140.

    Amira caught herself. “ But you must leave the city! We will find some appropriate clothes for you then follow me to the Bazaar. I have a shop there.”
   After we changed clothes, she led us out of the apartment and into the street. “The first thing that the plotters had to do was find a puppet thug in the army. Always the puppet thug, yes, Conrad? His name was Fazlollah Zahedi, a fascist who had been arrested by the British during the war for his pro-Nazi intrigues. When the CIA and Kermit Roosevelt gave him a hundred thousand dollars with the promise of five million more, he was hooked. Schwarzkopf stepped up to dangle the proposition of an imperial monarchy in front of the Shah’s nose, but he needed more than just bait. The Shah was such a coward that it seemed no amount of reassurance that the Americans and the British would be successful could convince him. Schwarzkopf found himself in the middle of a room under a table with the Shah working out the details because the Shah was afraid the room was bugged. Kermit Roosevelt then gave the Mighty Wurlitzer its first run. I’m sure you’ve heard of the Mighty Wurlitzer, Oliver.”
   “I’ve seen it.”, I said quietly as Claudia’s face flashed before my eyes.
   Amira smiled. “Radio stations and newspapers were bought off to spew anti Mossadegh propaganda. CIA agents posing as communists threatened religious leaders with mayhem if they didn’t back Mossadegh, thereby setting the two against each other and both against Mossadegh.”
   We rounded a corner to face an impressive mosque. The theocracy had raised its ugly head. I instinctively took Conrad's arm and pulled him close.

141.
   Amira broke the trance. “Let go of each other ! You will attract attention! Two teenage boys were found in bed together in 2005. The youngest, in tears pleaded the obvious, that everyone does it, but they were both hanged in public. This theocracy has a peculiar form of justice. If there is not enough evidence to convict, rather than set the plaintiff free, the judge can decide for himself whether he is guilty or not. If you two were found out, you would have a choice: hanging, stoning, being thrown off a cliff or cut in half with a sword.”

   The Bazaar was teeming with crowds of people. We followed Amira as she plunged into them. Conrad lifted the dogs to his shoulders. Amira smiled warmly at the sight then continued. “On August 15th, 1953, the coup was set in motion. Pro Shah soldiers and their CIA contacts spread throughout the city cutting phone lines and occupying the telephone exchange. But Mossadegh had been tipped off and some phone lines remained open. Soldiers sent to arrest Mossadegh were arrested themselves. The coup began to crumble and Zahedi went into hiding. The next morning Mossadegh announced that the coup attempt had failed. The CIA was devastated but Kermit Roosevelt managed to locate Zahedi and convince him that there was still a chance of success. They had to somehow get the news out to the public that the Shah had dismissed Mossadegh and appointed Zahedi in his place. Then their luck changed. The Shah had fled to Baghdad where he heard a radio address by Eisenhower announcing that the U.S. would not stand by while Iran drifted behind the Iron Curtain. He finally had the reassurance he needed and signed the decree replacing Mossadegh with Zahedi.”

142.

   Amira stopped in front of a shop and pulled up the gate. Nasty, caged creatures hung from the ceiling.  “I’ve seen these animals in my nightmares.”, I muttered.
   Amira took my hand. “I sell these animals to ward off evil. With the right incantation, evil enters them and does not escape. They are like those sadistic lights you sell in America that lure in bugs and fry them. If I had been around in 1953, I would have given them all to Mossadegh. He needed them. On the morning of August 17th, Mossadegh was convinced that the coup had failed even as CIA agents posing as communists were smashing shops, trashing businesses and bombing the homes of religious leaders. While Mossadegh was recalling his forces from their stations around the city, Zahedi and his followers were being smuggled into the American embassy. On August 19th, the Shah’s decrees were printed in the Tehran papers. The CIA orchestrated demonstrations throughout the city. CIA operatives seized tanks and trucks and stationed them in public squares. The crowds began to swell and fence sitters began switching sides. The central telegraph office and the ministry of exchange were seized. When Tehran announcements of the coup’s success were broadcasted, it was over. Mossadegh was arrested. The CIA was ecstatic. Donald Wilbur would later smugly reflect that ‘It was a day that should never have ended, and it carried with it such a sense of elation, of satisfaction and jubilance that it is doubtful any other day can come up to it. Our trump card had prevailed, and the Shah was victorious.’ So the Shah was installed as an imperial dictator and Mossadegh spent the rest of his life under house arrest. And that was that.” She said flatly, seeming to fend off despair with resignation.

 

143.
    She led us into the store to a door in the back and opened it to reveal a garage that contained a mint 1936 Bugatti convertible coup. “This will get you out of Tehran. With the right person at the wheel, it and whoever is in it disappears.” Then she looked at all of us one by one and finally settled on me. “All of that effort, Oliver, all the brilliance, the courage, for what, to destroy evil in the world, to liberate the oppressed? All that effort enslaved a people trying to break free. All that brilliance crushed a nation. All that courage snuffed out the light and glorified the darkness. The American image of freedom and liberty was turned on its head, Oliver and it’s still standing upside down looking more and more right side up every day. For twenty-nine years we suffered under the Shah. His CIA trained Gestapo, SAVAK imprisoned, tortured and killed thousands. The Islamic Revolution that set us free from the Shah transformed into a theocracy ten times more brutal. The corporate tyranny that is running roughshod over the globe has been kept out of a very big market in Iran and it is drooling at the gates. When the theocrats finally fall, the corpocrats will rush in and once again my country will be liberated from one tyrant by the tyranny of another. Do you know what is inscribed in marble at CIA headquarters in Washington DC, Oliver? ‘And ye shall know the truth and it shall set you free’.”

   “Arbeit macht frei!”, barked Pat as he relieved himself on a tire of the Bugatti.
   Nanette frowned. “Truman himself said in 1961, ‘I never would have agreed to the formulation of the CIA if I had known it would become the American Gestapo’.”
   Amira clasped Conrad’s collar. “And now you will leave me.”

144.
   “But you will come with us!, blurted Conrad.

   Amira stroked the leather seat of the Bugatti. “He is named BanAn, ‘Tips of the Fingers’ in English. He will take you to out of Iran and into Iraq.”
   I bent down to load our bags and heard something fly past my ear. Conrad scream in pain and grabbed a blood-soaked arm. A hole opened in Nanette’s ear.
   “Get in the car!”, screamed Amira. She forced us into the seats as bullets slammed around us. I grabbed the wheel and turned on the ignition. A rush of dark figures pounced on Amira, pulled a hood over her head, threw her aside and reached for us.
   Then their faces froze with surprise and confusion. I realized Amira’s claim was no joke. We had disappeared. I threw the Bugatti into gear, hit the accelerator and slammed into them. Their bodies flew in all directions. The doors of the garage burst open. “How bad is it? How bad are they?”, I screamed to Pat.
   “Pay attention to the road!”, he ordered.
   Conrad howled in pain as he pressed his arm with all his strength. Nanette grabbed at her ear. Blood poured over her eyes. Pat gave me a furious look. “Drive!”
    Blood ran down the seat and onto the floor. My foot slipped on the gear peddle.
   Conrad turned ashen. “We can’t leave her. They’ll torture her!”
   Pat ripped Conrad's shirt and tied his arm. He wrapped Nanette’s ear. “We have to save ourselves first!” Nanette’s eyes rolled back. “Hold on, baby!”, he pleaded.

145.

   I reached for Conrad. My eyes lost focus.

   "Keep your God damned eyes on the road!", ordered Pat.  

   We raced out of the city and into the desert. I turned the wheel at a branch in the road but it did not respond. I realized the Bugatti was driving itself. Amira said it would take us to Iraq. I wasn’t looking forward to driving into a war zone, but I wasn’t driving.
   Conrad and Nanette lay unconscious in the seat next to me. Pat had staunched their bleeding and color was beginning to return to their faces. As we raced on, Pat nodded, breathed easier and began to speak. “I must tell you this now, Oliver before we reach Iraq. In the 1980’s a terrible war between Iraq and Iran was waged. The Iranian Revolution had finished the Shah and the Americans wanted revenge. When an Iraqi despot named Saddam Hussein invaded Iran in 1980, America took him under her wing. For eight years both sides threw their young men at each other in trench warfare the world had not seen since World War I. Ronald Reagan, your president who claimed it was morning in America sent one of his stooges to put a friendly arm around the stooped shoulders of Saddam. He was the special envoy to the Middle East named Donald Rumsfeld and he whispered that there were other ways to win a war than those governed by the Geneva conventions. Before long, companies in America and Europe were sending a Pandora’s Box of weapons of mass destruction to Iraq: mustard gas, tabin and sarin, cyanide, VX, white phosphorous, and biological weapons: anthrax, botulism, capsulatam, melitenis, perfungens, tetani, e coli. Even nuclear technology was supplied. All the horrors that America used as an excuse to attack Iraq were provided by America and her European allies.”

146.
   “America and the world stood by as the two countries threw themselves at each other. One and three quarter million died. The CIA helped Iraq calibrate mustard gas, nerve gas and cyanide attacks. Then on the 16th of March 1988, Saddam used weapons of mass destruction on his own people. Have you ever heard of Halabja? It is a Kurdish town in Northeastern Iraq. It was occupied by Iranian soldiers and Kurdish separatists. The Iraqi air force first attacked with cluster bombs, pretty toys that caught the eyes of children and blew off their hands when they picked them up. Then white phosphorous was dropped that turned the body into a pile of ashes, then cyanide, then mustard gas, then VX, then tabum. Five thousand people died ungodly deaths, mostly the sick, the elderly and children, anyone who couldn’t run away. Seven thousand others were gassed and have been dying slow and painful deaths ever since. Oliver, the blood and suffering of these victims, their horrible and unspeakable deaths are on your hands and the hands of the world as much as they are on the hands of Saddam Hussein. Survivors returning to the village found children in the arms of their fathers and mothers, whole families lying next to each other in the agony of death. Hundreds of other Kurdish villages were attacked and thousands more died. Countries have been helping other countries destroy each other even at the expense of their civilian population for a long time, but this, Oliver, this...” Pat stared into the desert and bit his lip.

  Conrad moaned and began to gain consciousness. I put my hand on him. “Conrad, I need you now. You are the most amazing man I have ever met. When I look into your eyes, when a smile dawns across your face I feel at peace. I can’t lose you. I won’t lose you.

147.

   BenAn picked up speed. The Bugatti was moving so fast I had to cower behind the windshield. The landscape blurred. The roar of the engine was deafening.
    Then suddenly we were at rest. We stood before the city of Bagdad shimmering like a mirage on the Tigris, a very strange mirage, a fouled mirage of an ancient skyline smothered in billboards and neon. Every mosque, every minaret, every building had a corporate logo squatting on its roof top or sprawled across its edifice. Conrad winced in pain as he pulled himself out of the seat. I picked up Nanette who was just now coming to. Pat stood on the hood of the Bugatti, hands on his hips with a look of revulsion on his face. I put an arm around Conrad. He leaned on me for support and growled, “This, Oliver is what Monkey Boy calls democracy in the Middle East. The world knew that America was after Iraq’s oil. What the world didn’t know was that Monkey Boy and his masters wanted not only the oil of Iraq but everything in the entire nation: the factories, the farms, the water, the electricity, the sewers, every little business in every little bazaar in the country. A proconsul was installed. Paul Bremer imposed one hundred imperial orders on the people of Iraq. Order 14 censored all Iraqi media and resulted in the trashing and closing of newspapers and radio stations. Order 17 immunized all foreign contractors from Iraqi law including rape and murder. Order 39 privatized all state-run agencies, allowed 100% foreign ownership of Iraqi businesses with forty-year contracts. Order 81 made it a crime for farmers to save seed from season to season and forced them to purchase and grow genetically modified crops, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizer from American agribusiness.”

148.

   “80% of the reconstruction contracts went to American firms, 18% to other foreigners and 2% to Iraqis. Then the Americans fired the entire government work force, a half a million bureaucrats, doctors, nurses, teachers, publishers, printers and the entire army. Iraqis lost their their businesses, their jobs, their livelihoods, their identity. As unemployment rose to 67%, the country was flooded with cheap foreign labor. Tariffs were eliminated, taxes were eliminated, and companies could take 100% of any profit out of the country. ‘One well stocked 7-Eleven could knock out thirty Iraqi stores; a Walmart could take over the country.’ was a popular phrase. Corporate America sat back and waited for an explosion of American and foreign investment and unfettered Free Market profit. An explosion happened alright. America found itself in the middle of a three-way civil war between Kurds, Sunni and Shiite in a country cobbled together out of the cobbled together Ottoman Empire, and Americans were the focus of a people furious at their occupiers. Americans began to die quickly. Then there was Abu Ghraib. There is not much a people won’t do when their occupiers resort to torture. When four American mercenaries turned down the wrong street in Falluja they were murdered, and their bodies desecrated. When the American war machine took its revenge, nothing was spared on the city including 500-pound napalm bombs and white phosphorus. Artillery, tanks, jets, cobra and Apache helicopters rained death down on the city. It was Hallabja all over again. It was Guernica. It was Dresden. America has killed over a hundred thousand Iraqis. Millions are exiled. The country is in ruins and awash in depleted uranium.”
   A sudden explosion filled the air with flame and body parts. I passed out.

149.
   I came to in Conrad’s arms on the banks of the Tigris. It must have been pure adrenaline that got him there with a bullet through his arm. Before I could say a word, two purple creatures crawled up out of the river and towered over us. "We have been waiting for you.”

   The dogs snarled. Conrad lowered me down and collapsed next to me. “Behold the real face of Big Brother.”, he said as he gasped for breath. “All the atrocities of the CIA were done at the bidding of the American government and American corporate interests. Now American corporate interests are the government. International corporations will soon govern the globe. Americans who slept through the enslavement of the third world are waking up to find themselves enslaved.”
   “We have been following your progress.”, cooed the purple mutants. “You have survived all that has been thrown in your path. You are worthy. Join us.”
   “I think not.”, I said quietly.
   “Think again. You will be rich. Your dogs will be rich. Your pet bull will be rich. You will be joining an exclusive club of CEOs, politicians, newsmen, entertainers, bankers, brokers, professors, scientists, men of faith. You will answer to no one. You will travel first class, eat in the best restaurants. You will stroll the canyons of Petra, sail down the Nile on a grand yacht, wander through the Taj Mahal. The world will be your private jet. All will be taken care of.”
   “And there’s a party on the eleventh floor.”, I sneered.
   “Don’t pout, little one.”, they sang. “Tell your story if you must. We can make money on it. It’s fucking gold. But no one will really give a damn.”

150.
   I stood up and walked over to the bouncing, swaying faces. “The young people will give a damn. They will wake up to see that you turn class against class, race against race, religion against religion in a non-stop distraction of destruction. They will see how you profit from their misery and death. Americans who are going to wake up bankrupt in a collapsed economy sooner than later will listen. People who are dying of diseases they cannot afford to treat will listen. Students you have enslaved with crushing debt will listen. Young people who fight your dirty wars because there are no jobs but soldiers' jobs will listen.”

   In an instant the smiling yellow faces turned foul. “We are absolutely thrilled that only a hand full of you zipper heads have figured out that we are in control. Hell, we control the American food supply. Civilization depends on oil, and we own the oil. All the money in the world is controlled by a few banks who could take away the good times at the drop of a hat. We will bankrupt the world, privatize the nation state and turn all but the chosen few into associates. And you turned us down. Can you say, Welcome to Walmart?” They threw back their heads and crowed. “Go ahead and stew in your own proud juices. You’ll end up on the make just like every other little maggot if you want to eat. You’ll lie and cheat and throw away every upstanding value you ever had and when you’re shivering with cold under your cardboard box gumming the bits of happy meals you’ve scraped out of the gutter, you’ll remember our offer and hate yourself. It’s over with. It’s done. Nothing will stand in our way! Nothing!”

151.

   As the freaks rolled with laughter, a sail of Banker skins rose up over the embankment behind them. A felucca running in the wind ran up on shore and impaled them with her bowsprit. They twirled around back-to-back, back to front. Screams of helpless rage burst from their mouths. They shuddered and quaked as they were lifted off their feet. Their heads flapped frantically. Their eyes crossed. Their mouths snapped open and shut. “My money!”, they screeched. “My money! My money!” They clutched at the bowsprit as it surged through them. Their bodies slid back on each other. Their eyes were wide with disbelief.
   Banker skins, I thought. It can’t be! Yet there she was, standing proudly on the bow, the wind blowing through her hair, her red dress clinging to her body, fearless rage burning in her eyes.
   The dying fools began to whimper. “The overriding goal is to make the world safe for interdependency by protecting the benefits it provides for each country against external and internal threats which will constantly emerge from those willing to pay a price for more national autonomy.”
   “Prohibit development,”, they gasped. “because the idea of greater self--reliance which is in fact an indispensable goal of development policy could degenerate into rejection of integrated world economy.” Slowly their twitching and shaking began to subside.
   “You leave the world as you entered it,”, laughed Claudia. “muttering convoluted dogma and dripping poison.”

152.
   For a moment I could do nothing. I stood staring at Claudia on the bridge as the creatures uttered their last gasp and went limp. Then I came to myself. I rushed up the embankment and leapt on to the felucca into Claudia’s arms. I kissed her on the lips. I kissed her ears, her eyes. I buried my face in her hair.

   “I told you we would see each other again!”, she smiled. She threw her head back and laughed. The bankers and the socialite folded around us as the sail fluttered in the wind.
   I hugged her tight. Tears filled my eyes. “How did you do it? How did you survive that thing?”
   She put her fingers to my face and traced the tears away. “I found Jesus!”, she giggled. “The one thing a crazed fanatic can’t resist is power over another human being. He didn’t land on top of the balloon when we hit the jungle. He got up and started hollering some more so I peeked out from under the banker skins and said, ‘I want to be saved!’. All the screaming to the heavens and stomping around suddenly stopped. His eyes widened. He clasped his hands to his chest and praised the lord. I told him I needed to accept Jesus into my heart and when he bent down to pray with me, I slit his throat.”
   I kissed her again. “Too bad I wasn’t there. We could have made a balloon for me.”

153.
   Conrad and Pat and Nanette were climbing aboard. I rushed over to Conrad as the dogs leaped around Claudia with joy. I opened my mouth to introduce Conrad. He stepped past me.
   She stepped toward him. “You have kept him safe. I knew you would.”
   He took her arm. “And you have returned from the dead as I knew you would.” They embraced.
   “I see introductions are not necessary, as usual.”, I said excitedly. “Conrad and the dogs and I have had unbelievable adventures! We sailed across the Pacific on a tramp steamer! We were taken to the Philippines by Catamites and Conrad and I got extraordinarily renditioned to Vietnam where a giant bug tried to kill us. We rowed through a pod of assholes! We had tea with Komodo Dragons!”

   “Calm down.”, smiled Pat. “You’re starting to hyperventilate.”
   “And we learned about Jumbo’s Genocide.”, I continued quietly. I looked at Conrad and sighed. “And about Conrad’s childhood.”
   “I got shot in Tehran.”, Nanette announced flatly.
   I put my hand on Conrad’s arm. He winced. “Conrad got shot. We were almost all killed but we were saved by an old girlfriend of Conrad’s. We don’t know what happened to her.”

154.
   I looked at all four of them and then at the pathetic figures hanging from the bowsprit. “Thank God those things are dead. They were so impressed by our survival, they wanted me to join them. Hell, I’m all worn out. Do you think we can take a breather? Is there more, I mean a lot more to learn?”

   “Which continent?”, sighed Claudia. “We’re still in the Middle East. How about the 1949 CIA coup of the civilian government of Syria in order to ratify the TAPLINE oil pipeline?”
   I looked at Conrad. “I thought Iran was the first CIA coup.”
   He shrugged. “There’s a lot to keep straight.”
   “And we haven’t even been to Africa yet!”, said Nanette, breathlessly. “There’s the CIA backed coup in Ghana in 1966 that overthrew President Kwame Nkrumah.”
   Pat pawed my shin. “And the Congo! Eisenhower oversaw the assassination of prime minister Patrice Lumumba and the installing of Mobuto Sese Seko in 1961 that led to thirty years of - ”
   Conrad pressed his arm and winced. “What about Greece?”
   Claudia shook her head. “Greece, poor Greece, German occupation, civil war and then a CIA backed coup in ’67 that resulted in - ”
   “Please stop!”, I pleaded. I put my arms around their shoulders and lowered my head. “We are all safe. We have been reunited. Can’t we please stop for just a moment? I can’t breathe.”
   Claudia caught herself and looked at me tenderly. Pat looked up at her. She stroked his snout. Conrad looked into the distance. His shoulders relaxed. He patted Nanette.

155.
   I knelt down to Pat and Nanette. “How about it, Pat? How about taking it easy for a bit? We could take a cruise in a magic balloon and exchange war stories. We could have a wonderful meal and put some meat on our bones.”

   Pat looked into my eyes. “I’m starving, Kid.”
   Nanette looked affectionately at Pat. “Those last goons did make a pass at Oliver. Maybe the thugs are out of wind for the time being. Maybe they’ll need a little time to regroup.”
   I put my hands on their heads. “My dear friends. You’ve been with me since the beginning. You saved my life. Let’s get to know each other. Let’s have a little fun. I need a drink. Conrad, you took a bullet through your arm! You need a drink! Let’s celebrate! Claudia, do you have any scotch on that barge?”
   “God, could I use a drink.”, groaned Conrad.
   “A bottle of scotch in Baghdad?”, exclaimed Claudia. “I don’t see why not?”
   I stared at the two of them. They were framed by the fluttering sail against a dazzling blue sky, a sky that suddenly darkened. Both of them noticed the curious expression on my face. They turned and looked up.

 

156.
   All the color seemed to bleed out of everything around us, all the color but red. The color drained out of all four of their faces in fear.

   “Oh my God!”, whispered Claudia. “It’s happening!”
   “Oliver!”, shouted Conrad. “You must go!”
    I was so paralyzed with confusion, I could not get up. “What’s happening?”
   “Your world is upon us!”, gasped Nanette.
   Pat took her hand and looked to the sky. He raised his other hand instinctively, but it stopped halfway up. His shoulders sagged. “It’s alright, my love.”, he said quietly. 
   A loud buzzing sound rang in our ears, angry like the screech of a wasp’s nest. It wavered in intensity and volume like a radio searching for signal. Human voices groaned in the darkness like the drunken moans around a piano bar after midnight.
   Conrad grabbed Claudia’s arm. She seemed panic stricken. “There is still time!” 
   “What the hell is happening?”, I demanded. I was terrified.
   “All of you!”, bellowed Conrad. “Let’s get out now! We still have a chance! Oliver! You must go back!”
   “Go back to where?” I could not move. The red was everywhere now. All five of us looked up into it as if waiting for our end to come pouring over us.
   Conrad shook himself and clasped my shoulder. “This is good-bye, Oliver! Go back and make a difference!” He took Claudia by the hand.
    Nanette broke free of her terror. “Come on, Pat! Let’s get the hell out of here!” 
   The four of them charged off the deck of the felucca and into the darkness. 
   “What the hell is happening?”, I pleaded as I watched them disappear.

157.
   I was alone in my bed. My heart was slamming in my chest. I stared at the ceiling. My God, I thought, where am I now and how the hell do I get back to my friends? I sat up and looked around the room. A calendar hung on the wall. It was no longer 2006. It was 2010. I looked in a mirror. I was no longer a young man in an incredible dream. I was no longer a young man. I frantically searched the room for my friends. Conrad, out of the corner of my eye lay in the crumpled sheets. Claudia moved toward me as I looked to her and saw nothing. I pulled the pillows under my arms searching for the warmth of Pat and Nanette. It couldn’t have been a dream, I thought. Whatever had happened in the last world, it had been real.

   Then this world came growling back. We had elected our first African American president. We were going to take back our country. But the lobbyists were more powerful than ever. Health care reform turned out to be a gift to the insurance industry. Banking reform was a joke that amused the bankers. The Patriot Act had been extended. Guantanamo was open for business. The war criminals who killed hundreds of thousands had been given immunity. We were still in Iraq and Afghanistan. For one brief, shining moment there was hope in America, then the man who promised it walked through the doors of the White House and closed them behind him leaving us standing out in the cold feeling like cooing, moaning, half-wit shit for brains.
  Get dressed, I thought. Get some air.  High fog and ground fog blew around the city. I crested a hill and noticed an American flag attached by only one ring flapping on a pole on the roof of a building.    

158.

   I thought of the Doctor’s three step program to world domination. It seemed to be coming true. Our food supply was owned and controlled by a few giant corporations. It was genetically modified to survive herbicide and insecticide that poisoned the land while it poisoned our bodies. America’s meat was owned by corporate factories that were concentration camps of tortured animals and Petri dishes of antibiotic resistant diseases. Energy was oil and the very idea that the oil industry would give that up was a joke. We were in Afghanistan to build pipelines for the oil and gas in the Caspian Basin. The billions promised to wind and solar technology have been offered as loans to the nuclear power industry. And Money? A few bankers almost destroyed the world economy and they were rewarded with the greatest transfer of wealth in history. The rich were richer and more powerful than ever, and they were using their power to throw more and more people out of work and out of their homes and to steal what little commonwealth Americans had left.
   The flag that I was staring at suddenly snapped off the pole and took flight.

159.

   My eyes never left the flag. Who will stand up to these thugs? Where are the men and women of the world? If a few speak their minds, won’t others follow? For God’s sake, it’s so obvious. A liar is a liar, a thief is a thief, a murderer is a murderer, a mass murderer is a mass murderer and yet they walk among us unchallenged lying and thieving and murdering. Are we all really that blind? When you work yourself unconscious every day to feed your family, to keep your home, when you fall into bed and pray you won’t wake up in the middle of the night and lose an hour, two hours, three worrying about how you’ll get through the next day, do you ever ask yourself, am I really that blind? What were we going to do, I thought, bring out the guillotines? What will we say to a corporate assault rifle pointed in our face?

   The flag dipped in a down draft. It danced toward me then suddenly stopped. It hovered just over my head. I looked up at it in disbelief. Then I’ll be God damned if it didn’t drop down on top of me. And there I stood, stupefied and humbled.  

   It warmed me against the chill of the fog. I buried my face in its colors and my fantastic gift of a dream came back to me. I could feel Claudia’s breasts pressing against me. I looked into her beautiful eyes. Conrad’s blue eyes looked deep into mine. He pulled me to him. Pat and Nanette were chuckling at me. My world had been illuminated. They taught me volumes. They gave me hope. They loved me.
   Then it hit me. What the hell was I going to do about it? Tell everyone?

                                      

 

160.

   Maybe I should.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                      

               

 

 

 

 

                                                                            THE END

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bibliography

Henry Kissinger:
Quotes: Talk: Henry Kissinger
Wikiquote
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Talk:Henry_Kissinger
School of the Americas:
SOA Watch
http://www.soaw.org/
School of the Americas
http://www.sourcewatch.org/
Western Hemisphere for Security Operation Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/WHINSEC
The San Francisco Chronicle
Protesting priest takes familiar path to federal prison By Kevin Fagan
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/02/13/BAR71C0TUD.DTL
The Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1899-1913/roosevelt-and-monroe-doctrine
U.S. Intervention in Latin America
Small Planet Communications, smplanet.com
http://www.smplanet.com/imperialism/teddy.html
A Timeline of CIA Atrocities by Steve Kangas
Liberalism Resurgent - A Response to the Right
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/CIAtimeline.html
The CIA in Latin America by Tom Blanton, gwu.edu
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB27/index.html
Prisoner Abuse: Patterns From the Past by Thomas Blanton and Peter Kornbluh, gwu.edu
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB122/

Chile:
Chile and the United States: Declassified Documents relating to the Military Coup, 1970 - 1976
 https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm
The Chile Coup : The US Hand by Peter Kornbluh
https://thirdworldtraveler.com/Terrorism/Chile%20Coup_USHand.html
US Responsibility for the Coup in Chile by Daniel Brandt
http://www.namebase.net:82/chile.html
The long FAQ on Liberalism, A Critique of the Chicago School of Economics, CHILE, THE LABORATORY TEST
www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-chichile.htm
Milton Friedman and the Economics of Empire

http://thetrim1.blogspot.com/2013/09/milton-friedman-and-economics-of-empire.html
The Road From Serfdom by Greg Grandin
https://www.counterpunch.org/2006/11/17/the-road-from-serfdom/

Neruda poisoned: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/feb/14/forensic-study-finds-chilean-poet-pablo-neruda-was-poisoned-says-nephew

The Mega store:
Wall Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices
A Robert Greenwald Film
Common Dreams. Org
Wal-mart: Is This the Worst Company in the World?
By Andrew Gumbel
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/walmart-is-this-the-worst-company-in-the-world-324050.html

Argentina:
The National Security Archive
www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB104/index.htm
Third World Traveler: Argentina's Dirty War by Frederick H. Gaureau
AbeBooks.com
NPR: Argentina’s Dirty War Still Haunts Youngest Victims
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124125440
Growing Up in Argentina’s Dirty War by Anelique Chrestafis
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/sep/06/family.pinochet
Asad Ismi: Cry for Argentina
https://www.123helpme.com/essay/The-Brave-Women-of-Argentina-284260
Torture, Murder, Bush, Kissinger and the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina: America on the Brink of Horror
A Buzzflash Editorial
http://legacy.buzzflash.com/commentary/torture-murder-bush-kissinger-and-the-mothers-of-the-disappeared-in-argentina-america-on-the-brink-of-horror

Pablo Neruda:
Brief biography and images:
http://www.myspace.com/pablonerudatribute

Guatemala:
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 4
CIA and Assassinations: The Guatemala 1954 Documents
By Kate Doyle and Peter Kornbluh
https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB4/

Operation Condor:
The Future of Freedom Foundation
Shades of Operation Condor by Jacob G. Hornberger
https://www.fff.org/2013/09/10/the-40th-anniversary-of-chiles-911/
Crimes of War - Special Report
Operation Condor: Deciphering the U.S. Role
Patrice Mcsherry
https://www.public.asu.edu/~idcmt/terror.pdf

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank:
Global Exchange
World Bank/ IMF Factsheet
https://www.imf.org/en/About/Factsheets/Sheets/2016/07/27/15/31/IMF-World-Bank
Essential Action
Campaign against the IMF, World Bank and Structural Adjustments
www.essentialaction.org/imf/
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins
Apology of an Economic Hit Man, a documentary by Stelios Koul
Who Owns Water by Maude Barlow and Tony Clark
The Nation September 2nd 2002
http://www.ratical.com/co-globalize/whoOwnsWater.pdf
IMF Forces Water Privatization on Poor Countries
By Sarah Grusky
Globalization Challenge Initiative
https://www.iatp.org/sites/default/files/IMF_Forces_Water_Privatization_on_Poor_Countri.htm

Haiti:
Mickey Mouse Goes To Haiti
https://www.arcoiris.tv/scheda/en/916/
Monsanto ‘charity’ comes to Haitian farmers by Kevin Edmonds
http://rabble.ca/news/2010/07/monsanto-charity-comes-haitian-farmers-0
Revolutionary
The Food Monopoly - Haiti Starved to Death
http://echochambers.wordpress.com/2008/04/29/the-food-monopoly-haiti-starved-to-death/
Exporting Misery to Haiti: How Rice, Pigs, and UD Policy Unermined the Haitan Economy by James Ridgeway
http://hondurasoye.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/exporting-misery-to-haiti-how-pigs-rice-and-us-policy-undermined-the-haitian-economy/

Project for the New American Century:
Description:
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Project_for_the_New_American_Century
The Crisis Papers: How We Got into this Imperial Pickle: A PNAC Primer by Bernard Weiner
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0305/S00170/pnac-primer-how-we-got-into-this-imperial-pickle.htm

Bolivia:

The CIA, Contras, Gangs and Crack 

https://ips-dc.org/the_cia_contras_gangs_and_crack/
The Big White Lie: The CIA and the Cocaine/Crack Epidemic
By Michael Levine Goodreads.com https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/646755.The_Big_White_Lie
The Consortium (archives)
Dark Side of Rev. Moon

http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/moon6.html

The Mighty Wurlitzer:
The Mighty Wurlitzer: How the CIA Played America
By Hugh Wilford

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-e&q=The+Mighty+Wurlitzer%3A+How+the+CIA+Played+AmericaBy+Hugh+Wilford
Journalism and The CIA: The Mighty Wurlitzer
By Daniel Brandt
http://goodtimesweb.org/industry-govt-agents/namebase-journalism-cia-apr-jun-1997.html
The Mighty Wurlitzer Plays On, by Gary Webb
http://www.whale.to/b/mighty__wurlitzer.html
Gary Webb: Biography
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKwebbG.htm

Private Prisons:
US: America’s Private Gulag by Ken Silverstein
http://107.6.21.207/PublishedAuthors/Media/Antishyster/V07N4-AmericasPrivateGulag.pdf
The Prison Industry in the United States: Big Business or a New Form of Slavery? By Vicky Pelaez
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8289
The Empire of Bases, The Spoils of War - excerpted from the book
The Sorrows of Empire - Militarism, Secrecy and the End of the Republic, by Chalmers Johnson 2004
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Chalmers_Johnson/Empire_Bases_TSOE.html

The Rapture:
Rapture Ready - Resources for the end times
http://www.raptureready.com/
The Rapture - Biblical Commentary
http://www.bible-knowledge.com/the-rapture/

Ecuador:
Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, by William Blum
Chapter 25: ECUADOR 1960 - 1963: A Textbook of Dirty Trick
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope
The Secret History of American Empire, by John Perkins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope

McCain and the Sandinistas:
https://nacla.org/news/mccain-roughing-sandinista-smoking-gun-campaign-%E2%80%9908

Uruguay:
Spartacus Educational
Daniel Mitrione
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKmitrione.htm
Jose Mujica
http://www.nndb.com/people/972/000232276/
Third World Traveler Uruguay 1964 - 1970
Torture - As American as Apple Pie
Excerpted from the Book Killing Hope by William Blum
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/Uruguay_KH.html

Panama:
The Panama Deception - A film by Barbara Trent
http://www.democracynow.org/2003/6/13/the_panama_deception_the_untold_story
American Free Press.net
Review of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins
Greg Szymanski
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/confession_economic_hitman.html

Granada:
Libcom.org - 1983: the US Invasion of Granada
An Excerpt form A People’s History of the United States
By Howard Zinn
http://libcom.org/history/1983-the-us-invasion-of-grenada

Hawaii:
National Archives - Teaching With Documents:
The 1897 Petition Against the Annexation of Hawaii
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hawaii-petition/
Grover Cleveland Opposes the Annexation of Hawaii
President Grover Cleveland’s Message December 18th 1893
http://www.civics-online.org/library/formatted/texts/hawaii_cleve.html
Encyclopedia of the New American Nation
Anti-Imperialism - The new empire and its discontents
https://www.americanforeignrelations.com/A-D/Anti-Imperialism-The-new-empire-and-its-discontents.html

Americans Overthrow Hawaiian Monarchy

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/americans-overthrow-hawaiian-monarchy

 

The Philippines

The Pacification Of the Philippines 

https://discover.wooster.edu/jgates/the-pacification-of-the-philippines/

 

  The Balangiga Massacre: Getting Even
By Victor Nebrida
https://www.bartleby.com/essay/The-Balangiga-Massacre-Getting-Even-by-Victor-FK3W6JKD386TA
Philippine-American War, 1899 - 1902
By Arnaldo Dumindin
http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/
Water-Cure (torture)
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_cure_(torture)

Viet-Nam:
Dien Vien Phu
Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission
https://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/173/177562/27_eisen.HTM

Rise and Fall of the Dragon Lady
By Peter Brush
https://www.historynet.com/rise-and-fall-of-the-dragon-lady/
John F. Kennedy and Diem
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/11/25/diems-death-shocked-kennedy/60f86e4a-8625-489b-b6ea-7e6a148eb152/
The New York Review of Books
The Big Guy, by Marshall Frady
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2002/nov/07/the-big-guy/
Gulf of Tonkin
De-fact-o
The ‘Gulf of Tonkin’ Incident: The Lie That Sparked the Vietnam war  

https://allthatsinteresting.com/gulf-of-tonkin
American Experience KQED PBS
Two Days in October - People and Events
Dow Chemical and the Use of Napalm
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/twodays/peopleevents/e_napalm.html
Thanhnien News
Chemical companies, US authorities knew dangers of Agent Orange
http://www.thanhniennews.com/2009/Pages/200981011461051587.aspx
“Fragging” and “Combat Refusals” in Vietnam
Us Army Mp’s in Vietnam 1962-75
https://charliecompany.org/2016/10/10/fragging-and-combat-refusals-in-vietnam/
1961 - 1973 GI resistance in the Vietnam War
Libcom.org
http://libcom.org/history/vietnam-gi-resistance
Nixon announces start of "Christmas Bombing" of North Vietnam
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/nixon-announces-start-of-christmas-bombing-of-north-vietnam
The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon
By Anthony Summers

Indonesia:
40 Years Later: The Mass Killings in Indonesia
By John Roosa and Joseph Nevins
Global Research, November 5, 2005
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=1187
Indonesia 1958: Nixon, the CIA, and the Secret War
By L. Fletcher Prouty
http://www.whale.to/b/prouty1.html
GHOSTS OF GENOCIDE: The CIA, Suharto and the Terrorist Culture, by Dennis Small
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/prsp25.htm
The Bloodbath
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20113004/Indonesia-Genocide
U.S. backed slaughter of Indonesia communists
By Anthony Deutch
San Francisco Chronicle, 11/16/08
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/16/MNVD1437A4.DTL

Diego Garcia:
A little-known and suppressed British atrocity in a faraway island tell us much about the function of “globalisation”
By John Pilger, New Statesman, 27 September 1996, p. 34
http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/27b/034.html
The depopulation of the Chagos Islands, 1965 - 73
By Mark Curtis
Wordpress.com
http://markcurtis.info/2007/02/12/the-depopulation-of-the-chagos-islands-1965-73/

Iran:
Secrets of History - The CIA in Iran, by James Risen
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html
National Security Archive - Electronic Briefing Book No. 28
The Secret CIA History of the Iran Coup, 1953
CIA Clandestine Service History, “Overthrow of Premier Mossadeq of Iran, November 1952 - August 1953,” by Dr. Donald Wilber
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB28/#documents
Biography: Kermit (Kim) Roosevelt
Spartacus Educational
https://spartacus-educational.com/JFKroosevelt.htm
Pictures of an Execution Come into Focus
By Philip Kennicot July 20th, 2006
The Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071902061.html
DIRELAND politics and media-analysis and commentary from veteran political journalist Doug Ireland
IRAN EXECUTES TWO GAY TEENAGERS (updated)
http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2005/07/iran_executes_2.html
Worthpoint.com, CIA COBALT BLUE OFFICIAL SEAL CREDO COFFEE MUG - NEW!
http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/cia-cobalt-blue-official-seal-credo-coffee-mug
Liberty-Tree.ca - Harry S. Truman Quotes
http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quotes_by/harry+s.+truman

Iran - Iraq War:
Arming Iraq and the Path to War, by John King
Uscrusade.com
http://uscrusade.com/newsupdate/viewnews.cgi?newsid1049205521,39356,.shtml
U.S. Links to Saddam During Iran - Iraq War
Alex Chadwick and Mike Shuster
npr.org
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4859238
Ronnie and Saddam, by Neil Mackay
https://books.google.com/books?id=Q5bFdpNNB5IC&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Ronnie+and+Saddam,+by+Neil+Mackay&source=bl&ots=wSbYvuRuni&sig=ACfU3U0bXvG7CIF1NJjDTAlAA-KtPyvWwg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj01c66rsT3AhUVI0QIHaHIAMMQ6AF6BAgbEAM#v=onepage&q=Ronnie%20and%20Saddam%2C%20by%20Neil%20Mackay&f=false
Halabja - Bloody Friday - Chemical Massacre of the Kurds by Iraqi Regime, by Alex Atroushi
Kurdistan Democratic Party - Iraq
http://www.kdp.se/old/chemical.html

Iraq:
Baghdad year zero: Pillaging Iraq in pursuit of neocon utopia
https://harpers.org/archive/2004/09/baghdad-year-zero/
Iraq and Washington’s ‘seeds of democracy’
By William Engdahl, oilgeopolitics.net
http://oilgeopolitics.net/GMO/Iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy/iraq_and_seeds_of_democracy.HTM
Bremer’s 100 orders: the true scale of Iraq’s rape and destruction
whisper wolf, April 10th,2008
urknet.info
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=42948
The Great Iraq Swindle, by Matt Taibbi
Rolling Stone, August 2007
truth - out.org
https://www.corpwatch.org/article/great-iraq-swindle
The plunder of Iraq’s oil, by James Cogan
uruknet.info
http://uruknet.com/index.php?p=m59951&hd=&size=1&l=e
My sadness at the privatisation of Iraq by Michael Meacher
The Sunday Times, London, UK
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/my-sadness-at-the-privatisation-of-iraq-2kszndz3kxn
The Abu Ghraib Prison Photos
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Abu_Ghraib_prisoner_abuse
Fallujah, The Hidden Massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallujah,_The_Hidden_Massacre
US War Crimes: Cancer rates in Tallulah worse than Hiroshima
By Tom Eley

http://www.vijayvaani.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?aid=1338

Syria:
Covert United States Foreign regime change actions, Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covert_United_States_foreign_regime_change_actions

Africa:
A Brief History of U.S. interventions: 1945 to the Present By William Blum - Third World Traveler 1999
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Blum/US_Interventions_WBlumZ.html

The Trilateral Commission:
Trilateralism - an overview, excerpts from the book, Trilateralism, edited by Holly Sklar - Third World Traveler
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Trilateralism/Trilateralism_overview.html

Health Care Reform:
Latest health care reform leaves Americans vulnerable to insurance companies: Dennis Kucinich, clevland.com
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/03/latest_health_care_reform_bill.html
Timothy P. Carney: Health-care reform’s hidden gift to the HMOs washintonexaminer.com
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/timothy-p-carney-health-care-reforms-hidden-gift-to-the-hmos
Internal Memo Confirms Big Giveaways in White House Deals with Big Pharma, by Ryan Grim, huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/13/internal-memo-confirms-bi_n_258285.html

Financial Reform:
New Finance bill: Mountain of paper, molehill of reform
By Robert Reich, salon.com
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2010/07/16/robert_reich_finance_bill_bank_reform
Financial Reform Bill Passes: Banks Keep Derivative Units, Volker Rules Softened: House - Senate Conference Passes Finacial Reform Bill After Marathon Session, by Shahien Nashiripour
Huffingtonpost.com
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/25/financial-reform-bill-pas_n_625191.html
Wall Street’s Fingers Evident on Financial Reform Bill
By Gail Russell Chaddock, truth-out.org
https://www.newsclick.in/wall-streets-fingerprints-evident-financial-reform-bill

Shadow Banking, by Nomi Prins

https://prospect.org/special-report/shadow-banking/

 
Control the Food Supply:
Food Inc - A film by Robert Kenner
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/
The World According to Monsanto - A film by Marie Monique Robin, topdocumentaryfilms.com
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/the-world-according-to-monsanto/
David versus Monsanto - A film by Bertram Verhag

https://www.denkmal.film/index.php?l=en&page=percy-schmeiser-4

 Corporate Control of Our Food Supply: The Real Impacts of NAIS By Judith McGeary - farmandranchfreedom.org
http://farmandranchfreedom.org/corporate-control
Corporate control of the food system
corporatewatch.org
http://www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=2628

Control the Energy:
Obama’s 36 Billion Nuke-Powered Give Away, by Harvey Wasserman, The Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harvey-wasserman/obamas-36-billion-nukepow_b_823262.html
US - backed loans to expand nuclear power: a boon for overseas jobs?
The Christian Science Monitor
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0702/US-backed-loans-to-expand-nuclear-power-a-boon-for-overseas-jobs
Professor says America seeks Afghanistan Oil Deal
By David Michael Smith - agoracomsmopolitan.com
http://www.agoracosmopolitan.com/home/Frontpage/2007/01/18/01326.html
Afghanistan’s President Karzai signs deal on gas pipeline project
By Borzou Daragaghi, Los Angeles Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/dec/12/world/la-fg-afghanistan-bombings-20101212


Control the Money:
The Egyptian Tinderbox: How Banks and Investors Are Starving the Third World, by Ellen Hodgson Brown, truth-out.org
 https://truthout.org/articles/ellen-brown-the-egyptian-tinderbox-how-banks-and-investors-are-starving-the-third-world/
CIA on Egypt’s Economy, Financial Deregulation and Protest
By Nomi Prins 

https://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2011/01/the-cia-on-egypts-economy-financial-deregulation-and-protest-386111.html
Bail-out or the Greatest Banking Consolidation in History
By Thicken my Wallet, istockanalyst.com
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/2672491
The More Americans That Go On Food Stamps, The More Money JP Morgan Makes, by Michael T. Snyder

https://seekingalpha.com/article/247234-jp-morgan-profits-from-food-stamp-processing-business

Never have so few screwed so many:
Plunder: The Crime of Our Time, In Debt We Trust by Danny Schechter 

https://www.films.com/ecTitleDetail.aspx?TitleID=27831
https://shop.mediaed.org/in-debt-we-trust-p107.aspx

Inside Job
A film by Charles Ferguson
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/