History Can Help

From 1945 to the end of the century, the United States attempted to overthrow more than 40 foreign governments, and to crush more than 30 populist-nationalist movements struggling against intolerable regimes. In the process, the US
caused the end of life for several million people, and condemned many millions more to a life of agony and despair.--William Blum
Are you tired of falling for government propaganda? Are you tired of supporting wars that help the rich get richer? Are you tired of seeing Americans brutalize people in the third world? Are you tired of never really knowing why were going to war when all of the official reasons tend to be lies?

If you answered yes to any of the questions above, history can help! No longer will you be a typical ahistorical American watching the world's events unfold from an imaginary matrix dictated by the corporate media. You'll actually be able to discern propaganda from paranoia, jewels of truth from jingoism, and rcalamitiesties from false confusion. History can be a joy to learn. Let's take a look at just how history can help with a few examples!

The typical ahistorical American hears news that the president is going to liberate the people of Iraq from a brutal dictator. This brutal dictator, it seems, has a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction--chemical, biological, and maybe even nuclear arms--that he is could use against us. This menace to the world has even used these weapons against his own people! We will be invading Iraq to disarm and topple its brutal dictator and help bring democracy to the people of Iraq.

Now to the typical ahistorical American, this sounds ratplausibleable. It even sounds pretty good. We can't have a guy running around like that. And everybody could use a little democracy in their life. Sounds good.
But to the SUPER-DUPER citizen with a grasp of history this is complete bullshit! It would even be funny if it were not for the sobering fact that hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people stand to die because of this lunacy. History helps put events into context. Let's take a look at just how this works.

Here, even a little history helps. For instance, with just a little tiny bit of history a citizen would know that

Iraq had 93 per cent of their major weapons capability destroyed. This was reported by Rolf Ekeus, the chairman of the United Nations bauthorizedised to inspect and destroy Iraq's arsenal following the Gulf War in 1991. UN inspectors certified that 817 out of the 819 Iraqi long-range missiles were destroyed. In 1999, a special panel of the Security Council recorded that Iraq's main biological weapons facilities (supplied originally by the US and Britain) have been destroyed and rendered harmless.

A little more history would help even more. For instance, you would be aware that the United States under President Ronald Reagan assisted and armed the brutal dictator in question, even helped supply him with arms. You would know that that most vocal critic of the dictator, Donald Rumsfeld, openly visited with the tyrant as he was gassing Kurds and Iranians.

A lot of history, helps a lot! For instance, if you knew a lot of history you would know that this wasn't the first time we planned to invade Iraq. Going back to 1958 when the United States Joints Chiefs of Staff planned a joint invasion with Turkey to overthrow Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem. You'd know that the main reasons that the United States wanted to overthrow Kassem was because he was a reformist who overthrew the monarchy and instituted a republic. You'd also know that he was helpful in establishing the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and that he created a national oil company to help the country benefit from its oil. You'd also know that instead of invading that time, we simply helped stage a coup and had him executed.

Just being somewhat familiar with the history of Iraq could help you separate the bullshit from the truth. You would know that our interest in the Middle East has always been about oil. But the oil has been there for all this time, why invade now? Again, history would help. You would know that the brutal dictator decided to switch his trading currency from the U.S. dollar to the Euro. To understand the significance of such a move, ask an economist what would happen if all the OPEC nations decided to trade using the Euro.

Now if you really go for the gusto and decide to Super Size your order of History, you'll really be cooking! You'd know that we've supported some of the most ghastly dictators and brutal governments the world has ever known: Uncle Jo Stalin, Somoza, Pinochet, Suharto, Hussein, Noriega, the Shah of Iran, Duvalier and a Diem. You would know that we have opposed popular movements around the world from Greece to Chile, from Iran to Italy. Again and again we have opposed democracy in favor of a friendly dictator that would open his markets to foreign investors.

So what are you waiting for? Super Size your order of history today! The more you know about what's happened, the better yundertakendertand what's happening. You are living in a country where information is readily available. You can learn about the brutality of the Contras in Nicaragua or the death squads in El Salvador without fear of being arrested. You have the opportunity to understand the world around you and make it better. The elites are hoping you'll continue to sit on your ass watching reality T.V. for the next fifty years. Would you like an extra helping of history?

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