Confessions Of An Economic Hit Man Quotes
"Life is composed of a series of coincidences. How we react to these—how we exercise what some refer to as free will—is everything."
"The critical factor, in every case, was gross national product."
"Our schools and our press have taught us to perceive all of our actions as altruistic."
"The premise of U.S. foreign policy was that Suharto would serve Washington in a manner similar to the shah of Iran."
"In any case, promoting capitalism often results in a system that resembles medieval feudal societies."
"The decisive moment occurred in 1951, when Iran rebelled against a British oil company that was exploiting Iranian natural resources and its people."
"We must open our hearts to the poor and downtrodden, instead of driving them further into poverty and servitude."
"If I were to come now, you would see me differently."
"What I lacked in training and knowledge I made up for in audacity."
"It seemed that a glorified title or a PhD did little to help a person understand the plight of a leper living beside a cesspool in Jakarta."
"The better I came to know those who made the decisions that shape the world, the more skeptical I became about their abilities and their goals."
"I vacillated between viewing such people as an actual conspiracy and simply seeing them as a tight-knit fraternity bent on dominating the world."
"Slowly, I came to realize that in the long run no one benefits, but in the short term those at the top of the pyramid—my bosses and me—appear to benefit, at least materially."
"I began to wonder who benefits from war and the mass production of weapons, from the damming of rivers and the destruction of indigenous environments and cultures."
"Does the answer lie simply in the old adage that 'might is right,' that those with the power perpetuate the system?"
"The Saudis, rolling in cash, would deliver hundreds of millions of dollars to Treasury, which held on to the funds until they were needed to pay vendors or employees."
"The world was watching this man; his actions had ramifications that reached far beyond Panama and would therefore not be taken lightly."
"Latin American history is littered with dead heroes. A system based on corrupting public figures does not take kindly to public figures who refuse to be corrupted."
"The desert is our environment. The Flowering Desert project threatens nothing less than the destruction of our entire fabric."
"The shah’s government will not last. You’ll do all that work, and when it comes time to collect your fees, the shah will be gone."
"The important thing is to write about things that matter."
"Our rage has smoldered beneath the sands too long. Soon it will erupt."
"The desert is a symbol. Turning it green is about much more than agriculture."
"It is the same here. The desert is our environment. We are the desert."
"The very institutions that threaten the republic could be used instead to institute fundamental changes in the world."
"The struggle over whether I should continue at MAIN or should quit had become an open battlefield."
"In August 1981, my bag was packed for my fifth visit to Panama when the news came to me over the telephone of the death of General Omar Torrijos Herrera, my friend and host."
"The small plane in which he was flying to a house which he owned at Coclesito in the mountains of Panama had crashed, and there were no survivors."
"There was a bomb in that plane. I know there was a bomb in the plane, but I can’t tell you why over the telephone."
"Before his death, he was openly loathed by President Reagan, Vice President Bush, Secretary of Defense Weinberger, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as by the CEOs of many powerful corporations."
"The memory of that inscription sent a shudder through me, even as it had on that stormy night."
"I could not have known back then that Torrijos would collaborate with Carter to return the Panama Canal to the people who rightfully deserved to own it."
"Had Torrijos lived, he undoubtedly would have sought to quell the growing violence that has plagued so many Central and South American nations."
"The United States had to invade Panama in 1989 to topple its narco-dictator, Manuel A. Noriega, who, for almost 20 years, was a valued informant for American intelligence."
"The death, destruction and injustice wrought in the name of fighting Noriega —and the lies surrounding that event —were threats to the basic American principles of democracy."
"The invasion principally served the goals of arrogant American politicians and their Panamanian allies, at the expense of unconscionable bloodshed."