congo, however, began only after the recent overthrow of Mobutu Sese Seko, the greedy dictator whom the U.S. had installed and kept in power for more than 30 years. Learning from the breakups both of the Soviet Union and of Yugoslavia, or more to the point, having long planned for such eventualities, the U.S. recognizes that it is easier to dominate a region when the governmental units are small. Already the media parrots are taking the cue, after years of silence on the subject. A recent, perhaps prophetic, piece in the New York Times, makes the point: The borders of African nations, set up arbitrarily by the Europeans who colonized the continent a century ago, are supposed to be inviolable. Yet Congo is now split in two, perhaps for good.33 Although the Organization of African Unity enshrined the colonial borders in its 1963 charter, and has generally seen them respected for 35 years, the western powers now purport to blame themselves for having imposed these unnatural divisions upon the hapless Africans.34 This, of course, encourages Balkanization and eases the path to further domination. In some cases, U.S. strategy is more convoluted and Machiavellian. In the Sudan, for example, it has long been evident that the U.S. wants to keep the rebels sufficiently viable to avoid defeat, but not strong enough to pose a serious threat of the governmentÕs overthrow.ÒPeace,Ó anÒofficialÓ is quoted as saying,Òdoes not necessarily suit American interests....ÔAn unstable Sudan amounts to a stable Egypt.ÕÓ35 The Consequences Perhaps we act alone because we have to act alone. Former CIA Director Robert Gates hinted about future wars when he wrote: Another unacknowledged and unpleasant reality is that a more militant approach toward terrorism would, in virtually all cases, require us to act violently and alone. No other power will join us on a crusade against terrorism.Ó36 But, the terrorists having been created, the crusade goes on. Ellen Ray and Bill Schaap are co-founders of CovertAction Quarterly. Footnotes: 1.ÊNew York Times, Aug. 23, 1998, p. 21. And see Sudan article in this issue. 2.ÊJames Risen,ÒPentagon Planners Give New Meaning toÔOver the Top,ÕÓ New York Times, Sept. 20, 1998, p. 18. 3.ÊRobert M. Gates,ÒWhat War Looks Like Now,Ó New York Times, Aug. 16, 1998, p. 15. 4.ÊÒThe Pentagon After the Cold War,Ó Aerospace America, Nov. 1998, p. 42. 5.ÊNew York Times, Jan. 21, 1999, p. A7. 6.ÊRecall that Mobutu became aÒdictatorÓ in the press only when his overthrow was imminent; for thirty years, while he brutally raped the Congo, he was our anti-communist ally, Mr. President. And the New York Times always referred to theÒPinochet governmentÓ succeeding theÒMarxist Allende regime,Ó even though Allende was elected and Pinochet took power in a coup. 7.ÊChris Hedges,ÒU.S. Envoy Meets Kosovo Rebels, Who Reject Truce Call,Ó New York Times, June 25, 1998, p. A6. 8.ÊAt the upcoming NATO celebrations in April, the U.S. is to propose aÒNATO Center for Weapons of Mass Destruction.Ó Steven Erlanger,ÒU.S. to Propose NATO Take On Increased Roles,Ó New York Times, Dec. 7, 1998, p. A1. 9.ÊMost notably through Chilean arms dealer Carlos Cardoen. See Ari Ben-Menashe, Profits of War (New York: Sheridan Square, 1992), passim. Cardoen vigorously denied any links to the CIA until his company was indicted in the U.S., when he immediately invoked the CIA-knew-all-about-it defense. 10.ÊWilliam J. Broad and Judith Miller,ÒGerms, Atoms and Poison Gas: the Iraqi Shell Game,Ó New York Times, Dec. 20, 1998, p. 5. 11.ÊSeeÒThe Pinochet PrincipleÓ in this issue, p. 46. 12.ÊRoger Cohen,ÒNATO Shatters Old Limits in the Name of Preventing Evil,Ó New York Times, Oct. 18, 1998, Sec. 4, p. 3. 13.ÊIbid. 14.ÊWilliam Pfaff,ÒWashingtonÕs New Vision for NATO Could Be Divisive,Ó Los Angeles Times, Dec. 5, 1998. 15.ÊÒNew Visions for NATO,Ó New York Times, Dec. 7, 1998, p. A24. Alexander Vershbow, the U.S. representative to NATO, immediately responded, in a letter to the editor, that there areÒno such proposals.Ó The new strategy, he said,Òwill not turn the alliance into a global police force, but will affirm NATOÕs adaptability in tackling new risks, like regional instability, weapons of mass destruction, and terrorism.Ó 16.ÊSteven Erlanger,ÒU.S. to Propose NATO Take On Increased Roles,Ó New York Times, Dec. 7, 1998, p. A12. 17.ÊÒThe Holbrooke-Milosevic agreement on Kosovo in October was accurately described by Richard Holbrooke as an unprecedented event. NATO had intervened in an internal conflict inside a sovereign non-NATO state, not to defend its own members but to force that other state to halt repression of a rebellious ethnic minority.Ó Op. cit., n. 14. 18.ÊNew York Times, Jan. 21, 1999, p. A3. 19.ÊIbid. 20.ÊWalker reminded his audience at a Washington briefing that, while he spoke on behalf of the OSCE and the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM), he was stillÒa serving career [U.S.] Foreign Service Officer.Ó Department of State release, Jan. 8, 1999. 21.ÊThe revelations, which first appeared in the Washington Post and the Boston Globe, and then belatedly in the New York Times, caused aÒfuror.Ó Tim Weiner,ÒU.S. Used U.N. Team to Place Spy Device in Iraq, Aides Say,Ó New York Times, Jan. 8, 1999, p. A1. An unnamedÒsenior intelligence officialÓ quoted in the Times said that the newsÒshould not shock people.Ó An also unnamed U.N. official said it would beÒnaiveÓ to have thought otherwise. 22.ÊBarbara Crossette,ÒReports of Spying Dim Outlook for Inspections,Ó New York Times, Jan. 8, 1999, p. A8. 23.ÊTim Weiner,ÒU.S. Long View on Iraq: Patience in Containing the Ever-Deadlier Hussein,Ó New York Times, Jan. 3, 1999, p. 10. 24.ÊRichard N. Haass, the director of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution, describes the concern as aÒgrowing resentment factor. Ó Serge Schmemann,ÒAttacks Breed a Complex Unease About U.S. Goals,Ó New York Times, Dec. 20, 1998, p. 21. 25.ÊBBC World Service, Dec. 21, 1998. 26.ÊBarbara Crossette,ÒFrance, in Break With U.S., Urges End to Iraq Embargo,Ó New York Times, Jan. 14, 1999, p. A6. 27.ÊDana Priest,ÒU.S. Military Builds Alliances Across Europe,Ó Washington Post, Dec. 14, 1998, p. A1. 28.ÊIbid., p. A28. 29.ÊIbid. 30.ÊIbid. 31.ÊIbid. 32.ÊOp. cit., n. 2. 33.ÊIan Fisher with Norimitsu Onishi,ÒCongoÕs Struggle May Unleash Broad Strife to Redraw Africa,Ó New York Times, Jan. 12, 1999, p. A1. 34.ÊTypical is Howard FrenchÕs long article,ÒThe African Question: Who Is to Blame?Ó New York Times, Jan. 16, 1999, p. B7. The subhead reads,ÒThe Finger Points to the West, And Congo Is a Harsh Example.Ó 35.ÊJames C. McKinley, Jr.,ÒSudanÕs Calamity: Only the Starving Favor Peace, Ó New York Times, July 23, 1998. 36. Op. cit., n. 3. -- Source: Covert Action Quarterly [Spring 1999] Web: http://www.covertaction.org/ -- -- end forwarded message --