When the Israel Lobby goes on red alert, it becomes the Jewish Lobby

Two votes in the last few days show that when backed to the wall, the powerful Israel Lobby can become even more powerful when it marshals the resources of the worldwide Jewish Lobby. THe two lobbies went into red alert status over the UN report of well-respected South African judge Richard Goldstone, who is Jewish, a self-described Zionist, and trustee of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, that recommends an independent investigation into Israeli actions in what the report stated amounted to "war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity." Israel's invasion of Gaza, code named "Cast Lead," resulted in the deaths of over 1400 people, many of them children and women.

The reaction of the "twin lobby" to the Goldstone report was quick and fierce. On cue, the Anti-Defamation League's whiny Abe Foxman let loose with a barrage of criticism of Goldstone. From other quarters, Goldstone was accused of being "anti-Semitic" and a "self-hating Jew." The same sort of vitriolic name-calling had been meted out by the Lobby to Mary Robinson, the former Irish President, who served as UN Human Rights Commissioner.

The Israel Lobby, whose political backbone comes from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had introduced into the House of Representatives resolution H.R. 867, which called on the Obama administration not only to reject the Goldstone report, also known as "Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict," but block any further consideration of it by the United Nations. On November 3, the House resolution passed by a lopsided 344-36 vote.

AIPAC was supported in its last-minute blitzkrieg of the House by like-minded organizations, including the American Jewish Committee, Jewish Federations of North America, Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), and the Zionist Organization of America.

AIPAC, through its power over campaign donations from wealthy Jews in the United States, can ram any legislation through Congress at a moment's notice. And H.R. 867 was time-sensitive. AIPAC and its allies had to send a message to the Obama administration that it and The Lobby expected strong American opposition to the upcoming UN General Assembly vote on accepting the Goldstone report. The UN vote took place two days later and passed 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions and 16 nations not voting.

With the power of the World Jewish Congress, the European Jewish Congress, and other pressure groups arrayed against them, many small countries dependent on World Bank and International Monetary Fund (both controlled by pro-Israelis, Robert Zoellick and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, respectively), were forced to vote against Goldstone, abstain, or simply not vote at all. Israel proclaimed that the 18 nations that voted against Goldstone represented a "moral majority." Israel, headed up by an expansionist and xenophobic government, in which avowed racist and gangster Avigdor Lieberman serves as Foreign Minister, received a seal of approval not only from the Obama administration but US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, go daughter of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and Rice's deputy, Alejandro Daniel Wolff, reportedly cajoled various UN delegations to either vote no on Goldstone, abstain, or miss the vote entirely.

However, some countries, like some members of the House, stood up to the immense twin Lobby to vote for Goldstone and reject the threats made by the Lobbies' arm twisters and thumb breakers.

Among those who defied AIPAC and its allies were Representatives Keith Ellison (D-MN), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), Ron Paul (R-TX), Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Geoff Davis (D-KY), Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Charles Boustany (R-LA), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), John Dingell (D-MI), and George Miller (D-CA). Perhaps the greatest courage was shown by Representative Bob Filner (D-CA), who is Jewish, and voted against AIPAC. Previously, Filner admitted the power of AIPAC to punish those members of the House who defied it. Filner cited the electoral losses of Representative Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) and Earl Hilliard (D-AL), who were defeated in their respective Democratic primaries after out-of-state money from wealthy Jewish circles poured into the campaign coffers of their opponents. Representative Donna Edwards (D-MD), who also voted against the AIPAC resolution, faces a similar AIPAC-inspired challenge next year.

The "Brave 36" who stood up to AIPAC on the Goldstone report:

Baird Baldwin Blumenauer Boustany Capps Carson (IN) Clarke Clay Davis (KY) Dingell Doggett Edwards (MD)

Ellison Filner Grijalva Hinchey Johnson, E. B. Kilpatrick (MI) Kucinich Lee (CA) Lynch McCollum McDermott McGovern

Miller, George Moran (VA) Olver Pastor (AZ) Paul Price (NC) Rahall Snyder Stark Waters Watt Woolsey

Other House members were able to silently protest by merely voting "Present." They included Hank Johnson, the Democratic primary challenger who beat McKinney in Georgia with the help of out-of-state Jewish campaign funds.

Becerra Cooper Dahlkemper DeFazio Delahunt Duncan Eshoo Farr

Heinrich Hirono Honda Johnson (GA) Jones Kaptur Loebsack Lofgren, Zoe

Luján Obey Speier Tierney Welch Wu

Other House members chose not to vote at all. They included Artur Davis, the candidate who defeated Hilliard, again, with out-of-state Jewish campaign funding, and John Conyers (D-MI), who represents the district with the largest percentage of Arab-Americans in the United States and, thus, has drawn a number of pro-Israeli operatives to his congressional and House Judiciary Committee staffs.

Abercrombie Ackerman Bachmann Barrett (SC) Boucher Brady (PA) Capuano Conyers Davis (AL) Davis (TN)

Deal (GA) Gordon (TN) Gutierrez Hall (NY) Holt Meeks (NY) Murphy, Patrick Nunes Pallone Pascrell

Payne Pingree (ME) Price (GA) Sánchez, Linda T. Sires Souder Stupak Towns Velázquez Wamp

AIPAC and its other Lobby allies were ensured the votes of 344 House members. They are:

Aderholt Adler (NJ) Akin Alexander Altmire Andrews Arcuri Austria Baca Bachus Barrow Bartlett Barton (TX) Bean Berkley Berman Berry Biggert Bilbray Bilirakis Bishop (GA) Bishop (NY) Bishop (UT) Blackburn Blunt Boccieri Boehner Bonner Bono Mack Boozman Boren Boswell Boyd Brady (TX) Braley (IA) Bright Broun (GA) Brown (SC) Brown, Corrine Brown-Waite, Ginny Buchanan Burgess Burton (IN) Butterfield Buyer Calvert Camp Campbell Cantor Cao Capito Cardoza Carnahan Carney Carter Cassidy Castle Castor (FL) Chaffetz Chandler Childers Chu Cleaver Clyburn Coble Coffman (CO) Cohen Cole Conaway Connolly (VA) Costa Costello Courtney Crenshaw Crowley Cuellar Culberson Cummings Davis (CA) Davis (IL) DeGette DeLauro Dent Diaz-Balart, L. Diaz-Balart, M. Dicks Donnelly (IN) Doyle Dreier Driehaus Edwards (TX) Ehlers Ellsworth Emerson Engel Etheridge Fallin Fattah Flake Fleming Forbes Fortenberry Foster Foxx Frank (MA) Franks (AZ) Frelinghuysen Fudge Gallegly Garrett (NJ) Gerlach Giffords Gingrey (GA) Gohmert Gonzalez

Goodlatte Granger Graves Grayson Green, Al Green, Gene Griffith Guthrie Hall (TX) Halvorson Hare Harman Harper Hastings (FL) Hastings (WA) Heller Hensarling Herger Herseth Sandlin Higgins Hill Himes Hinojosa Hodes Hoekstra Holden Hoyer Hunter Inglis Inslee Israel Issa Jackson (IL) Jackson-Lee (TX) Jenkins Johnson (IL) Johnson, Sam Jordan (OH) Kagen Kanjorski Kennedy Kildee Kilroy Kind King (IA) King (NY) Kingston Kirk Kirkpatrick (AZ) Kissell Klein (FL) Kline (MN) Kosmas Kratovil Lamborn Lance Langevin Larsen (WA) Larson (CT) Latham LaTourette Latta Lee (NY) Levin Lewis (CA) Lewis (GA) Linder Lipinski LoBiondo Lowey Lucas Luetkemeyer Lummis Lungren, Daniel E. Mack Maffei Maloney Manzullo Marchant Markey (CO) Markey (MA) Marshall Massa Matheson Matsui McCarthy (CA) McCarthy (NY) McCaul McClintock McCotter McHenry McIntyre McKeon McMahon McMorris Rodgers McNerney Meek (FL) Melancon Mica Michaud Miller (FL) Miller (MI) Miller (NC) Miller, Gary Minnick Mitchell Mollohan Moore (KS) Moore (WI) Moran (KS) Murphy (CT) Murphy (NY) Murphy, Tim Murtha Myrick

Nadler (NY) Napolitano Neal (MA) Neugebauer Nye Oberstar Olson Ortiz Paulsen Pence Perlmutter Perriello Peters Peterson Petri Pitts Platts Poe (TX) Polis (CO) Pomeroy Posey Putnam Quigley Radanovich Rangel Rehberg Reichert Reyes Richardson Rodriguez Roe (TN) Rogers (AL) Rogers (KY) Rogers (MI) Rohrabacher Rooney Ros-Lehtinen Roskam Ross Rothman (NJ) Roybal-Allard Royce Ruppersberger Rush Ryan (OH) Ryan (WI) Salazar Sanchez, Loretta Sarbanes Scalise Schakowsky Schauer Schiff Schmidt Schock Schrader Schwartz Scott (GA) Scott (VA) Sensenbrenner Serrano Sessions Sestak Shadegg Shea-Porter Sherman Shimkus Shuler Shuster Simpson Skelton Slaughter Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Smith (WA) Space Spratt Stearns Sullivan Sutton Tanner Taylor Teague Terry Thompson (CA) Thompson (MS) Thompson (PA) Thornberry Tiahrt Tiberi Titus Tonko Tsongas Turner Upton Van Hollen Visclosky Walden Walz Wasserman Schultz Watson Waxman Weiner Westmoreland Wexler Whitfield Wilson (OH) Wilson (SC) Wittman Wolf Yarmuth Young (AK) Young (FL)

The 114 countries that voted to support the Goldstone report in the UN General Assembly were:

Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

Those who voted to support Israeli genocide and reject Goldstone were:

Israel, United States, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Netherlands, Palau, Panama, Poland, Slovakia, Macedonia, and Ukraine.

Countries that abstained were:

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Monaco, Montenegro, New Zealand, Norway, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Samoa, San Marino, Spain, Swaziland, Sweden, Tonga, Uganda, United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

Countries not voting were:

Bhutan, Cape Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Honduras, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Togo, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Not only is the power of the loan-wielding World Bank and IMF seen in the decision of some countries to abstain or not vote, but the influence-peddling of George Soros, himself a Hungarian Jew by birth, can be seen in the "no" votes of the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, Macedonia and the abstention and not voting positions of Bulgaria, Croatia, Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Moldova, Romania, Kyrggyzstan, and Turkmenistan, nations were Soros's Open Society Institute maintains political sway.

Russia's abstention likely arose from fears that a UN precedent on Israel might be set for other war crimes investigations and Chechnya weighs heavily on Moscow in that respect.

Even with the full-court press by the Israel and Jewish Lobbies, aided by Rice and Wolff at the UN, the yes votes included those of major Latin American nations, including Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Venezuela, as well as countries that will undoubtedly feel the punch of Jewish Lobby's threats to their tourist industries, including Bahamas, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Dominica, Antigua, Belize, Jamaica, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovenia, Portugal, Singapore, Malta, Cyprus, Ireland, and Grenada.

UNDER THE AFPAK VOLCANO, Part 2 Breaking up is (not) hard to do By Pepe Escobar

UNDER THE AFPAK VOLCANO, Part 2
Breaking up is (not) hard to do
By Pepe Escobar

PART 1: Welcome to Pashtunistan

PARIS - "The horror ... the horror." General Stanley McChrystal, the Pentagon supremo in Afghanistan, is being massively sold in the US as a Zen warrior - a 21st-century stalwart incarnation of the "best and the brightest". But he may be a warrior intellectual more like Colonel Kurz than Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. He led an elite death squad in Iraq and, for all of his Confucius-meets-counter-insurgency social engineering schemes, still appears not to understand what Pashtuns are really all about.

McChrystal remains bemused about why, in Afghanistan, most young Pashtuns decide to become Taliban. Because Kabul is immensely corrupt; because the Americans have bombed their houses or killed their families and friends; because they can improve their social status. They simply won't sell out for (devalued) American dollars. Their infinite drive is geared towards throwing the occupiers out - and re-establishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, governed by sharia law. In this sense, McChrystal's soldiers are the new Soviets, no different from the Red Army that waged war in Afghanistan during the 1980s.

McChrystal - with all his "secure the population" talk - cannot possibly level with the American public about the Taliban. Afghans know that if you don't mess with the Taliban, the Taliban don't mess with you. If you're an opium poppy grower, the Taliban just collect a little bit of tax on it.

Conquering Pashtun hearts and minds Westmoreland, sorry, McChrystal-style is a no-win proposition. There's nothing McChrystal's non-Pashto speaking soldiers can say or do to counteract a simple Taliban-to-villager one-liner "we're in a jihad to throw out the foreigners".

As for the Taliban/al-Qaeda nexus, the Taliban nowadays simply don't need al-Qaeda, and vice-versa. Al-Qaeda is closely linked with Pakistani outfits, not Afghan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. If McChrystal wants to find al-Qaeda jihadis, he should set up shop in Karachi, not in the Hindu Kush.

Over the summer of 2009 alone, 20,000 US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) troops, practicing the iron dogma of "clear, hold and build", were able to secure only a third of desert Helmand province. The Taliban control at least 11 provinces in Afghanistan. It's easy to do the math on what it would take to "secure" the other 10 provinces, not to mention the whole country until, well, 2050, as the British high command has been speculating. No wonder Washington is drowning in numbers - rife with speculation that McChrystal wants 500,000 boots on the ground before 2015. If Confucian McChrystal doesn't get them, goodbye counter-insurgency; it's back to a devastating hell from above drone missile war.

If you break it, you control it
The Pentagon as well as NATO will never be cheerleaders for a strong, stable and really independent Pakistan. Washington pressure over Islamabad will never be less than relentless. And then there's the return of the repressed: the chilling Pentagon fear that Islamabad might one day become a full Chinese client state.

Think-tankers in their comfy leather chairs do entertain the dream of the Pakistani state unraveling for good - victim of a clash within the military of Punjabis against Pashtuns. So what's in it for the US in terms of balkanization of AfPak? Quite some juicy prospects - chief of all neutralizing the also relentless Chinese drive for direct land access, from Xinjiang and across Pakistan, to the Arabian Sea (via the port of Gwadar, in Balochistan province).

Washington's rationale for occupying Afghanistan - never spelled out behind the cover story of "fighting Islamic extremism" - is pure Pentagon full spectrum dominance: to better spy on both China and Russia with forward outposts of the empire of bases; to engage in Pipelineistan, via the Trans-Afghan (TAPI) pipeline, if it ever gets built; and to have a controlling hand in the Afghan narco-trade via assorted warlords. Cheap heroin is literally flooding Russia, Iran and Eastern Europe. Not by accident, Moscow regards opium/heroin as the key issue to be tackled in Afghanistan, not Islamic fundamentalism.

As for those think-tankers, they do remain incorrigible. Last week at a Rand-sponsored Afghanistan bash in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, former president Jimmy Carter's national security adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, the man who gave the Soviets their Vietnam in Afghanistan, announced that he had advised the George W Bush administration to invade Afghanistan in 2001; but he also told then Pentagon supremo, Donald Rumsfeld, that the Pentagon should not stay on "as an alien force". That's exactly what the Pentagon is right now.

And yet, Zbigniew believes the US should not leave Afghanistan; it should "use all our leverage" to force NATO to fulfill the mission - whatever that is. Not surprisingly, Zbigniew couldn't help revealing what the heart of the "mission" really is: Pipelineistan, that is, to build TAPI by any means necessary.

China, India and Russia may agree that a regional - and not an American - solution to Afghanistan may be the only way to go, but still can't agree on how to formalize a proposal which would be offered in the cadre of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. Li Qinggong, the number two at the China Council for National Security Policy Studies, has been a key voice of this proposal. Washington, not surprisingly, wants to remain unilateral.

It all harks back to a 1997 Brookings Institution publication by Geoffrey Kemp and Robert Harkavy, Strategic Geography and the Changing Middle East, in which they identify an "energy strategic ellipse" with a key node in the Caspian and another in the Persian Gulf, concentrating over 70% of global oil reserves and over 40% of natural gas reserves. The study stressed that the resources in these zones of "low demographic pressure" would be "threatened" by the pressure of billions living in the poor regions of South Asia. Thus the control of the Muslim Central Asian "stans" as well as Afghanistan would be essential as a wall against both China and India.

So all along the watchtower, the princes of war keep their view. That spells balkanization all along. It's full spectrum dominance against the Asian energy security grid. The Pentagon well knows that AfPak is the key land bridge between Iran to the west and China and India to the east; and that Iran has all the energy that both China and India need. The last thing full spectrum dominance wants is to have the AfPak theater subjected to more influence from Russia, China and Iran.

There could not be a more graphic illustration of empire of chaos logic in action than the AfPak theater. While the McChrystal show amuses the galleries, what's really at stake for Washington is how to orchestrate a progressive encirclement of Russia, China and Iran. And the name of the game is not really AfPak - even with all the breaking up and balkanization it may entail. It's all about the New Great Game for the control of Eurasia.

Pepe Escobar is the author of Globalistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War (Nimble Books, 2007) and Red Zone Blues: a snapshot of Baghdad during the surge. His new book, just out, is Obama does Globalistan (Nimble Books, 2009).

He may be reached at pepeasia@yahoo.com.

(Copyright 2009 Asia Times Online (Holdings) Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)

BREAKING NEWS: Official US Air Force Document Reveals the True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement *

BREAKING NEWS: Official US Air Force Document Reveals the True Intentions Behind the US-Colombia Military Agreement *

By Eva Golinger


An official document from the Department of the US Air Force reveals that the military base in Palanquero, Colombia will provide the Pentagon with “…an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America…” This information contradicts the explainations offered by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and the US State Department regarding the military agreement signed between the two nations this past October 30th. Both governments have publicly stated that the military agreement refers only to counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations within Colombian territory. President Uribe has reiterated numerous times that the military agreement with the US will not affect Colombia’s neighbors, despite constant concern in the region regarding the true objetives of the agreement. But the US Air Force document, dated May 2009, confirms that the concerns of South American nations have been right on target. The document exposes that the true intentions behind the agreement are to enable the US to engage in “full spectrum military operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies…and anti-US governments…”

The military agreement between Washington and Colombia authorizes the access and use of seven military installations in Palanquero, Malambo, Tolemaida, Larandia, Apíay, Cartagena and Málaga. Additionally, the agreement allows for “the access and use of all other installations and locations as necessary” throughout Colombia, with no restrictions. Together with the complete immunity the agreement provides to US military and civilian personnel, including private defense and security contractors, the clause authorizing the US to utilize any installation throughout the entire country - even commercial aiports, for military ends, signifies a complete renouncing of Colombian sovereignty and officially converts Colombia into a client-state of the US.

The Air Force document underlines the importance of the military base in Palanquero and justifies the $46 million requested in the 2010 budget (now approved by Congress) in order to improve the airfield, associated ramps and other installations on the base to convert it into a US Cooperative Security Location (CSL). “Establishing a Cooperative Security Location (CSL) in Palanquero best supports the COCOM’s (Command Combatant’s) Theater Posture Strategy and demonstrates our commitment to this relationship. Development of this CSL provides a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub-region of our hemisphere where security and stability is under constant threat from narcotics funded terrorist insurgencies, anti-US governments, endemic poverty and recurring natural disasters.”

It’s not difficult to imagine which governments in South America are considered by Washington to be “anti-US governments”. The constant agressive declarations and statements emitted by the State and Defense Departments and the US Congress against Venezuela and Bolivia, and even to some extent Ecuador, evidence that the ALBA nations are the ones perceived by Washington as a “constant threat”. To classify a country as “anti-US” is to consider it an enemy of the United States. In this context, it’s obvious that the military agreement with Colombia is a reaction to a region the US now considers full of “enemies”.

COUNTERNARCOTICS OPERATIONS ARE SECONDARY

Per the US Air Force document, “Access to Colombia will further its strategic partnership with the United States. The strong security cooperation relationship also offers an opportunity for conducting full spectrum operations throughout South America to include mitigating the Counternarcotics capability.” This statement clearly evidences that counternarcotics operations are secondary to the real objetives of the military agreement between Colombia and Washington. Again, this clearly contrasts the constant declarations of the Uribe and Obama governments insisting that the main focus of the agreement is to combat drug trafficking and production. The Air Force document emphasizes the necessity to improve “full spectrum” military operations throughout South America – not just in Colombia – in order to combat “constant threats” from “anti-US governments” in the region.

PALANQUERO IS THE BEST OPTION FOR CONTINENTAL MOBILITY

The Air Force document explains that “Palanquero is unquestionably the best site for investing in infrastructure development within Colombia. Its central location is within reach of…operations areas…its isolation maximizes Operational Security (OPSEC) and Force Protection and minimizes the US military profile. The intent is to leverage existing infrastructure to the maximum extent possible, improve the US ability to respond rapidly to crisis, and assure regional access and presence at minimum cost. Palanquero supports the mobility mission by providing access to the entire South American continent with the exception of Cape Horn…”

ESPIONAGE AND WARFARE

The document additionally confirms that the US military presence in Palanquero, Colombia, will improve the capacity of espionage and intelligence operations, and will allow the US armed forces to increase their warfare capabilities in the region. “Development of this CSL wil further the strategic partnership forged between the US and Colombia and is in the interest of both nations…A presence will also increase our capability to conduct Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), improve global reach, support logistics requirements, improve partnerships, improve theater security cooperation and expand expeditionary warfare capability.”

The language of war included in this document evidences the true intentions behind the military agreement between Washington and Colombia: they are preparing for war in Latin America. The past few days have been full of conflict and tension between Colombia and Venezuela. Just days ago, the Venezuelan government captured three spies from the Colombian intelligence agency, DAS, and discovered several active destabilization and espionage operations against Cuba, Ecuador and Venezuela. The operations - Fénix, Salomón and Falcón, respectively, were revealed in documents found with the captured DAS agents. Approximately two weeks ago, 10 bodies were found in Táchira, a border zone with Colombia. After completing the relevant investigations, the Venezuelan government discovered that the bodies belonged to Colombian paramilitaries infiltrated inside Venezuelan territory. This dangerous paramilitary infiltration from Colombia forms part of a destabilization plan against Venezuela that seeks to create a paramilitary state inside Venezuelan territory in order to breakdown President Chávez’s government.

The military agreement between Washington and Colombia will only increase regional tensions and violence. The information revealed in the US Air Force document unquestionably evidences that Washington seeks to promote a state of warfare in South America, using Colombia as its launching pad. Before this declaration of war, the peoples of Latin America must stand strong and unified. Latin American integration is the best defense against the Empire’s aggression.


*The US Air Force document was submitted in May 2009 to Congress as part of the 2010 budget justification. It is an official government document and reaffirms the authenticity of the White Book: Global Enroute Strategy of the US Air Mobility Command, which was denounced by President Chávez during the UNASUR meeting in Bariloche, Argentina this past August 28th. I have placed the original document and the non-official translation to Spanish that I did of the relevant parts relating to Palanquero on the web page of the Center to Alert and Defend the People “Centro de Alerta para la Defensa de los pueblos”, a new space we are creating to garantee that strategic information is available to those under constant threat from imperialist aggression.

Original document in English: http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/original_in_english_air_for.pdf

Traducción no oficial al español: http://www.centrodealerta.org/documentos_desclasificados/traduccion_del_documento_de.pdf

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Recommended Reading on Venezuela in English

• Bush vs. Chávez: Washington's War on Venezuela, by Eva Golinger
• Changing Venezuela by Taking Power, By Greg Wilpert
• Cowboy in Caracas: A North American's memoir of Venezuela's Democratic Revolution, by Charles Hardy
• Hugo Chávez: The Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, by Richard Gott
• Hugo! The Hugo Chávez Story: From Mud Hut to Perpetual Revolution, by Bart Jones
• The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela, by Eva Golinger
• The Magical State: Nature, Money & Modernity in Venezuela, by Fernando Coronil
• Understanding the Venezuelan Revolution: Hugo Chávez Talks to Marta Harnecker, by Chesa Boudin and Marta Harnecker
• Venezuelan Politics in the Chávez Era: Class, Polarization & Conflict

Sites of Interest

• Venezuela Information Office
• Artículos de Eva en español
• Radio Nacional de Venezuela
• BoRev
• Venezuela Foia
• Venezuela Analysis
• Aporrea

The Anti-Empire Report- November 4th, 2009 by William Blum

"It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets." — Voltaire

Question: How many countries do you have to be at war with to be disqualified from receiving the Nobel Peace Prize?

Answer: Five. Barack Obama has waged war against only Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia. He's holding off on Iran until he actually gets the prize.

Somalian civil society and court system are so devastated from decades of war that one wouldn't expect its citizens to have the means to raise serious legal challenges to Washington's apparent belief that it can drop bombs on that sad land whenever it appears to serve the empire's needs. But a group of Pakistanis, calling themselves "Lawyers Front for Defense of the Constitution", and remembering just enough of their country's more civilized past, has filed suit before the nation's High Court to make the federal government stop American drone attacks on countless innocent civilians. The group declared that a Pakistan Army spokesman claimed to have the capability to shoot down the drones, but the government had made a policy decision not to. ¹

The Obama administration, like the Bush administration, behaves like the world is one big lawless Somalia and the United States is the chief warlord. On October 20 the president again displayed his deep love of peace by honoring some 80 veterans of Vietnam at the White House, after earlier awarding their regiment a Presidential Unit Citation for its "extraordinary heroism and conspicuous gallantry". ² War correspondent Michael Herr has honored Vietnam soldiers in his own way: “We took space back quickly, expensively, with total panic and close to maximum brutality. Our machine was devastating. And versatile. It could do everything but stop.” ³

What would it take for the Obamaniacs to lose any of the stars in their eyes for their dear Nobel Laureate? Perhaps if the president announced that he was donating his prize money to build a monument to the First — "Oh What a Lovely" — World War? The memorial could bear the inscription: "Let us remember that Rudyard Kipling coaxed his young son John into enlisting in this war. John died his first day in combat. Kipling later penned these words:

"If any question why we died,
Tell them, because our fathers lied."

“The Constitution supposes what the history of all governments demonstrates, that the executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to it. It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the legislature.” — James Madison, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, April 2, 1798.

A wise measure, indeed, but one American president after another has dragged the nation into bloody war without the approval of Congress, the American people, international law, or world opinion. Millions marched against the war in Iraq before it began. Millions more voted for Barack Obama in the belief that he shared their repugnance for America's Wars Without End. They had no good reason to believe this — Obama's campaign was filled with repeated warlike threats against Iran and Afghanistan — but they wanted to believe it.

If machismo explains war, if men love war and fighting so much, why do we have to compel them with conscription on pain of imprisonment? Why do the powers-that-be have to wage advertising campaigns to seduce young people to enlist in the military? Why do young men go to extreme lengths to be declared exempt for physical or medical reasons? Why do they flee into exile to avoid the draft? Why do they desert the military in large numbers in the midst of war? Why don't Sweden or Switzerland or Costa Rica have wars? Surely there are many macho men in those countries.

"Join the Army, visit far away places, meet interesting people, and kill them.”

War licenses men to take part in what would otherwise be described as psychopathic behavior.

"Sometimes I think it should be a rule of war that you have to see somebody up close and get to know him before you can shoot him." — Colonel Potter, M*A*S*H

"In the struggle of Good against Evil, it's always the people who get killed." — Eduardo Galeano

After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, a Taliban leader declared that “God is on our side, and if the world’s people try to set fire to Afghanistan, God will protect us and help us.” ⁴

"I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn't do my job." — George W. Bush, 2004, during the war in Iraq. ⁵

"I believe that Christ died for my sins and I am redeemed through him. That is a source of strength and sustenance on a daily basis." — Barack Obama. ⁶

Why don't church leaders forbid Catholics from joining the military with the same fervor they tell Catholics to stay away from abortion clinics?

God, war, the World Bank, the IMF, free trade agreements, NATO, the war on terrorism, the war on drugs, "anti-war" candidates, and Nobel Peace Prizes can be seen as simply different instruments for the advancement of US imperialism.

Tom Lehrer, the marvelous political songwriter of the 1950s and 60s, once observed: "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." Perhaps each generation has to learn anew what a farce that prize has become, or always was. Its recipients include quite a few individuals who had as much commitment to a peaceful world as the Bush administration had to truth. One example currently in the news: Bernard Kouchner, co-founder of Medecins Sans Frontieres which won the prize in 1998. Kouchner, now France's foreign secretary, has long been urging military action against Iran. Last week he called upon Iran to make a nuclear deal acceptable to the Western powers or else there's no telling what horror Israel might inflict upon the Iranians. Israel "will not tolerate an Iranian bomb," he said. "We know that, all of us." ⁷ There is a word for such a veiled threat — "extortion", something normally associated with the likes of a Chicago mobster of the 1930s ... "Do like I say and no one gets hurt." Or as Al Capone once said: "Kind words and a machine gun will get you more than kind words alone."

The continuing desperate quest to find something good to say about US foreign policy

Not the crazy, hateful right wing, not racist or disrupting public meetings, not demanding birth certificates ... but the respectable right, holding high positions in academia and in every administration, Republican or Democrat, members of the highly esteemed Council on Foreign Relations. Here's Joshua Kurlantzick, a "Fellow for Southeast Asia" at CFR, writing in the equally esteemed and respectable Washington Post about how — despite all the scare talk — it wouldn't be so bad if Afghanistan actually turned into another Vietnam because "Vietnam and the United States have become close partners in Southeast Asia, exchanging official visits, building an important trading and strategic relationship and fostering goodwill between governments, businesses and people on both sides. ... America did not win the war there, but over time it has won the peace. ... American war veterans publicly made peace with their old adversaries ... A program [to exchange graduate students and professors] could ensure that the next generation of Afghan leaders sees an image of the United States beyond that of the war." ⁸ And so on.

On second thought, this is not so much right-wing jingoism as it is ... uh ... y'know ... What's the word? ... Ah yes, "pointless". Just what is the point? Germany and Israel are on excellent terms ... therefore, what point can we make about the Holocaust?

As to America not winning the war in Vietnam, that's worse than pointless. It's wrong. Most people believe that the United States lost the war. But by destroying Vietnam to its core, by poisoning the earth, the water, the air, and the gene pool for generations, the US in fact achieved its primary purpose: it left Vietnam a basket case, preventing the rise of what might have been a good development option for Asia, an alternative to the capitalist model; for the same reason the United States has been at war with Cuba for 50 years, making sure that the Cuban alternative model doesn't look as good as it would if left in peace.

And in all the years since the Vietnam War ended, the millions of Vietnamese suffering from diseases and deformities caused by US sprayings of the deadly chemical "Agent Orange" have received from the United States no medical care, no environmental remediation, no compensation, and no official apology. That's exactly what the Afghans — their land and/or their bodies permeated with depleted uranium, unexploded cluster bombs, and a witch's brew of other charming chemicals — have to look forward to in Kurlantzick's Brave New World. "If the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan eventually resembles the one we now have with Vietnam, we should be overjoyed," he writes. God Bless America.

One further thought about Afghanistan: The suggestion that the United States could, and should, solve its (self-created) dilemma by simply getting out of that god-forsaken place is dismissed out of hand by the American government and media; even some leftist critics of US policy are reluctant to embrace so bold a step — Who knows what horror may result? But when the Soviet Union was in the process of quitting Afghanistan (during the period of May 1988-February 1989) who in the West insisted that they remain? For any reason. No matter what the consequences of their withdrawal. The reason the Russians could easier leave than the Americans can now is that the Russians were not there for imperialist reasons, such as oil and gas pipelines. Similar to why the US can't leave Iraq.

Washington's eternal "Cuba problem" — the one they can't admit to.

"Here we go again. I suppose old habits die hard," said US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, on October 28 before the General Assembly voted on the annual resolution to end the US embargo against Cuba. "The hostile language we have just heard from the Foreign Minister of Cuba," she continued, "seems straight out of the Cold War era and is not conducive to constructive progress." Her 949-word statement contained not a word about the embargo; not very conducive to a constructive solution to the unstated "Cuba problem", the one about Cuba inspiring the Third World, the fear that the socialist virus would spread.

Since the early days of the Cuban Revolution assorted anti-communists and capitalist true-believers around the world have been relentless in publicizing the failures, real and alleged, of life in Cuba; each perceived shortcoming is attributed to the perceived shortcomings of socialism — It's simply a system that can't work, we are told, given the nature of human beings, particularly in this modern, competitive, globalized, consumer-oriented world.

In response to such criticisms, defenders of Cuban society have regularly pointed out how the numerous draconian sanctions imposed by the United States since 1960 have produced many and varied scarcities and sufferings and are largely responsible for most of the problems pointed out by the critics. The critics, in turn, say that this is just an excuse, one given by Cuban apologists for every failure of their socialist system. However, it would be very difficult for the critics to prove their point. The United States would have to drop all sanctions and then we'd have to wait long enough for Cuban society to make up for lost time and recover what it was deprived of, and demonstrate what its system can do when not under constant assault by the most powerful force on earth.

In 1999, Cuba filed a suit against the United States for $181.1 billion in compensation for economic losses and loss of life during the first 39 years of this aggression. The suit held Washington responsible for the death of 3,478 Cubans and the wounding and disabling of 2,099 others. In the ten years since, these figures have of course all increased. The sanctions, in numerous ways large and small, make acquiring many kinds of products and services from around the world much more difficult and expensive, often impossible; frequently, they are things indispensable to Cuban medicine, transportation or industry; simply transferring money internationally has become a major problem for the Cubans, with banks being heavily punished by the United States for dealing with Havana; or the sanctions mean that Americans and Cubans can't attend professional conferences in each other's country.

These examples are but a small sample of the excruciating pain inflicted by Washington upon the body, soul and economy of the Cuban people.

For years American political leaders and media were fond of labeling Cuba an "international pariah". We don't hear much of that any more. Perhaps one reason is the annual vote in the General Assembly on the resolution, which reads: "Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba". This is how the vote has gone:

Year	Votes (Yes-No)	No Votes
1992	59-2	US, Israel
1993	88-4	US, Israel, Albania, Paraguay
1994	101-2	US, Israel, Uzbekistan
1995	117-3	US, Israel, Uzbekistan
1996	138-3	US, Israel, Uzbekistan
1997	143-3	US, Israel
1998	157-2	US, Israel
1999	155-2	US, Israel, Marshall Islands
2000	167-3	US, Israel, Marshall Islands
2001	167-3	US, Israel, Marshall Islands
2002	167-3	US, Israel, Marshall Islands
2003	173-3	US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau
2004	179-3	US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau
2005	182-4	US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau
2006	183-4	US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau
2007	184-4	US, Israel, Marshall Islands, Palau
2008	185-3	US, Israel, Palau
2009	187-3	US, Israel, Palau

How it began, from State Department documents: Within a few months of the Cuban revolution of January 1959, the Eisenhower administration decided "to adjust all our actions in such a way as to accelerate the development of an opposition in Cuba which would bring about a change in the Cuban Government, resulting in a new government favorable to U.S. interests." ⁹

On April 6, 1960, Lester D. Mallory, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs, wrote in an internal memorandum: "The majority of Cubans support Castro ... The only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship. ... every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba." Mallory proposed "a line of action which ... makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government." ¹⁰ Later that year, the Eisenhower administration instituted the suffocating embargo.

Notes

1. The Nation (Pakistan English-language daily newspaper), October 10, 2009 ^↩
2. Washington Post, October 20, 2009 ^↩
3. Michael Herr, "Dispatches" (1991), p.71 ^↩
4. New York Daily News, September 19, 2001 ^↩
5. Washington Post, July 20, 2004, p.15, citing the New Era (Lancaster, PA), from a private meeting of Bush with Amish families on July 9. The White House denied that Bush had said it. (Those Amish folks do lie a lot you know.) ^↩
6. Washington Post, August 17, 2008 ^↩
7. Daily Telegraph (UK), October 26, 2009 ^↩
8. Washington Post, October 25, 2009 ^↩
9. Department of State, "Foreign Relations of the United States, 1958-1960, Volume VI, Cuba" (1991), p.742 ^↩
10. Ibid., p.885 ^↩

–

William Blum is the author of:

• Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War 2
• Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower
• West-Bloc Dissident: A Cold War Memoir
• Freeing the World to Death: Essays on the American Empire

Portions of the books can be read, and signed copies purchased, at www.killinghope.org

Previous Anti-Empire Reports can be read at this website.

To add yourself to this mailing list simply send an email to bblum6 [at] aol.com with "add" in the subject line. I'd like your name and city in the message, but that's optional. I ask for your city only in case I'll be speaking in your area.

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What Obama Didn't Say in His Cairo Address Speaks Volumes About His Mideast Policy Noam Chomsky

What Obama Didn't Say in His Cairo Address Speaks Volumes About His Mideast Policy Noam Chomsky Alternet, June 4, 2009

A CNN headline, reporting Obama's plans for his June 4 address in Cairo, Egypt, reads "Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world." Perhaps that captures his intent, but more significant is the content hidden in the rhetorical stance, or more accurately, omitted. Keeping just to Israel-Palestine -- there was nothing substantive about anything else -- Obama called on Arabs and Israelis not to "point fingers" at each other or to "see this conflict only from one side or the other." There is, however, a third side, that of the United States, which has played a decisive role in sustaining the current conflict. Obama gave no indication that its role should change or even be considered. Those familiar with the history will rationally conclude, then, that Obama will continue in the path of unilateral U.S. rejectionism. Obama once again praised the Arab Peace Initiative, saying only that Arabs should see it as "an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities." How should the Obama administration see it? Obama and his advisers are surely aware that the initiative reiterates the longstanding international consensus calling for a two-state settlement on the international (pre-June 1967) border, perhaps with "minor and mutual modifications," to borrow U.S. government usage before it departed sharply from world opinion in the 1970s. That's when the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution backed by the Arab "confrontation states" (Egypt, Iran, Syria), and tacitly by the PLO, with the same essential content as the Arab Peace Initiative, except that the latter goes beyond by calling on Arab states to normalize relations with Israel in the context of this political deal. Obama has called on the Arab states to proceed with normalization, studiously ignoring, however, the crucial political settlement that is its precondition. The initiative cannot be a "beginning" if the U.S. continues to refuse to accept its core principles, even to acknowledge them. In the background is the Obama administration's goal, enunciated most clearly by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to forge an alliance of Israel and the "moderate" Arab states against Iran. The term "moderate" has nothing to do with the character of the state, but rather signals its willingness to conform to U.S. demands. What is Israel to do in return for Arab steps to normalize relations? The strongest position so far enunciated by the Obama administration is that Israel should conform to Phase I of the 2003 Road Map, which states: "Israel freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements)." All sides claim to accept the Road Map, overlooking the fact that Israel instantly added 14 reservations that render it inoperable. Overlooked in the debate over settlements is that even if Israel were to accept Phase I of the Road Map, that would leave in place the entire settlement project that has already been developed, with decisive U.S. support, to ensure that Israel will take over the valuable land within the illegal "separation wall" (including the primary water supplies of the region), as well as the Jordan Valley, thus imprisoning what is left, which is being broken up into cantons by settlement/infrastructure salients extending far to the east. Unmentioned as well is that Israel is taking over Greater Jerusalem, the site of its major current development programs, displacing many Arabs, so that what remains to Palestinians will be separated from the center of their cultural, economic and sociopolitical life. Also unmentioned is that all of this is in violation of international law, as conceded by the government of Israel after the 1967 conquest, and reaffirmed by Security Council resolutions and the International Court of Justice. Also unmentioned are Israel's successful operations since 1991 to separate the West Bank from Gaza, since turned into a prison where survival is barely possible, further undermining the hopes for a viable Palestinian state. It is worth remembering that there has been one break in U.S.-Israeli rejectionism. President Clinton recognized that the terms he had offered at the failed 2000 Camp David meetings were not acceptable to any Palestinians, and in December, proposed his "parameters," vague but more forthcoming. He then announced that both sides had accepted the parameters, although both had reservations. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators met in Taba, Egypt, to iron out the differences, and made considerable progress. A full resolution could have been reached in a few more days, they announced in their final joint press conference. But Israel called off the negotiations prematurely, and they have not been formally resumed. The single exception indicates that if an American president is willing to tolerate a meaningful diplomatic settlement, it can very likely be reached. It is also worth remembering that the George W. Bush administration went a bit beyond words in objecting to illegal Israeli settlement projects, namely, by withholding U.S. economic support for them. In contrast, Obama administration officials stated that such measures are "not under discussion," and that any pressures on Israel to conform to the Road Map will be "largely symbolic," the New York Times reported (Helene Cooper, June 1). There is more to say, but it does not relieve the grim picture that Obama has been painting, with a few extra touches in his widely heralded address to the Muslim World in Cairo on June 4.

Militarizing Latin America

Militarizing Latin America Noam Chomsky chomsky.info, August 30, 2009

The United States was founded as an "infant empire," in George Washington's words. The conquest of the national territory was a grand imperial venture, much like the vast expansion of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. From the earliest days, control over the hemisphere was a critical goal. Ambitions expanded during World War II, as the US displaced Britain and lesser imperial powers. High-level planners concluded that the US should "hold unquestioned power" in a world system including not only the Western hemisphere, but also the former British Empire and the Far East, and later, as much of Eurasia as possible. A primary goal of NATO was to block moves towards European independence, along Gaullist lines. That became still more clear when the USSR collapsed, and with it the Russian threat that was the formal justification of NATO. NATO was not disbanded, but rather expanded, in violation of promises to Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not even fully extend to East Germany, let alone beyond, and that "NATO would be transforming itself into a more political organization." By now it is virtually an international intervention force under US command, its self-defined jurisdiction reaching to control over energy sources, pipelines, and sea lanes. And Europe is a well-disciplined junior partner. Throughout, Latin America retained its primacy in global planning. As Washington was considering the overthrow of the Allende government in Chile in 1971, Nixon's National Security Council observed that if the US cannot control Latin America, it cannot expect "to achieve a successful order elsewhere in the world." That policy problem has become more severe with recent South American moves towards integration, a prerequisite for independence, and establishment of more varied international ties, while also beginning to address severe internal disorders, most importantly, the traditional rule of a rich Europeanized minority over a sea of misery and suffering. The problem came to a head a year ago in the poorest country of South America, Bolivia, where for the first time the indigenous majority had entered the political arena and elected a president from its own ranks, Evo Morales. After his victory in a recall referendum in August 2008, with a sharp increase in support beyond his 2005 electoral success, the opposition of the US-backed traditional elites turned violent, leading to assassination of many peasant supporters of the government. In response to the massacre there was a summit meeting of UNASUR, the newly-formed Union of South American Republics. The participants Ð all the countries of South America -- declared "their full and firm support for the constitutional government of President Evo Morales, whose mandate was ratified by a big majority." Morales thanked UNASUR for its support, observing that "For the first time in South America's history, the countries of our region are deciding how to resolve our problems, without the presence of the United States." An event of historic significance. Other developments have intensified the problem for US planners, including the decision of Ecuador's president Rafael Correa to terminate Washington's use of the Manta military base, the last one open to the US in South America. In July 2009, the US and Colombia concluded a secret deal to permit the US to use seven military bases in Colombia. The official purpose is to counter narcotrafficking and terrorism, "but senior Colombian military and civilian officials familiar with negotiations told The Associated Press that the idea is to make Colombia a regional hub for Pentagon operations," AP reported. There are reports that the agreement provides Colombia with privileged access to US military supplies. Colombia had already become the leading recipient of US military aid (apart from Israel-Egypt, a separate category). Colombia has had by far the worst human rights record in the hemisphere since the Central American wars of the 1980s wound down. The correlation between US aid and human rights violations has long been noted by scholarship AP also cited an April 1999 document of the U.S. Air Mobility Command, which proposes that the Palanquero base in Colombia could become a "cooperative security location" (CSL) from which "mobility operations could be executed." The report noted that from Palanquero, "Nearly half the continent can be covered by a C-17 (military transport) without refueling." This could form part of "a global en route strategy," which "helps achieve the regional engagement strategy and assists with the mobility routing to Africa." For the present, "the strategy to place a CSL at Palanquero should be sufficient for air mobility reach on the South American continent," the document concludes, but it goes on to explore options for extending the routing to Africa with additional bases. On August 28, UNASUR met in Bariloche (Argentina) to consider the military bases. After intense internal debate, the final declaration stressed that South America must be kept as "a land of peace," and that foreign military forces must not threaten the sovereignty or integrity of any nation of the region. It instructed the South American Defense Council to investigate the document of the Air Mobility Command. Problems of implementation were left to subsequent meetings. The official purpose of the bases did not escape criticism. President Morales was particularly bitter, with his background in a coca growers union. He said he witnessed U.S. soldiers accompanying Bolivian troops who fired at his union members. "So now we're narcoterrorists," he continued. "When they couldn't call us communists anymore, they called us subversives, and then traffickers, and since the September 11 attacks, terrorists.'' He warned that "the history of Latin America repeats itself." Morales observed that the ultimate responsibility for Latin America's violence lies with U.S. consumers of illegal drugs: "If UNASUR sent troops to the United States to control consumption, would they accept it? Impossible!" Morales's rhetorical question can be extended. Suppose that UNASUR, or China, or many others claimed the right to establish military bases in Mexico to implement their programs to eradicate tobacco in the US, by aerial fumigation in North Carolina and Kentucky, interdiction by sea and air forces, and dispatch of inspectors to the US to ensure it was eradicating this poison -- which is far more lethal than cocaine or heroin, incomparably more than cannabis. The toll of tobacco use, including "passive smokers" who are seriously affected though they do not use tobacco themselves, is truly fearsome, overwhelming the lethal effects of other dangerous substances. The idea that outsiders should interfere with the production and distribution of these lethal substances is plainly unthinkable. The fact that the US justification for its drug programs abroad is accepted as plausible, even regarded as worthy of discussion, is yet another illustration of the depth of the imperial mentality. Even if we adopt the imperial premises, it is hard to take seriously the announced goals of the "drug war," which persists despite extensive evidence that other measures -- prevention and treatment -- are far more cost-effective, and despite the persistent failure of the resort to criminalization at home and violence and chemical warfare abroad. Last February, the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy issued its analysis of the US "war on drugs" in past decades. The Commission, led by former Latin American presidents Fernando Cardoso (Brazil), Ernesto Zedillo (Mexico), and César Gavíria (Colombia), concluded that the drug war had been a complete failure and urged a drastic change of policy, away from forceful measures at home and abroad and towards much less costly and more effective measures. Their report had no detectable impact, just as earlier studies and the historical record have had none. That again reinforces the natural conclusion that the "drug war" -- like the "war on crime" and "the war on terror" -- is pursued for reasons other than the announced goals, which are revealed by the consequences. Establishing US military bases in Colombia is only one part of a much broader effort to restore Washington's capacity for military intervention. There has been a sharp increase in US military aid and training of Latin American officers, focusing on light infantry tactics to combat "radical populism" -- a concept that sends shivers up the spine in the Latin American context. Military training is being shifted from the State Department to the Pentagon, eliminating human rights and democracy conditionalities under congressional supervision, which has always been weak, but was at least a deterrent to some of the worst abuses. The US Fourth Fleet, disbanded in 1950, was reactivated in 2008, shortly after Colombia's invasion of Ecuador, with responsibility for the Caribbean, Central and South America, and the surrounding waters. The official announcement defines its "various operations" to "include counter-illicit trafficking, Theater Security Cooperation, military-to-military interaction and bilateral and multinational training." Militarization of South America is a component of much broader global programs, as the "global en route strategy" indicates. In Iraq, there is virtually no information about the fate of the huge US military bases, so they are presumably being maintained for force projection. The immense city-with-in-a-city embassy in Baghdad not only remains but its cost is to rise to $1.8 billion a year, from an estimated $1.5 billion this year. The Obama administration is also constructing megaembassies that are completely without precedent in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The US and UK are demanding that the US military base in Diego Garcia, used heavily in recent US wars after Britain expelled the inhabitants, be exempted from the planned African nuclear-free-weapons zone, just as U.S.bases are exempted from similar efforts in the Pacific to reduce the nuclear threat. Not even on the agenda, of course, is a NFWZ in the Middle East, which would mitigate, perhaps end, the alleged Iranian threat. The enormous global support for this move, including a large majority of Americans, is as usual irrelevant. In short, moves towards "a world of peace" do not fall within the "change you can believe in," to borrow Obama's campaign slogan.

Kucinich Addresses UN Goldstone Gaza Resolution

November 3, 2009, Congressman Dennis Kucinich addresses H.RES. 867 on the House Floor. H.RES. 867 condemns the UN Goldstone Gaza Fact Finding Mission Report.

Congressman Kucinich stated:

"Today we journey from Operation Cast Lead to Operation Cast Doubt. Almost as serious as committing war crimes is covering up war crimes, pretending that war crimes were never committed and did not exist."

"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."

"Because behind every such deception is the nullification of humanity, the destruction of human dignity, the annihilation of the human spirit, the triumph of Orwellian thinking, the eternal prison of the dark heart of the totalitarian."

"The resolution before us today, which would reject all attempts of the Goldstone Report to fix responsibility of all parties to war crimes, including both Hamas and Israel, may as well be called the "Down is Up, Night is Day, Wrong is Right: resolution."

"Because if this Congress votes to condemn a report it has not read, concerning events it has totally ignored, about violations of law of which it is unaware, it will have brought shame to this great institution."

"How can we ever expect there to be peace in the Middle East if we tacitly approve of violations of international law and international human rights, if we look the other way, or if we close our eyes to the heartbreak of people on both sides by white-washing a legitimate investigation?"

"How can we protect the people of Israel from existential threats if we hold no concern for the protection of the Palestinians, for their physical security, their right to land, their right to their own homes, their right to water, their right to sustenance, their right to freedom of movement, their right to human security of jobs, education and health care?".

"We will have peace only when the plight of both Palestinians and Israelis is brought before this House and given equal consideration in recognition of that principle that all people on this planet have a right to survive and thrive, and it is our responsibility, our duty to see that no individual, no group, no people are barred from this humble human claim."


Thank You
The Re-Elect Congressman Kucinich Committee

Lea el texto completo del acuerdo militar entre EEUU y Colombia

La remisión de este material fue gracias a Eva Golinger.

Acuerdo complementario para la Cooperación y Asistencia Técnica en Defensa y Seguridad entre los Gobiernos de la República de Colombia y de los Estados Unidos de América

Índice



Preámbulo



Artículo I Definiciones



Artículo II Consultas bilaterales sobre defensa y seguridad



Artículo III Objetivo de la cooperación y asistencia técnica en defensa y seguridad



Artículo IV Acceso, uso y propiedad de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas



Artículo V Procedimientos de autorización de ingreso y sobrevuelo de aeronaves



Artículo VI Pago de tarifas y otros cargos



Artículo VII Respeto por las leyes nacionales



Artículo VIII Estatus del personal



Artículo IX Documentación para entrar, salir y viajar



Artículo X Importación, exportación, adquisición y utilización de bienes y fondos



Artículo XI Construcción



Artículo XII Contratación y contratistas



Artículo XIII Servicios públicos



Artículo XIV Facilitación administrativa



Artículo XV Uniformes y armas



Artículo XVI Seguridad



Artículo XVII Licencias de conducción, matrículas, seguros de
vehículos y licencias profesionales



Artículo XVIII Trato fiscal



Artículo XIX Reclamaciones



Artículo XX Servicios postales y comunicaciones



Artículo XXI Medio ambiente, salud y seguridad



Artículo XXII Facilitación de los observadores aéreos



Artículo XXIII Implementación, evaluación y enmienda



Artículo XXIV Solución de controversias



Artículo XXV Entrada en vigor y duración



Preámbulo

El Gobierno de la República de Colombia ("Colombia") y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América ("los Estados Unidos"), en adelante "las Partes" o "la Parte", según convenga:



En el marco del Acuerdo de Asistencia Militar entre la República de Colombia y los Estados Unidos de América, suscrito en Bogotá el 17 de abril de 1952 ("el Acuerdo de 1952"); de laConvención de Viena sobre Relaciones Diplomáticas, suscrita en Viena el 18 de abril de 1961("la Convención de Viena"); del Convenio General para Ayuda Económica, Técnica y Afín entre el Gobierno de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América, suscrito en Bogotá el 23 de julio de 1962 ("el Convenio de 1962"); del Acuerdo entre el Gobierno de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América relativo a una Misión del Ejército, una Misión Naval y una Misión Aérea de las Fuerzas Militares de los Estados Unidos de América en la República de Colombia, suscrito en Bogotá el 7 de octubre de 1974 ("el Acuerdo de Misiones Militares de 1974"); de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas Contra el Tráfico Ilícito de Estupefacientes y Sustancias Sicotrópicas, suscrita en Viena el 20 de diciembre de 1988; de la Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra la Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional, suscrita en Nueva York el 15 de noviembre de 2000; de las convenciones sobre la lucha contra actividades terroristas, suscritas en el marco de las Naciones Unidas y de la Organización de los Estados Americanos, de las cuales ambos países son signatarios; de la Resolución 1373 de 2001 del Consejo de Seguridad de las Naciones Unidas; de la Carta Democrática Interamericana de 2001; y de laPolítica de Defensa y Seguridad Democrática de la República de Colombia;

Teniendo en cuenta la Declaración de Cartagena, sobre la producción, el tráfico y la demanda de drogas ilícitas, suscrita en Cartagena el 15 de febrero de 1990, y la Declaración de San Antoniosobre la cooperación regional en la lucha contra el problema mundial de las drogas y los delitos relacionados, suscrita en San Antonio el 27 de febrero de 1992;

Observando el Anexo al Convenio General para Ayuda Económica, Técnica y Afín entre el Gobierno de la República de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América, suscrito en Bogotá el 30 de agosto de 2004, que establece un programa bilateral de control de narcóticos, incluido un programa integral contra el narcotráfico, las actividades terroristas y otras amenazas contra la seguridad nacional de Colombia;

De conformidad con el Memorando de Entendimiento para una Relación Estratégica de Seguridad para Promover la Cooperación entre el Gobierno de la República de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América, suscrito en Bogotá el 14 de marzo de 2007;

Teniendo en cuenta el Acuerdo entre el Gobierno de la República de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América para Suprimir el Tráfico Ilícito por Mar (conocido como "el Acuerdo de Interdicción Marítima"), suscrito en Bogotá el 20 de febrero de 1997 y el Acuerdo entre el Gobierno de la República de Colombia y el Gobierno de los Estados Unidos de América Relativo al Programa de Supresión del Tráfico Ilícito Aéreo de Estupefacientes y Sustancias Sicotrópicas ("Acuerdo Air Bridge Denial"), suscrito en Bogotá el 20 de diciembre de 2007;

Reconociendo el historial de cooperación bilateral, así como la importancia de promover y facilitar la cooperación regional para contrarrestar las amenazas persistentes a la paz y la estabilidad, como el terrorismo, el problema mundial de las drogas, la delincuencia organizada transnacional y la proliferación de armas pequeñas y ligeras;

Reconociendo la necesidad de fortalecer la relación estratégica de seguridad entre las Partes, estrechar la cooperación bilateral en materia de defensa y seguridad, así como para enfrentar las amenazas comunes a la paz, la estabilidad, la libertad y la democracia;

Afirmando que esa cooperación se funda en el pleno respeto por la soberanía de cada Parte y por los principios y propósitos de la Carta de las Naciones Unidas;

Observando la labor que lleva a cabo continuamente durante los últimos años el Grupo de Trabajo Bilateral de Defensa Colombia - Estados Unidos y su Comité de Dirección, el cual sirve de marco general para orientar la cooperación entre las Partes;

Con el deseo de suscribir un acuerdo que fortalezca la cooperación y asistencia técnica en defensa y seguridad entre las Partes; y

Reconociendo la importancia del fortalecimiento de la interoperabilidad de las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia a través del incremento de su capacidad de cooperar bilateral o multilateralmente con otras fuerzas militares;

Han convenido en lo siguiente:



Artículo I



Definiciones

A efectos del presente Acuerdo:



a) Por "personal civil" se entiende los empleados civiles o personas formalmente asignadas alDepartamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos que se encuentren en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, así como los empleados civiles de otros departamentos u organismos del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos que estén en Colombia apoyando directamente una misión del Departamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



b) Por "personal militar" se entiende los miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas de los Estados Unidos que estén en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



c) Por "personal de los Estados Unidos" se entiende el personal militar y el personal civil de los Estados Unidos que estén en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



d) Por "contratistas de los Estados Unidos" se entiende las personas naturales o jurídicas que hayan concertado contratos con el Departamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos para proporcionar bienes y prestar servicios para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



e) Por "empleados de contratista de los Estados Unidos" se entiende las personas naturales que sean empleados por un contratista de los Estados Unidos que estén en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



f) Por "observadores aéreos" se entiende los representantes de Colombia o de terceros Estados que, previa autorización de Colombia y por invitación de los Estados Unidos, participen enmisiones aéreas que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



g) Por "instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas" se entiende los sitios, emplazamientos e infraestructura cuyo acceso y uso sea autorizado por Colombia a los Estados Unidos para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



h) Por "partes operativas" se entiende el Ministerio de Defensa de Colombia y el Departamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos.



i) Por "personas a cargo" se entiende los cónyuges del personal de los Estados Unidos, o hijos de dicho personal que dependen de ellos para su manutención, así como aquellas personas que por razones de tipo legal, financiero o de salud dependen del personal de los Estados Unidos, son mantenidos por ellos, residen con dicho personal, y que se encuentran en territorio de Colombia bajo órdenes de viaje del Departamento de Defensa de los Estados Unidos que autorizan su presencia en Colombia, para las actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



j) Por "bienes" se entiende, entre otros bienes muebles, los productos, equipos, materiales y suministros que guarden relación con el presente Acuerdo.



k) Por "aeronave de Estado de los Estados Unidos", se entiende una aeronave así designada por los Estados Unidos ante las autoridades colombianas, que lleve a cabo actividades mutuamente acordadas en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



l) Por "buque de Estado de los Estados Unidos", se entiende un buque así designado por los Estados Unidos ante las autoridades colombianas, que lleve a cabo actividades mutuamente acordadas en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



Artículo II

Consultas bilaterales sobre defensa y seguridad

Las Partes convienen en continuar las consultas bilaterales sobre defensa y seguridad en el Grupo de Trabajo Bilateral (GTB) de Defensa Colombia - Estados Unidos para promover la relación estratégica entre las Partes.



Artículo III

Objetivo de la cooperación y asistencia técnica en defensa y seguridad

1. En el espíritu del Preámbulo de este Acuerdo y de conformidad con los acuerdos bilaterales y multilaterales pertinentes de los cuales Colombia y los Estados Unidos sean parte, en particular aquellos atinentes a la lucha contra el narcotráfico y el terrorismo y con sujeción al ordenamiento jurídico de cada una de las Partes, éstas acuerdan profundizar su cooperación en áreas tales como interoperabilidad, procedimientos conjuntos, logística y equipo, entrenamiento e instrucción, intercambio de inteligencia, capacidades de vigilancia y reconocimiento, ejercicios combinados, y otras actividades acordadas mutuamente, y para enfrentar amenazas comunes a la paz, la estabilidad, la libertad y la democracia.



2. Las actividades mutuamente acordadas, mencionadas anteriormente, requerirán ser autorizadas por y coordinadas con las autoridades colombianas pertinentes, quienes podrán tomar las medidas de seguimiento que correspondan. La información derivada de tales actividades será compartida por las Partes de acuerdo con los acuerdos existentes y los futuros acuerdos. Estas actividades mutuamente acordadas no excederán lo establecido en los acuerdos de cooperación bilaterales y multilaterales firmados por las Partes y respetarán las normas colombianas. Para tal fin, las Partes podrán suscribir uno o más acuerdos de implementación que establezcan un mecanismo ágil y eficiente para la autorización, coordinación y seguimiento según la naturaleza de las actividades.



3. Las Partes se comprometen a fortalecer y apoyar iniciativas de cooperación regionales y globales para el cumplimiento de los fines del presente Acuerdo.



4. Las Partes cumplirán sus obligaciones derivadas del presente Acuerdo de manera que concuerde con los principios de la igualdad soberana, de la integridad territorial de los Estados y de la no intervención en los asuntos internos de otros Estados.



5. Las Partes, a través de sus Partes Operativas, tienen la intención de suscribir un acuerdo de implementación en el que se establezcan las líneas y características de la cooperación que los Estados Unidos podrán otorgar a Colombia, para mejorar sus capacidades para el desarrollo de actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



Artículo IV

Acceso, uso y propiedad de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas

1. El Gobierno de Colombia, de conformidad con su legislación interna, cooperará con los Estados Unidos, para llevar a cabo actividades mutuamente acordadas en el marco del presente Acuerdo y continuará permitiendo el acceso y uso a las instalaciones de la Base Aérea Germán Olano Moreno, Palanquero; la Base Aérea Alberto Pawells Rodríguez, Malambo; el Fuerte Militar de Tolemaida, Nilo; el Fuerte Militar Larandia, Florencia; la Base Aérea Capitán Luis Fernando Gómez Niño, Apíay; la Base Naval ARC Bolívar en Cartagena; y la Base Naval ARC Málaga en Bahía Málaga; y permitiendo el acceso y uso de las demás instalaciones y ubicaciones en que convengan las Partes o sus Partes Operativas. Para tal fin, las Partes Operativas establecerán un mecanismo de coordinación para autorizar el número y categoría de las personas (personal de los Estados Unidos, contratistas de los Estados Unidos, empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y observadores aéreos) y el tipo y la cantidad de equipos que no excederá la capacidad de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas.



2. Las autoridades de Colombia, sin cobro de alquiler ni costos parecidos, permitirán a los Estados Unidos el acceso y uso de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas y a las servidumbres y derechos de paso sobre bienes de propiedad de Colombia que sean necesarios para llevar a cabo las actividades dentro del marco del presente Acuerdo, incluida la construcción convenida. Los Estados Unidos sufragarán todos los gastos de funcionamiento y de conservación necesarios que se relacionen con la utilización de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas.



3. El personal de los Estados Unidos, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos tendrán acceso y la capacidad de moverse libremente dentro y entre las instalaciones y ubicaciones mutuamente convenidas que se requieran para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Lo anterior sin perjuicio de lo establecido en el numeral 5 de este artículo.



4. Los edificios, las estructuras inamovibles y los montajes construidos por los Estados Unidos serán para su uso, salvo acuerdo en contrario entre las Partes o sus Partes Operativas, hasta la entrega de los mismos a Colombia, en concordancia con lo dispuesto por el numeral 7 de este artículo.



5. Para poner en práctica las disposiciones de los numerales 1, 2, 3 y 4 del presente artículo, las Partes, a través de sus Partes Operativas, tienen la intención de suscribir uno o más acuerdos de implementación en los cuales se establecerán los protocolos de seguridad y los términos y condiciones para el acceso a dichas instalaciones y ubicaciones, así como a los edificios, las estructuras inamovibles y los montajes construidos por los Estados Unidos para su uso.



6. Colombia conservará el derecho de propiedad y título con respecto a las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas, incluyendo los edificios, las estructuras inamovibles y los montajes conectados a la tierra.



7. Una vez haya concluido el uso de cualquier instalación o ubicación convenida, o de parte de la misma, incluidas las instalaciones construidas, mejoradas, modificadas o reparadas conforme al presente Acuerdo, los Estados Unidos entregarán dichas instalaciones a Colombia, en el estado de uso en que éstas se encuentren. Los Estados Unidos no contraerán ningún gasto por concepto de esa entrega. Los Estados Unidos no estarán obligados a desinstalar cualquier instalación, edificio o mejora de los mismos que se haya construido con sus propios fondos, a menos que se haya acordado esa condición en el momento de la construcción. Las Partes o sus Partes Operativas se consultarán acerca de las condiciones para la devolución de cualquier instalación o ubicación convenida, incluyendo, donde hubiere lugar, consultas sobre la posible compensación por las mejoras u obras de construcción.



Artículo V

Procedimientos de autorización de ingreso y sobrevuelo de aeronaves

1. Las aeronaves de Estado de los Estados Unidos serán autorizadas para entrar al territorio colombiano, de conformidad con la normatividad colombiana.



2. Las Partes suscribirán un acuerdo de implementación en el que se establecerán los procedimientos para la entrada, sobrevuelo y aterrizaje; se designarán los aeropuertos internacionales para el ingreso y salida del país; y se establecerá un mecanismo para determinar el número estimado de vuelos que harán uso de los aeropuertos internacionales, de conformidad con la normatividad colombiana.



3. Cada Parte designará un punto de contacto para coordinar las solicitudes de entrada, sobrevuelo y aterrizaje para las aeronaves de Estado de los Estados Unidos que operen en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



4. Cuando se requiera, las aeronaves de estado de los Estados Unidos que lleven a cabo actividades mutuamente acordadas en el espacio aéreo colombiano tendrán un observador aéreo de Colombia a bordo, de conformidad con los procedimientos mutuamente acordados por las Partes Operativas. Las funciones de dichos observadores y las calidades necesarias de los mismos, se establecerán en el acuerdo de implementación previsto en el artículo III del presente Acuerdo.



Artículo VI

Pago de tarifas y otros cargos

1. Las aeronaves de Estado de los Estados Unidos, cuando se encuentren en el territorio de Colombia, no estarán sujetas al pago de derechos, incluidos los de navegación aérea, sobrevuelo, aterrizaje y parqueo en rampa. Los Estados Unidos pagarán las tarifas estándar establecidas por las empresas comerciales por los servicios requeridos y recibidos. Colombia hará todos los esfuerzos necesarios para que los Estados Unidos paguen tarifas no superiores a aquellas que pagan las Fuerzas Militares de Colombia por los servicios solicitados y recibidos de empresas comerciales.



2. Los buques de Estado de los Estados Unidos recibirán el mismo tratamiento y privilegios que los buques de guerra, y en consecuencia no estarán sujetos al pago de tasas de señalización marítima y fondeo. Los Estados Unidos pagarán las tarifas establecidas en los puertos concesionados por los servicios solicitados y recibidos de las empresas comerciales.



3. Los Estados Unidos certificarán ante las autoridades colombianas que los buques y aeronaves de Estado de los Estados Unidos que se encuentren en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo cumplen con los estándares internacionales aplicables, incluidos los estándares pertinentes de medio ambiente, salud, sanidad y seguridad.



4. De conformidad con el derecho consuetudinario internacional y la práctica, las aeronaves y buques de Estado de los Estados Unidos no se someterán a abordaje e inspección.



5. Sujeto a disponibilidad de fondos, en el marco de la cooperación bilateral y de conformidad con el artículo IV del Acuerdo de 1952, Colombia sufragará los pagos de peajes de las vías no concesionadas y del componente estatal de las concesionadas, por el uso de la infraestructura que realicen los Estados Unidos para el logro de actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Las Partes tienen la intención de suscribir un acuerdo de implementación para asegurar la circulación expedita de los vehículos por los puntos de peajes en las vías.



Artículo VII

Respeto por las leyes nacionales

El personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo respetarán las leyes de Colombia y se abstendrán de realizar cualquier actividad que sea incompatible con ellas y con el presente Acuerdo. Los Estados Unidos informarán al personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo acerca de las leyes, usos y costumbres colombianas pertinentes.



Artículo VIII

Estatus del personal

1. De conformidad con los artículos 5 y 11 del Acuerdo de Misiones Militares de 1974, Colombia otorgará al personal de los Estados Unidos y a las personas a cargo los privilegios, exenciones e inmunidades otorgadas al personal administrativo y técnico de una misión diplomática, bajo la Convención de Viena.



2. En relación con la presencia de personal militar de Colombia en los Estados Unidos, para llevar a cabo actividades relacionadas con la cooperación bilateral, dentro del marco del presente Acuerdo, las Partes reafirman lo previsto en el Artículo V del Acuerdo de 1952. Los Estados Unidos brindarán a dicho personal militar de Colombia, las cortesías usualmente disponibles para el personal militar de los Estados Unidos de rango similar, hasta el máximo permitido por la ley de los Estados Unidos.



3. De conformidad con el numeral 1 del presente artículo, Colombia garantizará que sus autoridades verificarán, en el menor tiempo posible, el estatus de inmunidad del personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo, que sean sospechosos de una actividad criminal en Colombia y los entregarán a las autoridades diplomáticas o militares apropiadas de los Estados Unidos en el menor tiempo posible. Por su parte, los Estados Unidos tomarán todos los pasos necesarios para asegurar que el personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo, de que trata el presente numeral por supuestos crímenes cometidos en territorio colombiano, sean investigados con la cooperación de las autoridades colombianas y, si se amerita, sean procesados con todo el rigor de la ley. Adicionalmente, los Estados Unidos informarán periódicamente a las autoridades colombianas y atenderán, en el marco de sus capacidades, los requerimientos de información que éstas formulen sobre el desarrollo de las investigaciones y procesamientos que se adelanten en contra del personal de los Estados Unidos o sus personas a cargo que hayan cometido supuestos delitos en territorio colombiano, así como la decisión final de las investigaciones o procesamientos.



4. Colombia reconoce la importancia del control disciplinario que ejercen las autoridades de las Fuerzas Armadas de los Estados Unidos sobre el personal militar de los Estados Unidos. En concordancia con el artículo 12 del Acuerdo de Misiones Militares de 1974, los Estados Unidos podrán ejercer autoridad disciplinaria sobre el personal militar de los Estados Unidos en Colombia.



5. Las autoridades pertinentes de los Estados Unidos considerarán con el debido interés cualquier solicitud de renuncia a la inmunidad en las causas que las autoridades de Colombia consideren de especial importancia.



6. Las Partes se brindarán mutua asistencia con fundamento en los acuerdos vigentes, para realizar investigaciones de los supuestos crímenes cometidos por el personal de los Estados Unidos o sus personas a cargo que se encuentren en Colombia para los propósitos de este Acuerdo. Las Partes buscarán establecer y fortalecer procedimientos para dicha asistencia mutua, incluso, si fuere apropiado, con la conclusión de acuerdos adicionales.



7. Teniendo en cuenta que al personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo, Colombia les otorga una visa preferencial de servicio, estarán exonerados de obtener permisos laborales y de residencia por concepto de las actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



Artículo IX

Documentación para entrar, salir y viajar

1. Las autoridades de Colombia permitirán al personal de los Estados Unidos, el ingreso y permanencia hasta por 90 días, a menos que se acuerde mutuamente de otra manera, para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Con tal propósito este personal registrará sus entradas y salidas del territorio colombiano, con la debida documentación de identidad (militar o civil) expedida por los Estados Unidos, sin la necesidad de presentar pasaporte o visa. El personal civil y las personas a cargo que no sean titulares de pasaporte de los Estados Unidos podrán ingresar con visa de cortesía.



2. Las autoridades de Colombia permitirán a los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y a los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, el ingreso y permanencia hasta por 90 días, a menos que se acuerde mutuamente de otra manera, para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Para este efecto, cuando entren y salgan del territorio colombiano, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos presentarán el respectivo pasaporte en el momento del registro migratorio.



3. Las autoridades de Colombia facilitarán los procedimientos de migración para la entrada y salida sin demora de Colombia del personal de los Estados Unidos, las personas a cargo, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los observadores aéreos que entren o salgan de Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



4. Para poner en práctica las disposiciones de este artículo, las Partes tienen la intención de suscribir un acuerdo de implementación, en el cual se definirán: las características de los documentos de identificación; los trámites migratorios expeditos para el personal de nacionalidad estadounidense; los criterios para el ingreso de nacionales de terceros países; los puertos de ingreso y salida; los términos para obtener el visado correspondiente; los parámetros necesarios para hacer efectivo el registro y control migratorio; y las condiciones para prolongar el término de permanencia estipulado para los ciudadanos estadounidenses. En ningún caso se excederán los límites establecidos por la normatividad migratoria colombiana en cuanto a permanencia sin visa en el territorio nacional.



5. El personal de los Estados Unidos, sus personas a cargo, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los observadores aéreos que ingresen y salgan de Colombia, para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, estarán exentos de pagos por entrada y salida del país u otros impuestos de salida, a menos que utilicen aeropuertos comerciales.



Artículo X

Importación, exportación, adquisición y utilización de bienes y fondos

1. De conformidad con el Artículo IV, numeral 2, del Acuerdo de 1952 y el literal (a) del Artículo IV del Acuerdo de 1962, Colombia exonerará a los Estados Unidos y a los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, salvo los ciudadanos colombianos y los extranjeros con residencia permanente en Colombia, de todas las tarifas, aranceles, impuestos y demás tributos que de otra forma se gravarían en Colombia, por la importación, adquisición y utilización de bienes en Colombia y sobre los fondos que se utilicen en Colombia para las actividades que se efectúen de conformidad con el presente Acuerdo. El título de propiedad de dichos bienes seguirá perteneciendo a los Estados Unidos, sus contratistas o las personas que se encuentren en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, según el caso, y dichos bienes podrán sacarse de Colombia en cualquier momento.



2. Los Estados Unidos presentarán las declaraciones de aduanas de los bienes importados o exportados para las actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo, los cuales obtendrán el levante automático, en virtud del cual no serán objeto de inspección. Lo anterior, sin perjuicio de las facultades que las autoridades competentes de Colombia puedan ejercer, previa coordinación entre las Partes, a través de canales diplomáticos.



3. En virtud de lo establecido en el numeral 1 del Artículo VIII del presente Acuerdo, el equipaje, los efectos personales, productos u otros bienes que sean para uso personal, del personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo, y que se importen o utilicen en Colombia o se exporten de Colombia, están exentos de derechos de importación y exportación, aranceles, impuestos, matriculación y autorización de vehículos y demás tributos, que de otra forma se causarían en Colombia. Esos bienes muebles podrán cederse a otro personal de los Estados Unidos, o sus personas a cargo, exentos de derechos, aranceles, impuestos y tributos similares. En el caso de que dichos bienes se cedan en Colombia a personas o entidades a las que no corresponda la exoneración de derechos, aranceles, impuestos y otros gravámenes, los mismos los pagarán las personas que reciban dichos bienes, conforme a las leyes y los reglamentos locales.



4. En concordancia con el literal (b) del Artículo IV del Acuerdo de 1962, Colombia exonerará al personal de los Estados Unidos que esté presente en Colombia, para las actividades que se desarrollen en el marco del presente Acuerdo, de impuestos en la compra, propiedad, uso y disposición de bienes para su propio uso.



Artículo XI

Construcción

1. Las construcciones nuevas y modificaciones mayores en las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas requerirán el consentimiento de la Parte Operativa colombiana. Las autoridades de Colombia permitirán que los Estados Unidos, con la debida consideración de las operaciones existentes y planificadas, emprendan reparaciones, mejoras, modificaciones y remociones menores para satisfacer las necesidades que se relacionen con las actividades desarrolladas en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



2. En el caso de que las especificaciones internas no concuerden con las de los Estados Unidos, las Partes Operativas se consultarán para resolver el asunto de forma práctica.



3. Con base en lo dispuesto en el numeral 1 del presente Artículo y en los planes y estudios técnicos proporcionados por los Estados Unidos, la Parte Operativa de Colombia será responsable de facilitar la expedición de los permisos y/o licencias requeridos por las autoridades competentes de Colombia. Los impuestos u otros tributos asociados a las construcciones serán asumidos por Colombia.



Artículo XII

Contratación y contratistas

1. Respetando la ley colombiana y de conformidad con las leyes y reglamentos de los Estados Unidos, los Estados Unidos podrán adjudicar contratos para la adquisición de artículos o servicios en Colombia, incluidas las obras de construcción. Los Estados Unidos podrán adjudicar contratos a cualquier oferente y llevar a cabo obras de construcción y otros servicios con su propio personal. De conformidad con la política de los Estados Unidos de que el procedimiento de solicitud de contrato sea abierto y plenamente competitivo, los Estados Unidos recibirán con agrado las ofertas que presenten los contratistas colombianos o los contratistasresidentes en Colombia. Los contratistas de los Estados Unidos podrán emplear a nacionales de los Estados Unidos o de otros países.



2. Las controversias contractuales se resolverán de conformidad con las cláusulas correspondientes de los contratos respectivos. Los Estados Unidos instarán a los contratistas de los Estados Unidos a que obtengan y mantengan los seguros necesarios u otras garantías necesarias que permitan atender el pago de los salarios, prestaciones sociales y demás emolumentos que se generen con ocasión de la ejecución de los contratos y conforme a la normatividad colombiana.



3. Los Estados Unidos instarán a los contratistas de los Estados Unidos a que obtengan y mantengan los seguros necesarios u otras garantías necesarias que permitan atender las reclamaciones por responsabilidad civil extracontractual.



4. En cualquier contrato adjudicado en relación con las actividades dentro del marco del presente Acuerdo, los Estados Unidos incluirán disposiciones que informen al contratista que su conducta en el pasado, así como las observaciones que sobre ésta tenga Colombia, será considerada antes de adjudicar futuros contratos relacionados con actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo.



Artículo XIII

Servicios públicos

Los Estados Unidos y los contratistas de los Estados Unidos podrán usar agua, electricidad y otros servicios públicos para la construcción, mejora y utilización de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Cada una de las Fuerzas Militares colombianas seguirá siendo titular de sus respectivas cuentas de los servicios públicos, por lo que asumirán los derechos u otros gravámenes que puedan cobrarse de manera adicional en las facturas. Los Estados Unidos y los contratistas de los Estados Unidos pagarán exclusivamente los valores correspondientes a los servicios públicos efectivamente solicitados y consumidos. Los Estados Unidos y los contratistas de los Estados Unidos pagarán las mismas tarifas legalmente establecidas para los militares colombianos por los servicios públicos solicitados y recibidos. Las autoridades de Colombia, previa solicitud, ayudarán a las autoridades del Gobierno de los Estados Unidos a obtener suministros de agua, electricidad y otros servicios públicos.



Artículo XIV

Facilitación administrativa

Los Estados Unidos, el personal de los Estados Unidos, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos que estén llevando a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, recibirán de las autoridades colombianas toda la colaboración necesaria con respecto a la tramitación sin demora de todos los procedimientos administrativos.



Artículo XV

Uniformes y armas

1. El personal de los Estados Unidos estará autorizado a usar uniforme de conformidad con el Artículo 8 del Acuerdo de Misiones Militares de 1974.

2. El personal de los Estados Unidos podrá portar armas para actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo, de conformidad con los procedimientos acordados por las Partes Operativas en un acuerdo de implementación y con el debido respeto de la normatividad colombiana.



Artículo XVI

Seguridad

Las autoridades de los Estados Unidos y Colombia se consultarán y adoptarán las medidas necesarias para velar por la seguridad del personal de los Estados Unidos, sus personas a cargo, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los bienes de los Estados Unidos. Las autoridades de Colombia tienen la responsabilidad por la seguridad física de las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas. Las Partes Operativas desarrollarán protocolos y establecerán responsabilidades para la seguridad, acceso y uso de las instalaciones, y equipos para los cuales los Estados Unidos requieren medidas de seguridad especiales.



Artículo XVII

Licencias de conducción, matrículas, seguros de vehículos y licencias profesionales

1. De conformidad con la normatividad colombiana, para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, las autoridades colombianas aceptarán la validez, sin exámenes ni cobros, de las licencias o permisos de conducción de vehículos, buques o aeronaves expedidos por las autoridades competentes de los Estados Unidos al personal de los Estados Unidos, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, que se encuentren temporalmente presentes en Colombia. Los vehículos tácticos de propiedad de los Estados Unidos y operados por éstos, que se encuentren temporalmente presentes en Colombia para llevar a cabo actividades en el marco del presente Acuerdo, estarán exentos de inspecciones técnicas, de licencias y matriculación por las autoridades de Colombia pero llevarán las debidas identificaciones.



2. El personal de los Estados Unidos, las personas a cargo y los contratistas de los Estados Unidos obtendrán seguros acordes con las leyes de Colombia para los vehículos de su propiedad, incluido seguro de responsabilidad civil extracontractual.



3. En conexión con las actividades efectuadas en relación con el presente Acuerdo, las autoridades de Colombia aceptan como válidas las credenciales y licencias profesionales expedidas por las autoridades competentes de los Estados Unidos al personal de los Estados Unidos, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos.



Artículo XVIII

Trato fiscal

1. En virtud de lo establecido en el numeral 1 del Artículo VIII del presente Acuerdo, para efectos fiscales, los períodos en los que el personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo se encuentren en Colombia por razón de las actividades efectuadas conforme al presente Acuerdo, no se considerarán períodos de residencia ni de domicilio.



2. En virtud de lo establecido en el numeral 1 del Artículo VIII del presente Acuerdo y del Artículo IV literal b) del Convenio de 1962, los ingresos que perciba el personal de los Estados Unidos por los servicios prestados para el desarrollo de las actividades relacionadas con el presente Acuerdo no estarán sometidos a los gravámenes de Colombia. Los ingresos provenientes de fuera de Colombia del personal de los Estados Unidos y sus personas a cargo que gocen de la condición de no residentes en Colombia no estarán sometidos a gravámenes de Colombia.



3. En virtud de lo establecido en el Artículo IV del Convenio de 1962, los fondos usados por los Estados Unidos, incluidos los fondos recibidos por los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, en conexión con las actividades desarrolladas en el marco del presente Acuerdo, están exentos de cualquier gravamen de Colombia.



4. En virtud de lo establecido en el numeral 1 del Artículo, VIII del presente Acuerdo, Colombia exonerará al personal de los Estados Unidos y a sus personas a cargo, de los gravámenes por concepto de la propiedad, posesión, uso o cesión a otro personal de los Estados Unidos y personas a cargo, o la transferencia por defunción, de bienes que se encuentren en Colombia sólo por la presencia de esas personas en Colombia con relación al presente Acuerdo.



5. Nada de lo establecido en este Artículo se aplicará a los colombianos o los residentes en Colombia.



Artículo XIX

Reclamaciones

1. Teniendo en cuenta que uno de los objetivos del presente Acuerdo es la profundización de la cooperación para la lucha contra el narcotráfico y el terrorismo, entre otros, cada Parte se compromete a asumir los costos por daños, pérdida o destrucción de su respectiva propiedad o por la muerte o lesión del personal militar de sus respectivas fuerzas u otro personal de sus Gobiernos que ocurran en el cumplimiento de tareas oficiales relacionadas con actividades que se desarrollen en el marco del presente Acuerdo, de conformidad con su normatividad respectiva. Lo anterior sin perjuicio de las reclamaciones que puedan presentar los terceros, como se establece en el numeral 2 del presente Artículo. Cualquier controversia que surja con relación a este Artículo será resuelta de conformidad con el Artículo XXIV de este Acuerdo.



2. Los Estados Unidos pagarán conforme a sus leyes y reglamentos aplicables indemnizaciones para conciliar las reclamaciones justificadas de terceros. Esas reclamaciones se presentarán a las autoridades que estén a cargo de actividades de los Estados Unidos en Colombia llevadas a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo. Las autoridades de los Estados Unidos tramitarán dichas reclamaciones sin demora, de conformidad con las leyes y los reglamentos de los Estados Unidos.



Artículo XX

Servicios postales y comunicaciones

1. Las autoridades de Colombia reconocen que los Estados Unidos pueden recolectar, transportar y distribuir documentos y correspondencia, para el personal de los Estados Unidos, sus personas a cargo, los contratistas de los Estados Unidos y los empleados de los contratistas de los Estados Unidos, fuera de la red postal colombiana, sin trámite o concesión de licencias y sin costo alguno, siempre que ello no constituya prestación de servicios postales en Colombia. Estos documentos y correspondencia podrán llevar estampillas de los Estados Unidos siempre y cuando no ingresen al sistema postal colombiano. Los documentos y la correspondencia oficial tendrán el tratamiento equivalente de acuerdo a lo establecido en el artículo 27 de la Convención de Viena en cuanto a inviolabilidad, inspección y detención.



2. Los Estados Unidos podrán establecer estaciones receptoras por satélite para la difusión de radio y televisión, sin trámite o concesión de licencias y sin costo alguno para los Estados Unidos. Dichas difusiones podrán transmitirse a las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas por mutuo acuerdo entre las Partes, en consulta con las autoridades competentes.



3. La Parte Operativa de Colombia, de conformidad con la legislación colombiana, permitirá a los Estados Unidos el uso de la infraestructura de red de telecomunicaciones requerida, como sedefine "telecomunicaciones" en la Constitución y la Convención de 1992 de la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones, para el logro de las actividades que se lleven a cabo en el marco del presente Acuerdo y sin trámite o concesión de licencias y sin costo alguno, para los Estados Unidos. Las frecuencias de radio y el espectro de telecomunicaciones que se utilizarán serán objeto de consultas entre las Partes teniendo en cuenta las capacidades disponibles.



Artículo XXI

Medio ambiente, salud y seguridad

Las Partes convienen en aplicar el presente Acuerdo de forma compatible con la protección del medio ambiente y la salud y seguridad de las personas.



Artículo XXII

Facilitación de los observadores aéreos

Previa autorización de las autoridades colombianas, las autoridades de los Estados Unidosfacilitarán la estadía de los observadores aéreos de terceros países en las instalaciones y ubicaciones convenidas, e, inter alia, informarán a los observadores aéreos de terceros paísesacerca de las leyes y costumbres nacionales, con el fin de asegurar su comportamiento disciplinado mientras se encuentren en Colombia.



Artículo XXIII

Implementación, evaluación y enmienda

1. Las Partes o sus Partes Operativas podrán suscribir los acuerdos de implementación que sean requeridos para aplicar las disposiciones del presente Acuerdo.



2. Las Partes o sus Partes Operativas, después de consultarse, facilitarán en todo lo posible las actividades que prevé el presente Acuerdo, lo que incluye la cooperación con otras naciones de la región.



3. Con el ánimo de colaborar estrechamente, las Partes Operativas se consultarán de forma periódica con el propósito de asegurar la adecuada aplicación de las disposiciones del presente Acuerdo y el cumplimiento satisfactorio de las mismas. Anualmente las Partes Operativas se reunirán para evaluar el desarrollo del Acuerdo en términos de las responsabilidades y beneficios compartidos y podrán presentar un informe a sus respectivos gobiernos que incluya, entre otros aspectos, las actividades desarrolladas, los resultados obtenidos y las recomendaciones que se estimen pertinentes.



4. Cualquiera de las Partes podrá solicitar consultas con el fin de enmendar el presente Acuerdo. Toda enmienda al presente Acuerdo, acordada por las Partes, se hará por escrito.



Artículo XXIV

Solución de controversias

Toda controversia que surja en cuanto a la interpretación del presente Acuerdo será resuelta por medio de consulta entre las Partes, incluso si fuera necesario a través de la vía diplomática. Aquellas controversias relativas a la aplicación del presente Acuerdo serán resueltas mediante consultas entre las Partes Operativas. En caso de no lograrse acuerdo, la controversia se resolverá por consulta entre las Partes. Las controversias no se remitirán a ninguna corte o tribunal nacional o internacional u organismo similar ni a terceros para su resolución, salvo acuerdo mutuo entre las Partes.



Artículo XXV

Entrada en vigor y duración

1. El presente Acuerdo entrará en vigor en la fecha de su firma.



2. Este Acuerdo permanecerá vigente durante un período inicial de diez (10) años y en adelante, sujeto a revisión y acuerdo por escrito de las Partes, será prorrogable por periodos adicionales de diez (10) años. Además, cualquiera de las Partes tiene el derecho de terminar este Acuerdo al final de los periodos de diez (10) años respectivos mediante notificación escrita de su propósito de terminar el Acuerdo enviada a la otra Parte por la vía diplomática, con un (1) año de antelación.