US/Bombing campaigns since 1945

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Countries the US has bombed since 1945 is the most memorable part of listings detailing violent interference in the affairs of other countries by the United States of America. However, US terrorism is often less noticeable and more damaging than high-profile attacks.

This article is intended as an adjunct to two Wikipedia articles, being the Timeline of United States military operations and the list of covert US Regime-change actions. There is a great deal of bias in many parts of the Wikipedia articles, and the detail overwhelms the picture. There are no useful "summaries" or totals of the interventions and articles confusingly put the earlier interventions (going right back to 1776) at the top of the page.

Countries the US has bombed since the end of World War 2

The US carried out 32 distinct and separate bombing campaigns on 24 different countries between 1945 and 1999.[1] This listing includes later operations.

Country Year(s) Details Denied?
Libya 2011 Early US attacks under UNSC 1973 are followed by NATO attacks leading to regime change and death of Ghadaffi. No
Iraq 2003 - 2011 Regime change against a previous ally. No
Afghanistan 2001 - present Regime change under the guise of trying to catch Osama Bin Laden. No
Yugoslavia - Serbia 1999 Television stations and the Chinese Embassy.
Afghanistan 1998 Cruise missiles on Osama Bin Ladens compounds. No
Sudan 1998 Cruise missile attack on an antibiotic factory wrongly alleged to be producing WMD.
Iran 1998 ????
Bosnia 1995 Serbian forces bombed. No
Somalia 1992-94 ????
Kuwait 1991 Considerable use of Depleted Uranium, much subsequent concern about cancers. No
Iraq 1991 Bombing for 40 days and nights devastated the ancient and modern capital city of one of the most advanced nations in the Middle East. 177 million pounds of bombs fell in the most concentrated aerial onslaught in the history of the world.[1] Genuine multi-national effort and seen by most as a "good war". No
Panama 1989-90 December 1989, a large tenement barrio in Panama City wiped out, 15,000 people left homeless. Casualties disputed.[1] No
Libya 1989 Attempt to kill Ghaddafi, Tripoli bombed.
Iran 1987-88 ????
Nicaragua 1981-90 US taken to the World Court and condemned for terrorism. Denied by some
El Salvadore 1981-92 Officially, the U.S. military presence in El Salvador was limited to an advisory capacity. About 20 Americans were killed or wounded in helicopter and plane crashes while flying reconnaissance or other missions over combat areas, and considerable evidence surfaced of a U.S. role in the ground fighting as well. The war came to an official end in 1992; 75,000 civilian deaths at a cost of six billion dollars. Meaningful social change largely thwarted by 1999. A handful of the wealthy still owned the country, the poor remained as ever, and dissidents still suffered from death squads.[1] Denied by some
Libya 1986 One of more than 50 attempts to assassinate foreign leaders (no listing in Pilger's "The World War on Democracy").[2] No
Grenada 1983-84 Or only guns?
Lebanon 1982-84 Shelled villages from war-ship.
Cambodia 1969-70 More bombs than the whole of WW2.
Vietnam 1961-73 South Vietnam devastated.
Laos 1964-73
Peru 1965 Denied by some
Dominican Republic 1965-66 ????
Guatemala 1964 ????
Belgian Congo 1964 Denied by some
Guatemala 1960 Denied by some
Cuba 1959-60 40 years of terrorist attacks, bombings, full-scale military invasion, sanctions, embargoes, isolation, assassinations.[1]
Indonesia 1958 ????
Guatemala 1954 A CIA-organized coup overthrew the democratically-elected and progressive government of Jacobo Arbenz, initiating 40 years of death-squads, torture, disappearances, mass executions, and unimaginable cruelty (peaking 1967-69) totaling well over 100,000 victims - one of the most inhuman chapters of the 20th century. Arbenz had nationalized the U.S. firm, United Fruit Company. The Russians had so little interest in the country that it didn't even maintain diplomatic relations.[1] Denied by some
China 1950-53 Denied by some
Korea 1950-53 No
China 1945-46 Denied by some

Countries where the US has attempted to assassinate a movement leader

The US has made more than 50 attempts to assassinate political party leaders according to William Blum in "Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II"[3] Noam Chomsky called it "Far and away the best book on the topic."[4] Former CIA officer John Stockwell called it "The single most useful summary of CIA history."[5]

All such operations are illegal and almost all such killings are aimed at geo-political objectives. In almost no cases can a clear humanitarian benefit be identified, no matter how tyrranical the target.

2011 - Osama Bin Laden

2003 - Saddam Hussein and his two sons

2002 - Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Afghan Islamic leader and warlord

1999 - Slobodan Milosevic, President of Yugoslavia

1998, 2001-2 - Osama bin Laden, leading Islamic militant

1993 - Mohamed Farah Aideed, prominent clan leader of Somalia

1991 - Saddam Hussein, leader of Iraq

1985 - Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, Lebanese Shiite leader (80 people killed in the attempt)

1984 - The nine comandantes of the Sandinista National Directorate

1983 - Miguel d'Escoto, Foreign Minister of Nicaragua

1983 - Gen. Ahmed Dlimi, Moroccan Army commander

1982 - Ayatollah Khomeini, leader of Iran

1980-1986 - Muammar Qaddafi, leader of Libya, several plots and attempts upon his life

1976 - Michael Manley, Prime Minister of Jamaica

1975 - Mobutu Sese Seko, President of Zaire

1972 - General Manuel Noriega, Chief of Panama Intelligence

1970s, 1981 - General Omar Torrijos, leader of Panama

1970 - Gen. Rene Schneider, Commander-in-Chief of Army, Chile

1970 - Salvador Allende, President of Chile

1967 - Che Guevara, Cuban leader

1965-6 - Charles de Gaulle, President of France

1965 - Francisco Caamaño, Dominican Republic opposition leader

1960s - Raúl Castro, high official in government of Cuba

1960s-70s - Fidel Castro, President of Cuba, many attempts on his life

1963 - Ngo Dinh Diem, President of South Vietnam

1961 - Gen. Rafael Trujillo, leader of Dominican Republic

1961 - Patrice Lumumba, Prime Minister of the Congo (Zaire)

1961 - Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, leader of Haiti

1950s-70s - José Figueres, President of Costa Rica, two attempts on his life

1960 - Brig. Gen. Abdul Karim Kassem, leader of Iraq

1959, 1963, 1969 - Norodom Sihanouk, leader of Cambodia

1957 - Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of Egypt

1955 - Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India

1950s (mid) - Claro M. Recto, Philippines opposition leader

1953 - Mohammed Mossadegh, Prime Minister of Iran

1951 - Kim Il Sung, Premier of North Korea

1950s, 1962 - Sukarno, President of Indonesia

1950s - Chou En-lai, Prime minister of China, several attempts on his life

1950s - CIA/Neo-Nazi hit list of more than 200 political figures in West Germany to be "put out of the way" in the event of a Soviet invasion

1949 - Kim Koo, Korean opposition leader

Increasingly, attacks are being made on individuals or leaders of quite small groups. Or even individuals (eg Iranian nuclear engineers).

Countries where the US has attempted to overthrow a democratic government

The US has attempted to overthrow more than 50 national governments, most of them being popular/democratic rather than tyrannical.[2]

1973 - Chile

1953 - Iran

Countries where the US has attempted to suppress a populist or national movement

The US has has attempted to suppress a populist or national movement in 20 countries.[2]

Countries where the US has seriously interfered in democratic elections

The US has interfered in some "gross" fashion in democratic elections in at least 30 countries.[2]

Wikpedia bias

Substantial bias in many parts of the Wikipedia articles (eg no mention of the World Court action by Nicaragua). Concealment of the overall picture in the mass of detail. The writing of this Wikispooks article is not necessarily based on all good information, however.

Notes

  1. a b c d e f A Brief History of U.S. Interventions 1945 to the Present by William Blum - Z magazine, June 1999.
  2. a b c d The World War on Democracy One of more than 50 attempts to assassinate foreign leaders (but no listing) Global Research, John Pilger Jan 19, 2012, citing William Blum's "updated summary of the record of US foreign policy". Since the Second World War" of July 2011.
  3. Wikipedia description of "Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions since World War II". William Blum. 2003. Updated and revised version of his book The CIA - A Forgotten History.
  4. "Far and away the best book on the topic." says Noam Chomsky on "Killing Hope" according to the Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope
  5. "The single most useful summary of CIA history." John Stockwell on "Killing Hope", according to the Wikipedia.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Hope