Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
3. John D. Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick and Oxford: Transaction Books, 1987), p 303.
4. John D. Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick and Oxford: Transaction Books, 1987), pp 381, 400.
Chapter 27. Panama: Another Presidential Death
1. Graham Greene, Getting to Know the General (New York: Pocket Books, 1984), p 11.
2. George Shultz was secretary of the Treasury and chairman of the Council on Economic Policy under Nixon-Ford, 1972–1974, executive president or president of Bechtel, 1974–1982, secretary of state under Reagan-Bush, 1982–1989; Caspar Weinberger was director of the Office of Management and Budget and secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Nixon-Ford, 1973–75, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Group, 1975–80, secretary of defense under Reagan-Bush, 1980–87.
3. During the 1973 Watergate hearings, in his testimony before the U.S. Senate, John Dean was the first to disclose U.S. plots to assassinate Torrijos; in 1975, at Senate inquiries into the CIA, chaired by Senator Frank Church, additional testimony and documentation of plans to kill both Torrijos and Noriega were presented. See, for example, Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 107.
Chapter 28. My Energy Company, Enron, and George W. Bush
1. For additional information on IPS, its wholly-owned subsidiary Archbald Power Corporation, and former CEO John Perkins, see Jack M. Daly and Thomas J. Duffy, “Burning Coal’s Waste at Archbald,” Civil Engineering, July 1988; Vince Coveleskie, “Co-Generation Plant Attributes Cited,” The Scranton Times, October 17, 1987; Robert Curran, “Archbald Facility Dedicated,” Scranton Tribune, October 17, 1987; “Archibald Plant Will Turn Coal Waste into Power,” Citizen’s Voice, Wilkes-Barre, PA, June 6, 1988; “Liabilities to Assets: Culm to Light, Food,” editorial, Citizen’s Voice, Wilkes-Barre, PA, June 7, 1988.
2. Joe Conason, “The George W. Bush Success Story,” Harpers Magazine, February 2000; Craig Unger, “Saving the Saudis,” Vanity Fair, October 2003, p 165.
3. Craig Unger, “Saving the Saudis,” Vanity Fair, October 2003, p 178.
4. See George Lardner Jr. and Lois Romano, “The Turning Point After Coming Up Dry,” Washington Post, July 30, 1999; Joe Conason, “The George W. Bush Success Story,” Harpers Magazine, February 2000; and Sam Parry, “The Bush Family Oiligarchy—Part Two: The Third Generation,” http://www.newnetizen.com/presidential/bushoiligarchy.htm (accessed April 19, 2002).
5. This theory took on new significance and seemed ready to fall under the spotlight of public scrutiny when, years later, it became clear that the highly respected accounting firm of Arthur Andersen had conspired with Enron executives to cheat energy consumers, Enron employees, and the American public out of billions of dollars. The impending 2003 Iraq war pushed the spotlight away. During the war, Bahrain played a critical role in President George W. Bush’s strategy.
Chapter 29. I Take a Bribe
1. Jim Garrison, American Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? (San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc., 2004), p 38.
Chapter 30. The United States Invades Panama
1. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 56.
2. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 31-34.
3. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 43.
4. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 212; see also Craig Unger, “Saving the Saudis,” Vanity Fair, October 2003, p 165.
5. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 114.
6. See www.famoustexans.com/georgebush.htm, p 2.
7. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 56-57.
8. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 6.
9. www.famoustexans.com/georgebush.htm, p 3.
10. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhunt Unlike Any Other, Ever (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 4.
11. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 248.
12. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 211.
13. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America’s Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p xxi.
Chapter 31. An EHM Failure in Iraq
1. Morris Barrett, “The Web’s Wild World,” TIME, April 26, 1999, p 62.
Chapter 32. September 11 and its Aftermath for Me, Personally
1. For more about the Huaoranis, see Joe Kane, Savages (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).
Chapter 33. Venezuela: Saved by Saddam
1. “Venezuela on the Brink,” editorial, New York Times, December 18, 2002.
2. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, directed by Kim Bartley and Donnacha O’Briain (in association with the Irish Film Board, 2003). See www.chavezthefilm.com.
3. “Venezuelan President Forced to Resign,” Associated Press, April 12, 2002.
4. Simon Romero, “Tenuous Truce in Venezuela for the State and its Oil Company,” New York Times, April 24, 2002.
5. Bob Edwards, “What Went Wrong with the Oil Dream in Venezuela,” National Public Radio, Morning Edition, July 8, 2003.
6. Ginger Thompson, “Venezuela Strikers Keep Pressure on Chávez and Oil Exports,” New York Times, December 30, 2002.
7. For more on the jackals and other types of hit men, see: P. W. Singer, Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca NY and London: Cornell University Press, 2003); James R. Davis, Fortune’s Warriors: Private Armies and the New World Order (Vancouver and Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre, 2000); Felix I. Rodriguez and John Weisman, Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of 100 Unknown Battles (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989).
8. Tim Weiner, “A Coup by Any Other Name,” New York Times, April 14, 2002.
9. “Venezuela Leader Urges 20 Years for Strike Chiefs,” Associated Press, February 22, 2003.
10. Paul Richter, “U.S. Had Talks on Chávez Ouster,” Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2002.
Chapter 34. Ecuador Revisited
1. Chris Jochnick, “Perilous Prosperity,” New Internationalist, June 2001, http://www.newint.org/issue335/perilous.htm.
2. United Nations. Human Development Report (New York: United Nations, 1999).
3. For additional information on the hostage situation, see Alan Zibel, “Natives Seek Redress for Pollution,” Oakland Tribune, December 10, 2002; Hoy (Quito, Ecuador daily newspaper) articles of December 10–28, 2003; “Achuar Free Eight Oil Hostages,” El Commercio (Quito daily newspaper), December 16, 2002 (also carried by Reuters); “Ecuador: Oil Firm Stops Work because Staff Seized, Demands Government Action,” and “Sarayacu—Indigenous Groups to Discuss Release of Kidnapped Oil Men,” El Universo (Guayaquil, Ecuador, daily newspaper), http://www.eluniverso.com, December 24, 2002; and Juan Forero, “Seeking Balance: Growth vs. Culture in the Amazon,” New York Times, December 10, 2003. Current, updated information about Ecuador’s Amazonian people is available at the Pachamama Alliance Web site: http://www.pachamama.org.
Chapter 35. Piercing the Veneer
1. National debt statistics from the Bureau of the Public Debt, reported at www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm; national income statistics from the World Bank at www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/GNIPC.pdf.
2. Elizabeth Becker and Richard A. Oppe
l, “A Nation at War: Reconstruction. U.S. Gives Bechtel a Major Contract in Rebuilding Iraq,” New York Times, April 18, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/international/worldspecial/18REBU.html.
3. Richard A. Oppel with Diana B. Henriques, “A Nation at War: The Contractor. Company Has Ties in Washington, and to Iraq,” New York Times, April 18, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/18/international/worldspecial/18CONT.html.
4. http://money.cnn.com/2003/04/17/news/companies/war-bechtel/index.htm.
Epilogue
1. Energy Information Administration, reported in USA Today, March 1, 2004, p 1.
INDEX
A
Afghanistan, 96–97, 211
Agoyan hydroelectric plant, xix
AIDS medicines, xii
Allen, Ethan, 147
Allende, Salvador, 78
al-Qaeda, 206, 211
Amazon, xvii–xx, 210
Ameen, Michael, 166
Amin, Idi, 96
Amoco, 166
antipollution laws, 164
Arab-Israeli war, 82
Arbenz, Jacob, 72–73
Arbusto, 165–166
Arias, Arnulfo, 59
Arias family, 179
Armas, Carlos Castillo, 73
Ashland Oil Company, 185–186
Asian Development Bank, 37
assassinations
Hugo Spadafora, 174
Jaime Roldós, ix, 156
Omar Torrijos, ix, 158–161
B
Baer, Robert, 94
Bahasa Indonesia, 38
Bahrain, 166
Baker, James A., III, 98
banking industry
Asian Development Bank, 37
Chase Bank, 194
Inter-American Development Bank, 74
Panama, 63
Bechtel, Riley P., 214
Bechtel Group, Inc., 73–74, 160, 164, 173, 213, 214–215
bin Laden, Osama, 96–97, 183, 194
bin Laden family, 97–98
British Petroleum (later BP), 18
British Virgin Islands, 147
Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, 59
Bush, George H. W., 59, 79, 168
bin Laden family and, 98
United Fruit Company, 72–73, 209
“wimp factor,” 175, 184
Bush, George W., 79, 166
Arbusto, 165–166
rallying of support for U.S. activities, 198
Venezuelan activities, 199
Bush administration (George H. W.), 173–174
Bush administration (George W.), 201, 213–214
Bush family, 209
C
Canal Treaty, 59, 102–103, 154–155, 158–161. See also Panama
Canal Zone, 61, 64, 65. See also Panama
Carlyle Group, 98
Carter, Jimmy, 102, 118–119, 154, 159–160, 168
Carvajal, José, 144–145
Casey, William J., 174
Chas. T. Main, Inc. (MAIN). See MAIN
Chase Bank, 194
Chávez, Hugo, xx, 195, 197–202, 204. See also Venezuela
Cheney, Richard, 79, 177
Chile, 78, 200
Chuchu, Sergeant (José de Jesús Martínez), 159
Chumpi, Shakaim, 189
CIA, 73, 156, 161, 200
Civilization on Trial (Toynbee), 45
“Claudine,” xi, 14, 22, 53–54
Colombia, 61
economic/electric load forecasting, 122
historical overview of, 120–122
La Violencia, 121
rule against sending U.S. citizens to, 124
colonial Americans, 218
colonialism, in Panama, 103
commerce, imperial approach to, 218
Common Sense (Paine), 49, 63
communism, 61, 170
conspiracies, xii–xiii, 156, 216, 217
corporal punishment, 82
corporatocracy, xii–xiii, 26
actions to stop, 221–225
basis of, 217
growth of, 78
media as part of, 221
of modern empire, 216
obstacles to, 212–213
pillars of, 143
strengthening of, 83
corruption, 75, 179
“Country with Five Frontiers, The” (Greene), 104–105
coups, 73, 200, 201
culture, Indonesian, 38–39
D
Dauber, Jake, 52
debt
creation of foreign, 15–16, 17
Ecuador’s, 203
Iran’s payment of, 114–116
United States, 212
world, xviii
Department of State, rule against sending U.S. citizens to Colombia, 124
Department of the Treasury, 84
Depression, New Deal policies, 78
deregulation, 164–165, 168
desensitization, 180–181
destabilization campaigns, U.S., 176
developed countries (DCs), 47–48
“Doc,” 113–116
dollars versus euros, 213
Dominican Republic, 61
Dream Change Coalition, 186
E
econometric model, 101–102
economic forecasting, 84–85, 122
economic hit men (EHMs)
description of, ix
effects of work of, 198
goals/objectives of the job, 15, 17
identification of potential, 19
rationalizations of deeds by, 169
role of, 90
standards for, 84
training, 14–15
economics, 26, 78, 83–84
Ecuador, xvii–xx, 141–145, 189–190, 203–210. See also Roldós, Jaime
Ecuadorian Congress, 156
Huaorani tribe, 186
Hydrocarbons Policy, 143–144
national budget/debt, 203
oil spill, xvii–xviii
poverty levels, 203
Shell, xvi, 207
tribal wars against oil companies, xvi–xvii
Eisner, Peter, 178
electric load forecasting, 31, 54, 109, 122
embassies, 16, 118–119
empire building, xx–xxi, 176, 216
energy industry, 164–165, 168–169
England, 18
Enron, 165
euros versus dollars, 213
F
Faisal, King, 82
“Farhad,” 5–6, 117–119
“Fidel,” 63
financing of terrorism, 96–97
fixed exchange rates, 77
Flowering Desert project, 110–111
forecasting
economic/electric load (Colombia), 122
electric load, 31, 54, 109, 122
Saudi Arabian economic, 84–85
foreign aid, 47–48, 75
foreign policy, U.S., 21, 47
free market system, 170
free trade agreements, 221–222
Fujimori, Alberto K., 200
future actions, 221–225
G
Gadhafi, Muammar, 60
Garrison, Jim, 170
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), 78
Getting to Know the General (Greene), 159
global empire, 170
globalization, 185
global management of petroleum, 214
Grant, Winifred, 162
Greene, Graham, 104–107, 159
Greve, Einar, 9, 13, 134
gross national product (GNP), deceptive nature of, 16
Ground Zero, 190–195. See also September 11, 2001 attacks
Guatemala, 72–73, 200
H
Hall, Mac, 52, 145, 165
Harken Energy, 98, 165–166
Harris, David, 177
Hayes, Martha, 134
Helms, Richard, 79
holy wars, 49
hostages, U.S. Embassy (Iran), 118–119
Host
ler, Charles, 166
House of Saud. See Saudi Arabia
Huaorani tribe (Ecuador), 142–143, 190
hunger, x, xii, 192
Hurtado, Osvaldo, 157
Hussein, Saddam, 182, 200
hydrocarbons law, 156, 196
Hydrocarbons Policy, 143–144
hydroelectric plants, Agoyan, xix
I
ideals, 75
Illingworth, Charlie, 24–25, 28–29, 104
imperialism, 48, 139, 218
importation of labor forces, 86
income, world population, 65, 206
Independent Power Systems, Inc.
(IPS), 163–164, 168, 185–186
Indonesia, 16
creation of language for, 38
culture, 38–39
Japanese invasion of, 20
oil industry, 25
views of Americans, 42–46
Instituto de Recursos Hidraulicos y Electrificación, 71
integrity, 138–139
intelligence community, U.S., 104–105
Inter-American Development Bank, 74
international financial system trends, 169–170
international law, U.S. breach of, 177–178
International Monetary Fund (IMF), 19, 78, 169–170
international monetary system, 77
Interoceanic Canal Commission, 103–104
invasions, 20, 176–177, 184, 200
Iran
Islamic uprising, 117–119
OPEC oil embargo, 76–77
payment of debts by, 114–116
rebellion against British Petroleum, 18
Shah of Shahs, 108
Torrijos’s opinions of, 72
Iraq, 182, 183–184, 199, 200
Islam, 45–46, 117–119
J
Jakarta, 24
Japanese invasion of Indonesia, 20
jihads, 49
Johnson administration, 78–79
Joint Economic Commission (JECOR), 83–84
K
Kellogg Brown & Root, 214–21215
Kennedy administration, 78–79, 121
Khadafi (or Gadhafi), Muammar, 60
Khomeini, Ruhollah, Ayatollah, 118–119
Kissinger, Henry, 91
Kuwait, 184
L
labor forces, importation to Saudi Arabia of, 86