According to some estimates, the US bombing of Cambodia may have killed as many people there as the regime of Pol Pot, as well as creating the conditions that allowed such a barbaric regime to come to power. And then there was Vietnam, whose people never asked to have their country invaded and nearly destroyed by the most powerful military on Earth. If we ever begin to apologize to all the countries our government has wronged, the State Department may find it easier to make a short list of the ones who haven't been. Many of these interventions involve, as in Guatemala, crimes against humanity and cannot be condoned under any circumstances. But it is nonetheless vitally important for Americans to understand why they occurred.
Political violence is, as the saying goes, the extension of politics by other means.
Our foreign policy establishment polices a vast empire outside our borders, in collusion with foreign leaders of all types. Most of the time, America's enormous economic and political power, along with its control of multilateral institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, is enough to keep these countries in line. It is easy to lose track of this connecting thread, especially in America, where so few are willing to speak honestly about our foreign policy, and where nothing is older than yesterday's newspaper. If one takes a snapshot of the world, it appears as if most suffering and injustice is caused by corrupt and repressive governments, ethnic or religious conflict, or even ignorance. And there is of course some truth to these common perceptions.