Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
Author: John Perkins
Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. And Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences on both the victimized countries and the U.S.
Sting
Perkin's books have helped me better understand something that has been puzzling me for a long time: Why have so many resource-rich countries in the developing world remained steadfastly poor? The answers he gives are both complex and uncomfortable, and none of us in the first world can abrogate responsibility easily.
Howard Zinn
A sweeping, bold assault on the tyranny of corporate globalization, full of drama and adventure, with devastating stories of greed run wild. (Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States)
Riane Eisler
This devastating indictment of current economic policies also offers hope by showing the power of the growing movement toward a caring economics worldwide. (Riane Eisler, author of The Chalice and the Blade and The Real Wealth of Nations)
Rocky Mountain News
Perkins is both alarming and entertaining, writing with the cutting precision and wit of a hard-boiled novelist.
Library Journal
According to Perkins, a former Economic Hit Man and founding president of Dream Change Coalition, "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars. They funnel money from the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and other foreign aid' organizations into the coffers of huge corporations and the pockets of a few wealthy families who control the planet's natural resources." Perkins began this book in the early 1980s but claims to have put it aside owing to threats and bribes. Perkins's daughter Jessica finally inspired him to finish it by declaring, "Don't worry dad. If they get you, I'll take over where you left off. We need to do this for the grandchildren I hope to give you someday." This riveting look at a world of intrigue reads like a spy novel. Perkins vividly recounts his work throughout the world, from Saudi Arabia to Panama to Ecuador, and introduces such characters as Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, who became a personal friend. Highly recommended for both academic and public libraries.-Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Jamaica, NY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | ix | |
| Prologue | xvi | |
| Part I | 1963-1971 | |
| 1 | An Economic Hit Man Is Born | 3 |
| 2 | "In for Life" | 12 |
| 3 | Indonesia: Lessons for an EHM | 20 |
| 4 | Saving a Country from Communism | 23 |
| 5 | Selling My Soul | 28 |
| Part II | 1971-1975 | |
| 6 | My Role as Inquisitor | 37 |
| 7 | Civilization on Trial | 42 |
| 8 | Jesus, Seen Differently | 47 |
| 9 | Opportunity of a Lifetime | 52 |
| 10 | Panama's President and Hero | 58 |
| 11 | Pirates in the Canal Zone | 63 |
| 12 | Soldiers and Prostitutes | 67 |
| 13 | Conversations with the General | 71 |
| 14 | Entering a New and Sinister Period in Economic History | 76 |
| 15 | The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair | 81 |
| 16 | Pimping, and Financing Osama bin Laden | 93 |
| Part III | 1975-1981 | |
| 17 | Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham Greene | 101 |
| 18 | Iran's King of Kings | 108 |
| 19 | Confessions of a Tortured Man | 113 |
| 20 | The Fall of a King | 117 |
| 21 | Colombia: Keystone of Latin America | 120 |
| 22 | American Republic versus Global Empire | 124 |
| 23 | The Deceptive Resume | 131 |
| 24 | Ecuador's President Battles Big Oil | 141 |
| 25 | I Quit | 146 |
| Part IV | 1981-Present | |
| 26 | Ecuador's Presidential Death | 153 |
| 27 | Panama: Another Presidential Death | 158 |
| 28 | My Energy Company, Enron, and George W. Bush | 162 |
| 29 | I Take a Bribe | 167 |
| 30 | The United States Invades Panama | 173 |
| 31 | An EHM Failure in Iraq | 182 |
| 32 | September 11 and its Aftermath for Me, Personally | 189 |
| 33 | Venezuela: Saved by Saddam | 196 |
| 34 | Ecuador Revisited | 203 |
| 35 | Piercing the Veneer | 211 |
| Epilogue | 221 | |
| John Perkins Personal History | 226 | |
| Notes | 230 | |
| Index | 240 | |
| About the Author | 248 |
Interesting book: Relieve Your Childs Chronic Pain or Fashions in Hair
Beyond Terror and Martyrdom: The Future of the Middle East
Author: Gilles Kepel
Since 2001, two dominant worldviews have clashed in the global arena: a neoconservative nightmare of an insidious Islamic terrorist threat to civilized life, and a jihadist myth of martyrdom through the slaughter of infidels. Across the airwaves and on the ground, an ill-defined and uncontrollable war has raged between these two opposing scenarios. Deadly images and threats—from the televised beheading of Western hostages to graphic pictures of torture at Abu Ghraib, from the destruction wrought by suicide bombers in London and Madrid to civilian deaths at the hands of American occupation forces in Iraq—have polarized populations on both sides of this divide.
Yet, as the noted Middle East scholar and commentator Gilles Kepel demonstrates, President Bush’s War on Terror masks a complex political agenda in the Middle East—enforcing democracy, accessing Iraqi oil, securing Israel, and seeking regime change in Iran. Osama bin Laden’s call for martyrs to rise up against the apostate and hasten the dawn of a universal Islamic state papers over a fractured, fragmented Islamic world that is waging war against itself.
Beyond Terror and Martyrdom sounds the alarm to the West and to Islam that both of these exhausted narratives are bankrupt—neither productive of democratic change in the Middle East nor of unity in Islam. Kepel urges us to escape the ideological quagmire of terrorism and martyrdom and explore the terms of a new and constructive dialogue between Islam and the West, one for which Europe, with its expanding and restless Muslim populations, may be the proving ground.
Publishers Weekly
Kepel (Al Qaeda in Its Own Words) offers an erudite critique of "the narratives of both Bush and Bin Laden which considered force or violence to be a prerequisite for change in the Middle East." The book surveys the propagation of the "war on terror" that eventually led to "the fiasco in Iraq," but unlike many critiques of the Iraq War, this study focuses on the internecine fighting between various national and sectarian Muslim groups, providing rich historical and cultural context for the internal regional politics that often have derailed U.S. policy. His analysis shifts to Europe, where he examines how different national policies of integration and "multiculturalism" in France and England have resulted in dramatically different experiences of terrorism. Kepel offers alternatives to the American "war on terror" that he believes will help "to transcend terror and martyrdom and to ensure the decisive marginalization of jihadist radicalism." His prescriptions are as insightful and thoughtful as his critiques, making this a valuable read for those interested in the Middle East and current affairs generally. (Nov.)
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