Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins youtube

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins (reviews at amazon)
John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story.
Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led. --Alex Roslin


From Publishers Weekly
Perkins spent the 1970s working as an economic planner for an international consulting firm, a job that took him to exotic locales like Indonesia and Panama, helping wealthy corporations exploit developing nations as, he claims, a not entirely unwitting front for the National Security Agency. He says he was trained early in his career by a glamorous older woman as one of many "economic hit men" advancing the cause of corporate hegemony. He also says he has wanted to tell his story for the last two decades, but his shadowy masters have either bought him off or threatened him until now. The story as presented is implausible to say the least, offering so few details that Perkins often seems paranoid, and the simplistic political analysis doesn’t enhance his credibility. Despite the claim that his work left him wracked with guilt, the artless prose is emotionally flat and generally comes across as a personal crisis of conscience blown up to monstrous proportions, casting Perkins as a victim not only of his own neuroses over class and money but of dark forces beyond his control. His claim to have assisted the House of Saud in strengthening its ties to American power brokers may be timely enough to attract some attention, but the yarn he spins is ultimately unconvincing, except perhaps to conspiracy buffs.

September 11 not only 2001 but many other important events
EXCERPT:
Sept. 11, 1609 Henry Hudson "discovers" (i.e. steals) Manhattan Island. Blankets infected with bubonic plague and smallpox are given to the natives so the colonial armies can save bullets. In the NY area alone, more than 150,000 First Nations people are killed or left homeless in the ensuing years.
Sept. 11, 1839 President Martin van Buren, through the US state department, tried to have the executive branch interfere with the judiciary, in order to have a group of Africans, free men by American law at the time, returned to their "rightful owners," the Spanish Crown, and sent to Cuba for detention followed by trial and execution, even though US law at the time stated clearly that only slaves born into slavery were legally slaves in the United States.
Sept. 11, 1917 Ferdinand Marcos (Philippines president from1965 to '86) is born. His US sponsored military dictatorship and death squads trained at Fort Benning, Georgia were responsible for the death of tens of thousands of Philippinos. Hundreds of thousands more were tortured, mutilated and had their homes burnt to the ground with US state department approval.
Sept. 11, 1919 The US once again invades Honduras on behalf of the United Fruit Company to put down a popular revolt against a US puppet dictatorship that had been murdering, starving and torturing the populace at the behest of United Fruit for decades.
Sept. 11, 1946 US troops land in Korea to begin the slaughter of Korean civilians at Nogun-Ri and hundreds of other sites. In all, more than 3 mm Koreans lose their lives, out of a combined North and South Korean population of 30 mm.
ALSO:

September 11 is a notable date in these years:

In 1921 NAHALAL (Eretz Israel); the first moshav was established in the Jezreel Valley. [1]
In 1922 The British mandate of Palestine begins. British guns killed tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs, displacing them from their homes and settlements that were then given to Jewish settlers. More than 1,200 villages were totally destroyed by the British in collaboration with Jewish militants. Since that time, more than 3 mm Palestinians have been made homeless, and more than 100,000 have been killed by British, American and Israeli soldiers, to make room for Jewish settlers in contravention of international law, and in violation of no less than 30 directives of the Fourth Geneva Convention. [2]
In 1941, on that date, ground was broken on the Pentagon site, laying the ground for sixty years of world domination and Empire.
In 1973 Augusto Pinochet, a Chilean general, invaded the Chilean parliament and overthrew the goverment of Salvador Allende. This was a direct initiative of Henry Kissinger, whom Allende had said "didn't have the balls" to perform this coup. In the next four years, 4000 people were killed.
In 1974 the government of Ethiopia was overthrown in a bloody coup
In 1990 then President George H.W. Bush declared his "New World Order".
In 2001 hijacked planes were flown into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center; another hijacked plane was diverted into a field in Pennsylvania. The collapse of the Trade Center's twin towers killed about 3000 people that day, and released asbestos and other toxic waste into the air.

Milton Bearden wikipedia
EXCERPT:
During his 30-year career with the CIA Bearden was a station chief in Pakistan, Nigeria, Sudan and Germany. In Pakistan from 1986 to 1989 he became the CIA Field Officer in Afghanistan. He played a role in funding and training the mujahedeen to fight the Soviet Invasion.

Bearden appeared several times in the BBC Documentary by Adam Curtis called The Power of Nightmares where he talked of his involvement with the Mujahadeen, the Afghan Arabs and how he was assigned to the role by William Casey the then current Director of Central Intelligence . He said: "For Casey Afghanistan seemed to be possibly one of the keys and so he tapped me one day to go. he said 'I want you to go to Afghanstian, I want you to go next month and I will give you what ever you need to win." To win, yeah he said: "I want you to go out there and win" As opposed to 'let's go there and bleed these guys and make it be a Vietnam', I want you to go and win and whatever you need you can have. He gave me the Stinger missiles and a billion dollars!"

Carlos Bulgheroni wikipedia
EXCERPT:
During 1997, Bulgheroni was involved in a negotiation between Bridas and the ruling Taliban faction in Afghanistan to built the Trans-Afghanistan Gas Pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan.[2] These negotiations were in competition with those undertaken by Unocal,[3] and although an agreement with Unocal-led corporation CentGas was reached, the deal was forfeited in January 1998 in favor of one with Bridas.[4] Instability in Afghanistan delayed construction of the pipeline, however, and following the United States Invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001, the Bridas contract was rescinded in favor of the former one with Unocal. In 2006, Bulgheroni indicated interest in Bridas' involvement with the Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline project, which continued to be hampered by the ongoing chaos in the Central Asian nation.[5]

Haron Amin wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Haron Amin (b. 1969) was the Afghan ambassador to Japan and non-resident ambassador to Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore from 2004 to 2009. He is chiefly known, however, for his role as spokesman for the Northern Alliance during the U.S.-led invasion of his country after the events of September 11, 2001. A constant presence in American media prior to the Taliban's collapse[1][2], Amin was appointed chargé d'affaires to the United States by the interim Afghan government on 14 January 2002. He was the highest-ranking Afghan diplomat in Washington for a year-long period in 2002-03, before being appointed to the Tokyo embassy in 2004.

Roger Beach UNOCAL -CONSULTING & SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT
EXCERPT:

WHEREAS, Roger C. Beach ("Mr. Beach") ceased being Chief Executive Officer
and Chairman of the Board of Unocal Corporation and Union Oil Company of
California (jointly referred to as "Unocal") effective January 1, 2001.

WHEREAS, Unocal and Mr. Beach wish to document the terms of said
termination of employment and the terms of his role as a Consultant to Unocal
Corporation.

THEREFORE, Unocal Corporation and Union Oil Company of California and Roger
C. Beach ("Mr. Beach") hereby agree as follows:

1. Mr. Beach is hereby retained by the Board of Directors of Unocal as a
Consultant for the period January 1, 2001 through December 31, 2001

2. Mr. Beach shall be available for telephonic consultation and for such
meetings as the Board of Directors of Unocal may request. If travel is required,
Mr. Beach shall be reimbursed for reasonable expense within 30 days of
submitting documentation of such expenses.

3. Mr. Beach shall be paid $350,000 (Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars)
for such consulting. Said sum, less any applicable withholding, shall be paid
on or about February 15, 2001. This payment shall not been treated as "pay",
"earnings" or "compensation" under any plans or programs of Unocal.

Zalmay Khalilzad wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Rumors of Bid to become "chief executive officer" of Afghanistan
The New York Times reported May 18, 2009 anonymous rumors that Zalmay Khalilzad "could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, according to senior American and Afghan officials." The article also claimed that Khalilzad had pursued the Presidency of Afghanistan but missed the May 8 filing deadline.[24] Khalizad, however, denied having any designs on official or unofficial office in Afghanistan.[25]

Cheryl Benard wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Cheryl Benard (* 1953 in New Orleans, USA) was a senior analyst with the RAND Corporation. She left the RAND Corporation in 2009.

She is a novelist and feminist author on topics including current events, women in nation-building, youth radicalization in the European Diaspora, and secularization pertaining to Islam. Benard received her Ph.D. from the University of Vienna and a B.A. from the American University of Beirut. She is married to Zalmay Khalilzad, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She and Khalilzad have two sons, Alexander and Maximilian.

Benard has an entry in the Internet Movie Database from her work as a child actor in German movies.

Thomas E. White wikipedia
EXCERPT:
Thomas E. White, Jr. (born December 14, 1943 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American businessman and former United States Army officer who served as senior executive at the now collapsed Enron and as the United States Secretary of the Army from May 31, 2001 until April 25, 2003.

UNOCAL, Afghanistan grand chessboard
EXCERPT:
Bulgheroni believed that his pipeline would promote peace as well as material wealth in the region. He approached other companies, including Unocal and its then-CEO, Roger Beach, to join an international consortium.

But Unocal was not interested in a partnership. The United States government, its affiliated transnational oil and construction companies, and the ruling elite of the West had coveted the same oil and gas transit route for years.

A trans-Afghanistan pipeline was not simply a business matter, but a key component of a broader geo-strategic agenda: total military and economic control of Eurasia (the Middle East and former Soviet Central Asian republics). Zbigniew Brezezinski describes this region in his book "The Grand Chessboard-American Primacy and Its Geostrategic Imperatives" as "the center of world power." Capturing the region's oil wealth, and carving out territory in order to build a network of transit routes, was a primary objective of US military interventions throughout the 1990s in the Balkans, the Caucasus and Caspian Sea.

As of 1992, 11 western oil companies controlled more than 50 percent of all oil investments in the Caspian Basin, including Unocal, Amoco, Atlantic Richfield, Chevron, Exxon-Mobil, Pennzoil, Texaco, Phillips and British Petroleum.


Thomas Gouttiere pdf
Thomas E. Gouttierre serves as the Dean of International Studies and Programs at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), and as the Director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at UNO. Gouttierre was raised in Maumee, Ohio, where he worked in his father's pastry shop from age 8 to age 24, receiving his Master Baking Certificate at the age of 18. Prior to assuming his present position in 1974, he lived and worked for nearly ten years in Afghanistan. While in Afghanistan, Gouttierre served as a Peace Corps Volunteer, a Fulbright Fellow, and Executive Director of the Fulbright Foundation. Throughout his time in Afghanistan, Gouttierre coached the Afghan National Basketball Team. Gouttierre was selected by the US Department of State to serve as Senior Political Affairs Officer on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission to Afghanistan in 1996/1997. He has participated in Fulbright Programs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Norway, France, India, Nepal, and Germany. He served as a member of the International Rescue Committee’s Citizens Commission on Afghanistan Refugees from 1988-1993. In 1995/1996, he served as President of the Omaha Rotary Club. In June 1992, the University of the City of Manila in the Philippines conferred upon Gouttierre the degree of Doctor of Humanities (honoris causa); in May 1997, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Technological University of Tajikistan; in May 2004, he was appointed Honorary Senator of the Technical University of Braunschweig (Germany); in May 2001, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of International Relations from his undergraduate alma mater, Bowling Green State University. In addition, in August 2005, he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Bowling Green State University. In May 2007, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Seton Hill University. Gouttierre has testified on various topics related to Afghanistan, US-Pakistani Relations, International Terrorism, and Human Rights before hearings of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the US House of Representatives Committee on International Relations. He has also testified on Afghanistan and Human Rights Issues in hearings before committees of the British Parliament, the French National Assembly, the Norwegian Storting, and the UN Select Committee on Human Rights. Since 1986, Gouttierre has served on the US - Russian (formerly Soviet Union) Task Force (Dartmouth Conference) on Regional Conflicts. He is a Board Member of the International Institute for Sustained Dialogue. Gouttierre has made presentations on topics as diverse as Afghanistan, Regional Conflicts, Education Development, Global Terrorism, US Foreign Policy, Third World Development, the Persian Gulf War, etc. at US State Department conferences and meetings, world affairs and foreign relations organizations, university and college campuses, service clubs, church organizations, and schools. He has conducted orientation programs for US military assigned to Afghanistan. Gouttierre is regularly called upon by representatives of the international, national, and local media and by various organizations to present his opinion on these topics; in the first ten months after 9/11, he had more than 2000 presentations and interviews. Gouttierre speaks, reads, and writes Afghan Persian (Dari), Iranian Persian (Farsi), and Tajikistani Persian; he has also studied Arabic, French, German, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. His publications include numerous articles about Afghanistan society, culture, and politics; a co-authored, two-volume language textbook, Dari for Foreigners; a co-authored Bibliography of Persian Works in English; original Dari poetry; and a variety of magazine and newspaper articles on other international topics. He was the project director for the development of the 23,000-word Dari-English Dictionary. Gouttierre and his associates at UNO have obtained grants and contracts in excess of $80 million. Through one series of grants awarded by USAID between 1986 and 1994, the Center for Afghanistan Studies assisted Afghans deliver education to over 130,000 Afghan children in refugee camps in Pakistan and 1,300 sites inside war-torn Afghanistan; under another series, beginning in 2002, the Center trained teachers and printed the textbooks needed by the Afghans to reopen their schools after decades of war that had culminated in the fall of the Taliban; under still another grant, the Center assisted the Department of State re-start the US Fulbright Program in Afghanistan in 1993-94 after a hiatus of 25 years. During the years Gouttierre has served as Dean, UNO has established active institutional linkages with universities in Afghanistan, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, India, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Moldova, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Tajikistan, and Ukraine. Often in conjunction with these linkages, UNO has conducted exchange programs and provided training to educators and other professionals in teacher-training; American business communication, management, and insurance practices; project management; public administration; higher education reconstruction and development; intensive English; conflict resolution; and related areas. International Studies and Programs University of Nebraska at Omaha University of Nebraska Medical Center Omaha, Nebraska 68182-0227 Phone: (402) 554-2376 Fax: (402) 554-3681 Email: teg@unomaha.edu

Bhutto and UNOCAL
EXCERPT:
In 1997,

Robert Oakley [ex-US ambassador to Pakistan, now Unocal's ad hoc advisory board] advised Miller to reach the Taliban by working through Pakistan's government [then led by Benazir Bhutto] . He also suggested that Unocal hire Thomas Gouttiere, an Afghan specialist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, to develop a job training program in Kandahar that would teach Pashtuns the technical skills needed to build a pipeline. ... Unocal agreed to pay $900,000 via the University of Nebraska to set up a Unocal training facility on a fifty-six acre site in Kandahar, not far from bin Laden's compounds. ... Gouttiere traveled in and out of Afghanistan and met with Taliban leaders. ... In December 1997 Gouttiere worked with Miller to arrange for another Taliban delegation to visit the United States. ... [Steve Coll, "Ghost Wars", Penguin, 2005 edn, p.364.]
Unocal seems to have had a deeper role. Intelligence "whistleblower" Julie Sirrs claimed that anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud told her he had "proof that Unocal had provided money that helped the Taliban take Kabul [in 1996] ". [Gail Sheehy, " [http://www.observer.com/node/48943 Ex-Spook Sirrs: Early Osama Call Got Her Ejected] ", "The New York Observer", March 14, 2004.] And French journalist Richard Labeviere said, referring to the later 1990s, "The CIA and Unocal's security forces ... provided military weapons and instructors to several Taleban militia [s] ..." [Richard Labeviere, "Dollars For Terror", Algora Press, 2000, p.272.]

The Taleban and Unocal were in negotiations in Texas to discuss arrangements for the gas pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan in 1997 and a deal was struck but later failed [ BBC," [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/37021.stm Taleban in Texas for talks on gas pipeline] "] .

The failure was believed to be because the deal was going to be struck with Bridas, an Argentinian company [ BBC, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/s/w_asia/44521.stm Taleban says it's ready to sign Turkmen pipeline deal] "] .

The CentGas pipeline was not built, due to inability of CentGas and the Taliban to come to a mutually acceptable economic understanding although rumours about a deal with Argentinian company Bridas were widespread [BBC, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/west_asia/21007.stm Afghan Pipeline Deal Close] "] .

The Argentinian economy collapsed soon after this deal had been struck [BBC, " [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/world_at_one/1721339.stm Argentina erupts into chaos] "]

Unocal was also the third largest member of the recently completed and opened Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.

ponsorships

Unocal 76 was the official fuel and motor oil of NASCAR from the sports inaugural season in 1948 until the end of the 2003 season when Sunoco became the official fuel and Mobil 1 became the official motor oil. The 76 logo is often seen in Major League Baseball and National League Football stadiums on the west coast.

Domestic US Criticism

In 1969 [ [http://www.answers.com/topic/unocal-corporation-1?cat=biz-fin Answers.com Unocal Corporation company history] . Retrieved on June 14, 2008] , it was discovered that one of their drilling platforms off the coast of California had leaked a large quantity of oil into the water of the Santa Barbara Channel, near Santa Barbara, California. Although Union Oil claimed that it had quickly dealt with the problem, the event reflected poorly on both Union Oil and the offshore oil drilling industry.

Because of both Unocal's foreign dealings and as a result of this spill, a movement started to persuade California to revoke Unocal's corporate charter, in effect, to issue the "corporate death penalty" to Unocal.

Pipeline Timeline
EXCERPT:
1995
January Keimir Block deal is renegotiated. Bridas's share of profits reduced to 65 percent. Oil exports allowed.
March Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan, and Turkmen president Niyazov conduct feasibility study of Afghan pipeline.

Sympathy for the Devil Rense
By Hsing Lee
lee8798@shaw.ca
12-30-2

There's a lot of confusion and disagreement about what the War on Terrorism is about.

Is it a clash of civilizations?

Good vs Evil?

Is it really a war?

Most of the world knows the answer to these questions. In America, it's a different story. Like everyone else, I was glued to the TV on September 11, in a state of shock as events unfolded. Rather than watch CNN, where Walter Isaacson was allowing his people to show footage of Muslims cheering that was taken from Kuwait in 1991, with CNN claiming the footage was of Palestinians cheering on September 11, I chose to watch BBC.

The BBC Newsman asked a man dressed in a suit and tie, a man who looked and sounded as if he had an education, if he thought the events at the WTC could be the result of US Foreign Policy in the Middle East. I'll never forget what this man on the streets of New York said...

"What does flying airplanes into buildings have to do with politics?"