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Afghanistan actually began six months prior to the Soviet action of December 1979. Brzezinski said the Jimmy Carter administration began secretly funding opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul in July 1979, with the full knowledge that such action might provoke a Soviet inva- sion. Soviet leaders at the time argued that the invasion was necessary to thwart American aggression in Afghanistan. The former National Security Adviser, who helped found the globalist Trilateral Commission, expressed no regret at this provocation, stating: "That secret operation was an excellent idea. It brought about the demoral- ization and finally the breakup of the Soviet empire." It also produced the Taliban regime which we are fighting today, as well as Osama bin Laden. By 1984, with Vice President George Bush overseeing the Afghan situation, bin Laden was in charge of the Maktab al-Khidamat (MAK), which funnelled money, arms and manpower from the outside world into the war against the Soviets. He soon helped form a polyglot for- mation of Muslim troops from Egypt, Pakistan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestinian refugee camps, whom the CIA found easier to deal with than the Muslim fundamentalists in Afghanistan. There should be considerable soul-searching about America's role in arming and training an international group of Muslim extremists in Afghanistan, long after their comrades destroyed the Marine barracks in Beirut and hijacked numerous airliners. Little noticed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks were reports that China had signed a pact with the Afghans and was quietly inducted into the controversial World Trade Organization—action which under normal circumstances would have drawn widespread protest. Although such a pact is unconfirmed at this time, Pakistani General Pervez Musharraf, chairman of their joint chiefs and chief of the Pakistani Army Staff, this year visited China at their request and discussed matters of mutual interest. Although it is claimed that Pakistan is aiding the US in the current War on Terrorism, the State Department's coordinator for counterter- rorism, Michael Sheehan, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommit- tee that Pakistan supports and trains terrorist groups in Afghanistan. This raises the spectre of Chinese intervention, should US forces become bogged down in mountainous Afghanistan. This prospect is particularly unsettling, as back in 1555 the French prophet Nostradamus, who has been proven correct in so many of his prophe- cies, published his prediction that America and Russia would go to war against a coalition made up of Arab nations and China (see C. III v. 60; also C. VI v. 21). Until just recently, such a notion seemed absurd. WOULD AMERICANS ATTACK AMERICANS? The WTC/Pentagon attacks provided a convenient excuse to launch the pre-laid plans for military action against Afghanistan. But were they simply allowed to happen, or were they contrived? The question becomes: "Would any American allow an attack on fellow Americans, just to further his own business or political agenda?" The answer unfortunately appears to be "Yes". Incredibly, 40-year-old government documents, thought to have been destroyed long ago but recently made public, show the US mili- tary in the early 1960s proposed making terrorist attacks in the United States and blaming them on Fidel Castro. They are discussed in a recent book on the National Security Agency (NSA), entitled Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency, by James Bamford [see Reviews this issue. Ed.]. These documents were produced beginning in late 1961, following the ill-fated Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba that spring. President John F. Kennedy, angered by the inept actions of the CIA, had shifted responsibility for Cuba from that agency to the Department of Defense. Here, military strategists considered plans to create terrorist actions MAJOR-GENERAL SMEDLEY BUTLER ON INTERVENTIONISM ar is just a racket. A racket is best described, | believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. | believe in adequate defence at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we'll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns six per cent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 per cent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. | wouldn't go to war again, as | have done, to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for: one is the defence of our homes, and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war preparations, and a "Big Boss": supernationalistic capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man, to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. | spent thirty-three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country's most agile military force, the Marine Corps. | served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, | spent most of my time being a high-class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, | was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. | suspected | was just part of a racket at the time. Now | am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, | never had a thought of my own until | left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while | obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. | helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. | helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. | helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. | helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. | brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China | helped see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, | had—as the boys in the back room would say—a swell racket. Looking back on it, | feel that | could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. | operated on three continents. (Source: Excerpt from a speech delivered in 1933 by Major-General Smedley Butler, USMC.) NEXUS = 15 DECEMBER 2001 — JANUARY 2002 www. nexusmagazine.com