[Peace-discuss] Banks Back US Intervention

Tue Oct 13 12:36:16 CDT 2009

Hey Carl, it is a Capitalist society so why would anyone expect otherwise.
I am surprised that the Treasury Department and the Department of Commerce
are not the up-front lead players with the other Departments being merely
servants before the Treasury and Dept. of Commerce as it may have been in
earlier centuries with respect to Latin America and Asia (recollections of
United Fruit and The Ugly American from the 1800s to the 1950s and 1960s).  

Obviously, the Capitalist forces have decided that it is more effective to
work behind the scenes and let the other departments serve as fronts who
catch the blame when things go bad and divert attention from the real
economic motivations behind many of the countries activities.

-----Original Message-----
From: peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net
[mailto:peace-discuss-bounces at lists.chambana.net] On Behalf Of C. G.
Estabrook
Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 2009 1:32 AM
To: Peace-discuss
Subject: [Peace-discuss] Banks Back US Intervention

	Assistant Secretary Details Banking Industry's
	Key Role in Foreign Policy	
	Posted By Jason Ditz On October 12, 2009

When covering America's interventionist foreign policy, certain departments
and 
agencies come up a lot. The Defense Department, certainly. The CIA, usually.
The 
State Department, the NSA, the list goes on. Rarely does the Treasury
Department 
come up, but maybe it should.

Speaking at a conference for the American Bankers Association, Assistant 
Secretary of the Treasury David S. Cohen went into excruciating detail about
his 
department's role in ensuring that the American banking industry is on the
front 
lines of fights the world over.

And it really is the world over. From propping up Mexico's government in
what he 
called "a courageous fight against the drug cartels" to preventing Iran from

"developing nuclear weapons," there appears to be no overseas endeavor in
which 
Secretary Cohen doesn't envision a massive role for the Treasury Department,
and 
for the ostensibly private organizations that make up the banking industry.

Though Cohen made some interesting revelations with respect to Afghanistan, 
including the somewhat surprising claim that the Taliban is much better
financed 
than al-Qaeda, the bulk of his speech detailed a chilling ambition to see
the 
banking industry pulled ever deeper into the war at home as well as abroad,
and 
his claim that "routine suspicious activity" could be the centerpiece of 
uncovering international terror networks suggest that the average person's 
financial transactions will be under ever-increasing scrutiny.

URL to article: 
http://news.antiwar.com/2009/10/12/treasury-department-at-the-center-of-us-i
nvention-abroad/

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