209 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 65 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 1/9/20

The reality we must face: Our Country, the United States, is a Rogue Nation and Our Leaders are Criminals

By       (Page 1 of 2 pages)   2 comments

Dave Lindorff
Message Dave Lindorff
Become a Fan
  (89 fans)


Craters Bomb craters in Laos, in 2016. 80 million unexploded bombs continue to kill and maim here, mainly children. Music excerpt from .At Rest.
(Image by YouTube, Channel: TheBigfella111)
  Details   DMCA


By Dave Lindorff


For as long as I've been alive, my country has been a rogue state.

Actually, the US became a rogue state four years before my birth in 1949 when, in 1945, Washington decided to bomb two militarily insignificant cities in Japan with its new super weapon, the atomic bomb, instantly incinerating several hundred thousand Japanese civilians, including many, many children, and condemning at least that many more to slow agonizing deaths from resulting cancers and birth defects.

From that war crime we went on to the Korean War where the US used the tactic of saturation bombing on the north bombing that was so extensive that eventually the waves of B-29 bombers were unable to find any more targets to hit and were having to drop their ordnance loads in the ocean before returning to airports in Japan, where landing planes full of high explosives was considered too risky. The death toll of civilians in the North alone is estimated, over three years of bombing, at 1.5 million, or about 15% of the country's population. Many more civilians were killed by US forces during fighting in the south.

US military and CIA-backed forces engaged in subversion and secret support of civil conflicts in Latin America, Europe, Africa and Asia over the subsequent decade of the '50s, including the overthrow of the elected secular government of Iran in 1953, an action motivated by Washington's desire to control Iran's oil. That overthrow has had long-lasting consequences, as Iranians, chafing at the reign of the US-installed monarchy of the Shah, eventually overthrew it, and brought in a theocracy that was, understandably, virulently anti-US a situation that continues to inspire endless US violence and war in the region even today.

The '60s, of course, is the era of the Indochina War. President Eisenhower set the stage by backing efforts by the French to reclaim their colonial grip over the region after WWII. When the French were finally defeated by the Viet Minh, despite US aid for French forces, it fell to President John F. Kennedy to pick up the rogue-country mantel, sending upward of 20,000 military "advisors" (actually special forces trained in dirty war techniques) to prop up a corrupt neo-colonial regime in the south of Vietnam. Thus began a decade-long war that, under Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, eventually had half a million US troops in country fighting at one time, battling a national liberation army composed of North Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong irregular guerrillas in the south, as well as Pathet Lao forces fighting for freedom in Laos, and Khmer Rouge fighters in Cambodia.

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).

Well Said 2   Must Read 1   Supported 1  
Rate It | View Ratings

Dave Lindorff Social Media Pages: Facebook Page       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Dave Lindorff, winner of a 2019 "Izzy" Award for Outstanding Independent Journalism from the Park Center for Independent Media in Ithaca, is a founding member of the collectively-owned, journalist-run online newspaper (more...)
 

Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Israel's Gaza Atrocities Recall America's Atrocities in Vietnam

Looming climate catastrophe?: A Rapidly Warming Arctic Could Loose a Methane Climate Bomb Causing Extinction in 9 Years

Supreme Court Junket King Scalia Dies While Vacationing with Wealthy Patrons at Private West Texas Getaway

Something's happening here: Clinton's Crumbling, Bernie's Surging and a 'Political Revolution' May Be in the Offing

The Case for Impeachment of President Barack Obama

Barack Obama: Manchurian Candidate Version 2.0

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend