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According to Panamanian human rights
groups, several thousand people were killed in the U.S. invasion. 26
were U.S. soldiers, 50 were Panamanian soldiers. The rest were
civilians, cut down by the overwhelming U.S. firepower poured into
crowded neighborhoods in poor sections of Panama City and Colon [52]
Many of the dead were put in garbage bags and secretly buried in mass
graves.
Iraq, 1991
Only 13 months after the U.S. invaded Panama, it went to war again--this
time on a much larger scale. Like always, the government's PR department
was called upon to convince us that the war against Iraq was about
freedom and justice. But almost everyone knows what it was really about.
"Even a dolt understands the principle--we need the oil." (Advisor to
G.H.W. Bush, Time magazine, 1990) [53]
Long ago, the U.S. State Department declared the Middle East oil was:
"A stupendous source of strategic power ... one of the greatest prizes
in world history." [54]
65% of the world's known oil reserves lie in the Middle East. Control
over the flow of this oil by U.S. oil companies has given the U.S.
strategic power over Europe, Japan and the developing world. Washington
thinks of the Middle East oil fields as its own private reserves,
proclaiming them to be among its "vital interests." [55]
"Oil is much too important a commodity to be left in the hands of the
Arabs." (Henry Kissinger) [56]
[Arab says:] What are you up to?
[Mobil Oil exec says]: Exploring to see if there are any vital American
interests under your soil.
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