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Service with Integrity?
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Service with Integrity?
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by Sean Gonsalves
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Congratulations to Gen. Colin Powell. It appears the distinguished military leader will be quickly nominated as the first black secretary of state in U.S. history.
I suppose some would expect us black folks to be giddy with excitement and gratitude that a "compassionate conservative" like president-elect George W. Bush was able to look beyond the color of Powell's skin and see the content of his character - "a man of great integrity," according to Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Delaware.
While we waited for the Supreme Court to appoint our next president, former Clinton national  security adviser Anthony Lake said of Powell: "I think he'd be a great secretary of state - for either Bush or Gore."
Explaining why Powell is such a sought-after statesman, a Knight-Ridder analyst writes: "Aside from his wealth of experience, one reason both parties have coveted Powell is his phenomenal standing in opinion polls... . But another reason Powell is such a consensus choice for secretary of state may be that his foreign policy views are largely unknown."
It's amazing how far a black man can go in America, as long as he is a status-quo keeper and never speaks a word of disparagement about any of the injustices that afflict the oppressed. Brings tears to the eyes, as Bush demonstrated while he was praising Powell last week as "an American hero, an American example and a great American story."
It would be interesting to know what General Powell thinks of our military involvement in Colombia. Buried deep in an Associated Press story about how the U.S.-backed "illicit drug fighting effort" in Colombia is spilling over into neighboring South American nations, James Anderson writes: "Under the plan, U.S.-trained troops using U.S.-made helicopters will try to overrun rebel-held areas producing cocaine and heroin."
Conspicuously missing from the plan is the over-running of right-wing paramilitary forces, which have well-known ties to the same illicit drug market.
It's hard to believe that such disparate focus on political factions within the same country is a mere quirk in U.S. foreign policy planning. In fact, given the U.S. record in the region, it's almost certain that our aid to Colombia has little to do with fighting for democracy.
George Kennan, one of the most influential and respected State Department planners of the 20th century, wrote in 1948: "We have about 50 percent of the world's wealth, but only 6.3 percent of its population. In this situation, we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity... .
"We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford the luxury of altruism and world-benefaction.We should cease to talk about vague and unreal objectives, such as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better."
Policy planners know good and well that such actions create the conditions that we claim to be trying to change in the so-called Third World.
For example, in a confidential January 1997 memo from the U.S. embassy in Haiti to the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the State Department, it was clearly stated: "Over 300 Haitian National Police agents have received specialized training in crowd control. Embassy expects crowd control to be major police task in 1997 as the stagnant economy engenders greater frustrations among the populace."
Guess who trained those notorious Haitian hoodlums, according to the book "Private Warriors"? A private U.S.-based firm called DynCorp.
And according to the author of the book, Ken Silverstein, AP's former Latin America correspondent, DynCorp. is currently training Colombian military - an assortment of vicious thugs who have compiled the worst human rights record in the Western hemisphere.
In August 1998, the Dallas Morning News reported that DynCorp.'s activities in Colombia went "well beyond the stated U.S. mission of fighting drug traffickers."
In his book, Silverstein wrote: "DynCorp.'s pilots assisted the Colombian military deploy its counter-insurgency troops, and on several occasions had run into armed guerrilla forces. When asked about his company's operations in Colombia, Frank Henderson, DynCorp.'s director of international logistics support, responded, 'You're getting into an area I wouldn't want to see in print'."
Loren Thompson, foreign affairs specialist of the de Tocqueville Institution, puts it in stark terms. "The only difference between what these firms do and what mercenaries do is that the companies have gained the imprimatur of government for their actions."
What's good for corporate America is not necessarily good for America. Who will Powell serve?
Sean Gonsalves is a Cape Cod Times staff writer and syndicated columinist.
Copyright © 2000 Cape Cod Times
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