George Bush Sr. in Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky


On Foreign Policy: 1980s-90s: Supported military junta in Haiti

The Marines invaded Haiti in 1915, destroyed the parliamentary system, reinstituted slavery, killed nobody knows how many people (Haitians say about 15,000), turned their country into a plantation for US investors, and instituted a National Guard, which is a brutal, murderous force that has run the place pretty much ever since under US backing.

This continued right through to when Bush and Clinton supported the military junta directly, right through the worst terror. That was another thing that I saw personally for a couple of days. Right now, in Queens, NY, one of their leading criminals, Emmanuel Constant, is hidden by the US. He's already been sentenced in Haiti for terrorist crimes. He was the head of the paramilitary force that was responsible for killing maybe 5,000 people in Haiti in the early 1990s when Bush and Clinton were supporting the military junta. Haiti has tried to extradite him, but of course the US doesn't even bother responding, and the press won't even comment on it

Source: Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky, p. 74-75 May 25, 2002

On War & Peace: OpEd: Aided Saddam even after he used chemical weapons

When you read George Bush, Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, or all the rest of them, they tell you, "We have to go after Saddam Hussein; this guy is such an evil monster that he even used chemical weapons against his own people. And how can we let someone like that survive?"

It is true. He used chemical weapons against his own people, but there is a phrase missing: "with the aid and support of Daddy Bush," who thought that was just fine. He continued to provide aid and support for the monster, and so did Britain.

At that time he was far more dangerous that he is today. Iraq was then a much more powerful state. And nothing was considered wrong with this. In fact, in early 1990--a couple of months before the invasion of Kuwait-- President Bush #1 sent a high-level senatorial delegation headed by Bob Dole, later the Republican presidential candidate, to Iraq to convey his greetings to his friend Saddam Hussein.

Source: Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky, p.130-131 Mar 19, 2002

On War & Peace: OpEd: Authorized Saddam to crush 1991 Shiite resistance

The problem [with Iraq] is that the majority of the population is Shiite, which means that to the extent that the majority of the population has any voice, it is going to move toward relations with Iran, which is the last thing the US government wants. So somehow you have to have a regime change that restores something exactly like Saddam Hussein, a Sunni-based, military regime that will be able to control the population. Furthermore, this has been completely explicit. You may recall that in March 1991, right after the Gulf War, the US had total control of the area. There was a Shiite rebellion in the south, a big rebellion, including rebelling Iraqi generals.

They didn't ask for any aid from the US. The most they asked for was that the US allow them access to captured Iraqi equipment. George Bush the 1st had a different idea. He authorized his friend Saddam Hussein to use air power to crush the Shiite resistance.

Source: Power and Terror, by Noam Chomsky, p.131-132 Mar 19, 2002

The above quotations are from Power and Terror
Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews
by Noam Chomsky.
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Post-9/11 Talks and Interviews
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