Mary MacElveen: Blow Back!  I would not mind a coup that puts Bush out of power!

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Published: Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Bylined to: Mary MacElveen


Mary MacElveen: Blow Back!  I would not mind a coup that puts Bush out of power!

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VHeadline.com commentarist Mary MacElveen writes: As I settled down to read the January 9 edition of Newsday I saw that they ran an AP article where Harry Belafonte (visiting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas) had called Bush: "the greatest terrorist in the world."


First of all, I was very surprised to see that Newsday had placed the article on page two and gave it the amount of space they did.

I do not know if they were emboldened by the various scandals that are presently rocking this Bush administration but they gave it prime real estate in their print edition.

In years past, a piece like this would have been placed in a hard-to-find sidebar buried within the any US newspaper ... or it would not have been reported at all because of the "patriotic" fervor that took hold of this country shortly after 9/11 where it was the press that felt extreme pressure by the White House.

We all remember when Ari Fleisher (Bush's former press secretary) said: "Watch what you say"


Mr. Belafonte directed this statement to President Hugo Chavez: "No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W. Bush, says, we're here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people ... support your revolution."

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I believe that the people are waking up to the fact that Hugo Chavez is not a threat to us, but one who does work along side with American elected officials.  They are waking up to this fact through various e-publications such as VHeadline.com ... where we report what is often left unsaid in the mainstream press.

Could it be that alternative news publications are indeed leading the way in information gathering?

The sheer strength of VHeadline.com proves that fact.  With readership down for most newspapers, people are indeed gathering their information from the Internet ... those that are hopelessly clueless depend upon the sound bites of the broadcast medium.  Some broadcasts will delve into a story ... but not nearly enough. 

When Mr. Belafonte accused the US news media of "falsely painting Chavez as a "dictator," I would say that remark is dead on.  I have never read that President Chavez has stated: "You are either with us or against us" as Bush stated after 9/11.  While President Chavez has called the United States government "imperialist," history is on his side.  I must reiterate that President Chavez has a deep admiration for the American people and had even offered us aid after Katrina ... but Bush rejected it.

In this Newsday/AP article: "Chavez accuses Bush of trying to overthrow him, pointing to intelligence documents released by the US indicating that the CIA knew beforehand that dissident officers planned a short-lived 2002 coup. The US denies involvement, but Chavez says Venezuela must be on guard."

* This is one coup that I am glad was short-lived ... any country must be on guard when any foreign nation plans to meddle in their self determination.

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Then again, I would not mind a coup that puts Bush out of power.

But proof of past CIA involvement of toppling other governments refute the United States government's denial of President Chavez' assertions.  In fact, they support President Chavez' beliefs.  While Belafonte asserts that Bush is a "terrorist," we have had a long, dark, history of invading other countries and Bush is just the latest in a long line of other terrorist coup d'etats.  Please remember that Bush's father, George H.W. Bush was once the CIA director.

So, the apple does not fall far from the tree.

The other night, I watched a chilling video feed called: The Secrets of the CIA (PDF at Source URL [link to www.vheadline.com] ) which I strongly suggest my American readers to watch.  Prepare to sit down for an hour and a half to witness what has been done in your name.  You will witness that it is not just Iraq where we illegally invaded and toppled the Head of State ... we did it on so many occasions.  We did so using US taxpayer's money and the sheer amount spent by the CIA has not been reported.

While some may dismiss this broadcast as feeding into the conspiracy theorists assertions, this broadcast was produced by Sky News owned by Rupert Murdoch ... Mr. Murdoch also owns Fox News here in the United States of America ... so, if you are a fan of Fox News, the man who owns that station is responsible for this program.  Do you still care to debate the authenticity of this program?  The only problem I have is that Rupert Murdoch is not broadcasting this on Fox News for all America to see.

* There's a long list of countries where the United States government chose to use the CIA to install "friendly" governments at the expense of the people living in those countries.

Through our actions, we brought death and destruction to so many ... and isn't that what terrorists do?

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We invaded countries such as Indonesia, the Congo and Bolivia.  The video recalls the CIA's direct involvement in the assassination of Che Guevara ... but, through his assassination, it had a blow-back effect ... those that followed him, turned him into an icon. We felt threatened because he sided with Fidel Castro.

So please ask yourself: "What threat is Castro to us?"

Instead of leaving well enough alone, we killed him and a statue was resurrected in his honor.

The CIA was directly involved in our invasion of Viet Nam, Laos and Cambodia.  Many, like me, feel that our present-day war in Iraq mirrors ... in those invasions we lost over 58,000 soldiers and will never know how many civilians died.  Through the endless news accounts beamed into our living rooms during the sixties, instead of rallying Americans behind this invasion, it too had a blow-back effect.  America turned against this war and Lyndon Johnson did not accept another run for the White House.  Along with Watergate, the Viet Nam war forced President Nixon to resign.  I just wish that George W. Bush would do the same.  Both will go down in history in starting an illegal war and eaves dropping on innocent Americans.

In Cambodia our direct involvement led Pol Pot's iron fist rule of that country.  Which led to economic strife where professionals were systematically murdered and where a mass grave of 20,000 was found.  In trying to bring a democratic society, we failed on so many fronts.

Our involvement in Angola led to the longest civil war in modern history and my guess is that we are repeating that in present day Iraq.  Meanwhile when South Africa lived under apartheid, they one of the biggest supporters of the United States.

What does that say about the United States?

The United States had a hand in installing the Shah of Iran who was later thrown out of power and forced to flee his country when the Ayatollah Khomeini seized power.

It is at this point, I feel the biggest blow-back effect hit us all ... by installing the Shah, Khomeini felt he was pro-Israeli and pro-US sympathies, further inflaming his followers. So in essence we stirred up the biggest hornet's nest instead of leaving that country to evolve through their own self-determination.  Khomeini may have not risen to power if it were not for our actions.  As we all know, Khomeini took American hostages and held them for over 400 days, leading to President Jimmy Carters defeat in 1980. 

Our direct involvement in Nicaragua led to the Iran/Contra scandal that rocked Washington, D.C. trading guns for hostages.  Many were linked to the Iran/Contra Affair made their reappearance in this present day Bush administration and they are, Elliott Abrams and John Negroponte.  In Mr. Abrams case, according to the UK Guardian: "He had illegally withheld information from the investigation into the Iran-contra affair, in which arms were sold to Iran and the proceeds illegally funneled to contra forces waging war against the leftwing Sandinista government in Nicaragua."

* He was later pardoned by Bush Senior ... those Bushs' sure love to pardon law-breakers.

In Negroponte's case, also reported by the UK Guardian: "Was US envoy to Honduras from 1981-85 during illegal war on Nicaragua. Accused of misleading Congress about abuses in Honduras" 

* In this present day Bush administration, he became the United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

If you have a problem with Negroponte, this statement by our present day Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton will blow your socks: "If [the UN Secretariat building] lost 10 stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."

Yet we are concerned with anything that President Chavez has to say?

But, let us go on to our own sordid US history.

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Which leads us to our involvement in Afghanistan when the Soviet Union invaded that country.  The Soviet Union was just as guilty as we are today in invading that country.  But by the United States involvement and as reported in this feed: We trained the mujahideen and trained them how to make explosives.  As relayed in this program once they were done with the Soviets, they would come after us.  Once we left that country, that gave rise to the Taliban who are and still are one of the biggest supporters of Osama bin Laden.

Talk about the mother of all blow-backs!

All of this leads to our present day involvement in Iraq where according to Scott Ritter (one of the arms inspectors in Iraq) speaking of WMD: "The CIA knew new Iraq had none."

I often wonder what the blow-back effect will be since we helped install a theocratic government of the Sunnis.  Some of the United States home-grown religious fanatics who believe in fire and brimstone almost welcome this since it will bring on, as they believe, the second coming of Christ.


So, while many of you who are reading VHeadline.com for the first time and still think that President Hugo Chavez is paranoid in his assertions ... history tells a much different story.

While Belafonte asserts that Bush is a terrorist ... and I too hold that opinion ... our government has a long history of terrorizing innocent people around the globe.

How many innocent people did we kill all in the name of our freedoms?

There can be no freedom in killing innocent people.


While I have no problem with the CIA protecting us using intelligence gathering, I do have a problem with the United States government using this agency to bring forth death and destruction to so many.

In the end, I am left to wonder what will be the biggest blow-back to the United States should we continue down this route.  Will we face one that makes 9/11 look like a walk in the park?


As it stands, through our immoral war in Iraq, Russia is rebuilding the arms race and the Bush administration took its eye off of that ball. 

In the movie 'Forrest Gump' he states: "Stupid is as stupid does" ... and by continuing down this road, Forrest Gump proves that he is smarter than many elected officials in Washington, D.C.

Mary MacElveen