The Salvador Option in Iraq

In case you missed it, an old article about current strategy:
John Pilger detects the Salvador Option
By John Pilger - The New Statesman 8 May 2006

...For almost three years it was that al-Qaeda was the driving force behind the "insurgency", led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a bloodthirsty Jordanian who was clearly being groomed for the kind of infamy Saddam Hussein enjoys. It mattered not that al-Zarqawi had never been seen alive and that only a fraction of the "insurgents" followed al-Qaeda. For the Americans, Zarqawi's role was to distract attention from the thing that almost all Iraqis oppose: the brutal Anglo-American occupation of their country.

Now that al-Zarqawi has been replaced by "sectarian violence" and "civil war", the big news is the attacks by Sunnis on Shia mosques and bazaars. The real news, which is not reported in the CNN "mainstream", is that the Salvador Option has been invoked in Iraq. This is the campaign of terror by death squads armed and trained by the US, which attack Sunnis and Shias alike. The goal is the incitement of a real civil war and the break-up of Iraq, the original war aim of Bush's administration. The ministry of the interior in Baghdad, which is run by the CIA, directs the principal death squads. Their members are not exclusively Shia, as the myth goes. The most brutal are the Sunni-led Special Police Commandos, headed by former senior officers in Saddam's Ba'ath Party. This unit was formed and trained by CIA "counter-insurgency" experts, including veterans of the CIA's terror operations in central America in the 1980s, notably El Salvador. In his new book, Empire's Workshop (Metropolitan Books), the American historian Greg Grandin describes the Salvador Option thus: "Once in office, [President] Reagan came down hard on central America, in effect letting his administration's most committed militarists set and execute policy. In El Salvador, they provided more than a million dollars a day to fund a lethal counter-insurgency campaign . . . All told, US allies in central America during Reagan's two terms killed over 300,000 people, tortured hundreds of thousands and drove millions into exile."

Although the Reagan administration spawned the current Bushites, or "neo-cons", the pattern was set earlier. In Vietnam, death squads trained, armed and directed by the CIA murdered up to 50,000 people in Operation Phoenix. In the mid-1960s in Indonesia CIA officers compiled "death lists" for General Suharto's killing spree during his seizure of power. After the 2003 invasion, it was only a matter of time before this venerable "policy" was applied in Iraq.

According to the investigative writer Max Fuller ( National Review Online), the key CIA manager of the interior ministry death squads "cut his teeth in Vietnam before moving on to direct the US military mission in El Salvador". Professor Grandin names another central America veteran whose job now is to "train a ruthless counter-insurgent force made up of ex-Ba'athist thugs". Another, says Fuller, is well-known for his "production of death lists". A secret militia run by the Americans is the Facilities Protection Service, which has been responsible for bombings. "The British and US Special Forces," concludes Fuller, "in conjunction with the [US-created] intelligence services at the Iraqi defence ministry, are fabricating insurgent bombings of Shias."

On 16 March, Reuters reported the arrest of an American "security contractor" who was found with weapons and explosives in his car. Last year, two Britons disguised as Arabs were caught with a car full of weapons and explosives; British forces bulldozed the Basra prison to rescue them. The Boston Globe recently reported: "The FBI's counter-terrorism unit has launched a broad investigation of US-based theft rings after discovering that some of the vehicles used in deadly car bombings in Iraq, including attacks that killed US troops and Iraqi civilians, were probably stolen in the United States, according to senior government officials."

As I say, all this has been tried before - just as the preparation of the American public for an atrocious attack on Iran is similar to the WMD fabrications in Iraq. If that attack comes, there will be no warning, no declaration of war, no truth. Imprisoned in the Hilton lift, staring at CNN, my fellow passengers could be excused for not making sense of the Middle East, or Latin America, or anywhere. They are isolated. Nothing is explained. Congress is silent. The Democrats are moribund. And the freest media on earth insult the public every day. As Voltaire put it: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

Spin alert: "Too much money going to social programs"

by Grant Lawrence - Opednews

"...according to USA Today, the government owes a record 63.8 trillion dollars. If you read further in the article, it points out that there is just too much money going to social programs.

Hell, those nasty no good s.o.b's taking our money for things like social security and medicare. This really is enough to make an American mad.

But what the article conveniently forgets to mention is that nearly half our tax dollar goes to pay for military obligations.

Oops, they must have forgot about that one.

Americans are suckers.

We will get all upset over the aged and disabled getting some help but we won't think too much about giving nearly half of our tax dollars away paying for wars (past, present, and future). We also didn't get that upset about giving trillions to the finance guys who rip us off daily on our credit cards, home and auto loans, and just about anything they are involved in.

So the push is on in the managed, corporate controlled American media to tell us that we can't afford to pay for social programs, so we will just have to do with almost nothing. In the mean time, terrorist weapons of mass destruction will continue to get built in this country for trillions and Americans will sadly think that is for defense.

Americans will unfortunately be sucked into all of this because our "progressive" President Obama will continue to tell us that there is no more money. The Republicrats here in the United States will all agree with our leader, reluctantly, and terrorist weapons will continue to be built and empire will continue to be funded while Americans lose nearly everything.

Americans are suckers!" Source

drug dealers' US$ index

Forget warnings from the IMF the OECD and George Soros. You know your currency is well and truly down the swanny when even drug dealers are refusing payment in it. Read all here

If you feel like voting - from Ellen Brown

Take Back the Power to Create Money from the Private Banking Industry

by Ellen Brown - webofdebt.wordpress.com (May 28 2009)

Today was the last day to submit entries to the President's Open Government Brainstorm page. I submitted the one below. The website has a place to vote ("Looks Promising!" "Not So Sure".) If you feel like voting, the link is here: http://opengov.ideascale.com/akira/dtd/3648-4049

The Constitution states, "Congress shall have the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof". This power has been abdicated to private bankers. Today, 99.99% of our money is created by private banks when they make loans. This includes the Federal Reserve, a private
banking corporation, which orders Federal Reserve Notes to be printed, and then lends them to the US government. Only coins are actually created by the government itself. Coins compose only about 1-10,000th of the M3 money supply, and Federal Reserve Notes compose about three percent of it. All of the rest is created by banks as loans, something they do by simply writing numbers into accounts.

Congress could take back the power to create the national money supply by:

(a) Nationalizing the Federal Reserve.

(b) Reviving the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a government-owned lending facility used by Roosevelt to fund the New Deal. Rather than merely recycling borrowed money as Roosevelt did, however, the RFC could actually create credit on its books, in the same way that banks do it today, by fanning its capital base into many times that sum in loans. Assuming $300 billion is left of the TARP money approved by Congress last fall, this money could be deposited into the RFC and leveraged into $3 trillion in loans. That's based on a ten percent reserve requirement.

If the money were counted as capital, at an eight percent capital requirement it could be leveraged into 12.5 times the original sum. That would be enough to fund not only President Obama's stimulus package but many other programs that are desperately short of funding now.

Many references are available which will be furnished on request. See generally www.webofdebt.com/articles

The Way Out

by Richard Distelhorst - www.opednews.com

Here's a truly progressive proposal to reform the privately-owned, debt-based monetary system. Two time presidential candidate Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will soon be introducing this legislation which truly is the way out of recession and back to prosperity. The following article summarizes the legislation and also provides a link where the proposed American Monetary Act can be read.

THE WAY OUT

The primary cause of a recession is a shortage of money in the hands of the American people, the way out of recession is to put more money in their hands. Under the present monetary system this can only be done by borrowing more and going deeper in debt. It is difficult for people to understand that we have no money, instead we circulate bank-created interest-bearing debt as a "substitute money."

The American Monetary Act takes three simple steps to correct this debt problem:

(1) Incorporate the Federal Reserve Banks into the U. S. Treasury where all new money is created by government as real money, not interest-bearing debt, and spent into circulation to promote the general welfare; monitored to be neither inflationary nor deflationary.

(2) Eliminate Fractional Reserve Banking in a manner that makes the federal government the only entity with the power to create, issue and regulate our money, as Article I, Section 8, Clause 5 of the United States Constitution mandates.

(3) As the "debt-money" created by the privately owned Federal Reserve System and the commercial banks disappears when debts are paid, it will be replaced with real money spent into circulation to rebuild our badly decayed public infrastructure, which includes roads, bridges, dams, water and sewage plants, mass transit, schools, etc. It also includes universal health care and education for all. This will create millions of high paying jobs. Also a substantial stimulus check will be sent out to immediately put money back in the hands of the American people. We don't need to "get credit flowing," we need to get real money flowing. All of this will be an interest-free, debt-free, inflation-free dividend to the American people.

What the so-called "too big to fail" banks don't want you to know is that all of their money was created in the form of debt, and when they can no longer create more "debt-money" it will disappear as the debts are paid or defaulted, which means we will have to replace their debt money by spending real U. S. dollars into circulation. Then we will finally get the benefits we should have received in the first place - and all these benefits come without debt, without taxes, and without inflation. It will be a permanent money supply, not temporary as the present bank-created "debt-money" which disappears when debts are paid. The real money we will need to spend into circulation to replace this "debt-money" is literally trillions of dollars. And it all will appear as a bonus or dividend for the people. This will be permanent money with no debt or interest charges attached.

To allow this recession or depression to continue when the way out is well known is inexcusable. The American Monetary Act IS the way out of the present recession.
Click the link below to read the American Montary Act
http://www.monetary.org/amacolorpamphlet.pdf

HERE IS HOW THIS "DEBT-MONEY" CREATION PROCESS WORKS - HOW THE FED AND THE BANKS CREATE MONEY "OUT OF THIN AIR."

Step 1: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York "buys" assets, normally government securities for sale on the open market, by creating the "money" to buy them out of thin air, and, in the process, the big banks are given, free of charge, an equal amount of new, so-called "reserves." These "reserves" become the basis for a 10 to 33 fold expansion of "debt-money" which will be loaned into existence by the banking system - with an interest charge attached. We must all realize that, as Congressman Kucinich says, "The Federal Reserve is no more Federal than Federal Express." It is privately owned and controlled by the "too big to fail" banks.

Step 2: Based on new "reserves" just created out of thin air and given to the big banks free of charge, the banking system uses the Federal Reserve's Fractional Reserve System to expand or multiply those "reserves" by 10 to 33 times. These so-called "reserves" are sometimes called "high-powered dollars" because of their multiplier effect. The required reserve on demand deposits is presently 10% for big banks and 3% for smaller banks. So, for the big banks, if they received, for example, one million of new "reserves" just created out of nothing by the Fed, they can create out of nothing, and loan out at interest, ten times that amount. If and when any of these new "reserves" trickle down from the big banks to the small banks, those banks, with a 3% reserve requirement on demand deposits, can create out of nothing, and loan out at interest, 33 1/3 times the amount of new "reserves" just received.

That's the whole process as simply as it can be stated. The end result is that, using the example of one million of new "reserves", our people and their government and businesses are deeper in debt, interest bearing debt, not one million dollars deeper, but someplace between $10 million and $33 million deeper. The more "debt-money" we have, the deeper in debt we are.

The American Monetary Act eliminates this debt-based system and takes back the power to create, issue and regulate our money. This legislation is the way out of recession and back to prosperity.

The banking system presently holds over $7 trillion of deposits. These are all in the form of interest-bearing "debt-money." When banks can no longer create money and loan it into circulation with an interest charge attached, all $7 trillion will disappear as debts are paid or defaulted. But we need this $7 trillion in our economy, so the government, under the American Monetary Act, will replace the "debt-money" as it disappears with real U. S. money spent directly into circulation as a tax-free, debt-free, interest-free dividend to the American people.

HERE IS WHAT REPLACING $7 TRILLION OF "DEBT-MONEY" WITH REAL U. S. MONEY OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS CAN MEAN TO YOU AND YOUR COMMUNITY.

While the final decision on how to spend this $7 trillion will be made by Congress and the President, here are some definite possibilities. The dividend check and the program to rebuild the infrastructure are the first two programs suggested by the American Monetary Act.

$825 billion to issue a check for $5,000 to every person on the Social Security rolls, both those working and paying in, and those retired and receiving benefits. This is as much as the whole Stimulus Plan passed by Congress but, instead of borrowing the money, it is spent into circulation as a dividend to the American people. $5,000 in the hands of all American workers will go a long way towards ending the current recession.

$300 billion to rebuild and improve the public infrastructure - schools, bridges, roads and streets, water and sewage plants, mass transit, etc. This will be $300 billion a year for at least eight consecutive years. This money is spent, not borrowed, into circulation in replacement of the old bank created "debt-money." Direct grants will be given on a per capita basis in all 435 Congressional Districts. Here's what this would mean in a city with a population of 27,000, a county with a population of 40,000 and a school district with an enrollment of 4,100.

THE COUNTY: $7.4 million - an 8 year total of $59.2 million.
THE CITY: $13.5 million - an 8 year total of $ 108.0 million
THE SCHOOL DISTRICT: $8.2 million - an 8 year total of $65.6 million

That adds up to a combined $29.1 million a year - an 8 year total of $232.8 million.

THESE ARE DIRECT GRANTS, NOT LOANS. Think how much the public infrastructure and the economy of that city and county will improve with these funds available.
You can figure how much your city and county would receive each year. The formula used to distribute the $300 billion a year is: Your City or town will receive its population times $505 per person. Your County will receive its population times $175 per person. Your Schools will receive $2,000 per student enrolled. And your State will receive its population times $90 per person.

This program will put millions of people to work at high paying construction and manufacturing jobs. Just the dividend check and this program together will end the present recession and return us to prosperity.

$300 billion to provide full employment for all at a living wage. The government would become the employer of last resort. The living wage would be $10.00 per hour plus health care benefits. This program would be similar to the WPA (Works Progress Administration) and the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) of the 1930s.

$100 billion to Save Social Security as it is and, at the same time, exempt the first $25,000 of earned income from the 6.2% employee share of the Social Security tax - resulting in a $1,550 pay raise for everyone earning $25,000 or more a year. The current "cap" on earnings subject to the Social Security tax is $102,000 per year. That cap will be removed and the Social Security tax, like the Medicare/Medicaid tax, will apply to every dollar earned (after exempting the first $25,000).

Universal Health Care. We will finally have universal health care like almost all industrialized countries in the world. We presently pay 17% of GDP for health care and over 45 million people are not covered. The other countries cover all of their people and spend 10% of GDP or less. We're already paying for universal health care, we're just not getting it. Legislation to do this has already been introduced. It is the Conyers/Kucinich bill, H. R. 676.

$50 billion to guarantee a college education to all who meet specified criteria, mainly that their grades indicate that they are serious students. A well educated population is critical to the future of our country.

Monetary grants to the states. Each year the Monetary Authority will instruct the U. S. Treasury to disperse per capita grants evenly over a 12 month period to the 50 states equal to 10% of the money created under Title V the preceding year. The states will use these funds in broadly designated areas of public infrastructure, health care and paying for unfunded Federal mandates.

Last, but certainly not least, we will pay off the privately held portion of our National Debt as it comes due. This is simply a matter of replacing interest-bearing government securities with non-interest bearing U. S. money. The portion of the current National Debt held by the government will simply be cancelled. When we create, issue and regulate our own money we cannot owe money to ourselves. Thus the entire National Debt will be paid off, saving the interest charges now paid to the holders of the national debt.

These are the kinds of benefits we can receive when, instead of letting the privately owned banking system loan our "debt-money" into circulation as interest bearing debt, we, instead, create, issue and regulate our own money. In the process we receive the benefits we would have received in the first place if we had always issued our own money.

The American Monetary Act is the only way out of this recession and back to prosperity. The time to pass it is now.

Dick Distelhorst, Chairman
Burlington, Iowa Chapter
American Monetary Institute
www.monetary.org