|
Seven years ago when I blindly stumbled into the world of precious
metals on the World Wide Web, I had no idea that it would change the course
of my life forever. Not only was the Internet a window into the real world that
the ‘powers that be’ didn’t want us to have, one of its
side effects for me was to re-ignite my interest in reading.
From surfing the net and lurking on the PM forums, I discovered that
there were countless books on the “powers that be” and these
“New World Order” types. It was a couple of years before I
shelled out the money and bought a few. Since dipping my toe into the world
of reading, I now have at least one book on the go all the time.
If I had to narrow my growing collection of books down to five, they
would be as follows:
1) The Creature From Jekyll Island: A
Second Look at the Federal Reserve by G. Edward Griffin
2) The Shadows of Power: The Council
on Foreign Relations and the American Decline by James Perloff
3) Tragedy & Hope: A History of
the World in Our Time by Carroll Quigley
4)
A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of
the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle
East by David Fromkin
5) Confessions of an Economic Hit Man by John Perkins
In this short essay, I’m going to concentrate on the last book,
where John Perkins spelled out how he was hired by the American Empire to do
its bidding in third world countries. I will quote the liner notes in their
entirety…
“In this riveting personal
story, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of
empire to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. Covertly
recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of
an international consulting firm, he traveled the
world—to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador,
Columbia, Saudi
Arabia, Iran,
and other strategically important countries. His job was to implement
policies that promoted the interests of the U.S. corporatocracy
(a coalition of government, banks, and corporations) while professing to
alleviate poverty—policies that alienated many nations and ultimately
led to September 11 and growing anti-Americanism.
Perkins’ story
illuminates just how far he and his colleagues—self-described as
economic hit men—were willing to go. He explains, for instance, how he
helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled
billions of Saudi Arabian petrodollars back into the U.S. economy,
and that further cemented the intimate relationship between the Islamic
fundamentalist House of Saud and a succession of American administrations.
Perkins reveals the hidden mechanics of imperial control behind some of the
most dramatic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran,
the death of Panamanian president Omar Torrijos,
and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq
.
Confessions of
an Economic Hit Man, which many
people warned Perkins not to write, exposes the little known inner workings
of a system that fosters globalization and leads to the impoverishment of
millions of people across the planet. It is a compelling story that also
offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and
compassionate world that will bring us greater security.”
This is one of the most amazing books that I have ever read and I
would recommend it to anyone.
The reason that I’m writing about this book again (I’ve
mentioned it most favourably in a couple of my prior essays) is because of
what I read in Bill Murphy’s MIDAS commentary over at LeMetropleCafe on Monday,
January 29th.
Actually, it wasn’t Mr. Murphy who spoke of it, rather one of
Bill’s many daily contributors…Jesse. The author of that book, John
Perkins, had reappeared in a videotaped speech and Jesse had provided the
URL.
If you haven’t read the book, then let the liner notes above be
your springboard to the speech that John Perkins gave to the Veterans for
Peace national convention in Seattle,
Washington in August of 2006.
The speech is in three parts…of which the first two parts, totaling about fifty-three minutes, are the most
dramatic. The third part is a question and answer session.
The author also briefly touches on why the U.S.A. went off the gold standard
when it did and immediately went to a dollar backed by oil…the infamous
petrodollar.
So, if you really (and I mean really) want to see part of the inner
workings of the American Empire (and the corporatocracy
that runs it) up close and personal…take the time to listen to what Mr.
Perkins has to say. Here’s the link… http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=John+Perkins+and+VFP+National+Convention&hl=en
Back at the beginning, I mentioned that my #1 book was “The
Creature from Jekyll Island” by G. Edward Griffin. Surprisingly
enough, Ed Griffin has done a review of John Perkins book, and it too is very
much worth reading. He labels the book “dangerous” and in the
same breath says that it’s a “must read”. This incredible
review is hyperlinked here.
If you have any further interest in what this author has to say on
this subject, Mr. Perkins was interviewed by Jim Puplava
over at www.financialsense.com on May 7, 2005; shortly
after his book was published. That interview is worth listening to as
well…and you can do so at the hyperlink right here.
Once you’ve had your fill of watching and listening, I urge you
to pass this essay along to anyone you feel might learn something from it.
Ed Steer
Director
Gold Anti-Trust
Action Committee
www.GATA.org
GATA is a civil rights and educational organization based in the United States and tax-exempt under the U.S.
Internal Revenue Code. Its e-mail dispatches are free, and you can subscribe
at www.GATA.org. GATA is
grateful for financial contributions, which are federally tax-deductible in
the United States.
 
| 
