December 10, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ecuador: Writing - Ecuador: Development: Economics: Rocky Mountain News: In his gripping tell-all book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a guilt-ridden Ecuador RPCV John Perkins explains in amazing detail that EHMs are hired guns, employed by consulting companies under contract to the United States government, who loan shark billions of dollars to third world countries to develop their infrastructures
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December 10, 2004: Headlines: COS - Ecuador: Writing - Ecuador: Development: Economics: Rocky Mountain News: In his gripping tell-all book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a guilt-ridden Ecuador RPCV John Perkins explains in amazing detail that EHMs are hired guns, employed by consulting companies under contract to the United States government, who loan shark billions of dollars to third world countries to develop their infrastructures
In his gripping tell-all book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a guilt-ridden Ecuador RPCV John Perkins explains in amazing detail that EHMs are hired guns, employed by consulting companies under contract to the United States government, who loan shark billions of dollars to third world countries to develop their infrastructures
In his gripping tell-all book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a guilt-ridden Ecuador RPCV John Perkins explains in amazing detail that EHMs are hired guns, employed by consulting companies under contract to the United States government, who loan shark billions of dollars to third world countries to develop their infrastructures
Deceit and dollars: U.S. foreign policy secrets
By Laurence Washington, Special To The News
December 10, 2004
Staring into the smoldering hole of twisted metal; John Perkins tried to imagine people rushing out of the collapsing tower, firefighters running inside to rescue people. It's November 2001 and Perkins felt compelled to visit ground zero, the former site of the World Trade Center towers.
All Perkins could imagine was Osama bin Laden accepting money and weapons from men like himself - an Ecnomic Hit Man (EHM).
In his gripping tell-all book, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, a guilt-ridden Perkins explains in amazing detail that EHMs are hired guns, employed by consulting companies under contract to the United States government, who loan shark billions of dollars to third world countries to develop their infrastructures.
MAIN, a low profile international consulting firm, recruited Perkins out of the Peace Corps to join its EHM ranks and travel to Indonesia, South America, Saudi Arabia and Iran to dole out billions of dollars in loans.
The money is then funneled back to U.S. companies, through massive engineering and construction projects. The EHM's job is to saddle these countries with so much debt that they can't possibly repay it. And there's the rub. The U.S. dictates repayment terms - a military base here, a UN vote there or access to a debtor country's natural resources.
Perkins writes, "I visualized myself as a dashing secret agent, heading off to exotic lands, lounging beside hotel swimming pools, surrounded by gorgeous bikini-clad women, martini in hand. Although this was merely fantasy, I would discover that it held elements of truth."
Perkins dramatically unveils many recent events where the U.S. called upon EHMs to lend a hand, such as after the 1973 oil embargo. Perkins says Washington began negotiating with Saudi Arabia, offering to take them into the 20th century with technical support, military hardware and training, in exchange for assurances that there would never again be another oil embargo.
"My job was to develop a forecast of what might happen in Saudi Arabia if vast amounts of money were invested in its infrastructure, and map out scenarios for spending that money," Perkins writes. "In short, I was asked to apply as much creativity as I could to justifying the infusion of hundreds of millions of dollars into the Saudi Arabian economy, under conditions that would include U.S. engineering and construction companies."
Perkins' primary objective was to assure that a large amount of petrodollars went back to the U.S., and Saudi Arabia's economy would become intertwined and dependent on the U.S. Presumably Saudi Arabia would then become more westernized and sympathetic towards the U.S. system. However, the modernization infuriated conservative Muslims and made its neighboring countries, especially Israel, feel threatened.
Perkins writes that Saudi Prince W. felt the U.S. had the same objectives as the crusaders a millennium earlier. Perkins concedes the difference is a matter of degree. The Catholics wanted to save the Muslims from purgatory. The U.S. wanted to modernize and reshape Saudi Arabia in its own image. However, both he writes, were primarily seeking to expand their empire.
Prince W. did not want Saudi Arabia to follow Western commercialism. But Perkins exploited the prince's weakness for blond women, and procured, out of his expensive account, an ongoing rendezvous with the promiscuous wife of an airline pilot whenever the prince visited Boston. It demonstrated "how far I would go to complete my mission," writes Perkins.
The money laundering caused the U.S. to turn a blind eye as the Saudi government bankrolled Osama bin Laden's fight against the Soviets. The Saudis later became the epicenter for financing terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda," Perkins writes.
"My country was thinking about revenge," Perkins writes back at ground zero. "It was focusing on countries like Afghanistan. "But I was thinking about all the other places in the world where people hate our companies, our military, our policies and our march toward global empire."
Perkins came to the attention of MAIN because of his proficiency of dialects along the Amazon, a skill he acquired while serving in the Peace Corps. That proficiency came into play a year before the oil embargo, when Perkins met with Panamanian President Omar Torrijos, who wanted the world to know that Panama stands not against the United States, but for the rights of the poor. Torrijos' story provides another example of the less-than-savory behind-the-scenes workings of American foreign policy.
Torrijos knew foreign aid was a sham and that MAIN receives most of its work by inflating the size of projects.
"This time it's different, though," Torrijos said to Perkins. "Give me what's best for my people, and I'll give you all the work you want."
"By the time I left him," Perkins writes, "we both understood that MAIN would get the contract for the master plan, and that I would see to it that we did Torrijos's bidding."
Perkins writes that he made sure his studies were honest and that his recommendations took into account the poor. Torrijos and Perkins became friends.
This didn't bode well for either of them: There were complaints from Perkins' superiors that his forecasts were not up to their usual inflated standards; and because Torrijos had forced the U.S. to relinquish the Panama Canal and was a constant thorn in the side of Ronald Reagan, he had a vision that his plane would one day drop from the sky in a gigantic fireball - which came true in 1981.
Perkins says Torrijos' death had all markings of a CIA assassination. He was replaced by U.S. friend (at the time) Manuel Noriega.
Feeling depressed, guilty and caught in a money trap at MAIN, Perkins quit MAIN and started an alternative energy company which he eventually sold and began working with environmental movements to preserve the Amazon rain forest from oil companies.
Despite bribes and threats from international consulting companies Perkins' has worked for, Sept. 11 convinced Perkins to write about EHMs and the insider events of American's recent foreign policy.
Confessons of an Economic Hit Man is a numbing unveiling of the Ugly American, an awakening of why people in the Middle East and South America hate U.S. policies and corporations. Perkins reveals how the U.S. machine works behind closed doors and how America has exploited others for its own needs.
After Sept. 11, Perkins' initial question is the one that looms most ominously: How many other places in the world hate us? And what, if anything, are we doing differently to change that?
Laurence Washington is the Co-Publisher/Editor of Blackflix.com and teaches journalism at Metropolitan State College of Denver.
When this story was posted in December 2004, this was on the front page of PCOL:
| Is Gaddi Leaving? Rumors are swirling that Peace Corps Director Vasquez may be leaving the administration. We think Director Vasquez has been doing a good job and if he decides to stay to the end of the administration, he could possibly have the same sort of impact as a Loret Ruppe Miller. If Vasquez has decided to leave, then Bob Taft, Peter McPherson, Chris Shays, or Jody Olsen would be good candidates to run the agency. Latest: For the record, Peace Corps has no comment on the rumors. |
| The Birth of the Peace Corps UMBC's Shriver Center and the Maryland Returned Volunteers hosted Scott Stossel, biographer of Sargent Shriver, who spoke on the Birth of the Peace Corps. This is the second annual Peace Corps History series - last year's speaker was Peace Corps Director Jack Vaughn. |
| Charges possible in 1976 PCV slaying Congressman Norm Dicks has asked the U.S. attorney in Seattle to consider pursuing charges against Dennis Priven, the man accused of killing Peace Corps Volunteer Deborah Gardner on the South Pacific island of Tonga 28 years ago. Background on this story here and here. |
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Story Source: Rocky Mountain News
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Ecuador; Writing - Ecuador; Development; Economics
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