Tag: Pentagon Papers

Wisconsin will now require Asian American history to be taught in schools

Ms. Cat

Wisconsin will now require Asian American history to be taught in schools

Related:

HMONG HISTORY

Why are the Hmong in Wisconsin?

Unlike past immigrant groups, the Hmong were political refugees who fled their country because of war and persecutions. The Hmong refugees were legally admitted to the United States by the U.S. government and were initially resettled by church organizations such as Catholic Charities and Lutheran Social Service.  Area churches sponsored Hmong families here in Wisconsin and other states in the U.S. The 2010 U.S. Census has shown that there are 49,240 Hmong Americans living in Wisconsin. Community with significant Hmong population include: Milwaukee, Wausau, Sheboygan, La Crosse, Madison, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Appleton, Oshkosh, Manitowoc, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids, Menomonie, and Fond du Lac.

A Look Back at the CIA’s Dirty War in Laos

Laos was (and remains) a very poor country that at the time of the encounter with the CIA was predominantly composed of illiterate peasants working the land in the form of subsistence agriculture. It was colonized by France in 1893; however, unlike in neighboring Vietnam, and to a lesser extent in Cambodia, there was hardly any investment or development of infrastructure or education in Laos. There was no Laotian “collaborating elite,” as was the case with French-speaking and French-educated Vietnamese Catholics. Furthermore, though a small place with a small population, Laos contains an estimated 49 different ethnic groups. A lot of the tension was more along tribal than ideological lines. The CIA, under the leadership in Laos of its highly strategically capable director, Bill Lair, chose to ally particularly with one of the tribes, the Hmong, under their charismatic but brutal head, Vang Pao. After the U.S. lost the war in Laos (at the time of the defeat by Vietnam, 1975), the promises made to the Hmong that they would be offered refuge and welfare in the U.S. were not kept. Though some did make it to the U.S., most Hmong today live in squalid conditions in camps in Laos or in neighboring Thailand.

Under what was code-named Operation Momentum, the CIA engaged in a sustained and relentless bombing campaign, starting in 1961. There was more bombing of Laos than there was of Germany or Japan during World War II. Throughout the war there was on average, the author states, one bombing attack every eight minutes. Ultimately, some 10% of the Laotian population was killed and 25% made refugees. The author reveals that according to a secret U.S. government assessment of the bombing campaign, 80% of all casualties were civilians. With much of the fighting concentrated in the Plain of Jars, he estimates that the population in the course of the 1960s declined from 150,000 to 9,000 in that region. But the narrative of the end of the war does not bring to an end the tragic story of the bombing: One-third of the bombs remained unexploded, and they continue killing and maiming to this day.

…

Operation Momentum transformed the CIA from an organization that primarily gathered intelligence into one that engaged in killing and the covert overthrow of regimes considered unfriendly to the U.S. The CIA tried on a number of occasions to assassinate Fidel Castro. The overthrow of “unfriendly” democratically elected regimes included that of the prime minister of Iran, Mohammed Mossadegh. The CIA also provided political and military support to some of the world’s harshest dictators, such as Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi in Iran, Rafael Trujillo in Dominican Republic, Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire (Congo) and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines.

At 60, We’re Winning – and Losing – the JFK Media War

Ms. Cat

Twelve days ago, I was asked by the Opinion section of the New York Times to write an essay on the JFK assassination nearly 60 years later. This was a major breakthrough because the newspaper of record has always embraced the official version of the assassination, even as the Warren Report, based on the “magic bullet” and all that nonsense, has grown increasingly tattered over the years. In 2015, when The Devil’s Chessboard — my book about CIA spymaster Allen Dulles and the national security state’s war with President Kennedy — was published, the Times refused to review it. (Nonetheless, the book was a New York Times bestseller.)

At 60, We’re Winning – and Losing – the JFK Media War

H/T: Kim Iversen

Henry Kissinger, world-shaping diplomat who was revered and reviled, dies at 100

Ms. Cat

Henry Kissinger, the toweringly influential former secretary of state who earned a reputation as a sagacious diplomat but drew international condemnation and accusations of war crimes for his key role in widening the American presence in Vietnam and the U.S. bombing of Cambodia, died Wednesday.

Henry Kissinger, world-shaping diplomat who was revered and reviled, dies at 100 🎉

Related:

Dead at 100, Henry Kissinger Leaves Behind a Bloody Legacy

Where is the political courage of yesteryear?

Ms. Cat

Are We Back to Nuclear Brinkmanship for Good?

In his speech last week, Sullivan said the world was at an “inflection point” that demanded “new strategies for achieving the same goal we’ve held since the Cold War: Reduce the risk of nuclear conflict.” Instead, we seem to be inching inexorably back toward a time when, as Kennedy commented 60 years ago, any “two men, sitting on opposite sides of the world, [can] decide to bring an end to civilization.”

*Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Ms. Cat’s Chronicles.

Kissinger at 100: New War Crimes Revealed in Secret Cambodia Bombing That Set Stage for Forever Wars

Ms. Cat

A bombshell new investigation from The Intercept reveals that former U.S. national security adviser and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was responsible for even more civilian deaths during the U.S. war in Cambodia than was previously known. The revelations add to a violent résumé that ranges from Latin America to Southeast Asia, where Kissinger presided over brutal U.S. military interventions to put down communist revolt and to develop U.S. influence around the world. While survivors and family members of these deadly campaigns continue to grieve, Kissinger celebrates his 100th birthday this week. “This adds to the list of killings and crimes that Henry Kissinger should, even at this very late date in his life, be asked to answer for,” says The Intercept’sNick Turse, author of the new investigation, “Kissinger’s Killing Fields.” We also speak with Yale University’s Greg Grandin, author of Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman.

Kissinger at 100: New War Crimes Revealed in Secret Cambodia Bombing That Set Stage for Forever Wars