Seven countries in five years

Seven government and countries, all of which have already been the targets of extra-diplomatic actions and military US action in past years (see List of Military Interventions of the United States), were overtly targeted for invasion and overthrow by the Bush administration in late 2000. The countries were Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Iran. This objective has been achieved in Somalia and South Sudan. In three other countries, Iraq, Syria and Libya, resistance to foreign occupation will continue for the foreseeable future. In Lebanon, it is expected that Israel will continue its routine of bombing infrastructure to keep the country poor and defenseless, every few years; because of its vulnerability, it is unlikely that taking over Lebanon was ever more than a whim. Iran has so far thankfully proven too large a bite to chew properly.

It is clear that we cannot rely on intelligence such as this, alone. The Nuland-Pyatt phone call, the coup in Paraguay;, and the right-wing takeover of Venezuela prove that illegal military action and subversion of the democratic process will be instigated by the United States not only in the listed countries, but anywhere it becomes more convenient or desirable.

General Wesley Clark, not the staunchest ally of human rights himself (authorizing the use of depleted uranium rounds and attacks on civilians in Yugoslavia, for example), was nonetheless moved for whatever reason to deplore this policy publicly. However, it was six years before he did so, in an interview with Democracy Now!, a conference at the Commonwealth Club of California, and elsewhere.