MER - Washington - 17 February 1998:

   Columnist Eric Margolis of THE TORONTO SUN rightly reminds Americans of what the CIA has been up to in the Middle East for many decades now.

   While clear proof for some of the things he discusses remains rather deeply classified and hard to come by, there is such a long pattern and such considerable circumstantial and leaked evidence that the footprints of the CIA are pretty clear if one wants to see them.

   Of course the American people have been lied to and deceived for so long now that it seems they are the last to know what their own country has been up to; and what a sordid history has led to this latest chapter in destruction and mayhem that we are now living through.

   Now on the dawn of a new era of warfare, repression, and terrorism, its a good time indeed to remember the past.  Our thanks to Eric Margolis for reminding us all and for bringing this to the attention of MER.
 

NEW YORK - 2/16/98:  Senate majority leader Trent Lott and other senior Republicans are demanding the US adopt a long-term strategy of covert action and subversion to overthrow Saddam Hussein and other Mideast troublemakers who disturb the Pax Americana.

    Bombing Iraq is simply not enough, warned war-fevered Republicans. Saddam must be driven from power once and for all.  Many pro-Israel Conservatives demand the US Army march on Baghdad.

    If Senator Lott knew Mideast history better, he might not be so eager for covert action, or hopeful Iraq's government could be overthrown to America's profit.  He might even learn the United States is not the solution to the Mideast's chronic instability and tensions, but a major source.  A few
examples:

*1947. Washington is displeased by Syria's government.  A CIA-Army `political action team' mounts a coup, employing a `CIA asset,' Gen. Husni Z