Zimbabwe: The US Government Exposed

By K. Elford
April 06, 2007

The ongoing attempts at demonizing Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe by the U.S. and U.K. mainstream media were getting more and more ridiculous, and suddenly, most likely inadvertently, the U.S. makes the admission of what some, including President Mugabe, have been saying all along: the U.S. is funding opposition activities in Zimbabwe in their quest for regime change.

During the U.S. press briefing announcing the release of its annual report, "Supporting Human Rights and Democracy: The U.S. Record - 2006" is the exchange between a reporter and the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Barry Lowenkron:

QUESTION: Yeah, can I go to -- I just want to go to Zimbabwe for a second. In this it says that the United States sponsored public events in Zimbabwe that presented economic and social analyses, discrediting the government's excuses for its failed policies. It also says that the United States continued to support the efforts of political opposition, the media, civil society, to create and defend democratic space and to support -- the last bit -- to support persons who criticize the government.

Now, granted, I've just given a cursory reading to the Zimbabwe and other -- the reports on other countries with which the United States has full diplomatic relations. The ones I looked at were Belarus, Syria, Vietnam and Eritrea. There may be more. Cuba, obviously, without full diplomatic relations, doesn't count.

ASSISTANT SECRETARY LOWENKRON: Sure.

QUESTION: My question is this: It doesn't appear that this kind of -- that these kind of things, i.e., discrediting the government's excuses for failed policies and support -- overt support for people who are critical of the government, happened, at least is being reported for these other countries. And my question is this: President Mugabe has often talked about how he thinks the West, the United States and Britain in particular, are trying to -- are trying for regime change in Zimbabwe, and this is exactly what this appears to look like, what you've acknowledged doing through your programs in Zimbabwe. And I'm just wondering, is it the United States -- does the United States believe that it's its responsibility to discredit the government's excuses -- the government and to openly support people who criticize the government? And if it is, which is what you're saying, why is Mugabe wrong when he says that you're trying for regime change?

And that is the question that begs for an honest answer along with how can the U.S. possibly deny their intentions of provoking a regime change in Zimbabwe?

With the release of this important information those who still believe the U.S. version of having any good intentions towards the Zimbabwe people would have to be very dishonest about their own intentions. The U.S. has only one goal for Zimbabwe: regime change in order to install a government that would serve the interests of Western governments.

The human rights angle just doesn't make sense. During times of turbulence in the U.S., the U.S. government has responded very similarly to how the Zimbabwe government is responding to the current opposition attempts to destabilize Zimbabwe and the African-declared fairly elected Zimbabwe government.

There have been curfews, National Guard deployments and bans of public demonstrations many times in the U.S. Police response to perceptions of threats have resulted in many people in the U.S. taking a beating, being jailed, maimed and killed by police and military forces.

Can anyone in the U.S. threaten violence against the President and not be jailed? No! An opposition leader in Zimbabwe, Morgan Tsvangirai who the U.S. supports, publicly threatened violence against President Mugabe (Opposition warning to Mugabe BBC 2000) and he is still around working with the U.S. and U.K. attempting to undemocratically change the government in Zimbabwe.

It seems when the Zimbabwe government reacts accordingly to restore law and order (rightly so because opposition groups are being supported financially and otherwise with the intention of regime change by the U.S. and U.K.) the U.S. and U.K. are calling for the Zimbabwe government's ouster.

Calling for international condemnation, especially by trying to intimidate other African countries into some kind of remote control submission is an outrage and those doing so are hypocrites.

For those who still want to hang onto their illusions of grandiose and piety from the U.S., that illusion is individual hypocrisy, as when troubles arise in the U.S. or U.K., for instance a couple bombs go off, the whole world is supposed to stop what they are doing as the country goes into overdrive with self-righteous, self-pity while the government starts taking revenge on anyone they can exploit. And all the while U.S. bombs are going off in various countries, killing and maiming innocent people daily.

That very same group supports and turns a blind-eye to the atrocities their own Western governments are committing worldwide. Look at the invasions, murders, detentions without trial and tortures that the U.S. and Britain are committing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and Somalia among other countries and we have the nerve to call Mugabe a monster, Hitler (a White guy by the way) or worse because he is setting the example of refusal to bow down to Western pressures to usurp him and his countries sovereignty.

Doesn't anyone out there see how truly sick this all is?

Email: zimbabwecrisis@yahoo.com

Visit: Zimbabwe Watch

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