US Intervention in these countries. What did we do?

Yer list is kinda short, there, Boss . . . you left out Mexico (1845, 1911, 1913, 1916), Japan (1854), Korea (1871) . . . don't forget stealing Panama from Columbia; and Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Phillipines which we stole, fair and square, from Spain. We've been in the Dominican Republic as often as we've been in Haiti. We went into Nicaragua in 1933 for the first time. You left out Chile, and there is strong suspicion that we overthrew the Australian government of Gough Whitlam in 1975. You also forgot Iran--we gave them a bright, shiny new Shah-in-Shah in 1954, and disposed of Mohammed Mossadegh.

Why the mere thought of the countless millions who have benefited from our solicitude makes one's head swim.

Nah, the US supported a dictatorship because of the paranoia about commies as is many other South American places.

Of course, South America is now rife with support for socialism, adulation of socialist heroes and distain for the CIA assasinations, torture teachings and ilk.

Now South America's late in joining market reforms (toward more robust capitalist markets) and free market practices that could help them.

We have a funny way of promoting capitalism sometimes. As if US leaders don't think teaching dictators to shove metal tubes up political dissidents' penises and shock them from the root of their dick will piss people off.

Note to US: when trying to promote capitalism, don't be the guys supporting dictators and torture. See, most people don't have as strong an opinion on economics as they do about not being under torturous dictatorships.

Sound advice.

All right Craven, I guess I got that one wrong. Didn't mean to offend. Btw, I'd love to read your summary list, minus the torture descriptions.

Good to see you Setanta,
I probably screwed up a plenty on this thread.
If you made a summary list, I'd not only accept any discrepancy without question, I'd bookmark the page in explorer for future reference.

Curious aside; I just came up with a sentence where dumb and smart are synonymous.
Check this out:

Fear not guys…
I'm not dumb/smart enough to argue with either of you this topic.

Shoot, now there's three of them, hey NIMH... and the sentence still works.

No offence taken Bill. Frankly the Brazilian dictatorship was mild in comparison to others the US supported, despite the political imprisonments and introduction of relatively small amounts of torture.

Thing is, I am a capitalist (left in government spending, taxation and many other areas of economic politics but right on market economics and capitalism/socialism) and it's sad to see the US bungle promotion of capitalism in so many ways.

I said South America when I really meant Latin America and the region is a good example.

Our mismanagement of our incessant pressure to capitalism was not restricted to decades ago, when we helped make socialism popular (e.g. Che is an underachieving loser who we helped make a martyr) but we continue to bungle things to this day with shortsighted moves that lack the proper nuance.

To give an example, we could have coaxed Argentina into a floating currency and a disciplined budget without the ham-handed pulling of the rug out from under them that literally decimated their country.

It's simply idiotic to see things like that, it's foolish to not realize that when we do things like that people remember the hardship and become resistant to the market policies we favor.

They will simplisticly make the connection between the bad times and the shift we force on them and it colours opinions against the changes.

So then you end up with cyclic regression from populists who lean left.

It's idiocy that is so blatant that it is unforgivable, and unforgivable because I happen to think a market shift to the right would help Latin America. Unfortunately do does the US, and we bring big ham hands and a disposition for forcing the hands of others.

The net result often is that we end up performing textbook reverse psychology and not the clever type.

I'm going to steal Finn's sig for two threads tonight where it is particularly apropos:

At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid.

Friedrich Nietzsche

I spent 6 of the last 7 months researching United States intervention in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. I can't really think of much to say right now, though, since I'd end typing a lot more than I wanted to and probably getting into arguments that would cause me to write even more. But, just know that I am watching this thread, and I will perhaps comment more at a later time.

I think the threads about had it, Smog. Unless you've something to add at some point.