Quote Originally Posted by Xaqaria View Post
# In 1953, the CIA helped overthrow Muhammad Mussadegh, the elected prime minister of Iran; he was replaced by the Shah.

# In 1954, the CIA organized the ouster of Guatemalan President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, and his replacement by a military dictator.

# In 1960, the CIA helped undermine Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba, the only legitimately elected leader in Congolese history. He was killed the following year. The corrupt and brutal dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko dominated Congo (which he renamed Zaire) for decades.

# In 1973, the CIA conspired against Chilean President Salvador Allende, who committed suicide after being overthrown by Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

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Also, Saddam Hussein was installed as the leader of Iraq by the U.S., though the government we overthrew was not a democracy.
That is one area where I really question the tactics used by the U.S., but the overall goal in all of them, the big huge picture they were all part of, was our goal in what may have been the most important struggle in all of human history, and it is one that we had to win and VERY fortunately did win. All of those overthrows had a common purpose. The same purpose was involved in the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and our aid to the Mujahideen when they fought the most powerful enemy we have ever faced. That powerful enemy was the real enemy we were fighting in all of those struggles you listed. It was all part of the Cold War.

I can't say I know enough about the details of what we did to completely justify the actions, but I will say we need to all be very thankful that the end result was the collapse of the Soviet Union. The governments you listed were supposedly in league with the Soviet Union and aiders of Soviet expansion. Maybe they were not, but our overthrows of them were at least based on that rationale.

As sick as it is, I think the large death toll numbers involved in those conflicts were deliberate messages to the Soviet Union not to fuck with us and to be careful with how they tried to expand. That has tragedy written all over it, but at least the Soviet Union never got a chance to take over the world and oppress us all with their communism. If not for the presence of the United States on this planet, I adamantly believe that the nightmare would have ended up being a reality. Is there ever any return from such a reality?