onfessions of a n
conomic Hit Ma n
John Perkin s

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Copyright (c) 2004 by John Perkin s
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CA'TALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Perkins, John, 1945 Confessions of an economic hit man by John Perkins .
p . cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index .
ISBN-10 : 1-57675-301-8 ; ISBN-13 : 978-1-57675-301- 9
1. Perkins, John . 1945- 2 . United States . National Security Agency—Biography.
3 . Economists—United States—Biography . 4 . Energy consultants—United States —
Biography. 5 . Intelligence agents—United States—Biography. 6. Chas . T. Main, Inc .
7. World Bank—Developing countries.

S . Corporations, American—Foreign countries .

9 . Corporations, American—Corrupt practices . 10 . Imperialism—History—20th century.
11 . Imperialism—History—21st century I . Title .
UB271 .U52P47 200 4
332 ' .042 '092—dc2 2
[B]

2004045353

First Editio n
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20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

Cover design by Mark van Bronkhurst . Interior design by Valerie Brewster .
Copyediting by Todd Manza . Indexing by Rachel Rice.

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To my mother and father, Ruth Moody and Jason Perkins ,
who taught me about love and living and instille d
y
/l

in me the courage that enabled m e
to write this book.

CONTENT S

Preface ix
Prologue xvi

PART I : 1963—197 1
1 An Economic Hit Man Is Born

3

2

"In for Life" 1 2

3/

Indonesia : Lessons for an EHM 2 0

4 Saving a Country from Communism 2 3
5 Selling My Soul 2 8

PART II : 1971—197 5
6 My Role as Inquisitor 3 7
7 Civilization on Trial 4 2
8 Jesus, Seen Differently 4 7
9

Opportunity of a Lifetime 5 2

10

Panama's President and Hero 5 8

11

Pirates in the Canal Zone 6 3

12

Soldiers and Prostitutes 6 7

13

Conversations with the General 7 1

14

Entering a New and Sinister Period i n
Economic History 7 6

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15

The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair 8 1

16

Pimping, and Financing Osama bin Laden 9 3
vii

PART III : 1975—198 1

PREFAC E

17 Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham Greene
18 Iran's King of Kings 10 8
19 Confessions of a Tortured Man
20 The Fall of a King 117
21
22

11 3

Colombia : Keystone of Latin America 120
American Republic versus Global Empire 124

23 The Deceptive Resume 13 1
24 Ecuador's President Battles Big Oil
25

10 1

I Quit

141

14 6

PART IV : 1981—PRESEN T
26 Ecuador's Presidential Death

15 3

27 Panama: Another Presidential Death

15 8

28 My Energy Company, Enron, and George W. Bush
29 I Take a Bribe 167
30

The United States Invades Panama

16 2

173

31 An EHM Failure in Iraq 18 2
32 September 11 and its Aftermath for Me, Personally 18 9
33 Venezuela: Saved by Saddam 19 6
34 Ecuador Revisited 20 3
35

Piercing the Veneer
Epilogue
John

22 1

Perkins Personal History

Notes
Index

23 0

24 0

About the Author

viii

21 1

248

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

22 6

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, th e
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. Their tools
incefraudulent financial reports, rigged elections ,
pay() s, extortion, sex, and murder. They play a game as
old as empire, but one that has taken on new and terrifying dimensions during this time ofglobalization.
I should know; I was an EHM.
I wrote that in 1982, as the beginning of a book with the working
title, Conscience of an Economic Hit Man . The book was dedicated to
the presidents of two countries, men who had been my clients ,
whom I respected and thought of as kindred spirits -- Jaime Roldos ,
president of Ecuador, and Omar Torrijos, president of Panama . Both
had just died in fiery crashes. Their deaths were not accidental . They
were assassinated because they opposed that fraternity of corporate ,
government, and banking heads whose goal is global empire . We
EHMs failed to bring Roldos and Torrijos around, and the other typ e
of hit men, the CIA-sanctioned jackals who were always right behin d
us, stepped in .
I was persuaded to stop writing that book. I started it four more
times during the next twenty years . On each occasion, my decision to
begin again was influenced by current world events : the U.S. invasion
of Panama in 1989, the first Gulf War, Somalia, the rise of Osama bi n
Laden. However, threats or bribes always convinced me to stop .
In 2003, the president of a major publishing house that is owne d
by a powerful international corporation read a draft of what ha d
now become Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. He described it

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as "a riveting story that needs to be told." Then he smiled sadly,
shook his head, and told me that since the executives at world head quarters might object, he could not afford to risk publishing it . He
advised me to fictionalize it. "We could market you in the mold of a
novelist like John Le Carre or Graham Greene ."
But this is not fiction . It is the true story of my life . A more coura geous publisher, one not owned by an international corporation, ha s
agreed to help me tell it .
This story must be told. We live in a time of terrible crisis — and
tremendous opportunity. The story of this particular economic hi t
man is the story of how we got to where we are and why we currently
face crises that seem insurmountable . This story must be told because only by understanding our past mistakes will we be able t o
take advantage of future opportunities ; because 9/11 happened and
so did the second war in Iraq ; because in addition to the three thou sand people who died on September 11, 2001, at the hands of terrorists, another twenty-four thousand died from hunger and related
causes. In fact, twenty-four thousand people die every single day
because they are unable to obtain life-sustaining food .i Most importantly, this story must be told because today, for the first time in
history, one nation has the ability, the money, and the power to
change all this . It is the nation where I was born and the one I serve d
as an EHM : the United States of America.
What finally convinced me to ignore the threats and bribes?
The short answer is that my only child, Jessica, graduated from
college and went out into the world on her own. When I recently
told her that I was considering publishing this book and shared my
fears with her, she said, "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!" That is the short answer.
The longer version relates to my dedication to the country wher e
I was raised, to my love of the ideals expressed by our Founding Fathers, to my deep commitment to the American republic that today
promises "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" for all people ,
everywhere, and to my determination after 9/11 not to sit idly by any
longer while EHMs turn that republic into a global empire . That is
the skeleton version of the long answer ; the flesh and blood ar e
added in the chapters that follow.
This is a true story. I lived every minute of it . The sights, the people,
x Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

the conversations, and the feelings I describe were all a part of m y
life. It is my personal story, and yet it happened within the large r
context of world events that have shaped our history, have brough t
us to where we are today, and form the foundation of our children' s
futures. I have made every effort to present these experiences, people ,
and conversations accurately. Whenever I discuss historical event s
or re-create conversations with other people, I do so with the help o f
several tools: published documents ; personal records and notes ; recollections — my own and those of others who participated ; the five
manuscripts I began previously ; and historical accounts by othe r
authors, most notably recently published ones that disclose information that formerly was classified or otherwise unavailable . References are provided in the endnotes, to allow interested readers t o
pursue these subjects in more depth. In some cases, I combine several d'ggues I had with a person into one conversation to facilitat e
the flow o the narrative .
My publisher asked whether we actually referred to ourselves a s
economic hit men . I assured him that we did, although usually only
by the initials . In fact, on the day in 1971 when I began working with
my teacher Claudine, she informed me, "My assignment is to mol d
you into an economic hit man . No one can know about your involvement — not even your wife?' Then she turned serious . "Once
you're in, you're in for life ."
Claudine's role is a fascinating example of the manipulation tha t
underlies the business I had entered. Beautiful and intelligent, sh e
was highly effective ; she understood my weaknesses and used the m
to her greatest advantage . Her job and the way she executed it exemplify the subtlety of the people behind this system .
Claudine pulled no punches when describing what I would b e
called upon to do . My job, she said, was "to encourage world leaders
to become part of a vast network that promotes U .S . commercial in terests. In the end, those leaders become ensnared in a web of deb t
that ensures their loyalty. We can draw on them whenever we desir e
— to satisfy our political, economic, or military needs . In turn, they
bolster their political positions by bringing industrial parks, powe r
plants, and airports to their people . The owners of U .S. engineering/construction companies become fabulously wealthy ."
Today we see the results of this system run amok . Executives at
our most respected companies hire people at near-slave wages t o

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xi

toil under inhuman conditions in Asian sweatshops . Oil companie s
wantonly pump toxins into rain forest rivers, consciously killin g
people, animals, and plants, and committing genocide among ancient
cultures . The pharmaceutical industry denies lifesaving medicines to
millions of HIV-infected Africans . Twelve million families in ou r
owm United States worry about their next meal .2 The energy indus try creates an Enron . The accounting industry creates an Andersen .
The income ratio of the one-fifth of the world's population in th e
wealthiest countries to the one-fifth in the poorest went from 30 to 1
in 1960 to 74 to 1 in 1995.3 The United States spends over $87 bil lion conducting a war in Iraq while the United Nations estimate s
that for less than half that amount we could provide clean water, ad equate diets, sanitation services, and basic education to every perso n
on the planet .4
And we wonder why terrorists attack us ?
Some would blame our current problems on an organized conspiracy. I wish it were so simple . Members of a conspiracy can b e
rooted out and brought to justice . This system, however, is fueled b y
something far more dangerous than conspiracy. It is driven not by a
small band of men but by a concept that has become accepted as
gospel : the idea that all economic growth benefits humankind an d
that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits . Thi s
belief also has a corollary : that those people who excel at stoking the
fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, whil e
those born at the fringes are available for exploitation .
The concept is, of course, erroneous . We know that in many countries economic growth benefits only a small portion of the population and may in fact result in increasingly desperate circumstance s
for the majority. This effect is reinforced by the corollary belief tha t
the captains of industry who drive this system should enjoy a specia l
status, a belief that is the root of many of our current problems an d
is perhaps also the reason why conspiracy theories abound . Whe n
men and women are rewarded for greed, greed becomes a corrupting motivator . When we equate the gluttonous consumption of th e
earth's resources with a status approaching sainthood, when w e
teach our children to emulate people who live unbalanced lives, an d
when we define huge sections of the population as subservient to a n
elite minority, we ask for trouble . And we get it .
In their drive to advance the global empire, corporations, banks,
xii

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

and governments (collectively the corporatocracy) use their financia l
and political muscle to ensure that our schools, businesses, and media
support both the fallacious concept and its corollary . They hav e
brought us to a point where our global culture is a monstrous ma chine that requires exponentially increasing amounts of fuel an d
maintenance, so much so that in the end it will have consume d
everything in sight and will be left with no choice but to devour itself.
The corporatocracy is not a conspiracy, but its members do
endorse common values and goals . One of corporatocracy's most im portant functions is to perpetuate and continually expand an d
strengthen the system . The lives of those who "make it," and their
accoutrements — their mansions, yachts, and private jets — are presented as models to inspire us all to consume, consume, consume .
Every opportunity is taken to convince us that purchasing things i s
our civiN uty, that pillaging the earth is good for the economy an d
therefore serves our higher interests . People like me are paid outrageously high salaries to do the system's bidding . If we falter, a mor e
malicious form of hit man, the jackal, steps to the plate . And if th e
jackal fails, then the job falls to the military.
This book is the confession of a man who, back when I was a n
EHM, was part of a relatively small group . People who play similar
roles are more abundant now . They have more euphemistic titles ,
and they walk the corridors of Monsanto, General Electric, Nike ,
General Motors, Wal-Mart, and nearly every other major corpora tion in the world . In a very real sense, Confessions of an Economic
Hit Man is their story as well as mine .
It is your story too, the story of your world and mine, of the firs t
truly global empire . History tells us that unless we modify this story ,
it is guaranteed to end tragically . Empires never last . Every one of the m
has failed terribly. They destroy many cultures as they race towar d
greater domination, and then they themselves fall . No country or com bination of countries can thrive in the long term by exploiting others .
This book was written so that we may take heed and remold our
story. I am certain that when enough of us become aware of how w e
are being exploited by the economic engine that creates an insatiabl e
appetite for the world's resources, and results in systems that foste r
slavery, we will no longer tolerate it. We will reassess our role in a
world where a few swim in riches and the majority drown in poverty,
pollution, and violence . We will commit ourselves to navigating a

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xiii

course toward compassion, democracy, and social justice for all .
Admitting to a problem is the first step toward finding a solution .
Confessing a sin is the beginning of redemption . Let this book, then,
be the start of our salvation . Let it inspire us to new levels of dedication and drive us to realize our dream of balanced and honorabl e
societies.

.;.
Without the many people whose lives I shared and who are de scribed in the following pages, this book would not have been written .
I am grateful for the experiences and the lessons .
Beyond them, I thank the people who encouraged me to go ou t
on a limb and tell my story : Stephan Rechtschaffen, Bill and Lynne
Twist, Ann Kemp, Art Roffey, so many of the people who participated in Dream Change trips and workshops, especially my co facilitators, Eve Bruce, Lyn Roberts-Herrick, and Mary Tendall, an d
my incredible wife and partner of twenty-five years, Winifred, an d
our daughter Jessica .
I am grateful to the many men and women who provided personal insights and information about the multinational banks ,
international corporations, and political innuendos of various countries, with special thanks to Michael Ben-Eli, Sabrina Bologni, Jua n
Gabriel Carrasco, Jamie Grant, Paul Shaw, and several others, wh o
wish to remain anonymous but who know who you are .
Once the manuscript was written, Berrett-Koehler founder Steve n
Piersanti not only had the courage to take me in but also devote d
endless hours as a brilliant editor, helping me to frame and refram e
the hook . My deepest thanks go to Steven, to Richard Perl, who introduced me to him, and also to Nova Brown, Randi Fiat, Allen Jones ,
Chris Lee, Jennifer Liss, Laurie Pellouchoud, and Jenny Williams ,
who read and critiqued the manuscript ; to David Korten, who no t
only read and critiqued it but also made me jump through hoops t o
satisfy his high and excellent standards ; to Paul Fedorko, my agent ;
to Valerie Brewster for crafting the book design ; and to Todd Manza,
my copy editor, a wordsmith and philosopher extraordinaire .
A special word of gratitude to Jeevan Sivasubramanian, Berrett Koehler's managing editor, and to Ken Lupoff, Rick Wilson, Maria
xiv

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Jesus Aguilo, Pat Anderson, Marina Cook, Michael Crowley, Robi n
Donovan, Kristen Frantz, Tiffany Lee, Catherine Lengronne, Diann e
Platner — all the BK staff who recognize the need to raise consciousness and who work tirelessly to make this world a better place .
I must thank all those men and women who worked with me a t
MAIN and were unaware of the roles they played in helping EH M
shape the global empire ; I especially thank the ones who worked fo r
me and with whom I traveled to distant lands and shared so man y
precious moments . Also Ehud Sperling and his staff at Inner Traditions International, publisher of my earlier books on indigenous cul tures and shamanism, and good friends who set me on this path a s
an author.
I am eternally grateful to the men and women who took me int o
their homes in the jungles, deserts, and mountains, in the cardboar d
shacks along the canals of Jakarta, and in the slums of countles s
cities ar und the world, who shared their food and their lives wit h
me and who have been my greatest source of inspiration .

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John Perkins
August 200 4

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xv

PROLOGU E

Quito, Ecuador's capital, stretches across a volcanic valley high i n
the Andes, at an altitude of nine thousand feet . Residents of this city,
which was founded long before Columbus arrived in the Americas ,
are accustomed to seeing snow on the surrounding peaks, despit e
the fact that they live just a few miles south of the equator .
The city of Shell, a frontier outpost and military base hacked ou t
of Ecuador's Amazon jungle to service the oil company whose nam e
it bears, is nearly eight thousand feet lower than Quito . A steaming
city, it is inhabited mostly by soldiers, oil workers, and the indigenous people from the Shuar and Kichwa tribes who work for them as
prostitutes and laborers .
To journey from one city to the other, you must travel a road that
is both tortuous and breathtaking . Local people will tell you that
during the trip you experience all four seasons in a single day.
Although I have driven this road many times, I never tire of th e
spectacular scenery . Sheer cliffs, punctuated by cascading waterfall s
and brilliant bromeliads, rise up one side . On the other side, the eart h
drops abruptly into a deep abyss where the Pastaza River, a head water of the Amazon, snakes its way down the Andes. The Pastaz a
carries water from the glaciers of Cotopaxi, one of the world's highes t
active volcanoes and a deity in the time of the Incas, to the Atlanti c
Ocean over three thousand miles away.
In 2003, I departed Quito in a Subaru Outback and headed fo r
Shell on a mission that was like no other I had ever accepted . I was
hoping to end a war I had helped create . As is the case with so man y
things we EHMs must take responsibility for, it is a war that is virtually unknown anywhere outside the country where it is fought . I
was on my way to meet with the Shuars, the Kichwas, and thei r
neighbors the Achuars, the Zaparos, and the Shiwiars—tribes determined to prevent our oil companies from destroying their homes ,
families, and lands, even if it means they must die in the process . For
them, this is a war about the survival of their children and cultures ,
while for us it is about power, money, and natural resources . It is one
xvi

part of the struggle for world domination and the dream of a few
greedy men, global empire.'
That is what we EHMs do best : we build a global empire . We are
an elite group of men and women who utilize international financia l
organizations to foment conditions that make other nations sub servient to the corporatocracy running our biggest corporations, ou r
government, and our banks . Like our counterparts in the Mafia,
EHMs provide favors . These take the form of loans to develop infrastructure — electric generating plants, highways, ports, airports ,
or industrial parks . A condition of such loans is that engineering an d
construction companies from our own country must build all thes e
projects . In essence, most of the money never leaves the Unite d
States ; it is simply transferred from banking offices in Washington t o
engineering offices in New York, Houston, or San Francisco .
D to the fact that the money is returned almost immediatel y
to torpor ions that are members of the corporatocracy (the creditor), the recipient country is required to pay it all back, principa l
plus interest . If an EHM is completely successful, the loans are s o
large that the debtor is forced to default on its payments after a fe w
years . When this happens, then like the Mafia we demand our poun d
of flesh . This often includes one or more of the following : control
over United Nations votes, the installation of military bases, or acces s
to precious resources such as oil or the Panama Canal . Of course, the
debtor still owes us the money—and another country is added t o
our global empire .
Driving from Quito toward Shell on this sunny day in 2003, I
thought back thirty-five years to the first time I arrived in this par t
of the world . I had read that although Ecuador is only about the siz e
of Nevada, it has more than thirty active volcanoes, over 15 percen t
of the world's bird species, and thousands of as-yet-unclassifie d
plants, and that it is a land of diverse cultures where nearly as man y
people speak ancient indigenous languages as speak Spanish . I
found it fascinating and certainly exotic ; yet, the words that kept
coming to mind back then were pure, untouched, and innocent.
Much has changed in thirty-five years .
At the time of my first visit in 1968, Texaco had only just discov ered petroleum in Ecuador's Amazon region . Today, oil accounts for
nearly half the country's exports . A trans-Andean pipeline built
shortly after my first visit has since leaked over a half million barrels

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of oil into the fragile rain forest — more than twice the amount spille d
by the Exxon Valdez. 2 Today, a new 51 .3 billion, three hundred-mil e
pipeline constructed by an EHM-organized consortium promises t o
make Ecuador one of the worl d's top ten suppliers of oil to the Unite d
States .3 Vast areas of rain forest have fallen, macaws and jaguar s
have all but vanished, three Ecuadorian indigenous cultures hav e
been driven to the verge of collapse, and pristine rivers have bee n
transformed into flaming cesspools .
During this same period, the indigenous cultures began fightin g
back. For instance, on May 7, 2003, a group of American lawyer s
representing more than thirty thousand indigenous Ecuadoria n
people filed a $1 billion lawsuit against ChevronTexaco Corp . The
suit asserts that between 1971 and 1992 the oil giant dumped int o
open holes and rivers over four million gallons per day of toxic
wastewater contaminated with oil, heavy metals, and carcinogens ,
and that the company left behind nearly 350 uncovered waste pit s
that continue to kill both people and animals .4
Outside the window of my Outback, great clouds of mist rolled i n
from the forests and up the Pastaza's canyons . Sweat soaked my shirt ,
and my stomach began to churn, but not just from the intense tropical heat and the serpentine twists in the road . Knowing the part I
had played in destroying this beautiful country' was once again takin g
its toll . Because of my fellow EHMs and me, Ecuador is in far wors e
shape today than she was before we introduced her to the miracles of
modern economics, banking, and engineering . Since 1970, during
this period known euphemistically as the Oil Boom, the officia l
poverty level grew from 50 to 70 percent, under- or unemploymen t
increased from 15 to 70 percent, and public debt increased fro m
$240 million to $16 billion . Meanwhile, the share of national resources
allocated to the poorest segments of the population declined fro m
20 to 6 percent.'
Unfortunately, Ecuador is not the exception . Nearly every country
we EHMs have brought under the global empire's umbrella has suffered a similar fate .6 Third world debt has grown to more than S2 . 5
trillion, and the cost of servicing it — over $375 billion per year as of
2004 — is more than all third world spending on health and education, and twenty times what developing countries receive annually i n
foreign aid . Over half the people in the world survive on less than two
dollars per day, which is roughly the same amount they received
xviii

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

in the early 1970s. Meanwhile, the top 1 percent of third world
households accounts for 70 to 90 percent of all private financia l
wealth and real estate ownership in their country ; the actual percentage depends on the specific country ?
The Subaru slowed as it meandered through the streets of th e
beautiful resort town of Banos, famous for the hot baths created b y
underground volcanic rivers that flow from the highly active Moun t
Tungurahgua . Children ran along beside us, waving and trying t o
sell us gum and cookies . Then we left Banos behind . The spectacular scenery ended abruptly as the Subaru sped out of paradise an d
into a modern vision of Dante's Inferno.
A gigantic monster reared up from the river, a mammoth gra y
wall. Its dripping concrete was totally out of place, completely un natural and incompatible with the landscape . Of course, seeing it
there sgild not have surprised me . I knew all along that it would b e
waiting in mbush . I had encountered it many times before and i n
the past had praised it as a symbol of EHM accomplishments . Even
so, it made my skin crawl .
That hideous, incongruous wall is a dam that blocks the rushin g
Pastaza River, diverts its waters through huge tunnels bored into th e
mountain, and converts the energy to electricity. This is the 156 megawatt Agoyan hydroelectric project . It fuels the industries that
make a handful of Ecuadorian families wealthy, and it has been the
source of untold suffering for the farmers and indigenous peopl e
who live along the river. This hydroelectric plant is just one of many
projects developed through my efforts and those of other EHMs .
Such projects are the reason Ecuador is now a member of the globa l
empire, and the reason why the Shuars and Kichwas and thei r
neighbors threaten war against our oil companies.
Because of EHM projects, Ecuador is awash in foreign debt an d
must devote an inordinate share of its national budget to paying thi s
off, instead of using its capital to help the millions of its citizen s
officially classified as dangerously impoverished . The only way Ecuador can buy down its foreign obligations is by selling its rain forest s
to the oil companies . Indeed, one of the reasons the EHMs set thei r
sights on Ecuador in the first place was because the sea of oil
beneath its Amazon region is believed to rival the oil fields of th e
Middle East .8 The global empire demands its pound of flesh in th e
form of oil concessions .

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These demands became especially urgent after September 11 ,
2001, when Washington feared that Middle Eastern supplies might
cease . On top of that, Venezuela, our third-largest oil supplier, ha d
recently elected a populist president, Hugo Chavez, who took a
strong stand against what he referred to as U.S. imperialism ; he
threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States . The EHMs had
failed in Iraq and Venezuela, but we had succeeded in Ecuador ; now
we would milk it for all it is worth .
Ecuador is typical of countries around the world that EHMs hav e
brought into the economic-political fold . For every $100 of crud e
taken out of the Ecuadorian rain forests, the oil companies receiv e
$75 . Of the remaining S25, three-quarters must go to paying off th e
foreign debt . Most of the remainder covers military and other government expenses — which leaves about $2 .50 for health, education ,
and programs aimed at helping the poor .9 Thus, out of every $100
worth of oil torn from the Amazon, less than $3 goes to the peopl e
who need the money most, those whose lives have been so adversel y
impacted by the dams, the drilling, and the pipelines, and who ar e
dying from lack of edible food and potable water .
All of those people—millions in Ecuador, billions around th e
planet—are potential terrorists . Not because they believe in communism or anarchism or are intrinsically evil, but simply becaus e
they are desperate . Looking at this dam, I wondered —as I have so
often in so many places around the world—when these peopl e
would take action, like the Americans against England in the 1770s
or Latin Americans against Spain in the early 1800s .
The subtlety of this modern empire building puts the Roma n
centurions, the Spanish conquistadors, and the eighteenth- an d
nineteenth-century European colonial powers to shame . We EHMs
are crafty; we learned from history. Today we do not carry swords .
We do not wear armor or clothes that set us apart . In countries like
Ecuador, Nigeria, and Indonesia, we dress like local schoolteacher s
and shop owners . In Washington and Paris, we look like government
bureaucrats and bankers . We appear humble, normal . We visit project
sites and stroll through impoverished villages. We profess altruism ,
talk with local papers about the wonderful humanitarian things w e
are doing . We cover the conference tables of government committee s
with our spreadsheets and financial projections, and we lecture at
the Harvard Business School about the miracles of macroeconomics .
xx

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

We are on the record, in the open . Or so we portray ourselves and s o
are we accepted . It is how the system works . We seldom resort t o
anything illegal because the system itself is built on subterfuge, an d
the system is by definition legitimate .
However—and this is a very large caveat—if we fail, an eve n
more sinister breed steps in, ones we EHMs refer to as the jackals ,
men who trace their heritage directly to those earlier empires . The
jackals are always there, lurking in the shadows . When they emerge ,
heads of state are overthrown or die in violent "accidents "10 And if
by chance the jackals fail, as they failed in Afghanistan and Iraq ,
then the old models resurface. When the jackals fail, young Americans are sent in to kill and to die.
As I passed the monster, that hulking mammoth wall of gray con crete rising from the river, I was very conscious of the sweat tha t
soaked my clothes and of the tightening in my intestines . I headed
on down int~the jungle to meet with the indigenous people who are
determined to fight to the last man in order to stop this empire I
helped create, and I was overwhelmed with feelings of guilt .
How, I asked myself, did a nice kid from rural New Hampshir e
ever get into such a dirty business ?

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Prologue

xxi

PAM' I : 1963-1971

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CHAPTER 1

An Economic Hit Man Is Bor n

It began innocently enough .
I was an only child, born into the middle class in 1945 . Both my
parents came from three centuries of New England Yankee stock ;
their strict, moralistic, staunchly Republican attitudes reflecte d
generations of puritanical ancestors . They were the first in their fam ilies to attend college — on scholarships . My mother became a high
school Latin teacher . My father joined World War II as a Navy lieu tenant and was in charge of the armed guard gun crew on a highl y
flammable merchant marine tanker in the Atlantic . When I was
born, in Hanover, New Hampshire, he was recuperating from a bro ken hip in a Texas hospital . I did not see him until I was a year old .
He took a job teaching languages at Tilton School, a boys' board ing school in rural New Hampshire . The campus stood high on a
hill, proudly—some would say arrogantly—towering over the tow n
of the same name . This exclusive institution limited its enrollment to
about fifty students in each grade level, nine through twelve . Th e
students were mostly the scions of wealthy families from Buenos
Aires, Caracas, Boston, and New York .
My family was cash starved; however, we most certainly did not
see ourselves as poor . Although the school's teachers received very
little salary, all our needs were provided free : food, housing, heat ,
water, and the workers who mowed our lawn and shoveled our snow.
Beginning on my fourth birthday, I ate in the prep school dinin g

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3

room, shagged balls for the soccer teams my dad coached, an d
handed out towels in the locker room .
It is an understatement to say that the teachers and their wive s
felt superior to the locals . I used to hear my parents joking about being the lords of the manor, ruling over the lowly peasants — th e
townies . I knew it was more than a joke .
My elementary and middle school friends belonged to that peasan t
class ; they were very poor . Their parents were dirt farmers, lumber jacks, and mill workers . They resented "the preppies on the hill," an d
in turn, my father and mother discouraged me from socializing wit h
the townie girls, who they called "tarts" and "sluts ." I had share d
schoolbooks and crayons with these girls since first grade, and ove r
the years, I fell in love with three of them : Ann, Priscilla, and Judy.
I had a hard time understanding my parents' perspective ; however,
I deferred to their wishes .
Every year we spent the three months of my dad's summer vacatio n
at a lake cottage built by my grandfather in 1921 . It was surrounde d
by forests, and at night we could hear owls and mountain lions . We
had no neighbors ; I was the only child within walking distance . I n
the early years, I passed the days by pretending that the trees were
knights of the Round Table and damsels in distress named Ann,
Priscilla, or Judy (depending on the year) . My passion was, I had n o
doubt, as strong as that of Lancelot for Guinevere — and even more
secretive.
At fourteen, I received free tuition to Tilton School . With my parents' prodding, I rejected everything to do with the town and neve r
saw my old friends again . When my new classmates went home t o
their mansions and penthouses for vacation, I remained alone on th e
hill. Their girlfriends were debutantes ; I had no girlfriends . All the girls
I knew were "sluts" ; I had cast them off, and they had forgotten me .
I was alone — and terribly frustrated .
My parents were masters at manipulation ; they assured me tha t
I was privileged to have such an opportunity and that some day I
would be grateful . I would find the perfect wife, one suited to ou r
high moral standards . Inside, though, I seethed. I craved female com panionship — sex ; the idea of a slut was most alluring .
However, rather than rebelling, I repressed my rage and expresse d
my frustration by excelling . I was an honor student, captain of tw o
varsity teams, editor of the school newspaper. I was determined to

4 Part I : 1963—1971

show up my rich classmates and to leave Tilton behind forever. During my senior year, I was awarded a full athletic scholarship to Brown
and an academic scholarship to Middlebury . I chose Brown, mainl y
because I preferred being an athlete — and because it was located i n
a city. My mother had graduated from Middlebury and my fathe r
had received his master's degree there, so even though Brown was i n
the Ivy League, they preferred Middlebury .
"What if you break your leg?" my father asked . "Better to take the
academic scholarship ." I buckled .
Middlebury was, in my perception, merely an inflated version o f
Tilton — albeit in rural Vermont instead of rural New Hampshire .
True, it was coed, but I was poor and most everyone else was wealthy,
and I had not attended school with a female in four years . I lacke d
confidence, felt outclassed, was miserable . I pleaded with my dad to
let me drop out or take a year off . I wanted to move to Boston an d
learn about life and women . He would not hear of it . "How can I pre tend to prepare other parents' kids for college if my own won't sta y
in one?" he asked .
I have come to understand that life is composed of a series o f
coincidences . How we react to these—how we exercise what som e
refer to as free will — is everything ; the choices we make within the
boundaries of the twists of fate determine who we are . Two major
coincidences that shaped my life occurred at Middlebury One cam e
in the form of an Iranian, the son of a general who was a persona l
advisor to the shah ; the other was a beautiful young woman name d
Ann, like my childhood sweetheart .
The first, whom I will call Farhad, had played professional socce r
in Rome . He was endowed with an athletic physique, curly blac k
hair, soft walnut eyes, and a background and charisma that mad e
him irresistible to women. He was my opposite in many ways . I
worked hard to win his friendship, and he taught me many thing s
that would serve me well in the years to come . I also met Ann . Al though she was seriously dating a young man who attended anothe r
college, she took me under her wing . Our platonic relationship wa s
the first truly loving one I had ever experienced .
Farhad encouraged me to drink, party, and ignore my parents . I
consciously chose to stop studying . I decided I would break my academic leg to get even with my father . My grades plummeted ; I los t
my scholarship . Halfway through my sophomore year, I elected t o

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An

Economic

Hit

Man

Is

Born

5

drop out . My father threatened to disown me ; Farhad egged me on .
I stormed into the dean's office and quit school . It was a pivotal mo ment in my life .
Farhad and I celebrated my last night in town together at a local
bar. A drunken farmer, a giant of a man, accused me of flirting wit h
his wife, picked me up off my feet, and hurled me against a wall .
Farhad stepped between us, drew a knife, and slashed the farme r
open at the cheek. Then he dragged me across the room and shove d
me through a window, out onto a ledge high above Otter Creek . We
jumped and made our way along the river and back to our dorm .
The next morning, when interrogated by the campus police, I lie d
and refused to admit any knowledge of the incident . Nevertheless,
Farhad was expelled . We both moved to Boston and shared an apartment there . I landed a job at Hearst's RecordAmerican/SundayAdvertiser newspapers, as a personal assistant to the editor in chief o f
the Sunday Advertiser .
Later that year, 1965, several of my friends at the newspaper wer e
drafted. To avoid a similar fate, I entered Boston University's College
of Business Administration . By then, Ann had broken up with her
old boyfriend, and she often traveled down from Middlebury to visit.
I welcomed her attention . She graduated in 1967, while I still had
another year to complete at BU . She adamantly refused to move i n
with me until we were married . Although I joked about being blackmailed, and in fact did resent what I saw as a continuation of m y
parents' archaic and prudish set of moral standards, I enjoyed ou r
times together and I wanted more . We married .
Ann's father, a brilliant engineer, had masterminded the navigational system for an important class of missile and was rewarde d
with a high-level position in the Department of the Navy . His best
friend, a man Ann called Uncle Frank (not his real name), was employed as an executive at the highest echelons of the National Secu rity Agency (NSA), the country's least-known — and by most account s
largest — spy organization .
Shortly after our marriage, the military summoned me for my
physical. I passed and therefore faced the prospect of Vietnam upo n
graduation . The idea of fighting in Southeast Asia tore me apart
emotionally, though war has always fascinated me . I was raised o n
tales about my colonial ancestors — who include Thomas Paine an d
Ethan Allen — and I had visited all the New England and upstate
6 Part I : 1963—1971

New York battle sites of both the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars . I read every historical novel I could find . In fact,
when Army Special Forces units first entered Southeast Asia, I wa s
eager to sign up . But as the media exposed the atrocities and the in consistencies of U.S . policy, I experienced a change of heart . I foun d
myself wondering whose side Paine would have taken . I was sure he
would have joined our Vietcong enemies .
Uncle Frank came to my rescue . He informed me that an NSA jo b
made one eligible for draft deferment, and he arranged for a series of
meetings at his agency, including a day of grueling polygraph monitored interviews. I was told that these tests would determin e
whether I was suitable material for NSA recruitment and training ,
and if I was, would provide a profile of my strengths and weaknesses ,
which would be used to map out my career. Given my attitude to ward the Vietnam War, I was convinced I would fail the tests .
Under examination, I admitted that as a loyal American I op posed the war, and I was surprised when the interviewers did no t
pursue this subject. Instead, they focused on my upbringing, m y
attitudes toward my parents, the emotions generated by the fact I
grew up as a poor puritan among so many wealthy, hedonistic prep pies . They also explored my frustration about the lack of women, sex ,
and money in my life, and the fantasy world that had evolved as a re sult. I was amazed by the attention they gave to my relationship wit h
Farhad and by their interest in my willingness to lie to the campu s
police to protect him.
At first I assumed all these things that seemed so negative to m e
marked me as an NSA reject, but the interviews continued, suggest ing otherwise. It was not until several years later that I realized that
from an NSA viewpoint these negatives actually are positive . Thei r
assessment had less to do with issues of loyalty to my country tha n
with the frustrations of my life . Anger at my parer ;.,, an obsession
with women, and my ambition to live the good life gave them a
hook; I was seducible. My determination to excel in school and i n
sports, my ultimate rebellion against my father, my ability to ge t
along with foreigners, and my willingness to lie to the police wer e
exactly the types of attributes they sought . I also discovered, later,
that Farhad's father worked for the U .S . intelligence community i n
Iran; my friendship with Farhad was therefore a definite plus .
A few weeks after the NSA testing, I was offered a job to star t

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An Economic Hit Man Is Born 7

training in the art of spying, to begin after I received my degree fro m
BU several months later . However, before I had officially accepted
this offer, I impulsively attended a seminar given at BU by a Peace
Corps recruiter. A major selling point was that, like the NSA, Peac e
Corps jobs made one eligible for draft deferments .
The decision to sit in on that seminar was one of those coincidence s
that seemed insignificant at the time but turned out to have life changing implications . The recruiter described several places i n
the world that especially needed volunteers . One of these was the
Amazon rain forest where, he pointed out, indigenous people live d
very much as natives of North America had until the arrival o f
Europeans.
I had always dreamed of living like the Abnakis who inhabited
New Hampshire when my ancestors first settled there . I knew I had
Abnaki blood in my veins, and I wanted to learn the type of fores t
lore they understood so well . I approached the recruiter after his tal k
and asked about the possibility of being assigned to the Amazon . He
assured me there was a great need for volunteers in that region an d
that my chances would be excellent . I called Uncle Frank .
To my surprise, Uncle Frank encouraged me to consider the Peac e
Corps . He confided that after the fall of Hanoi — which in those day s
was deemed a certainty by men in his position—the Amazo n
would become a hot spot .
"Loaded with oil," he said . "We'll need good agents there — peopl e
who understand the natives ." He assured me that the Peace Corp s
would be an excellent training ground, and he urged me to becom e
proficient in Spanish as well as in local indigenous dialects . "You
might," he chuckled, "end up working for a private company instea d
of the government ."
I did not understand what he meant by that at the time . I was being upgraded from spy to EHM, although I had never heard th e
term and would not for a few more years . I had no idea that there
were hundreds of men and women scattered around the world ,
working for consulting firms and other private companies, peopl e
who never received a penny of salary from any government agenc y
and yet were serving the interests of empire . Nor could I have
guessed that a new type, with more euphemistic titles, would number in the thousands by the end of the millennium, and that I woul d
play a significant role in shaping this growing army .
8 Part I : 1963—1971

Ann and I applied to the Peace Corps and requested an assignment in the Amazon . When our acceptance notification arrived, my
first reaction was one of extreme disappointment . The letter state d
that we would be sent to Ecuador.
Oh no, I thought . I requested the Amazon, not Africa.
I went to an atlas and looked up Ecuador. I was dismayed whe n
I could not find it anywhere on the African continent . In the index,
though, I discovered that it is indeed located in Latin America, an d
I saw on the map that the river systems flowing off its Andean glaciers form the headwaters to the mighty Amazon . Further reading
assured me that Ecuador's jungles were some of the world's most di verse and formidable, and that the indigenous people still live d
much as they had for millennia . We accepted .
Ann and I completed Peace Corps training in Southern California
and headed for Ecuador in September 1968 . We lived in the Amazo n
with the Shuar whose lifestyle did indeed resemble that of precolonial North American natives ; we also worked in the Andes with descendants of the Incas . It was a side of the world I never dreame d
still existed . Until then, the only Latin Americans I had met were the
wealthy preppies at the school where my father taught . I found myself sympathizing with these indigenous people who subsisted on
hunting and farming. I felt an odd sort of kinship with them .
Somehow, they reminded me of the townies I had left behind .
One day a man in a business suit, Einar Greve, landed at the
airstrip in our community. He was a vice president at Chas . T. Main ,
Inc . (MAIN), an international consulting firm that kept a very low
profile and that was in charge of studies to determine whether th e
World Bank should lend Ecuador and its neighboring countries billions of dollars to build hydroelectric dams and other infrastructure
projects . Einar also was a colonel in the U.S . Army Reserve .
He started talking with me about the benefits of working for a
company like MAIN . When I mentioned that I had been accepted b y
the NSA before joining the Peace Corps, and that I was considerin g
going back to them, he informed me that he sometimes acted as a n
NSA liaison ; he gave me a look that made me suspect that part of hi s
assignment was to evaluate my capabilities . I now believe that h e
was updating my profile, and especially sizing up my abilities to survive in environments most North Americans would find hostile .
We spent a couple of days together in Ecuador, and afterwar d

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An Economic Hit Man Is Born 9

communicated by mail . He asked me to send him reports assessin g
Ecuador's economic prospects . I had a small portable typewriter ,
loved to write, and was quite happy to comply with this request.
Over a period of about a year, I sent Einar at least fifteen long letters .
In these letters, I speculated on Ecuador's economic and politica l
future, and I appraised the growing frustration among the indigenou s
communities as they struggled to confront oil companies, international development agencies, and other attempts to draw them int o
the modern world .
When my Peace Corps tour was over, Einar invited me to a jo b
interview at MAIN headquarters in Boston . During our private meeting, he emphasized that MAIN's primary business was engineerin g
but that his biggest client, the World Bank, recently had begun insisting that he keep economists on staff to produce the critical economic forecasts used to determine the feasibility and magnitude o f
engineering projects. He confided that he had previously hired thre e
highly qualified economists with impeccable credentials — two wit h
master's degrees and one with a PhD . They had failed miserably .
"None of them," Einar said, "can handle the idea of producin g
economic forecasts in countries where reliable statistics aren't avail able." He went on to tell me that, in addition, all of them had foun d
it impossible to fulfill the terms of their contracts, which require d
them to travel to remote places in countries like Ecuador, Indonesia ,
Iran, and Egypt, to interview local leaders, and to provide persona l
assessments about the prospects for economic development i n
those regions . One had suffered a nervous breakdown in an isolate d
Panamanian village ; he was escorted by Panamanian police to th e
airport and put on a plane back to the United States .
"The letters you sent me indicate that you don't mind stickin g
your neck out, even when hard data isn't available . And given your
living conditions in Ecuador, I'm confident you can survive almos t
anywhere ." He told me that he already had fired one of those economists and was prepared to do the same with the other two, if I
accepted the job .
So it was that in January 1971 I was offered a position as an econ omist with MAIN. I had turned twenty-six — the magical age whe n
the draft board no longer wanted me . I consulted with Ann's family ;
they encouraged me to take the job, and I assumed this reflected Uncle Frank's attitude as well . I recalled him mentioning the possibility

I would end up working for a private firm . Nothing was ever state d
openly, but I had no doubt that my employment at MAIN was a con sequence of the arrangements Uncle Frank had made three years
earlier, in addition to my experiences in Ecuador and my willingnes s
to write about that country's economic and political situation .
My head reeled for several weeks, and I had a very swollen ego . I
had earned only a bachelor's degree from BU, which did not seem t o
warrant a position as an economist with such a lofty consulting company I knew that many of my BU classmates who had been rejecte d
by the draft and had gone on to earn MBAs and other graduate degrees would be overcome with jealousy I visualized myself as a dash ing secret agent, heading off to exotic lands, lounging beside hotel
swimming pools, surrounded by gorgeous bikini-clad women, martini in hand .
Although this was merely fantasy, I would discover that it held el ements of truth . Einar had hired me as an economist, but I was soo n
to learn that my real job went far beyond that, and that it was in fac t
closer to James Bond's than I ever could have guessed .

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10 Part I : 1963—1971

An Economic Hit Man Is Born 11

1S.

CHAPTER 2

"In for Life"

In legal parlance, MAIN would be called a closely held corporation ;
roughly 5 percent of its two thousand employees owned the company .
These were referred to as partners or associates, and their positio n
was coveted . Not only did the partners have power over everyon e
else, but also they made the big bucks . Discretion was their hallmark ;
they dealt with heads of state and other chief executive officers who
expect their consultants, like their attorneys and psychotherapists, t o
honor a strict code of absolute confidentiality . Talking with the pres s
was taboo. It simply was not tolerated. As a consequence, hardly anyone outside MAIN had ever heard of us, although many were familiar with our competitors, such as Arthur D . Little, Stone & Webster,
Brown & Root, Halliburton, and Bechtel .
I use the term competitors loosely, because in fact MAIN was in a
league by itself. The majority of our professional staff was engineers ,
yet we owned no equipment and never constructed so much as a
storage shed . Many MAINers were ex-military ; however, we did no t
contract with the Department of Defense or with any of the militar y
services. Our stock-in-trade was something so different from th e
norm that during my first months there even I could not figure ou t
what we did. I knew only that my first real assignment would be i n
Indonesia, and that I would be part of an eleven-man team sent t o
create a master energy plan for the island of Java .
I also knew that Einar and others who discussed the job with m e
were eager to convince me that Java's economy would boom, and
12

that if I wanted to distinguish myself as a good forecaster (and to
therefore be offered promotions), I would produce projections tha t
demonstrated as much .
"Right off the chart," Einar liked to say. He would glide his finger s
through the air and up over his head . "An economy that will soar like
a bird! "
Einar took frequent trips that usually lasted only two to thre e
days . No one talked much about them or seemed to know where h e
had gone. When he was in the office, he often invited me to sit wit h
him for a few minutes over coffee . He asked about Ann, our new
apartment, and the cat we had brought with us from Ecuador . I grew
bolder as I came to know him better, and I tried to learn more abou t
him and what I would be expected to do in my job . But I never received answers that satisfied me ; he was a master at turning conversations around . On one such occasion, he gave me a peculiar look .
"You needn't worry," he said . "We have high expectations for you .
I was in Washington recently . . ." His voice trailed off and he smile d
inscrutably . "In any case, you know we have a big project in Kuwait .
It'll be a while before you leave for Indonesia . I think you should use
some of your time to read up on Kuwait . The Boston Public Library
is a great resource, and we can get you passes to the MIT and Harvar d
libraries."
After that, I spent many hours in those libraries, especially in th e
BPL, which was located a few blocks away from the office and ver y
close to my Back Bay apartment . I became familiar with Kuwait as well
as with many books on economic statistics, published by the Unite d
Nations, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and the Worl d
Bank . I knew that I would be expected to produce econometric mod els for Indonesia and Java, and I decided that I might as well ge t
started by doing one for Kuwait .
However, my BS in business administration had not prepared m e
as an econometrician, so I spent a lot of time trying to figure out ho w
to go about it . I went so far as to enroll in a couple of courses on the
subject . In the process, I discovered that statistics can be manipulated to produce a large array of conclusions, including those substantiating the predilections of the analyst .
MAIN was a macho corporation . There were only four women
who held professional positions in 1971 . However, there were perhaps two hundred women divided between the cadres of persona l

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" In for Life"

13

secretaries — every vice president and department manager ha d
one — and the steno pool, which served the rest of us . I had becom e
accustomed to this gender bias, and I was therefore especially astounded by what happened one day in the BPL's reference section .
An attractive brunette woman came up and sat in a chair acros s
the table from me . In her dark green business suit, she looked ver y
sophisticated . I judged her to be several years my senior, but I trie d
to focus on not noticing her, on acting indifferent . After a few minutes, without a word, she slid an open book in my direction . It contained a table with information I had been searching for abou t
Kuwait — and a card with her name, Claudine Martin, and her title ,
t
Special Consultant to Chas. T. Main, Inc . I looked up into her sof
green eyes, and she extended her hand.
`"I've been asked to help in your training," she said . I could not be lieve this was happening to me .
Beginning the next day, we met in Claudine's Beacon Stree t
apartment, a few blocks from MAIN's Prudential Center headquarters. During our first hour together, she explained that my positio n
was an unusual one and that we needed to keep everything highl y
confidential . She told me that no one had given me specifics about
my job because no one was authorized to — except her . Then she informed me that her assignment was to mold me into an economi c
hit man .
The very name awakened old cloak-and-dagger dreams . I was
embarrassed by the nervous laughter I heard coming from me . She
smiled and assured me that humor was one of the reasons they use d
the term. "Who would take it seriously?" she asked .
I confessed ignorance about the role of economic hit men .
"You're not alone," she laughed . "We're a rare breed, in a dirty
business . No one can know about your involvement — not even you r
wife :' Then she turned serious . "I'll be very frank with you, teach yo u
all I can during the next weeks. Then you'll have to choose . Your decision is final. Once you're in, you're in for life ." After that, she seldom used the full name ; we were simply EHMs .
I know now what I did not then — that Claudine took full advantag e
of the personality weaknesses the NSA profile had disclosed abou t
me. I do not know who supplied her with the information — Einar, th e
NSA, MAIN's personnel department, or someone else — only that
she used it masterfully. Her approach, a combination of physical

seduction and verbal manipulation, was tailored specifically for me ,
and yet it fit within the standard operating procedures I have sinc e
seen used by a variety of businesses when the stakes are high and th e
pressure to close lucrative deals is great . She knew from the start
that I would not jeopardize my marriage by disclosing our clandestine activities . And she was brutally frank when it came to describing the shadowy side of things that would he expected of me .
I have no idea who paid her salary, although I have no reason t o
suspect it was not, as her business card implied, MAIN. At the time,
I was too naive, intimidated, and bedazzled to ask the questions tha t
today seem so obvious .
Claudine told me that there were two primary objectives of m y
work . First, I was to justify huge international loans that would funne l
money back to MAIN and other U.S . companies (such as Bechtel ,
Halliburton, Stone & Webster, and Brown & Root) through massiv e
engineering and construction projects . Second, I would work t o
bankrupt the countries that received those loans (after they had pai d
MAIN and the other U .S. contractors, of course) so that they woul d
be forever beholden to their creditors, and so they would presen t
easy targets when we needed favors, including military bases, U N
votes, or access to oil and other natural resources .
My job, she said, was to forecast the effects of investing billions o f
dollars in a country. Specifically, I would produce studies that projected economic growth twenty to twenty-five years into the futur e
and that evaluated the impacts of a variety of projects . For example ,
if a decision was made to lend a country $1 billion to persuade it s
leaders not to align with the Soviet Union, I would compare the benefits of investing that money in power plants with the benefits of in vesting in a new national railroad network or a telecommunication s
system . Or I might be told that the country was being offered the opportunity to receive a modern electric utility system, and it would be
up to me to demonstrate that such a system would result in sufficien t
economic growth to justify the loan . The critical factor, in every case ,
was gross national product . The project that resulted in the highes t
average annual growth of GNP won . If only one project was unde r
consideration, I would need to demonstrate that developing i t
would bring superior benefits to the GNP .
The unspoken aspect of every one of these projects was that the y
were intended to create large profits for the contractors, and to mak e

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Part I : 1963-1971

" In for Life"

15

a handful of wealthy and influential families in the receiving countries very happy; while assuring the long-term financial dependenc e
and therefore the political loyalty of governments around th e
world . The larger the loan, the better . The fact that the debt burde n
placed on a country would deprive its poorest citizens of health, education, and other social services for decades to come was not take n
into consideration .
Claudine and I openly discussed the deceptive nature of GNP . Fo r
instance, the growth of GNP may result even when it profits only on e
person, such as an individual who owns a utility company, and eve n
if the majority of the population is burdened with debt . The rich ge t
richer and the poor grow poorer . Yet, from a statistical standpoint,
this is recorded as economic progress .
Like U.S . citizens in general, most MAIN employees believed w e
were doing countries favors when we built power plants, highways ,
and ports . Our schools and our press have taught us to perceive all o f
our actions as altruistic . Over the years, I've repeatedly heard comments like, "If they're going to burn the U.S . flag and demonstrate
against our embassy, why don't we just get out of their damn country and let them wallow in their own poverty? "
People who say such things often hold diplomas certifying that
they are well educated . However, these people have no clue that th e
main reason we establish embassies around the world is to serve our
own interests, which during the last half of the twentieth century
meant turning the American republic into a global empire . Despit e
credentials, such people are as uneducated as those eighteenth century colonists who believed that the Indians fighting to defen d
their lands were servants of the devil.
Within several months, I would leave for the island of Java in th e
country of Indonesia, described at that time as the most heavily populated piece of real estate on the planet . Indonesia also happened t o
be an oil-rich Muslim nation and a hotbed of communist activity .
"It's the next domino after Vietnam," is the way Claudine put it .
"We must win the Indonesians over. If they join the Communis t
bloc, well . . ." She drew a finger across her throat and then smile d
sweetly. "Let's just say you need to come up with a very optimisti c
forecast of the economy, how it will mushroom after all the new powe r
plants and distribution lines are built . That will allow USAID an d
the international banks to justify the loans . You'll be well rewarded,

of course, and can move on to other projects in exotic places . The
world is your shopping cart ." She went on to warn me that my rol e
would be tough. "Experts at the banks will come after you. It's thei r
job to punch holes in your forecasts — that 's what they 're paid to do .
Making you look bad makes them look good ."
One day I reminded Claudine that the MAIN team being sent t o
Java included ten other men . I asked if they all were receiving th e
same type of training as me . She assured me they were not .
"They're engineers," she said. "They design power plants, trans mission and distribution lines, and seaports and roads to bring i n
the fuel . You're the one who predicts the future . Your forecasts determine the magnitude of the systems they design — and the size of
the loans. You see, you're the key."
Every time I walked away from Claudine's apartment, I wondere d
whether I was doing the right thing . Somewhere in my heart, I suspected I was not. But the frustrations of my past haunted me . MAI N
seemed to offer everything my life had lacked, and yet I kept askin g
myself if Tom Paine would have approved . In the end, I convinced
myself that by learning more, by experiencing it, I could better ex pose it later —the old "working from the inside" justification .
When I shared this idea with Claudine, she gave me a perplexe d
look. "Don't be ridiculous . Once you're in, you can never get out . You
must decide for yourself, before you get in any deeper ." I understood
her, and what she said frightened me . After I left, I strolled down
Commonwealth Avenue, turned onto Dartmouth Street, and assure d
myself that I was the exception .
One afternoon some months later, Claudine and I sat in a window settee watching the snow fall on Beacon Street. `We're a small,
exclusive club," she said. "We're paid — well paid — to cheat countrie s
around the globe out of billions of dollars . A large part of your job i s
to encourage world leaders to become part of a vast network tha t
promotes U.S . commercial interests . In the end, those leaders be come ensnared in a web of debt that ensures their loyalty . We ca n
draw on them whenever we desire — to satisfy our political, economic ,
or military needs . In turn, these leaders bolster their political positions by bringing industrial parks, power plants, and airports to
their people . Meanwhile, the owners of U.S. engineering and construction companies become very wealthy."
That afternoon, in the idyllic setting of Claudine's apartment ,

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"In for Life"

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relaxing in the window while snow swirled around outside, I learne d
the history of the profession I was about to enter . Claudine described
how throughout most of history, empires were built largely throug h
military force or the threat of it . But with the end of World War II ,
the emergence of the Soviet Union, and the specter of nuclear holocaust, the military solution became just too risky.
The decisive moment occurred in 1951, when Iran rebelled agains t
a British oil company that was exploiting Iranian natural resource s
and its people . The company was the forerunner of British Petroleum ,
today's BP. In response, the highly popular, democratically electe d
Iranian prime minister (and TIME magazine's Man of the Year in
1951), Mohammad Mossadegh, nationalized all Iranian petroleu m
assets . An outraged England sought the help of her World War I I
ally, the United States . However, both countries feared that military
retaliation would provoke the Soviet Union into taking action on be half of Iran .
Instead of sending in the Marines, therefore, Washington dispatched CIA agent Kermit Roosevelt (Theodore's grandson) . He performed brilliantly, winning people over through payoffs and threats .
He then enlisted them to organize a series of street riots and violent
demonstrations, which created the impression that Mossadegh was
both unpopular and inept . In the end, Mossadegh went down, an d
he spent the rest of his life under house arrest . The pro-America n
Mohammad Reza Shah became the unchallenged dictator. Kermit
Roosevelt had set the stage for a new profession, the one whose rank s
I was joining.'
Roosevelt's gambit reshaped Middle Eastern history even as it
rendered obsolete all the old strategies for empire building . It als o
coincided with the beginning of experiments in "limited nonnuclear
military actions," which ultimately resulted in U .S . humiliations in
Korea and Vietnam . By 1968, the year I interviewed with the NSA ,
it had become clear that if the United States wanted to realiz e
its dream of global empire (as envisioned by men like president s
Johnson and Nixon), it would have to employ strategies modeled on
Roosevelt's Iranian example. This was the only way to beat the
Soviets without the threat of nuclear war.
There was one problem, however. Kermit Roosevelt was a CIA
employee. Had he been caught, the consequences would have bee n
dire . He had orchestrated the first U.S. operation to overthrow a
18

Part I : 1963—1971

foreign government, and it was likely that many more would follow,
but it was important to find an approach that would not directly implicate Washington .
Fortunately for the strategists, the 1960s also witnessed anothe r
type of revolution : the empowerment of international corporations
and of multinational organizations such as the World Bank and th e
IMF. The latter were financed primarily by the United States an d
our sister empire builders in Europe . A symbiotic relationship developed between governments, corporations, and multinational organizations .
By the time I enrolled in BU's business school, a solution to th e
Roosevelt-as-CIA-agent problem had already been worked out . U.S.
intelligence agencies — including the NSA — would identify prospective EHMs, who could then be hired by international corporations .
These EHMs would never be paid by the government ; instead, they
would draw their salaries from the private sector . As a result, thei r
dirty work, if exposed, would be chalked up to corporate gree d
rather than to government policy. In addition, the corporations that
hired them, although paid by government agencies and their multi national banking counterparts (with taxpayer money), would be insulated from congressional oversight and public scrutiny, shielde d
by a growing body of legal initiatives, including trademark, interna tional trade, and Freedom of Information laws . 2
"So you see," Claudine concluded, "we are just the next generatio n
in a proud tradition that began back when you were in first grade ."

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ana

CHAPTER

3

Indonesia : Lessons for an EH M

In addition to learning about my new career, I also spent time read ing books about Indonesia . "The more you know about a country before you get there, the easier your job will be," Claudine had advised .
I took her words to heart.
When Columbus set sail in 1492, he was trying to reach Indonesia,
known at the time as the Spice Islands. Throughout the colonial
era, it was considered a treasure worth far more than the Americas .
Java, with its rich fabrics, fabled spices, and opulent kingdoms, wa s
both the crown jewel and the scene of violent clashes between Span ish, Dutch, Portuguese, and British adventurers . The Netherlands
emerged triumphant in 1750, but even though the Dutch controlle d
Java, it took them more than 150 years to subdue the outer islands .
When the Japanese invaded Indonesia during World War II ,
Dutch forces offered little resistance . As a result, Indonesians, especially the Javanese, suffered terribly. Following the Japanese surrender ,
a charismatic leader named Sukarno emerged to declare independence. Four years of fighting finally ended on December 27, 1949 ,
when the Netherlands lowered its flag and returned sovereignty to a
people who had known nothing but struggle and domination for
more than three centuries. Sukarno became the new republic's first
president.
Ruling Indonesia, however, proved to be a greater challenge tha n
defeating the Dutch . Far from homogeneous, the archipelago o f
about 17,500 islands was a boiling pot of tribalism, divergent cultures,
20

dozens of languages and dialects, and ethnic groups who nurse d
centuries-old animosities . Conflicts were frequent and brutal, an d
Sukarno clamped down . He suspended parliament in 1960 and wa s
named president-for-life in 1963 . He formed close alliances wit h
Communist governments around the world, in exchange for militar y
equipment and training. He sent Russian-armed Indonesian troops
into neighboring Malaysia in an attempt to spread communism
throughout Southeast Asia and win the approval of the world's Social ist leaders .
Opposition built, and a coup was launched in 1965 . Sukarno es caped assassination only through the quick wits of his mistress .
Many of his top military officers and his closest associates were les s
lucky. The events were reminiscent of those in Iran in 1953 . In the
end, the Communist Party was held responsible — especially thos e
factions aligned with China . In the Army-initiated massacres tha t
followed, an estimated three hundred thousand to five hundred thou sand people were killed . The head of the military, General Suharto ,
took over as president in 1968 . 1
By 1971, the United States' determination to seduce Indonesi a
away from communism was heightened because the outcome of th e
Vietnam War was looking very uncertain . President Nixon had begu n
a series of troop withdrawals in the summer of 1969, and U.S . strategy was taking on a more global perspective . The strategy focused o n
preventing a domino effect of one country after another falling unde r
Communist rule, and it focused on a couple of countries ; Indonesi a
was the key. MAIN'S electrification project was part of a comprehensive plan to ensure American dominance in Southeast Asia .
The premise of U.S . foreign policy was that Suharto would serv e
Washington in a manner similar to the shah of Iran . The Unite d
States also hoped the nation would serve as a model for other countries in the region . Washington based part of its strategy on th e
assumption that gains made in Indonesia might have positive repercussions throughout the Islamic world, particularly in the explosiv e
Middle East . And if that were not incentive enough, Indonesia ha d
oil. No one was certain about the magnitude or quality of its reserves ,
but oil company seismologists were exuberant over the possibilities .
As I pored over the books at the BPL, my excitement grew . I began
to imagine the adventures ahead. In working for MAIN, I would b e
trading the rugged Peace Corps lifestyle for a much more luxuriou s

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Indonesia : Lessons for an EHM 21

and glamorous one . My time with Claudine already represented th e
realization of one of my fantasies ; it seemed too good to be true . I felt
at least partially vindicated for serving the sentence at that all-boys '
prep school .
Something else was also happening in my life : Ann and I were
not getting along . I think she must have sensed that I was leadin g
two lives . I justified it as the logical result of the resentment I felt to ward her for forcing us to get married in the first place . Never mind
that she had nurtured and supported me through the challenges o f
our Peace Corps assignment in Ecuador ; I still saw her as a continuation of my pattern of giving in to my parents' whims . Of course, as
I look back on it, I'm sure my relationship with Claudine was a major factor. I could not tell Ann about this, but she sensed it. In an y
case, we decided to move into separate apartments .
One day in 1971, about a week before my scheduled departure fo r
Indonesia, I arrived at Claudine's place to find the small dining roo m
table set with an assortment of cheeses and breads, and there was a
fine bottle of Beaujolais . She toasted me .
"You've made it ." She smiled, but somehow it seemed less tha n
sincere . "You're now one of us ."
We chatted casually for half an hour or so ; then, as we were finishing off the wine, she gave me a look unlike any I had seen before .
"Never admit to anyone about our meetings," she said in a ster n
voice. "I won't forgive you if you do, ever, and I'll deny I ever me t
you ." She glared at me — perhaps the only time I felt threatened by
her — and then gave a cold laugh . "Talking about us would make life
dangerous for you ."
I was stunned . I felt terrible . But later, as I walked alone back t o
the Prudential Center, I had to admit to the cleverness of th e
scheme . The fact is that all our time together had been spent in he r
apartment . There was not a trace of evidence about our relationship ,
and no one at MAIN was implicated in any way . There was also part
of me that appreciated her honesty ; she had not deceived me the wa y
my parents had about Tilton and Middlebury.

22

Part I : 1963—1971

CHAPTER 4

Saving a Country from Communis m

I had a romanticized vision of Indonesia, the country where I was t o
live for the next three months . Some of the books I read feature d
photographs of beautiful women in brightly colored sarongs, exoti c
Balinese dancers, shamans blowing fire, and warriors paddling lon g
dugout canoes in emerald waters at the foot of smoking volcanoes .
Particularly striking was a series on the magnificent black-saile d
galleons of the infamous Bugi pirates, who still sailed the seas of th e
archipelago, and who had so terrorized early European sailors tha t
they returned home to warn their children, "Behave yourselves, o r
the Bugimen will get you ." Oh, how those pictures stirred my soul.
The history and legends of that country represent a cornucopia of
larger-than-life figures : wrathful gods, Komodo dragons, tribal sultans, and ancient tales that long before the birth of Christ had traveled across Asian mountains, through Persian deserts, and over th e
Mediterranean to embed themselves in the deepest realms of ou r
collective psyche. The very names of its fabled islands — Java, Suma tra, Borneo, Sulawesi — seduced the mind . Here was a land of mysticism, myth, and erotic beauty ; an elusive treasure sought but never
found by Columbus ; a princess wooed yet never possessed by Spain ,
by Holland, by Portugal, by Japan ; a fantasy and a dream .
My expectations were high, and I suppose they mirrored those o f
the great explorers . Like Columbus, though, I should have known t o
temper my fantasies . Perhaps I could have guessed that the beaco n
shines on a destiny that is not always the one we envision . Indonesia

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offered treasures, but it was not the chest of panaceas I had come t o
expect . In fact, my first days in Indonesia's steamy capital, Jakarta, i n
the summer of 1971, were shocking .
The beauty was certainly present . Gorgeous women sportin g
colorful sarongs . Lush gardens ablaze with tropical flowers . Exoti c
Balinese dancers . Bicycle cabs with fanciful, rainbow-colored scenes
painted on the sides of the high seats, where passengers reclined i n
front of the pedaling drivers . Dutch Colonial mansions and turrete d
mosques . But there was also an ugly, tragic side to the city . Lepers
holding out bloodied stumps instead of hands . Young girls offering
their bodies for a few coins . Once-splendid Dutch canals turned int o
cesspools . Cardboard hovels where entire families lived alon g
the trash-lined banks of black rivers . Blaring horns and chokin g
fumes . The beautiful and the ugly, the elegant and the vulgar, th e
spiritual and the profane . This was Jakarta, where the enticing scen t
of cloves and orchid blossoms battled the miasma of open sewers for
dominance.
I had seen poverty before . Some of my New Hampshire class mates lived in cold-water tarpaper shacks and arrived at schoo l
wearing thin jackets and frayed tennis shoes on subzero winter days ,
their unwashed bodies reeking of old sweat and manure . I had lived
in mud shacks with Andean peasants whose diet consisted almos t
entirely of dried corn and potatoes, and where it sometimes seeme d
that a newborn was as likely to die as to experience a birthday . I had
seen poverty, but nothing to prepare me for Jakarta .
Our team, of course, was quartered in the country's fanciest hotel,
the Hotel InterContinental Indonesia . Owned by Pan American Air ways, like the rest of the InterContinental chain scattered around th e
globe, it catered to the whims of wealthy foreigners, especially oil ex ecutives and their families . On the evening of our first day, our project manager Charlie Illingworth hosted a dinner for us in the elegan t
restaurant on the top floor.
Charlie was a connoisseur of war ; he devoted most of his fre e
time to reading history books and historical novels about great militar y
leaders and battles . He was the epitome of the pro-Vietnam War
armchair soldier. As usual, this night he was wearing khaki slack s
and a short-sleeved khaki shirt with military-style epaulettes .
After welcoming us, he lit up a cigar. "To the good life," he sighed ,
raising a glass of champagne .
24

Part

I : 1963—1971

We joined him . "To the good life ." Our glasses clinked .
Cigar smoke swirling around him, Charlie glanced about th e
room. "We will be well pampered here," he said, nodding his hea d
appreciatively. "The Indonesians will take very good care of us . As
will the U.S . Embassy people . But let's not forget that we have a mis sion to accomplish ." He looked down at a handful of note cards . "Yes ,
we're here to develop a master plan for the electrification of Java —
the most populated land in the world . But that's just the tip of th e
iceberg ."
His expression turned serious ; he reminded me of George C .
Scott playing General Patton, one of Charlie's heroes. "We are here to
accomplish nothing short of saving this country from the clutches o f
communism . As you know, Indonesia has a long and tragic history.
Now, at a time when it is poised to launch itself into the twentieth
century, it is tested once again . Our responsibility is to make sure tha t
Indonesia doesn't follow in the footsteps of its northern neighbors ,
Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos . An integrated electrical system is a
key element . That, more than any other single factor (with the possible exception of oil), will assure that capitalism and democracy rule .
`"Speaking of oil," he said . He took another puff on his cigar and
flipped past a couple of the note cards . "We all know how dependent
our own country is on oil . Indonesia can be a powerful ally to us i n
that regard . So, as you develop this master plan, please do everythin g
you can to make sure that the oil industry and all the others tha t
serve it—ports, pipelines, construction companies—get whateve r
they are likely to need in the way of electricity for the entire duratio n
of this twenty-five-year plan ."
He raised his eyes from his note cards and looked directly at me .
"Better to err on the high side than to underestimate. You don't want
the blood of Indonesian children — or our own — on your hands . Yo u
don't want them to live under the hammer and sickle or the Red fla g
of China! "
As I lay in my bed that night, high above the city, secure in th e
luxury of a first-class suite, an image of Claudine came to me . He r
discourses on foreign debt haunted me . I tried to comfort myself b y
recalling lessons learned in my macroeconomics courses at busines s
school . After all, I told myself, I am here to help Indonesia rise out o f
a medieval economy and take its place in the modern industria l
world. But I knew that in the morning I would look out my window ,

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across the opulence of the hotel's gardens and swimming pools, an d
see the hovels that fanned out for miles beyond . I would know that
babies were dying out there for lack of food and potable water, an d
that infants and adults alike were suffering from horrible disease s
and living in terrible conditions .
Tossing and turning in my bed, I found it impossible to deny tha t
Charlie and everyone else on our team were here for selfish reasons .
We were promoting U.S . foreign policy and corporate interests . We
were driven by greed rather than by any desire to make life better fo r
the vast majority of Indonesians . A word came to mind : corporatocracy. I was not sure whether I had heard it before or had just invented it, but it seemed to describe perfectly the new elite who had
made up their minds to attempt to rule the planet .
This was a close-knit fraternity of a few men with shared goals ,
and the fraternity's members moved easily and often between corporate boards and government positions . It struck me that the cur rent president of the World Bank, Robert McNamara, was a perfect
example. He had moved from a position as president of Ford Moto r
Company, to secretary of defense under presidents Kennedy an d
Johnson, and now occupied the top post at the world's most powerful financial institution .
I also realized that my college professors had not understood th e
true nature of macroeconomics : that in many cases helping an economy grow only makes those few people who sit atop the pyrami d
even richer, while it does nothing for those at the bottom except t o
push them even lower . Indeed, promoting capitalism often results in
a system that resembles medieval feudal societies . If any of my pro fessors knew this, they had not admitted it — probably because bi g
corporations, and the men who run them, fund colleges . Exposing
the truth would undoubtedly cost those professors their jobs—jus t
as such revelations could cost me mine .
These thoughts continued to disturb my sleep every night that I
spent at the Hotel InterContinental Indonesia . In the end, my primary defense was a highly personal one : I had fought my way out of
that New Hampshire town, the prep school, and the draft . Through
a combination of coincidences and hard work, I had earned a plac e
in the good life . I also took comfort in the fact that I was doing the
right thing in the eyes of my culture . I was on my way to becomin g
a successful and respected economist . I was doing what business
26

school had prepared me for. I was helping implement a development
model that was sanctioned by the best minds at the worl d's top think
tanks .
Nonetheless, in the middle of the night I often had to console my self with a promise that someday I would expose the truth . Then I
would read myself to sleep with Louis L' Amour novels about gun fighters in the Old West .

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Saving a Country from Communism

27

CHAPTER 5

Selling My Soul

Our eleven-man team spent six days in Jakarta registering at th e
U.S . Embassy, meeting various officials, organizing ourselves, and
relaxing around the pool . The number of Americans who lived at th e
Hotel InterContinental amazed me . I took great pleasure in watching the beautiful young women — wives of U .S. oil and construction
company executives—who passed their days at the pool and their
evenings in the half dozen posh restaurants in and around the hotel .
Then Charlie moved our team to the mountain city of Bandung .
The climate was milder, the poverty less obvious, and the distractions fewer. We were given a government guesthouse known as th e
Wisma, complete with a manager, a cook, a gardener, and a staff o f
servants . Built during the Dutch colonial period, the Wisma was a
haven. Its spacious veranda faced tea plantations that flowed acros s
rolling hills and up the slopes of Java's volcanic mountains . In addi tion to housing, we were provided with eleven Toyota off-road vehi cles, each with a driver and translator. Finally, we were presente d
with memberships to the exclusive Bandung Golf and Racket Club ,
and we were housed in a suite of offices at the local headquarters o f
Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara (PLN), the government-owne d
electric utility company.
For me, the first several days in Bandung involved a series o f
meetings with Charlie and Howard Parker. Howard was in his seventies and was the retired chief load forecaster for the New England

28

Electric System . Now he was responsible for forecasting the amoun t
of energy and generating capacity (the load) the island of Java woul d
need over the next twenty-five years, as well as for breaking thi s
down into city and regional forecasts . Since electric demand is highl y
correlated with economic growth, his forecasts depended on my eco nomic projections . The rest of our team would develop the maste r
plan around these forecasts, locating and designing power plants ,
transmission and distribution lines, and fuel transportation system s
in a manner that would satisfy our projections as efficiently as pos sible. During our meetings, Charlie continually emphasized the im portance of my job, and he badgered me about the need to be ver y
optimistic in my forecasts . Claudine had been right ; I was the key to
the entire master plan.
"The first few weeks here," Charlie explained, "are about dat a
collection."
He, Howard, and I were seated in big rattan chairs in Charlie's
plush private office . The walls were decorated with batik tapestrie s
depicting epic tales from the ancient Hindu texts of the Ramayana .
Charlie puffed on a fat cigar.
"The engineers will put together a detailed picture of the curren t
electric system, port capacities, roads, railroads, all those sorts o f
things." He pointed his cigar at me . "You gotta act fast. By the end o f
month one, Howard'll need to get a pretty good idea about the ful l
extent of the economic miracles that'll happen when we get the ne w
grid online . By the end of the second month, he'll need more detail s
— broken down into regions . The last month will be about filling in
the gaps . That'll be critical . All of us will put our heads togethe r
then. So, before we leave we gotta be absolutely certain we have al l
the information we'll need . Home for Thanksgiving, that's my motto .
There's no coming back ."
Howard appeared to be an amiable, grandfatherly type, but h e
was actually a bitter old man who felt cheated by life . He had neve r
reached the pinnacle of the New England Electric System and h e
deeply resented it. "Passed over," he told me repeatedly, "because I
refused to buy the company line ." He had been forced into retirement and then, unable to tolerate staying at home with his wife, had
accepted a consulting job with MAIN. This was his second assignment, and I had been warned by both Einar and Charlie to watc h

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out for him . They described him with words like stubborn, mean,
and vindictive .
As it turned out, Howard was one of my wisest teachers, although
not one I was ready to accept at the time . He had never received the
type of training Claudine had given me . I suppose they considere d
him too old, or perhaps too stubborn. Or maybe they figured he was
only in it for the short run, until they could lure in a more pliabl e
full-timer like me . In any case, from their standpoint, he turned ou t
to be a problem . Howard clearly saw the situation and the role the y
wanted him to play, and he was determined not to be a pawn . All th e
adjectives Einar and Charlie had used to describe him were appropriate, but at least some of his stubbornness grew out of his persona l
commitment not to be their servant . I doubt he had ever heard th e
term economic hit man, but he knew they intended to use him t o
promote a form of imperialism he could not accept.
He took me aside after one of our meetings with Charlie . He wore
a hearing aid and fiddled with the little box under his shirt that con trolled its volume .
"This is between you and me," Howard said in a hushed voice . We
were standing at the window in the office we shared, looking ou t
at the stagnant canal that wound past the PLN building . A youn g
woman was bathing in its foul waters, attempting to retain som e
semblance of modesty by loosely draping a sarong around her other wise naked body . "They'll try to convince you that this economy is go ing to skyrocket," he said. "Charlie's ruthless . Don't let him get to you ."
His words gave me a sinking feeling, but also a desire to convinc e
him that Charlie was right ; after all, my career depended on pleasin g
my MAIN bosses .
"Surely this economy will boom," I said, my eyes drawn to th e
woman in the canal . "Just look at what's happening ."
"So there you are," he muttered, apparently unaware of the scen e
in front of us . "You've already bought their line, have you? "
A movement up the canal caught my attention . An elderly man
had descended the bank, dropped his pants, and squatted at th e
edge of the water to answer nature's call . The young woman saw him
but was undeterred ; she continued bathing. I turned away from th e
window and looked directly at Howard .
"I've been around," I said . "I may be young, but I just got back

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Part I : 1963—1971

from three years in South America . I've seen what can happen whe n
oil is discovered . Things change fast."
"Oh, I've been around too," he said mockingly. "A great many
years. I'll tell you something, young man . I do n't give a damn for your
oil discoveries and all that. I forecasted electric loads all my life —
during the Depression, World War II, times of bust and boom . I've
seen what Route 128's so-called Massachusetts Miracle did fo r
Boston . And I can say for sure that no electric load ever grew b y
more than 7 to 9 percent a year for any sustained period . And that's
in the best of times . Six percent is more reasonable ."
I stared at him . Part of me suspected he was right, but I felt defensive. I knew I had to convince him, because my own conscienc e
cried out for justification .
"Howard, this isn't Boston . This is a country where, until now, n o
one could even get electricity. Things are different here ."
He turned on his heel and waved his hand as though he coul d
brush me away.
"Go ahead," he snarled. "Sell out . I don't give a damn what yo u
come up with ." He jerked his chair from behind his desk and fell int o
it. "I'll make my electricity forecast based on what I believe, not som e
pie-in-the-sky economic study." He picked up his pencil and starte d
to scribble on a pad of paper.
It was a challenge I could not ignore . I went and stood in front of
his desk .
"You'll look pretty stupid if I come up with what everyone expect s
— a boom to rival the California gold rush — and you forecast electricity growth at a rate comparable to Boston in the 1960s "
He slammed the pencil down and glared at me . "Unconscionable !
That's what it is . You — all of you — " he waved his arms at the office s
beyond our walls, "you've sold your souls to the devil . You're in it fo r
the money. Now," he feigned a smile and reached under his shirt ,
"I'm turning off my hearing aid and going back to work ."
It shook me to the core . I stomped out of the room and heade d
for Charlie's office . Halfway there, I stopped, uncertain about what I
intended to accomplish . Instead, I turned and walked down the stairs ,
out the door, into the afternoon sunlight . The young woman was
climbing out of the canal, her sarong wrapped tightly about he r
body. The elderly man had disappeared . Several boys played in th e

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31

canal, splashing and shouting at each other . An older woman was
standing knee-deep in the water, brushing her teeth ; another was
scrubbing clothes .
A huge lump grew in my throat . I sat down on a slab of broke n
concrete, trying to disregard the pungent odor from the canal . I
fought hard to hold back the tears ; I needed to figure out why I fel t
so miserable .
You're in it for the money . I heard Howard's words, over and over .
He had struck a raw nerve .
The little boys continued to splash each other, their gleeful voice s
filling the air. I wondered what I could do . What would it take to make
me carefree like them? The question tormented me as I sat ther e
watching them cavort in their blissful innocence, apparently un aware of the risk they took by playing in that fetid water . An elderly,
hunchbacked man with a gnarled cane hobbled along the ban k
above the canal . He stopped and watched the boys, and his fac e
broke into a toothless grin .
Perhaps I could confide in Howard ; maybe together we woul d
arrive at a solution . I immediately felt a sense of relief. I picked up a
little stone and threw it into the canal . As the ripples faded, however ,
so did my euphoria. I knew I could do no such thing . Howard wa s
old and bitter . He had already passed up opportunities to advanc e
his own career . Surely, he would not buckle now. I was young, just
starting out, and certainly did not want to end up like him .
Staring into the water of that putrid canal, I once again saw images of the New Hampshire prep school on the hill, where I ha d
spent vacations alone while the other boys went off to their debutante balls . Slowly the sorry fact settled in . Once again, there was n o
one I could talk to.
That night I lay in bed, thinking for a long time about the peopl e
in my life — Howard, Charlie, Claudine, Ann, Einar, Uncle Frank —
wondering what my life would be like if I had never met them .
Where would I be living? Not Indonesia, that was for sure . I wondered
also about my future, about where I was headed . I pondered the decision confronting me . Charlie had made it clear that he expecte d
Howard and me to come up with growth rates of at least 17 percent
per annum . What kind of forecast would I produce?
Suddenly a thought came to me that soothed my soul . Why had it
not occurred to me before? The decision was not mine at all . Howard
32

Part I : 1963—1971

had said that he would do what he considered right, regardless of m y
conclusions . I could please my bosses with a high economic forecast
and he would make his own decision ; my work would have no effec t
on the master plan . People kept emphasizing the importance of m y
role, but they were wrong . A great burden had been lifted . I fell int o
a deep sleep .
A few days later, Howard was taken ill with a severe amoebi c
attack. We rushed him to a Catholic missionary hospital . The doctors prescribed medication and strongly recommended that he
return immediately to the United States . Howard assured us that h e
already had all the data he needed and could easily complete th e
load forecast from Boston . His parting words to me were a reiteration of his earlier warning .
"No need to cook the numbers," he said . "I'll not be part of that
scam, no matter what you say about the miracles of economi c
growth! "

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PART I I : 1971-1975

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CHAPTER 6

My Role as Inquisito r

Our contracts with the Indonesian government, the Asian Development Bank, and USAID required that someone on our team visit all
the major population centers in the area covered by the master plan . I
was designated to fulfill this condition . As Charlie put it, "You survived
the Amazon ; you know how to handle bugs, snakes, and bad water ."
Along with a driver and translator, I visited many beautiful place s
and stayed in some pretty dismal lodgings . I met with local business
and political leaders and listened to their opinions about the prospects for economic growth . However, I found most of them reluctan t
to share information with me . They seemed intimidated by my presence. Typically, they told me that I would have to check with thei r
bosses, with government agencies, or with corporate headquarters i n
Jakarta . I sometimes suspected some sort of conspiracy was directe d
at me .
These trips were usually short, not more than two or three days .
In between, I returned to the Wisma in Bandung. The woman wh o
managed it had a son a few years younger than me . His name wa s
Rasmon, but to everyone except his mother he was Rasy . A student
of economics at a local university, he immediately took an interest i n
my work . In fact, I suspected that at some point he would approac h
me for a job . He also began to teach me Bahasa Indonesia .
Creating an easy-to-learn language had been President Sukarno' s
highest priority after Indonesia won its independence from Holland .

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Over 350 languages and dialects are spoken throughout the archipelago,' and Sukarno realized that his country needed a commo n
vocabulary in order to unite people from the many islands and cultures. He recruited an international team of linguists, and Bahas a
Indonesia was the highly successful result . Based on Malay, it avoid s
many of the tense changes, irregular verbs, and other complication s
that characterize most languages . By the early 1970s, the majority o f
Indonesians spoke it, although they continued to rely on Javanes e
and other local dialects within their own communities . Rasy was a
great teacher with a wonderful sense of humor, and compared t o
learning Shuar or even Spanish, Bahasa was easy .
Rasv owned a motor scooter and took it upon himself to intro duce me to his city and people . "I'll show you a side of Indonesia you
haven't seen," he promised one evening, and urged me to hop o n
behind him .
We passed shadow-puppet shows, musicians playing traditiona l
instruments, fire-blowers, jugglers, and street vendors selling ever y
imaginable ware, from contraband American cassettes to rare indige nous artifacts . Finally, we ended up at a tiny coffeehouse populate d
by young men and women whose clothes, hats, and hairstyles woul d
have been right in fashion at a Beatles concert in the late 1960s ;
however, everyone was distinctly Indonesian . Rasy introduced me to
a group seated around a table and we sat down .
They all spoke English, with varying degrees of fluency, but they
appreciated and encouraged my attempts at Bahasa . They talke d
about this openly and asked me why Americans never learned thei r
language . I had no answer. Nor could I explain why I was the onl y
American or European in this part of the city, even though you coul d
always find plenty of us at the Golf and Racket Club, the pos h
restaurants, the movie theaters, and the upscale supermarkets .
It was a night I shall always remember. Rasy and his friends
treated me as one of their own . I enjoyed a sense of euphoria from
being there, sharing their city, food, and music, smelling the clov e
cigarettes and other aromas that were part of their lives, joking an d
laughing with them. It was like the Peace Corps all over again, an d
I found myself wondering why I had thought that I wanted to trave l
first class and separate myself from people like this . As the nigh t
wore on, they became increasingly interested in learning my thoughts

about their country and about the war my country was fighting i n
Vietnam. Every one of them was horrified by what they referred to a s
"the illegal invasion," and they were relieved to discover I share d
their feelings .
By the time Rasy and I returned to the guesthouse it was late an d
the place was dark. I thanked him profusely for inviting me into hi s
world : he thanked me for opening up to his friends . We promised to
do it again, hugged, and headed off to our respective rooms .
That experience with Rasy whetted my appetite for spending mor e
time away from the MAIN team. The next morning, I had a meeting
with Charlie and told him I was becoming frustrated trying to obtai n
information from local people . In addition, most of the statistics I
needed for developing economic forecasts could only be found a t
government offices in Jakarta . Charlie and I agreed that I woul d
need to spend one to two weeks in Jakarta .
He expressed sympathy for me, having to abandon Bandung fo r
the steaming metropolis, and I professed to detest the idea . Secretly,
however, I was excited by the opportunity to have some time t o
myself, to explore Jakarta and to live at the elegant Hotel InterContinental Indonesia . Once in Jakarta, however, I discovered that I
now viewed life from a different perspective . The night spent wit h
Rasy and the young Indonesians, as well as my travels around th e
country, had changed me . I found that I saw my fellow Americans i n
a different light. The young wives seemed not quite so beautiful . Th e
chain-link fence around the pool and the steel bars outside the win dows on the lower floors, which I had barely noticed before, no w
took on an ominous appearance. The food in the hotel's elegant
restaurants seemed insipid .
I noticed something else too . During my meetings with political
and business leaders, I became aware of subtleties in the way the y
treated me. I had not perceived it before, but now I saw that many o f
them resented my presence . For example, when they introduced m e
to each other, they often used Bahasa terms that according to m y
dictionary translated to inquisitor and interrogator . I purposely neglected disclosing my knowledge of their language — even my translator knew only that I could recite a few stock phrases — and I
purchased a good Bahasa/English dictionary, which I often use d
after leaving them.

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Part II : 1971—1975

My Role as

Inquisitor

39

Were these addresses just coincidences of language? Misinterpretations in my dictionary? I tried to convince myself they were .
Yet, the more time I spent with these men, the more convinced I became that I was an intruder, that an order to cooperate had come
down from someone, and that they had little choice but to comply . I
had no idea whether a government official, a banker, a general, o r
the U.S. Embassy had sent the order. All I knew was that although
they invited me into their offices, offered me tea, politely answere d
my questions, and in every overt manner seemed to welcome my
presence, beneath the surface there was a shadow of resignation and
rancor.
It made me wonder, too, about their answers to my questions and
about the validity of their data . For instance, I could never just walk
into an office with my translator and meet with someone ; we first
had to set up an appointment . In itself, this would not have seeme d
so strange, except that doing so was outrageously time consuming .
Since the phones seldom worked, we had to drive through the traffic-choked streets, which were laid out in such a contorted manne r
that it could take an hour to reach a building only blocks away . Once
there, we were asked to fill out several forms . Eventually, a male secretary would appear. Politely— always with the courteous smile for
which the Javanese are famous—he would question me about th e
types of information I desired, and then he would establish a tim e
for the meeting .
Without exception, the scheduled appointment was at least several days away, and when the meeting finally occurred I was hande d
a folder of prepared materials . The industry owners gave me five and ten-year plans, the bankers had charts and graphs, and the gov ernment officials provided lists of projects that were in the process of
leaving the drawing boards to become engines of economic growth.
Everything these captains of commerce and government provided ,
and all they said during the interviews, indicated that Java wa s
poised for perhaps the biggest boom any economy had ever enjoyed .
No one — not a single person — ever questioned this premise or gave
me any negative information .
As I headed back to Bandung, though, I found myself wondering
about all these experiences ; something was deeply disturbing . It occurred to me that everything I was doing in Indonesia was more lik e

40

Part 11 : 1971—1975

a game than reality. It was as though we were playing a game of poker .
We kept our cards hidden . We could not trust each other or count on
the reliability of the information we shared . Yet, this game was
deadly serious, and its outcome would impact millions of lives fo r
decades to come .

is
4

1

I

II

1

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CHAPTER 7

Civilization

on

Trial

"I'm taking you to a dalang," Rasy beamed . "You know, the famou s
Indonesian puppet masters ." He was obviously pleased to have m e
back in Bandung. "There's a very important one in town tonight :'
He drove me on his scooter through parts of his city I did no t
know existed, through sections filled with traditional Javanes e
lcampong houses, which looked like a poor person's version of tin y
tile-roofed temples . Gone were the stately Dutch Colonial mansion s
and office buildings I had grown to expect . The people were obviously poor, yet they bore themsel ves with great pride . They wore
threadbare but clean batik sarongs, brightly colored blouses, and
wide-brimmed straw hats . Everywhere we went we were greete d
with smiles and laughter. When we stopped, children rushed up to
touch me and feel the fabric of my jeans . One little girl stuck a fragrant frangipani blossom in my hair.
We parked the scooter near a sidewalk theater where several hundred people were gathered, some standing, others sitting in portabl e
chairs . The night was clear and beautiful . Although we were in th e
heart of the oldest section of Bandung, there were no streetlights, s o
the stars sparkled over our heads . The air was filled with the aroma s
of wood fires, peanuts, and cloves .
Rasy disappeared into the crowd and soon returned with many o f
the young people I had met at the coffeehouse . They offered me ho t
tea, little cakes, and sate, tiny bits of meat cooked in peanut oil . I
must have hesitated before accepting the latter, because one of the
42

women pointed at a small fire. "Very fresh meat," she laughed. "Just
cooked."
Then the music started—the hauntingly magical sounds of th e
garnalong, an instrument that conjures images of temple bells .
"The dalang plays all the music by himself," Rasy whispered . "He
also works all the puppets and speaks their voices, several languages .
We'll translate for you ."
It was a remarkable performance, combining traditional legend s
with current events . I would later learn that the dalang is a shama n
who does his work in trance . He had over a hundred puppets and h e
spoke for each in a different voice . It was a night I will never forget ,
and one that has influenced the rest of my life .
After completing a classic selection from the ancient texts of th e
Ramayana, the dalang produced a puppet of Richard Nixon, complet e
with the distinctive long nose and sagging jowls . The U.S. president
was dressed like Uncle Sam, in a stars-and-stripes top hat and tails .
He was accompanied by another puppet, which wore a three-piec e
pin-striped suit . The second puppet carried in one hand a bucke t
decorated with dollar signs. He used his free hand to wave an American flag over Nixon's head in the manner of a slave fanning a master .
A map of the Middle and Far East appeared behind the two, th e
various countries hanging from hooks in their respective positions .
Nixon immediately approached the map, lifted Vietnam off its hook ,
and thrust it to his mouth . He shouted something that was translated as, "Bitter! Rubbish. We don't need any more of this!" Then h e
tossed it into the bucket and proceeded to do the same with othe r
countries .
I was surprised, however, to see that his next selections did no t
include the domino nations of Southeast Asia. Rather, they were al l
Middle Eastern countries — Palestine, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq ,
Syria, and Iran . After that, he turned to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Each time, the Nixon doll screamed out some epithet before drop ping the country into his bucket, and in every instance, his vituperative words were anti-Islamic : "Muslim dogs," "Mohammed's monsters,"
and "Islamic devils ."
The crowd became very excited, the tension mounting with eac h
new addition to the bucket . They seemed torn between fits of laughter,
shock, and rage. At times, I sensed they took offense at the puppeteer' s
language . I also felt intimidated ; I stood out in this crowd, talle r

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than the rest, and I worried that they might direct their anger at me .
Then Nixon said something that made my scalp tingle when Ras y
translated it .
"Give this one to the World Bank . See what it can do to make u s
some money off Indonesia." He lifted Indonesia from the map and
moved to drop it into the bucket, but just at that moment anothe r
puppet leaped out of the shadows . This puppet represented an Indonesian man, dressed in batik shirt and khaki slacks, and he wor e
a sign with his name clearly printed on it .
"A popular Bandung politician," Rasy explained .
This puppet literally flew between Nixon and Bucket Man an d
held up his hand .
"Stop!" he shouted . "Indonesia is sovereign ."
The crowd burst into applause . Then Bucket Man lifted his flag
and thrust it like a spear into the Indonesian, who staggered an d
died a most dramatic death. The audience members booed, hooted ,
screamed, and shook their fists . Nixon and Bucket Man stood there,
looking out at us . They bowed and left the stage .
"I think I should go," I said to Rasy.
He placed a hand protectively around my shoulder. "It's okay," h e
said. "They have nothing against you personally." I wasn't so sure .
Later we all retired to the coffeehouse. Rasy and the others assured me that they had not been informed ahead of time about the
Nixon-World Bank skit . "You never know what to expect from tha t
puppeteer," one of the young men observed .
I wondered aloud whether this had been staged in my honor.
Someone laughed and said I had a very big ego . "Typical of Americans," he added, patting my back congenially.
"Indonesians are very conscious of politics," the man in the chai r
beside me said . "Don't Americans go to shows like this? "
A beautiful woman, an English major at the university, sat acros s
the table from me . "But you do work for the World Bank, don't you? "
she asked .
I told her that my current assignment was for the Asian Development Bank and the United States Agency for Internationa l
Development.
'Aren't they really all the same?" She didn't wait for an answer.
"Isn't it like the play tonight showed? Doesn't your government look

44

Part II : 1971—1975

at Indonesia and other countries as though we are just a bunch of . . "
She searched for the word .
"Grapes," one of her friends coached.
"Exactly. A bunch of grapes . You can pick and choose . Keep England. Eat China. And throw away Indonesia ."
'After you've taken all our oil," another woman added.
I tried to defend myself but was not at all up to the task . I wanted
to take pride in the fact that I had come to this part of town and ha d
stayed to watch the entire anti-U .S. performance, which I might
have construed as a personal assault . I wanted them to see the
courage of what I had done, to know that I was the only member o f
my team who bothered to learn Bahasa or had any desire to take i n
their culture, and to point out that I was the sole foreigner attendin g
this production . But I decided it would be more prudent not to mention any of this . Instead, I tried to refocus the conversation. I asked
them why they thought the dalang had singled out Muslim countries, except for Vietnam .
The beautiful English major laughed at this . "Because that's the
plan."
"Vietnam is just a holding action," one of the men interjected ,
"like Holland was for the Nazis . A stepping-stone ."
"The real target," the woman continued, "is the Muslim world ."
I could not let this go unanswered . "Surely," I protested, "you can't
believe that the United States is anti-Islamic "
"Oh no?" she asked . "Since when? You need to read one of you r
own historians — a Brit named Toynbee . Back in the fifties he predicted that the real war in the next century would not be betwee n
Communists and capitalists, but between Christians and Muslims ."
`Arnold Toynbee said that?" I was stunned .
"Yes . Read Civilization on Trial and The World and the West."
"But why should there be such animosity between Muslims an d
Christians?" I asked .
Looks were exchanged around the table . They appeared to find it
hard to believe that I could ask such a foolish question .
"Because," she said slowly, as though addressing someone slowwitted or hard of hearing, "the West — especially its leader, the U .S .
— is determined to take control of all the world, to become the greatest empire in history. It has already gotten very close to succeeding .

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The Soviet Union currently stands in its way, but the Soviets will no t
endure . Toynbee could see that . They have no religion, no faith, no
substance behind their ideology. History demonstrates that faith —
soul, a belief in higher powers — is essential . We Muslims have it . We
have it more than anyone else in the world, even more than th e
Christians . So we wait . We grow strong."
"We will take our time," one of the men chimed in, "and then lik e
a snake we will strike ."
"What a horrible thought!" I could barely contain myself "What
can we do to change this?"
The English major looked me directly in the eyes . "Stop being so
greedy," she said, "and so selfish . Realize that there is more to th e
world than your big houses and fancy stores . People are starving an d
you worry about oil for your cars . Babies are dying of thirst and yo u
search the fashion magazines for the latest styles . Nations like ours
are drowning in poverty, but your people don't even hear our cries
for help . You shut your ears to the voices of those who try to tell yo u
these things . You label them radicals or Communists . You must ope n
your hearts to the poor and downtrodden, instead of driving the m
further into poverty and servitude . There's not much time left . If yo u
don't change, you're doomed ."
Several days later the popular Bandung politician, whose puppe t
stood up to Nixon and was impaled by Bucket Man, was struck an d
killed by a hit-and-run driver.

46

Part II : 1971—1975

CHAPTER 8

Jesus, Seen Differentl y

The memory of that dalang stuck with me. So did the words of the
beautiful English major . That night in Bandung catapulted me to a
new level of thinking and feeling . While I had not exactly ignore d
the implications of what we were doing in Indonesia, my reaction s
had been ruled by emotions, and I usually had been able to calm m y
feelings by calling on reason, on the example of history, and on th e
biological imperative. I had justified our involvement as part of th e
human condition, convincing myself that Einar, Charlie, and the res t
of us were simply acting as men always have : taking care of ourselves
and our families .
My discussion with those young Indonesians, however, forced m e
to see another aspect of the issue . Through their eyes, I realized that
a selfish approach to foreign policy does not serve or protect futur e
generations anywhere . It is myopic, like the annual reports of th e
corporations and the election strategies of the politicians who formulate that foreign policy.
As it turned out, the data I needed for my economic forecasts
required frequent visits to Jakarta . I took advantage of my tim e
alone there to ponder these matters and to write about them in a
journal . I wandered the streets of that city, handed money to beggars ,
and attempted to engage lepers, prostitutes, and street urchins i n
conversation .
Meanwhile, I pondered the nature of foreign aid, and I considered the legitimate role that developed countries (DCs, in World

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Bank jargon) might play in helping alleviate poverty and misery in
less-developed countries (LDCs) . I began to wonder when foreig n
aid is genuine and when it is only greedy and self-serving . Indeed, I
began to question whether such aid is ever altruistic, and if not ,
whether that could be changed . I was certain that countries like my
own should take decisive action to help the sick and starving of th e
world, but I was equally certain that this was seldom — if ever —
the prime motivation for our intervention .
I kept coming back to one main question : if the objective of foreign aid is imperialism, is that so wrong? I often found myself envy ing people like Charlie who believed so strongly in our system tha t
they wanted to force it on the rest of the world . I doubted whethe r
limited resources would allow the whole world to live the opulent
life of the United States, when even the United States had millions o f
citizens living in poverty. In addition, it wasn't entirely clear to me tha t
people in other nations actually want to live like us . Our own statis tics about violence, depression, drug abuse, divorce, and crime indicated that although ours was one of the wealthiest societies i n
history, it may also be one of the least happy societies . Why would we
want others to emulate us ?
Perhaps Claudine had warned me of all this . I was no longer sur e
what it was she had been trying to tell me . In any case, intellectual
arguments aside, it had now become painfully clear that my days of
innocence were gone. I wrote in my journal :
Is anyone in the U.S. innocent? Although those at th e
very pinnacle of the economic pyramid gain the most ,
millions of us depend — either directly or indirectly—o n
the exploitation of the LDCs for our livelihoods . The
resources and cheap labor that feed nearly all our businesses come from places like Indonesia, and very littl e
ever makes its way back . The loans of foreign aid ensur e
that today's children and their grandchildren will be hel d
hostage . They will have to allow our corporations to ravage
their natural resources and will have to forego education ,
health, and other social services merely to pay us back .
The fact that our own companies already received mos t
of this money to build the power plants, airports, and

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Part II : 1971—1975

industrial parks does not factor into this formula . Does the
excuse that most Americans are unaware of this constitut e
innocence? Uninformed and intentionally misinformed ,
yes — but innocent ?
Of course, I had to face the fact that I was now numbered amon g
those who actively misinform .
The concept of a worldwide holy war was a disturbing one, bu t
the longer I contemplated it, the more convinced I became of its pos sibility. It seemed to me, however, that if this jihad were to occur it
would be less about Muslims versus Christians than it would b e
about LDCs versus DCs, perhaps with Muslims at the forefront . We
in the DCs were the users of resources ; those in the LDCs were th e
suppliers. It was the colonial mercantile system all over again, set u p
to make it easy for those with power and limited natural resources t o
exploit those with resources but no power .
I did not have a copy of Toynbee with me, but I knew enough his tory to understand that suppliers who are exploited long enough will
rebel . I only had to return to the American Revolution and Tom
Paine for a model . I recalled that Britain justified its taxes by claim ing that England was providing aid to the colonies in the form of
military protection against the French and the Indians . The colonist s
had a very different interpretation .
What Paine offered to his countrymen in the brilliant Common
Sense was the soul that my young Indonesian friends had referred to
— an idea, a faith in the justice of a higher power, and a religion o f
freedom and equality that was diametrically opposed to the Britis h
monarchy and its elitist class systems . What Muslims offered wa s
similar : faith in a higher power and a belief that developed countrie s
have no right to subjugate and exploit the rest of the world . Like
colonial minutemen, Muslims were threatening to fight for thei r
rights, and like the British in the 1770s, we classified such actions a s
terrorism . History appeared to be repeating itself.
I wondered what sort of a world we might have if the Unite d
States and its allies diverted all the monies expended in colonia l
wars — like the one in Vietnam — to eradicating world hunger or t o
making education and basic health care available to all people ,
including our own . I wondered how future generations would b e

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affected if we committed to alleviating the sources of misery and to
protecting watersheds, forests, and other natural areas that ensur e
clean water, air, and the things that feed our spirits as well as ou r
bodies. I could not believe that our Founding Fathers had envisione d
the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to exist only fo r
Americans, so why were we now implementing strategies that promoted the imperialist values they had fought against ?
On my last night in Indonesia, I awoke from a dream, sat up in
bed, and switched on the light . I had the feeling that someone wa s
in the room with me . I peered around at the familiar Hotel Inter Continental furniture, the batik tapestries, and the framed shado w
puppets hanging on the walls . Then the dream came back.
I had seen Christ standing in front of me . He seemed like the
same Jesus I had talked with every night when, as a young boy, I
shared my thoughts with him after saying my formal prayers . Except
that the Jesus of my childhood was fair-skinned and blond, while
this one had curly black hair and a dark complexion . He bent down
and heaved something up to his shoulder . I expected a cross . Instead, I saw the axle of a car with the attached wheel rim protrudin g
above his head, forming a metallic halo . Grease dripped like bloo d
down his forehead. He straightened, peered into my eyes, and said ,
"If I were to come now, you would see me differently." I asked him
why. "Because," he answered, "the world has changed."
The clock told me it was nearly daylight . I knew I could not go
back to sleep, so I dressed, took the elevator to the empty lobby, an d
wandered into the gardens around the swimming pool . The moo n
was bright ; the sweet smell of orchids filled the air . I sat down in a
lounge chair and wondered what I was doing here, why the coincidences of my life had taken me along this path, why Indonesia . I
knew my life had changed, but I had no idea how drastically .

resentment was too large an obstacle . Besides, there was so much I
could not tell her. The only person I could share such things wit h
was Claudine, and I thought about her constantly . Ann and I landed
at Bosto n's Logan Airport and took a taxi to our separate apartment s
in the Back Bay.

a-.
Ann and I met in Paris on my way home, to attempt reconciliation .
Even during this French vacation, however, we continued to quarrel .
Although there were many special and beautiful moments, I thin k
we both came to the realization that our long history of anger and

50

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51

CHAPTER 9

Opportunity of a Lifetim e

The true test of Indonesia awaited me at MAIN . I went to the Prudential Center headquarters first thing in the morning, and while I
was standing with dozens of other employees at the elevator I learne d
that Mac Hall, MAIN'S enigmatic, octogenarian chairman and CEO,
had promoted Einar to president of the Portland, Oregon office . As
a result, I now officially reported to Bruno Zambotti .
Nicknamed "the silver fox" because of the color of his hair an d
his uncanny ability to outmaneuver everyone who challenged him ,
Bruno had the dapper good looks of Cary Grant . He was eloquent ,
and he held both an engineering degree and an MBA . He understood econometrics and was vice president in charge of MAIN's elec trical power division and of most of our international projects . H e
also was the obvious choice to take over as president of the corpora tion when his mentor, the aging Jake Dauber, retired . Like mos t
MAIN employees, I was awed and terrified by Bruno Zambotti .
Just before lunch, I was summoned to Bruno's office . Following a
cordial discussion about Indonesia, he said something that made m e
jump to the edge of my seat .
"I'm firing Howard Parker . We don't need to go into the details ,
except to say that he's lost touch with reality ." His smile was discon certingly pleasant as he tapped his finger against a sheaf of paper s
on his desk . "Eight percent a year . That's his load forecast . Can yo u
believe it? In a country with the potential of Indonesia! "
His smile faded and he looked me squarely in the eye . "Charlie
52

Illingworth tells me that your economic forecast is right on targe t
and will justify load growth of between 17 and 20 percent. Is that
right?"
I assured him it was.
He stood up and offered me his hand . "Congratulations . You've
just been promoted."
Perhaps I should have gone out and celebrated at a fancy restaurant with other MAIN employees — or even by myself . However, my
mind was on Claudine . I was dying to tell her about my promotio n
and all my experiences in Indonesia . She had warned me not to call
her from abroad, and I had not . Now I was dismayed to find that her
phone was disconnected, with no forwarding number. I went looking for her.
A young couple had moved into her apartment . It was lunchtim e
but I believe I roused them from their bed ; obviously annoyed, they
professed to know nothing about Claudine . I paid a visit to the real
estate agency, pretending to be a cousin . Their files indicated they had
never rented to anyone with her name ; the previous lease had been
issued to a man who would remain anonymous by his request . Back
at the Prudential Center, MAIN's employment office also claimed t o
have no record of her. They admitted only to a "special consultants "
file that was not available for my scrutiny.
By late afternoon, I was exhausted and emotionally drained. On
top of everything else, a bad case of jet lag had set in . Returning t o
my empty apartment, I felt desperately lonely and abandoned. My
promotion seemed meaningless or, even worse, to be a badge of my
willingness to sell out. I threw myself onto the bed, overwhelme d
with despair. I had been used by Claudine and then discarded . Determined not to give in to my anguish, I shut down my emotions . I lay
there on my bed staring at the bare walls for what seemed like hours .
Finally, I managed to pull myself together. I got up, swallowed a
beer, and smashed the empty bottle against a table . Then I stare d
out the window. Looking down a distant street, I thought I saw he r
walking toward me . I started for the door and then returned t o
the window for another look . The woman had come closer. I could
see that she was attractive, and that her walk was reminiscent o f
Claudine's, but it was not Claudine . My heart sank, and my feeling s
changed from anger and loathing to fear.
An image flashed before me of Claudine flailing, falling in a rai n

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of bullets, assassinated . I shook it off, took a couple Valium, an d
drank myself to sleep .
The next morning, a call from MAIN'S personnel department wok e
me from my stupor. Its chief, Paul Mormino, assured me he under stood my need for rest, but he urged me to come in that afternoon .
"Good news," he said . "The best thing for catching up with yourself."
I obeyed the summons and learned that Bruno had been mor e
than true to his word . I had not only been promoted to Howard's ol d
job ; I had been given the title of Chief Economist and a raise . It di d
cheer me up a bit .
I took the afternoon off and wandered down along the Charle s
River with a quart of beer. As I sat there, watching the sailboats an d
nursing combined jet lag and vicious hangover, I convinced mysel f
that Claudine had done her job and had moved on to her nex t
assignment. She had always emphasized the need for secrecy . She
would call me. Mormino had been right. My jet lag — and my anxiety — dissipated .
During the next weeks, I tried to put all thoughts of Claudin e
aside . I focused on writing my report on the Indonesian econom y
and on revising Howard's load forecasts . I came up with the type of
study my bosses wanted to see : a growth in electric demand averaging 19 percent per annum for twelve years after the new system wa s
completed, tapering down to 17 percent for eight more years, an d
then holding at 15 percent for the remainder of the twenty-five-yea r
projection.
I presented my conclusions at formal meetings with the international lending agencies . Their teams of experts questioned me extensively and mercilessly. By then, my emotions had turned into a
sort of grim determination, not unlike those that had driven me t o
excel rather than to rebel during my prep school days . Nonetheless ,
Claudine's memory always hovered close . When a sassy youn g
economist out to make a name for himself at the Asian Developmen t
Bank grilled me relentlessly for an entire afternoon, I recalled th e
advice Claudine had given me as we sat in her Beacon Street apart ment those many months before .
"Who can see twenty-five years into the future?" she had asked .
"Your guess is as good as theirs . Confidence is everything ."
I convinced myself I was an expert, reminding myself that I ha d
experienced more of life in developing countries than many of the

men — some of them twice my age — who now sat in judgment of m y
work . I had lived in the Amazon and had traveled to parts of Java n o
one else wanted to visit. I had taken a couple of intensive courses
aimed at teaching executives the finer points of econometrics, an d
I told myself that I was part of the new breed of statistically oriented, econometric-worshipping whiz kids that appealed to Rober t
McNamara, the buttoned-down president of the World Bank, forme r
president of Ford Motor Company, and John Kennedy's secretary o f
defense . Here was a man who had built his reputation on numbers ,
on probability theory, on mathematical models, and — I suspected —
on the bravado of a very large ego .
I tried to emulate both McNamara and my boss, Bruno . I adopte d
manners of speech that imitated the former, and I took to walkin g
with the swagger of the latter, attache case swinging at my side.
Looking back, I have to wonder at my gall . In truth, my expertis e
was extremely limited, but what I lacked in training and knowledg e
I made up for in audacity.
And it worked . Eventually the team of experts stamped my re ports with their seals of approval .
During the ensuing months, I attended meetings in Tehran,
Caracas, Guatemala City, London, Vienna, and Washington, DC . I
met famous personalities, including the shah of Iran, the forme r
presidents of several countries, and Robert McNamara himself . Like
prep school, it was a world of men. I was amazed at how my new title and the accounts of my recent successes before the internationa l
lending agencies affected other people's attitudes toward me .
At first, all the attention went to my head . I began to think of myself as a Merlin who could wave his wand over a country, causing it
suddenly to light up, industries sprouting like flowers . Then I became
disillusioned . I questioned my own motives and those of all the peopl e
I worked with. It seemed that a glorified title or a PhD did little t o
help a person understand the plight of a leper living beside a cess pool in Jakarta, and I doubted that a knack for manipulating statistics
enabled a person to see into the future . 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 . Looking at th e
faces around the meeting room tables, I found myself struggling ver y
hard to restrain my anger.
Eventually, however, this perspective also changed . I came to

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Opportunity of a Lifetime 55

understand that most of those men believed they were doing th e
right thing . Like Charlie, they were convinced that communism an d
terrorism were evil forces — rather than the predictable reactions t o
decisions they and their predecessors had made — and that they ha d
a duty to their country, to their offspring, and to God to convert th e
world to capitalism . They also clung to the principle of survival o f
the fittest; if they happened to enjoy the good fortune to have bee n
born into a privileged class instead of inside a cardboard shack, the n
they saw it as an obligation to pass this heritage on to their progeny .
I vacillated between viewing such people as an actual conspirac y
and simply seeing them as a tight-knit fraternity bent on dominatin g
the world. Nonetheless, over time I began to liken them to the plantation owners of the pre-Civil War South . They were men drawn
together in a loose association by common beliefs and shared selfinterest, rather than an exclusive group meeting in clandestin e
hideaways with focused and sinister intent . The plantation autocrat s
had grown up with servants and slaves, had been educated to believ e
that it was their right and even their duty to take care of the "heathens" and to convert them to the owners' religion and way of life .
Even if slavery repulsed them philosophically, they could, lik e
Thomas Jefferson, justify it as a necessity, the collapse of whic h
would result in social and economic chaos . The leaders of the moder n
oligarchies, what I now thought of as the corporatocracy, seemed t o
fit the same mold.
I also began to wonder who benefits from war and the mass pro duction of weapons, from the damming of rivers and the destructio n
of indigenous environments and cultures . I began to look at who
benefits when hundreds of thousands of people die from insufficient
food, polluted water, or curable diseases . Slowly I came to realiz e
that in the long run no one benefits, but in the short term those a t
the top of the pyramid— my bosses and me — appear to benefit, a t
least materially.
This raised several other questions : Why does this situation persist ?
Why has it endured for so long? Does the answer lie simply in th e
old adage that "might is right," that those with the power perpetuat e
the system?
It seemed insufficient to say that power alone allows this situatio n
to persist . While the proposition that might makes right explained a
great deal, I felt there must be a more compelling force at work here .
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Part II : 1971—1975

I recalled an economics professor from my business school days, a ma n
from northern India, who lectured about limited resources, abou t
man's need to grow continually, and about the principle of slave labor .
According to this professor, all successful capitalist systems involv e
hierarchies with rigid chains of command, including a handful at th e
very top who control descending orders of subordinates, and a massive army of workers at the bottom, who in relative economic term s
truly can be classified as slaves . Ultimately, then, I became convince d
that we encourage this system because the corporatocracy has convinced us that God has given us the right to place a few of our people at the very top of this capitalist pyramid and to export our syste m
to the entire world .
Of course, we are not the first to do this . The list of practitioner s
stretches back to the ancient empires of North Africa, the Middl e
East, and Asia, and works its way up through Persia, Greece, Rome ,
the Christian Crusades, and all the European empire builders of th e
post-Columbian era. This imperialist drive has been and continue s
to be the cause of most wars, pollution, starvation, species extinctions, and genocides . And it has always taken a serious toll on the
conscience and well-being of the citizens of those empires, contributing to social malaise and resulting in a situation where the wealthiest
cultures in human history are plagued with the highest rates of suicide ,
drug abuse, and violence .
I thought extensively on these questions, but I avoided considering the nature of my own role in all of this . I tried to think of myself
not as an EHM but as a chief economist . It sounded so very legitimate, and if I needed any confirmation, I could look at my pay stubs :
all were from MAIN, a private corporation . I didn't earn a penny
from the NSA or any government agency . And so I became convinced . Almost.
One afternoon Bruno called me into his office . He walked behin d
my chair and patted me on the shoulder . "You've done an excellen t
job," he purred . "To show our appreciation, we're giving you the opportunity of a lifetime, something few men ever receive, even a t
twice your age ."

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CHAPTER 1 0

Panama's President and Hero

I landed at Panama's Tocumen International Airport late one Apri l
night in 1972, during a tropical deluge . As was common in thos e
days, I shared a taxi with several other executives, and because I
spoke Spanish, I ended up in the front seat beside the driver . I stared
blankly out the taxi's windshield . Through the rain, the headlights
illuminated a billboard portrait of a handsome man with a prominent brow and flashing eyes . One side of his wide-brimmed hat wa s
hooked rakishly up . I recognized him as the hero of modern Panama ,
Omar Torrijos.
I had prepared for this trip in my customary fashion, by visitin g
the reference section of the Boston Public Library. I knew that one of
the reasons for Torrijos's popularity among his people was that h e
was a firm defender of both Panama's right of self-rule and of it s
claims to sovereignty over the Panama Canal . He was determine d
that the country under his leadership would avoid the pitfalls of its
ignominious history.
Panama was part of Colombia when the French engineer Ferdinan d
de Lesseps, who directed construction of the Suez Canal, decided t o
build a canal through the Central American isthmus, to connect th e
Atlantic and Pacific oceans . Beginning in 1881, the French undertook a mammoth effort that met with one catastrophe after another .
Finally, in 1889, the project ended in financial disaster—but it ha d
inspired a dream in Theodore Roosevelt . During the first years of th e
twentieth century, the United States demanded that Colombia sign
58

a treaty turning the isthmus over to a North American consortium .
Colombia refused .
In 1903, President Roosevelt sent in the U.S . warship Nashville .
U.S . soldiers landed, seized and killed a popular local militia commander, and declared Panama an independent nation . A puppe t
government was installed and the first Canal Treaty was signed ; it
established an American zone on both sides of the future waterway,
legalized U.S. military intervention, and gave Washington virtual
control over this newly formed "independent" nation .
Interestingly, the treaty was signed by U .S. Secretary of State Hay
and a French engineer, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who had been part o f
the original team, but it was not signed by a single Panamanian . In
essence, Panama was forced to leave Colombia in order to serve th e
United States, in a deal struck by an American and a Frenchman —
in retrospect, a prophetic beginning .'
For more than half a century, Panama was ruled by an oligarch y
of wealthy families with strong connections to Washington . The y
were right-wing dictators who took whatever measures they deeme d
necessary to ensure that their country promoted U.S. interests . In
the manner of most of the Latin American dictators who allied them selves with Washington, Panama's rulers interpreted U.S. interests to
mean putting down any populist movement that smacked of social ism. They also supported the CIA and NSA in anti-Communist activities throughout the hemisphere, and they helped big America n
businesses like Rockefeller's Standard Oil and United Fruit Compan y
(which was purchased by George H . W. Bush) . These governments
apparently did not feel that U .S. interests were promoted by improving the lives of people who lived in dire poverty or served as
virtual slaves to the big plantations and corporations.
Panama's ruling families were well rewarded for their support ;
U.S. military forces intervened on their behalf a dozen times betwee n
the declaration of Panamanian independence and 1968 . However,
that year, while I was still a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, th e
course of Panamanian history suddenly changed . A coup overthre w
Arnulfo Arias, the latest in the parade of dictators, and Omar Torrijo s
emerged as the head of state, although he had not actively participated in the coup .2
Torrijos was highly regarded by the Panamanian middle an d
lower classes . He himself had grown up in the rural city of Santiago ,

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Panama's President and Hero 59

where his parents taught school . He had risen quickly through the
ranks of the National Guard, Panama's primary military unit and a n
institution that during the 1960s gained increasing support amon g
the poor. Torrijos earned a reputation for listening to the dispossessed. He walked the streets of their shantytowns, held meetings i n
slums politicians didn't dare to enter, helped the unemployed fin d
jobs, and often donated his own limited financial resources to families stricken by illness or tragedy-. 3
His love of life and his compassion for people reached eve n
beyond Panama's borders . Torrijos was committed to turning hi s
nation into a haven for fugitives from persecution, a place tha t
would offer asylum to refugees from both sides of the political fence ,
from leftist opponents of Chile's Pinochet to right-wing anti-Castr o
guerrillas . Many people saw him as an agent of peace, a perceptio n
that earned him praise throughout the hemisphere . He also developed a reputation as a leader who was dedicated to resolving differ ences among the various factions that were tearing apart so man y
Latin American countries : Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador ,
Nicaragua, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay .
His small nation of two million people served as a model of socia l
reform and an inspiration for world leaders as diverse as the labo r
organizers who plotted the dismemberment of the Soviet Union an d
Islamic militants like Muammar Gadhafi of Libya . 4
My first night in Panama, stopped at the traffic light, peering pas t
the noisy windshield wipers, I was moved by this man smiling dow n
at me from the billboard —handsome, charismatic, and courageous.
I knew from my hours at the BPL that he stood behind his beliefs .
For the first time in its history, Panama was not a puppet of Wash ington or of anyone else . Torrijos never succumbed to the temptations offered by Moscow or Beijing ; he believed in social reform an d
in helping those born into poverty, but he did not advocate commu nism. Unlike Castro, Torrijos was determined to win freedom fro m
the United States without forging alliances with the United States '
enemies.
I had stumbled across an article in some obscure journal in th e
BPL racks that praised Torrijos as a man who would alter the histor y
of the Americas, reversing a long-term trend toward U .S . domination . The author cited as his starting point Manifest Destiny—th e
doctrine, popular with many Americans during the 1840s, that

the conquest of North America was divinely ordained ; that God, not
men, had ordered the destruction of Indians, forests, and buffalo ,
the draining of swamps and the channeling of rivers, and the devel opment of an economy that depends on the continuing exploitation
of labor and natural resources .
The article got me to thinking about my country's attitude towar d
the world . The Monroe Doctrine, originally enunciated by President
James Monroe in 1823, was used to take Manifest Destiny a step fur ther when, in the 1850s and 1860s, it was used to assert that the
United States had special rights all over the hemisphere, includin g
the right to invade any nation in Central or South America that re fused to back U.S . policies. Teddy Roosevelt invoked the Monro e
Doctrine to justify U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic, i n
Venezuela, and during the "liberation" of Panama from Colombia . A
string of subsequent U.S. presidents—most notably Taft, Wilson,
and Franklin Roosevelt — relied on it to expand Washington's Pan American activities through the end of World War II . Finally, during
the latter half of the twentieth century, the United States used th e
Communist threat to justify expansion of this concept to countrie s
around the globe, including Vietnam and Indonesia.'
Now, it seemed, one man was standing in Washington's way. I
knew that he was not the first — leaders like Castro and Allende ha d
gone before him — but Torrijos alone was doing it outside the realm
of Communist ideology and without claiming that his movemen t
was a revolution . He was simply saying that Panama had its ow n
rights — to sovereignty over its people, its lands, and a waterway tha t
bisected it — and that these rights were as valid and as divinely bestowed as any enjoyed by the United States .
Torrijos also objected to the School of the Americas and to th e
U.S . Southern Command's tropical warfare training center, both lo cated in the Canal Zone . For years, the United States armed force s
had invited Latin American dictators and presidents to send thei r
sons and military leaders to these facilities—the largest and best
equipped outside North America . There, they learned interrogatio n
and covert operational skills as well as military tactics that they
would use to fight communism and to protect their own assets and
those of the oil companies and other private corporations . They also
had opportunities to bond with the United States' top brass .
These facilities were hated by Latin Americans — except for th e

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Panama 's President and Hero

61

few wealthy ones who benefited from them . They were known t o
provide schooling for right-wing death squads and the torturers wh o
had turned so many nations into totalitarian regimes . Torrijos made
it clear that he did not want training centers located in Panama — an d
that he considered the Canal Zone to be included within his borders .6
Seeing the handsome general on the billboard, and reading th e
caption beneath his face — "Omar's ideal is freedom ; the missile is
not invented that can kill an ideal!"—I felt a shiver run down m y
spine . I had a premonition that the story of Panama in the twentiet h
century was far from over, and that Torrijos was in for a difficult an d
perhaps even tragic time .
The tropical storm battered against the windshield, the traffi c
light turned green, and the driver honked his horn at the car ahea d
of us. I thought about my own position . I had been sent to Panam a
to close the deal on what would become MAIN's first truly comprehensive master development plan . This plan would create a justification for World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, an d
USAID investment of billions of dollars in the energy, transportation, and agricultural sectors of this tiny and very crucial country. It
was, of course, a subterfuge, a means of making Panama foreve r
indebted and thereby returning it to its puppet status .
As the taxi started to move through the night, a paroxysm of guil t
flashed through me, but I suppressed it . What did I care? I had
taken the plunge in Java, sold my soul, and now I could create m y
opportunity of a lifetime . I could become rich, famous, and powerful in one blow.

CHAPTER 1 1

Pirates in the Canal Zon e

The next day, the Panamanian government sent a man to show m e
around . His name was Fidel, and I was immediately drawn to him .
He was tall and slim and took an obvious pride in his country . His
great-great-grandfather had fought beside Bolivar to win independence from Spain . I told him I was related to Tom Paine, and wa s
thrilled to learn that Fidel had read Common Sense in Spanish. He
spoke English, but when he discovered I was fluent in the languag e
of his country, he was overcome with emotion.
"Many of your people live here for years and never bother to learn
it," he said .
Fidel took me on a drive through an impressively prosperous secto r
of his city, which he called the New Panama . As we passed modern
glass-and-steel skyscrapers, he explained that Panama had more international banks than any other country south of the Rio Grande .
"We're often called the Switzerland of the Americas," he said . "We
ask very few questions of our clients ."
Late in the afternoon, with the sun sliding toward the Pacific, w e
headed out on an avenue that followed the contours of the bay . A
long line of ships was anchored there . I asked Fidel whether ther e
was a problem with the canal .
"It's always like this," he replied with a laugh . "Lines of them,
waiting their turn . Half the traffic is coming from or going t o
Japan . More even than the United States ."
I confessed that this was news to me .

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63

"I'm not surprised," he said. "North Americans don't know much
about the rest of the world ."
We stopped at a beautiful park in which bougainvillea crept ove r
ancient ruins . A sign proclaimed that this was a fort built to protec t
the city against marauding English pirates . A family was setting up
for an evening picnic : a father, mother, son and daughter, and an
elderly man who I assumed was the children's grandfather . I felt a
sudden longing for the tranquility that seemed to embrace these fiv e
people . As we passed them, the couple smiled, waved, and greeted u s
in English . I asked if they were tourists, and they laughed . The man
came over to us .
"I'm third generation in the Canal Zone," he explained proudly .
"My granddad came three years after it was created . He drove one of
the mules, the tractors that hauled ships through the locks ." H e
pointed at the elderly man, who was preoccupied helping the children set the picnic table . "My dad was an engineer and I've followed
in his footsteps ."
The woman had returned to helping her father-in-law and children . Beyond them, the sun dipped into the blue water . It was a
scene of idyllic beauty, reminiscent of a Monet painting. I asked the
man if they were U.S. citizens .
He looked at me incredulously . "Of course. The Canal Zone is U.S.
territory." The boy ran up to tell his father that dinner was ready.
"Will your son be the fourth generation? "
The man brought his hands together in a sign of prayer an d
raised them toward the sky.
"I pray to the good Lord every day that he may have that opportunity. Living in the Zone is a wonderful life ." Then he lowered his
hands and stared directly at Fidel . "I just hope we can hold on to her
for another fifty years . That despot Torrijos is making a lot o f
waves. A dangerous man."
A sudden urge gripped me, and I said to him, in Spanish, `Adios .
I hope you and your family have a good time here, and learn lot s
about Panama's culture ."
He gave me a disgusted look . "I don't speak their language," h e
said. Then he turned abruptly and headed toward his family and the
picnic.
Fidel stepped close to me, placed an arm around my shoulders ,
and squeezed tightly. "Thank you," he said .

Back in the city, Fidel drove us through an area he described as
a slum.
"Not our worst," he said . "But you'll get the flavor."
Wooden shacks and ditches filled with standing water lined th e
street, the frail homes suggesting dilapidated boats scuttled in a
cesspool . The smell of rot and sewage filled our car as children with
distended bellies ran alongside . When we slowed, they congregate d
at my side, calling me uncle and begging for money. It reminded m e
of Jakarta.
Graffiti covered many of the walls . There were a few of the usua l
hearts with couples' names scrawled inside, but most of the graffit i
were slogans expressing hatred of the United States : "Go home ,
gringo," "Stop shitting in our canal," "Uncle Sam, slave master," an d
"Tell Nixon that Panama is not Vietnam ." The one that chilled m y
heart the most, however, read, "Death for freedom is the way to Christ ."
Scattered among these were posters of Omar Torrijos .
"Now the other side," Fidel said . "I've got official papers and you'r e
a U.S. citizen, so we can go ." Beneath a magenta sky he drove us int o
the Canal Zone . As prepared as I thought I was, it was not enough .
I could hardly believe the opulence of the place — huge white buildings, manicured lawns, plush homes, golf courses, stores, and theaters .
"The facts," he said. "Everything in here is U .S. property. All th e
businesses —the supermarkets, barbershops, beauty salons, restaurants, all of them—are exempt from Panamanian laws and taxes .
There are seven 18-hole golf courses, U .S . post offices scattered conveniently around, U .S. courts of law and schools . It truly is a country
within a country"
"What an affront! "
Fidel peered at me as though rnaking a quick assessment . "Yes,"
he agreed . "That's a pretty good word for it . Over there," he pointe d
back toward the city, "income per capita is less than one thousan d
dollars a year, and unemployment rates are 30 percent . Of course, i n
the little shantytown we just visited, no one makes close to one thousand dollars, and hardly anyone has a job ."
"What's being done?"
He turned and gave me a look that seemed to change from anger
to sadness.
"What can we do?" He shook his head . "I don't know, but I'll say

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Pirates in the Canal Zone 65

this: Torrijos is trying . I think it may be the death of him, but he sur e
as hell is giving it all h e's got. H e's a man wh o' ll go down fighting fo r
his people ."
As we headed out of the Canal Zone, Fidel smiled . "You like t o
dance?" Without waiting for me to reply, he said, "Let's get some din ner, and then I'll show you yet another side of Panama ."

Ct:

CHAPTER 1 2

Soldiers and Prostitute s

After a juicy steak and a cold beer, we left the restaurant and drove
down a dark street . Fidel advised me never to walk in this area .
"When you come here, take a cab right to the front door." He pointed.
"Just there, beyond the fence, is the Canal Zone ."
He drove on until we arrived at a vacant lot filled with cars . H e
found an empty spot and parked . An old man hobbled up to us .
Fidel got out and patted him on the back. Then he ran his hand lovingly across the fender of his car.
"Take good care of her . She's my lady." He handed the man a bill .
We took a short footpath out of the parking lot and suddenl y
found ourselves on a street flooded with flashing neon lights . Two
boys raced past, pointing sticks at each other and making th e
sounds of men shooting guns . One slammed into Fidel's legs, hi s
head reaching barely as high as Fidel's thigh . The little boy stoppe d
and stood back.
"I'm sorry, sir," he gasped in Spanish .
Fidel placed both his hands on the boy's shoulders . "No harm
done, my man," he said . "But tell me, what were you and your frien d
shooting at? "
The other boy came up to us . He placed his arm protectivel y
around the first . "My brother," he explained . "We're sorry."
"It's okay," Fidel chuckled gently. "He didn't hurt me. I just asked
him what you guys were shooting at . I think I used to play the sam e
game."

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The brothers glanced at each other . The older one smiled . "He's
the gringo general at the Canal Zone . He tried to rape our mother
and I'm sending him packing, back to where he belongs ."
Fidel stole a look at me . "Where does he belong? "
"At home, in the United States ."
"Does your mother work here? "
"Over there ." Both boys pointed proudly at a neon light down th e
street. "Bartender."
"Go on then." Fidel handed them each a coin . "But be careful. Stay
in the lights ."
"Oh yes, sir. Thank you ." They raced off.
As we walked on, Fidel explained that Panamanian women wer e
prohibited by law from prostitution . "They can tend bar and dance ,
but cannot sell their bodies . That's left to the imports ."
We stepped inside the bar and were blasted with a popular Amer ican song . My eyes and ears took a moment to adjust . A couple of
burly U.S. soldiers stood near the door ; bands around their uniformed
arms identified them as MPs .
Fidel led me along a bar, and then I saw the stage . Three youn g
women were dancing there, entirely naked except for their heads .
One wore a sailor's cap, another a green beret, and the third a cowboy
hat . They had spectacular figures and were laughing . They seeme d
to be playing a game with one another, as though dancing in a competition . The music, the way they danced, the stage—it could have
been a disco in Boston, except that they were naked .
We pushed our way through a group of young English-speakin g
men . Although they wore T-shirts and blue jeans, their crew cuts
gave them away as soldiers from the Canal Zone's military base . Fidel tapped a waitress on the shoulder. She turned, let out a scream of
delight, and threw her arms around him . The group of young men
watched this intently, glancing at one another with disapproval . I
wondered if they thought Manifest Destiny included this Panamanian woman . The waitress led us to a corner. From somewhere, sh e
produced a small table and two chairs.
As we settled in, Fidel exchanged greetings in Spanish with tw o
men at a table beside ours . Unlike the soldiers, they wore printe d
short-sleeved shirts and creased slacks . The waitress returned wit h
a couple of Balboa beers, and Fidel patted her on the rump as she

68

Part II : 1971—1975

turned to leave. She smiled and threw him a kiss . I glanced around
and was relieved to discover that the young men at the bar were n o
longer watching us ; they were focused on the dancers .
The majority of the patrons were English-speaking soldiers, bu t
there were others, like the two beside us, who obviously were Panamanians. They stood out because their hair would not have passe d
inspection, and because they did not wear T-shirts and jeans . A few
of them sat at tables, others leaned against the walls . They seemed to
be highly alert, like border collies guarding flocks of sheep .
Women roamed the tables . They moved constantly, sitting on laps ,
shouting to the waitresses, dancing, swirling, singing, taking turn s
on the stage. They wore tight skirts, T-shirts, jeans, clinging dresses ,
high heels . One was dressed in a Victorian gown and veil . Anothe r
wore only a bikini . It was obvious that only the most beautiful coul d
survive here . I marveled at the numbers who made their way to Pana ma and wondered at the desperation that had driven them to this .
'All from other countries?" I shouted to Fidel above the music .
He nodded. "Except .. ." He pointed at the waitresses . "They'r e
Panamanian ."
"Wnat countries?"
"Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala ."
"Neighbors."
"Not entirely. Costa Rica and Colombia are our closest neighbors."
The waitress who had led us to this table came and sat on Fidel' s
knee . He gently rubbed her back.
"Clarissa," he said, "please tell my North American friend why
they left their countries ." He nodded his head in the direction of th e
stage. Three new girls were accepting the hats from the others, wh o
jumped down and started dressing . The music switched to salsa, and
as the newcomers danced, they shed their clothes to the rhythm .
Clarissa held out her right hand . "I'm pleased to meet you," sh e
said. Then she stood up and reached for our empty bottles . "In answer to Fidel's question, these girls come here to escape brutality . I'll
bring a couple more Balboas ."
After she left, I turned to Fidel . "Come on," I said . "They're here
for U.S. dollars ."
"True . But why so many from the countries where fascist dictator s
rule? "

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I glanced back at the stage . The three of them were giggling an d
throwing the sailor's cap around like a ball . I looked Fidel in the eye .
"You're not kidding, are you?"
"No ," he said seriously, "I wish I were . Most of these girls have lost
their families —fathers, brothers, husbands, boyfriends . They grew
up with torture and death . Dancing and prostitution don't seem al l
that bad to them . They can make a lot of money here, then star t
fresh somewhere, buy a little shop, open a cafe — "
He was interrupted by a commotion near the bar . I saw a waitres s
swing her fist at one of the soldiers, who caught her hand and bega n
to twist her wrist . She screamed and fell to her knee . He laughed and
shouted to his buddies . They all laughed . She tried to hit him with
her free hand. He twisted harder. Her face contorted with pain .
The MPs remained by the door, watching calmly Fidel jumped t o
his feet and started toward the bar . One of the men at the table nex t
to ours held out a hand to stop him. "Tranquilo, hermano," he said.
"Be calm, brother. Enrique has control ."
A tall, slim Panamanian came out of the shadows near the stage .
He moved like a cat and was upon the soldier in an instant . On e
hand encircled the man's throat while the other doused him in th e
face with a glass of water. The waitress slipped away. Several of th e
Panamanians who had been lounging against the walls formed a
protective semicircle around the tall bouncer . He lifted the soldie r
against the bar and said something I couldn't hear . Then he raised
his voice and spoke slowly in English, loudly enough for everyone i n
the still room to hear over the music .
"The waitresses are off-limits to you guys, and you don't touch the
others until after you pay them ."
The two MPs finally swung into action . They approached the
cluster of Panamanians . "We'll take it from here, Enrique," they said .
The bouncer lowered the soldier to the floor and gave his neck a
final squeeze, forcing the other's head back and eliciting a cry of pain .
"Do you understand me?" There was a feeble groan . "Good ." He
pushed the soldier at the two MPs . "Get him out of here ."

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or.

CHAPTER 1 3

Conversations with the Genera l

The invitation was completely unexpected . One morning during that
same 1972 visit, I was sitting in an office I had been given at the Instituto de Recursos Hidraulicos y Electrificacion, Panama's government-owned electric utility company. I was poring over a sheet of
statistics when a man knocked gently on the frame of my open door .
I invited him in, pleased with any excuse to take my attention off th e
numbers . He announced himself as the general's chauffeur and sai d
he had come to take me to one of the general's bungalows .
An hour later, I was sitting across the table from General Oma r
Torrijos . He was dressed casually, in typical Panamanian style : khak i
slacks and a short-sleeved shirt buttoned down the front, light blu e
with a delicate green pattern . He was tall, fit, and handsome . He
seemed amazingly relaxed for a man with his responsibilities . A lock
of dark hair fell over his prominent forehead .
He asked about my recent travels to Indonesia, Guatemala, an d
Iran . The three countries fascinated him, but he seemed especially
intrigued with Iran's king, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . The shah
had come to power in 1941, after the British and Soviets overthre w
his father, whom they accused of collaborating with Hitler.l
"Can you imagine, Torrijos asked, "being part of a plot to dethron e
your own father? "
Panama's head of state knew a good deal about the history of this
far-off land. We talked about how the tables were turned on the shah

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in 1951, and how his own premier, Mohammad Mossadegh, force d
him into exile . Torrijos knew, as did most of the world, that it ha d
been the CIA that labeled the premier a Communist and that steppe d
in to restore the shah to power . However, he did not know—or a t
least did not mention —the parts Claudine had shared with me ,
about Kermit Roosevelt's brilliant maneuvers and the fact that thi s
had been the beginning of a new era in imperialism, the match tha t
had ignited the global empire conflagration .
"After the shah was reinstated," Torrijos continued, "he launched
a series of revolutionary programs aimed at developing the industrial sector and bringing Iran into the modern era ."
I asked him how he happened to know so much about Iran .
"I make it my point," he said . "I don't think too highly of the shah's
politics —his willingness to overthrow his own father and become a
CIA puppet—but it looks as though he's doing good things for his
country. Perhaps I can learn something from him . If he survives ."
"You think he won't? "
"He has powerful enemies ."
"And some of the world's best bodyguards ."
Torrijos gave me a sardonic look . "His secret police, SAVAK, have
the reputation of being ruthless thugs . That doesn't win many friends .
He won't last much longer." He paused, then rolled his eyes . "Bodyguards? I have a few myself" He waved at the door. "You think they'll
save my life if your country decides to get rid of me? "
I asked whether he truly saw that as a possibility .
He raised his eyebrows in a manner that made me feel foolish fo r
asking such a question. "We have the Canal. That's a lot bigger than
Arbenz and United Fruit."
I had researched Guatemala, and I understood Torrijos's meaning. United Fruit Company had been that country's political equivalent of Panama's canal . Founded in the late 1800s, United Fruit soo n
grew into one of the most powerful forces in Central America . During the early 1950s, reform candidate Jacobo Arbenz was electe d
president of Guatemala in an election hailed all over the hemispher e
as a model of the democratic process . At the time, less than 3 percent
of Guatemalans owned 70 percent of the land . Arbenz promised t o
help the poor dig their way out of starvation, and after his election
he implemented a comprehensive land reform program .
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Part II : 1971—1975

plauded Arbenz," Torrijos said . "Personally, he was one of my heroes .
But we also held our breath . We knew that United Fruit oppose d
these measures, since they were one of the largest and most oppressive landholders in Guatemala . They also owned big plantations i n
Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo ,
and here in Panama. They couldn't afford to let Arbenz give the res t
of us ideas ."
I knew the rest : United Fruit had launched a major public relations campaign in the United States, aimed at convincing the American public and congress that Arbenz was part of a Russian plot an d
that Guatemala was a Soviet satellite . In 1954, the CIA orchestrated
a coup. American pilots bombed Guatemala City and the democratically elected Arbenz was overthrown, replaced by Colonel Carlo s
Castillo Armas, a ruthless right-wing dictator .
The new government owed everything to United Fruit. By way of
thanks, the government reversed the land reform process, abolishe d
taxes on the interest and dividends paid to foreign investors, eliminated the secret ballot, and jailed thousands of its critics . Anyone who
dared to speak out against Castillo was persecuted . Historians trac e
the violence and terrorism that plagued Guatemala for most of th e
rest of the century to the not-so-secret alliance between United Fruit,
the CIA, and the Guatemalan army under its colonel dictator .2
"Arbenz was assassinated," Torrijos continued . "Political an d
character assassination ." He paused and frowned . "How could you r
people swallow that CIA rubbish? I won't go so easily. The military
here are my people . Political assassination won't do ." He smiled.
"The CIA itself will have to kill me! "
We sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in his own thoughts .
Torrijos was the first to speak.
"Do you know who owns United Fruit?" he asked .
"Zapata Oil, George Bush's company—our UN ambassador ." I
said.
"A man with ambitions ." He leaned forward and lowered hi s
voice. "And now I'm up against his cronies at Bechtel ."
This startled me. Bechtel was the world's most powerful engineering firm and a frequent collaborator on projects with MAIN . In
the case of Panama's master plan, I had assumed that they were one
of our major competitors .
"What do you mean?"

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understand that most of those men believed they were doing th e
right thing . Like Charlie, they were convinced that communism an d
terrorism were evil forces — rather than the predictable reactions t o
decisions they and their predecessors had made — and that they ha d
a duty to their country, to their offspring, and to God to convert th e
world to capitalism . They also clung to the principle of survival o f
the fittest; if they happened to enjoy the good fortune to have bee n
born into a privileged class instead of inside a cardboard shack, the n
they saw it as an obligation to pass this heritage on to their progeny .
I vacillated between viewing such people as an actual conspirac y
and simply seeing them as a tight-knit fraternity bent on dominatin g
the world . Nonetheless, over time I began to liken them to the plantation owners of the pre-Civil War South . They were men drawn
together in a loose association by common beliefs and shared selfinterest, rather than an exclusive group meeting in clandestine
hideaways with focused and sinister intent . The plantation autocrats
had grown up with servants and slaves, had been educated to believ e
that it was their right and even their duty to take care of the "heathens" and to convert them to the owners' religion and way of life .
Even if slavery repulsed them philosophically, they could, lik e
Thomas Jefferson, justify it as a necessity, the collapse of which
would result in social and economic chaos . The leaders of the modern
oligarchies, what I now thought of as the corporatocracy, seemed t o
fit the same mold .
I also began to wonder who benefits from war and the mass pro duction of weapons, from the damming of rivers and the destruction
of indigenous environments and cultures . I began to look at who
benefits when hundreds of thousands of people die from insufficien t
food, polluted water, or curable diseases . 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.
This raised several other questions : Why does this situation persist ?
Why has it endured for so long? Does the answer lie simply in the
old adage that "might is right; that those with the power perpetuate
the system?
It seemed insufficient to say that power alone allows this situatio n
to persist . While the proposition that might makes right explained a
great deal, I felt there must be a more compelling force at work here .

I recalled an economics professor from my business school days, a man
from northern India, who lectured about limited resources, abou t
man's need to grow continually, and about the principle of slave labor .
According to this professor, all successful capitalist systems involv e
hierarchies with rigid chains of command, including a handful at th e
very top who control descending orders of subordinates, and a massive army of workers at the bottom, who in relative economic term s
truly can be classified as slaves . Ultimately, then, I became co nvinced
that we encourage this system because the corporatocracy has convinced us that God has given us the right to place a few of our people at the very top of this capitalist pyramid and to export our syste m
to the entire world .
Of course, we are not the first to do this . The list of practitioners
stretches back to the ancient empires of North Africa, the Middl e
East, and Asia, and works its way up through Persia, Greece, Rome ,
the Christian Crusades, and all the European empire builders of th e
post-Columbian era . This imperialist drive has been and continue s
to be the cause of most wars, pollution, starvation, species extinctions, and genocides . And it has always taken a serious toll on th e
conscience and well-being of the citizens of those empires, contribut ing to social malaise and resulting in a situation where the wealthies t
cultures in human history are plagued with the highest rates of suicide ,
drug abuse, and violence .
I thought extensively on these questions, but I avoided considering the nature of my own role in all of this . I tried to think of myself
not as an EHM but as a chief economist . It sounded so very legitimate, and if I needed any confirmation, I could look at my pay stubs :
all were from MAIN, a private corporation . I didn't earn a penn y
from the NSA or any government agency. And so I became convinced . Almost .
One afternoon Bruno called me into his office . He walked behin d
my chair and patted me on the shoulder . "You've done an excellent
job," he purred. "To show our appreciation, we're giving you the op portunity of a lifetime, something few men ever receive, even a t
twice your age ."

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Opportunity of a Lifetime

57

_

CHAPTER 1 0

Panama's President and Her o

I landed at Panama's Tocumen International Airport late one Apri l
night in 1972, during a tropical deluge . As was common in those
days, I shared a taxi with several other executives, and because I
spoke Spanish, I ended up in the front seat beside the driver . I stared
blankly out the taxi's windshield . Through the rain, the headlight s
illuminated a billboard portrait of a handsome man with a prominent brow and flashing eyes . One side of his wide-brimmed hat wa s
hooked rakishly up . I recognized him as the hero of modern Panama ,
Omar Torrijos.
I had prepared for this trip in my customary fashion, by visitin g
the reference section of the Boston Public Library . I knew that one of
the reasons for Torrijos's popularity among his people was that h e
was a firm defender of both Panama's right of self-rule and of it s
claims to sovereignty over the Panama Canal . He was determine d
that the country under his leadership would avoid the pitfalls of its
ignominious history.
Panama was part of Colombia when the French engineer Ferdinan d
de Lesseps, who directed construction of the Suez Canal, decided t o
build a canal through the Central American isthmus, to connect th e
Atlantic and Pacific oceans . Beginning in 1881, the French undertook a mammoth effort that met with one catastrophe after another .
Finally, in 1889, the project ended in financial disaster — but it ha d
inspired a dream in Theodore Roosevelt . During the first years of the
twentieth century, the United States demanded that Colombia sign
58

a treaty turning the isthmus over to a North American consortium .
Colombia refused .
In 1903, President Roosevelt sent in the U.S. warship Nashville .
U.S . soldiers landed, seized and killed a popular local militia commander, and declared Panama an independent nation . A puppe t
government was installed and the first Canal Treaty was signed ; it
established an American zone on both sides of the future waterway ,
legalized U .S. military intervention, and gave Washington virtua l
control over this newly formed "independent" nation .
Interestingly, the treaty was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Ha y
and a French engineer, Philippe Bunau-Varilla, who had been part o f
the original team, but it was not signed by a single Panamanian . I n
essence, Panama was forced to leave Colombia in order to serve th e
United States, in a deal struck by an American and a Frenchman —
in retrospect, a prophetic beginning .)
For more than half a century, Panama was ruled by an oligarch y
of wealthy families with strong connections to Washington . They
were right-wing dictators who took whatever measures they deeme d
necessary to ensure that their country promoted U .S . interests . In
the manner of most of the Latin American dictators who allied them selves with Washington, Panama's rulers interpreted U .S . interests to
mean putting down any populist movement that smacked of social ism . They also supported the CIA and NSA in anti-Communist activities throughout the hemisphere, and they helped big America n
businesses like Rockefeller's Standard Oil and United Fruit Compan y
(which was purchased by George H . W. Bush) . These governments
apparently did not feel that U.S. interests were promoted by improving the lives of people who lived in dire poverty or served as
virtual slaves to the big plantations and corporations .
Panama's ruling families were well rewarded for their support ;
U.S . military forces intervened on their behalf a dozen times between
the declaration of Panamanian independence and 1968 . However,
that year, while I was still a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador, the
course of Panamanian history suddenly changed . A coup overthrew
Arnulfo Arias, the latest in the parade of dictators, and Omar Torrijo s
emerged as the head of state, although he had not actively participated in the coup .2
Torrijos was highly regarded by the Panamanian middle an d
lower classes . He himself had grown up in the rural city of Santiago ,

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where his parents taught school . He had risen quickly through th e
ranks of the National Guard, Panama's primary military unit and a n
institution that during the 1960s gained increasing support amon g
the poor. Torrijos earned a reputation for listening to the dispossessed . He walked the streets of their shantytowns, held meetings i n
slums politicians didn't dare to enter, helped the unemployed fin d
jobs, and often donated his own limited financial resources to families stricken by illness or tragedy.3
His love of life and his compassion for people reached even
beyond Panama's borders . Torrijos was committed to turning his
nation into a haven for fugitives from persecution, a place tha t
would offer asylum to refugees from both sides of the political fence ,
from leftist opponents of Chile's Pinochet to right-wing anti-Castr o
guerrillas . Many people saw him as an agent of peace, a perceptio n
that earned him praise throughout the hemisphere . He also developed a reputation as a leader who was dedicated to resolving differences among the various factions that were tearing apart so man y
Latin American countries : Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador ,
Nicaragua, Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Chile, and Paraguay .
His small nation of two million people served as a model of socia l
reform and an inspiration for world leaders as diverse as the labo r
organizers who plotted the dismemberment of the Soviet Union an d
Islamic militants like Muammar Gadhafi of Libya .4
My first night in Panama, stopped at the traffic light, peering pas t
the noisy windshield wipers, I was moved by this man smiling dow n
at me from the billboard—handsome, charismatic, and courageous .
I knew from my hours at the BPL that he stood behind his beliefs .
For the first time in its history, Panama was not a puppet of Washington or of anyone else . Torrijos never succumbed to the temptations offered by Moscow or Beijing ; he believed in social reform an d
in helping those born into poverty, but he did not advocate communism . Unlike Castro, Torrijos was determined to win freedom fro m
the United States without forging alliances with the United States '
enemies.
I had stumbled across an article in some obscure journal in th e
BPL racks that praised Torrijos as a man who would alter the histor y
of the Americas, reversing a long-term trend toward U .S. domination . The author cited as his starting point Manifest Destiny—the
doctrine, popular with many Americans during the 1840s, that

the conquest of North America was divinely ordained ; that God, no t
men, had ordered the destruction of Indians, forests, and buffalo ,
the draining of swamps and the channeling of rivers, and the development of an economy that depends on the continuing exploitatio n
of labor and natural resources .
The article got me to thinking about my country's attitude towar d
the world . The Monroe Doctrine, originally enunciated by President
James Monroe in 1823, was used to take Manifest Destiny a step fur ther when, in the 1850s and 1860s, it was used to assert that the
United States had special rights all over the hemisphere, includin g
the right to invade any nation in Central or South America that re fused to back U.S . policies. Teddy Roosevelt invoked the Monroe
Doctrine to justify U.S. intervention in the Dominican Republic, i n
Venezuela, and during the "liberation" of Panama from Colombia . A
string of subsequent U.S. presidents—most notably Taft, Wilson,
and Franklin Roosevelt —relied on it to expand Washington's Pan American activities through the end of World War II . Finally, durin g
the latter half of the twentieth century, the United States used th e
Communist threat to justify expansion of this concept to countrie s
around the globe, including Vietnam and Indonesia .5
Now, it seemed, one man was standing in Washington's way. I
knew that he was not the first — leaders like Castro and Allende ha d
gone before him —but Torrijos alone was doing it outside the realm
of Communist ideology and without claiming that his movemen t
was a revolution. He was simply saying that Panama had its own
rights — to sovereignty over its people, its lands, and a waterway tha t
bisected it — and that these rights were as valid and as divinely be stowed as any enjoyed by the United States .
Torrijos also objected to the School of the Americas and to th e
U.S. Southern Command's tropical warfare training center, both located in the Canal Zone . For years, the United States armed force s
had invited Latin American dictators and presidents to send thei r
sons and military leaders to these facilities —the largest and best
equipped outside North America . There, they learned interrogatio n
and covert operational skills as well as military tactics that the y
would use to fight communism and to protect their own assets and
those of the oil companies and other private corporations . They also
had opportunities to bond with the United States' top brass .
These facilities were hated by Latin Americans — except for th e

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Panama's President and Hero

61

few wealthy ones who benefited from them . They were known to
provide schooling for right-wing death squads and the torturers wh o
had turned so many nations into totalitarian regimes . Torrijos made
it clear that he did not want training centers located in Panama — an d
that he considered the Canal Zone to be included within his borders .6
Seeing the handsome general on the billboard, and reading th e
caption beneath his face —"Omar's ideal is freedom ; the missile is
not invented that can kill an ideal!"—I felt a shiver run down m y
spine . I had a premonition that the story of Panama in the twentiet h
century was far from over, and that Torrijos was in for a difficult an d
perhaps even tragic time .
The tropical storm battered against the windshield, the traffi c
light turned green, and the driver honked his horn at the car ahea d
of us . I thought about my own position . I had been sent to Panam a
to close the deal on what would become MAIN's first truly comprehensive master development plan . This plan would create a justification for World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, an d
USAID investment of billions of dollars in the energy, transportation, and agricultural sectors of this tiny and very crucial country. It
was, of course, a subterfuge, a means of making Panama foreve r
indebted and thereby returning it to its puppet status .
As the taxi started to move through the night, a paroxysm of guil t
flashed through me, but I suppressed it . What did I care? I had
taken the plunge in Java, sold my soul, and now I could create m y
opportunity of a lifetime . I could become rich, famous, and powerful in one blow.

a:.

CHAPTER 1 1

Pirates in the Canal Zon e

The next day, the Panamanian government sent a man to show m e
around . His name was Fidel, and I was immediately drawn to him .
He was tall and slim and took an obvious pride in his country. His
great-great-grandfather had fought beside Bolivar to win independence from Spain . I told him I was related to Tom Paine, and wa s
thrilled to learn that Fidel had read Common Sense in Spanish. He
spoke English, but when he discovered I was fluent in the languag e
of his country, he was overcome with emotion .
"Many of your people live here for years and never bother to lear n
it," he said .
Fidel took me on a drive through an impressively prosperous secto r
of his city; which he called the New Panama. As we passed moder n
glass-and-steel skyscrapers, he explained that Panama had more international banks than any other country south of the Rio Grande .
"We're often called the Switzerland of the Americas," he said . "We
ask very few questions of our clients ."
Late in the afternoon, with the sun sliding toward the Pacific, we
headed out on an avenue that followed the contours of the bay . A
long line of ships was anchored there . I asked Fidel whether there
was a problem with the canal .
"It's always like this," he replied with a laugh . "Lines of them,
waiting their turn. Half the traffic is coming from or going t o
Japan. More even than the United States ."
I confessed that this was news to me .

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63

"I'm not surprised," he said . "North Americans don't know muc h
about the rest of the world ."
We stopped at a beautiful park in which bougainvillea crept ove r
ancient ruins . A sign proclaimed that this was a fort built to protec t
the city against marauding English pirates . A family was setting u p
for an evening picnic : a father, mother, son and daughter, and an
elderly man who I assumed was the children's grandfather . I felt a
sudden longing for the tranquility that seemed to embrace these five
people . As we passed them, the couple smiled, waved, and greeted us
in English . I asked if they were tourists, and they laughed . The man
came over to us .
"I'm third generation in the Canal Zone," he explained proudly .
"My granddad came three years after it was created . He drove one o f
the mules, the tractors that hauled ships through the locks ." He
pointed at the elderly man, who was preoccupied helping the children set the picnic table . "My dad was an engineer and I've followed
in his footsteps ."
The woman had returned to helping her father-in-law and children . Beyond them, the sun dipped into the blue water . It was a
scene of idyllic beauty, reminiscent of a Monet painting . I asked the
man if they were U.S. citizens.
He looked at me incredulously . "Of course . The Canal Zone is U.S.
territory." The boy ran up to tell his father that dinner was ready.
"Will your son be the fourth generation? "
The man brought his hands together in a sign of prayer an d
raised them toward the sky.
"I pray to the good Lord every day that he may have that opportunity. Living in the Zone is a wonderful life ." Then he lowered hi s
hands and stared directly at Fidel . "I just hope we can hold on to he r
for another fifty years . That despot Torrijos is making a lot of
waves . A dangerous man."
A sudden urge gripped me, and I said to him, in Spanish, "Adios .
I hope you and your family have a good time here, and learn lot s
about Panama's culture."
He gave me a disgusted look . "I don't speak their language," he
said. Then he turned abruptly and headed toward his family and the
picnic.
Fidel stepped close to me, placed an arm around my shoulders ,
and squeezed tightly. "Thank you," he said .

Back in the city, Fidel drove us through an area he described as
a slum .
"Not our worst," he said . "But you'll get the flavor ."
Wooden shacks and ditches filled with standing water lined th e
street, the frail homes suggesting dilapidated boats scuttled in a
cesspool . The smell of rot and sewage filled our car as children with
distended bellies ran alongside . When we slowed, they congregated
at my side, calling me uncle and begging for money. It reminded m e
of Jakarta .
Graffiti covered many of the walls . There were a few of the usua l
hearts with couples' names scrawled inside, but most of the graffit i
were slogans expressing hatred of the United States : "Go home ,
gringo," "Stop shifting in our canal," "Uncle Sam, slave master," an d
"Tell Nixon that Panama is not Vietnam ." The one that chilled m y
heart the most, however, read, "Death for freedom is the way to Christ ."
Scattered among these were posters of Omar Torrijos .
"Now the other side," Fidel said. "I've got official papers and you're
a U.S. citizen, so we can go." Beneath a magenta sky, he drove us int o
the Canal Zone . As prepared as I thought I was, it was not enough .
I could hardly believe the opulence of the place — huge white buildings, manicured lawns, plush homes, golf courses, stores, and theaters .
"The facts," he said . "Everything in here is U.S . property. All the
businesses — the supermarkets, barbershops, beauty salons, restaurants, all of them—are exempt from Panamanian laws and taxes .
There are seven 18-hole golf courses, U.S. post offices scattered con veniently around, U.S . courts of law and schools . It truly is a country
within a country."
"What an affront! "
Fidel peered at me as though making a quick assessment . "Yes,"
he agreed . "That's a pretty good word for it . Over there," he pointe d
back toward the city, "income per capita is less than one thousan d
dollars a year, and unemployment rates are 30 percent . Of course, in
the little shantytown we just visited, no one makes close to one thou sand dollars, and hardly anyone has a job ."
"What's being done?"
He turned and gave me a look that seemed to change from ange r
to sadness .
"What can we do?" He shook his head . "I don't know, but I'll say

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Pirates in the Canal Zone

65

this : Torrijos is trying . I think it may be the death of him, but he sur e
as hell is giving it all he's got . He's a man who'll go down fighting fo r
his people ."
As we headed out of the Canal Zone, Fidel smiled . "You like to
dance?" Without waiting for me to reply, he said, "Let's get some din ner, and then I'll show you yet another side of Panama ."

'V

CHAPTER 1 2

Soldiers and Prostitutes

After a juicy steak and a cold beer, we left the restaurant and drove
down a dark street . Fidel advised me never to walk in this area .
"When you come here, take a cab right to the front door ." He pointed .
"Just there, beyond the fence, is the Canal Zone ."
He drove on until we arrived at a vacant lot filled with cars . H e
found an empty spot and parked . An old man hobbled up to us .
Fidel got out and patted him on the back. Then he ran his hand lovingly across the fender of his car.
"Take good care of her . She's my lady." He handed the man a bill .
We took a short footpath out of the parking lot and suddenl y
found ourselves on a street flooded with flashing neon lights . Tw o
boys raced past, pointing sticks at each other and making th e
sounds of men shooting guns . One slammed into Fidel's legs, hi s
head reaching barely as high as Fidel's thigh . The little boy stoppe d
and stood back.
"I'm sorry, sir," he gasped in Spanish .
Fidel placed both his hands on the boy's shoulders . "No harm
done, my man," he said . "But tell me, what were you and your frien d
shooting at? "
The other boy came up to us . He placed his arm protectively
around the first . "My brother," he explained . `"We're sorry."
"It's okay," Fidel chuckled gently . "He didn't hurt me . I just asked
him what you guys were shooting at . I think I used to play the same
game."

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The brothers glanced at each other . The older one smiled. "He's
the gringo general at the Canal Zone . He tried to rape our mother
and I 'm sending him packing, back to where he belongs ."
Fidel stole a look at me . "Where does he belong? "
"At home, in the United States ."
"Does your mother work here? "
"Over there ." Both boys pointed proudly at a neon light down th e
street. "Bartender."
"Go on then." Fidel handed them each a coin . "But be careful. Stay
in the lights ."
"Oh yes, sir . Thank you ." They raced off.
As we walked on, Fidel explained that Panamanian women wer e
prohibited by law from prostitution . "They can tend bar and dance ,
but cannot sell their bodies . That's left to the imports ."
We stepped inside the bar and were blasted with a popular Amer ican song. My eyes and ears took a moment to adjust . A couple o f
burly U.S. soldiers stood near the door ; bands around their uniforme d
arms identified them as MPs .
Fidel led me along a bar, and then I saw the stage . Three young
women were dancing there, entirely naked except for their heads .
One wore a sailor's cap, another a green beret, and the third a cowboy
hat. They had spectacular figures and were laughing . They seemed
to be playing a game with one another, as though dancing in a competition . The music, the way they danced, the stage — it could hav e
been a disco in Boston, except that they were naked .
We pushed our way through a group of young English-speaking
men. Although they wore T-shirts and blue jeans, their crew cut s
gave them away as soldiers from the Canal Zone's military base . Fidel tapped a waitress on the shoulder. She turned, let out a scream o f
delight, and threw her arms around him. The group of young men
watched this intently, glancing at one another with disapproval . I
wondered if they thought Manifest Destiny included this Panamanian woman . The waitress led us to a corner . From somewhere, she
produced a small table and two chairs.
As we settled in, Fidel exchanged greetings in Spanish with tw o
men at a table beside ours . Unlike the soldiers, they wore printe d
short-sleeved shirts and creased slacks . The waitress returned with
a couple of Balboa beers, and Fidel patted her on the rump as she

68

Part II : 1971—1975

turned to leave . She smiled and threw him a kiss . I glanced aroun d
and was relieved to discover that the young men at the bar were n o
longer watching us ; they were focused on the dancers .
The majority of the patrons were English-speaking soldiers, bu t
there were others, like the two beside us, who obviously were Panamanians . They stood out because their hair would not have passe d
inspection, and because they did not wear T-shirts and jeans . A few
of them sat at tables, others leaned against the walls . They seemed to
be highly alert, like border collies guarding flocks of sheep .
Women roamed the tables. They moved constantly, sitting on laps,
shouting to the waitresses, dancing, swirling, singing, taking turn s
on the stage. They wore tight skirts, T-shirts, jeans, clinging dresses ,
high heels. One was dressed in a Victorian gown and veil . Anothe r
wore only a bikini . It was obvious that only the most beautiful could
survive here . I marveled at the numbers who made their way to Pana ma and wondered at the desperation that had driven them to this .
"All from other countries?" I shouted to Fidel above the music .
He nodded. "Except ..." He pointed at the waitresses . "They're
Panamanian ."
"What countries? "
"Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala ."
"Neighbors."
"Not entirely. Costa Rica and Colombia are our closest neighbors :
The waitress who had led us to this table came and sat on Fidel' s
knee . He gently rubbed her back.
"Clarissa," he said, "please tell my North American friend wh y
they left their countries." He nodded his head in the direction of th e
stage . Three new girls were accepting the hats from the others, wh o
jumped down and started dressing . The music switched to salsa, an d
as the newcomers danced, they shed their clothes to the rhythm .
Clarissa held out her right hand . "I'm pleased to meet you," sh e
said. Then she stood up and reached for our empty bottles . "In answer to Fidel's question, these girls come here to escape brutality. I'll
bring a couple more Balboas ."
After she left, I turned to Fidel. "Come on," I said . "They're her e
for U.S. dollars ."
"True . But why so many from the countries where fascist dictator s
rule?"

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69

I glanced back at the stage . The three of them were giggling an d
throwing the sailo r's cap around like a ball . I looked Fidel in the eye .
"You're not kidding, are you? "
"No ;" he said seriously, "I wish I were . Most of these girls have lost
their families — fathers, brothers, husbands, boyfriends . They grew
up with torture and death. Dancing and prostitution don't seem all
that bad to them . They can make a lot of money here, then star t
fresh somewhere, buy a little shop, open a cafe — "
He was interrupted by a commotion near the bar . I saw a waitres s
swing her fist at one of the soldiers, who caught her hand and bega n
to twist her wrist . She screamed and fell to her knee . He laughed and
shouted to his buddies . They all laughed . She tried to hit him with
her free hand. He twisted harder. Her face contorted with pain .
The MPs remained by the door, watching calmly. Fidel jumped t o
his feet and started toward the bar . One of the men at the table nex t
to ours held out a hand to stop him. "Tranquilo, hermano," he said .
"Be calm, brother . Enrique has control ."
A tall, slim Panamanian came out of the shadows near the stage .
He moved like a cat and was upon the soldier in an instant . On e
hand encircled the man's throat while the other doused him in th e
face with a glass of water. The waitress slipped away. Several of th e
Panamanians who had been lounging against the walls formed a
protective semicircle around the tall bouncer . He lifted the soldier
against the bar and said something I couldn't hear. Then he raised
his voice and spoke slowly in English, loudly enough for everyone i n
the still room to hear over the music .
"The waitresses are off-limits to you guys, and you don't touch the
others until after you pay them ."
The two MPs finally swung into action. They approached th e
cluster of Panamanians . "We'll take it from here, Enrique," they said .
The bouncer lowered the soldier to the floor and gave his neck a
final squeeze, forcing the other's head back and eliciting a cry of pain .
"Do you understand me?" There was a feeble groan . "Good ." He
pushed the soldier at the two MPs . "Get him out of here ."

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Part II : 1971—1975

CHAPTER 1 3

Conversations with the Genera l

The invitation was completely unexpected . One morning during that
same 1972 visit, I was sitting in an office I had been given at the Instituto de Recursos Hidraulicos y Electrificacion, Panama's government-owned electric utility company. I was poring over a sheet o f
statistics when a man knocked gently on the frame of my open door .
I invited him in, pleased with any excuse to take my attention off th e
numbers . He announced himself as the general's chauffeur and sai d
he had come to take me to one of the general's bungalows .
An hour later, I was sitting across the table from General Oma r
Torrijos . He was dressed casually, in typical Panamanian style : khak i
slacks and a short-sleeved shirt buttoned down the front, light blu e
with a delicate green pattern . He was tall, fit, and handsome . He
seemed amazingly relaxed for a man with his responsibilities . A loc k
of dark hair fell over his prominent forehead .
He asked about my recent travels to Indonesia, Guatemala, an d
Iran . The three countries fascinated him, but he seemed especiall y
intrigued with Iran's king, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi . The shah
had come to power in 1941, after the British and Soviets overthre w
his father, whom they accused of collaborating with Hitler .l
"Can you imagine," Torrijos asked, "being part of a plot to dethron e
your own father? "
Panama's head of state knew a good deal about the history of thi s
far-off land . We talked about how the tables were turned on the sha h

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in 1951, and how his own premier, Mohammad Mossadegh, force d
him into exile. Torrijos knew, as did most of the world, that it ha d
been the CIA that labeled the premier a Communist and that steppe d
in to restore the shah to power. However, he did not know—or a t
least did not mention — the parts Claudine had shared with me ,
about Kermit Roosevelt's brilliant maneuvers and the fact that this
had been the beginning of a new era in imperialism, the match that
had ignited the global empire conflagration .
"After the shah was reinstated," Torrijos continued, "he launche d
a series of revolutionary programs aimed at developing the industrial sector and bringing Iran into the modern era ."
I asked him how he happened to know so much about Iran .
"I make it my point," he said . "I don't think too highly of the shah's
politics — his willingness to overthrow his own father and become a
CIA puppet —but it looks as though he's doing good things for his
country. Perhaps I can learn something from him . If he survives ."
"You think he won't? "
"He has powerful enemies ."
"And some of the world's best bodyguards ."
Torrijos gave me a sardonic look . "His secret police, SAVAK, have
the reputation of being ruthless thugs . That doesn't win many friends.
He won't last much longer." He paused, then rolled his eyes . "Bodyguards? I have a few myself." He waved at the door. "You think they'l l
save my life if your country decides to get rid of me? "
I asked whether he truly saw that as a possibility .
He raised his eyebrows in a manner that made me feel foolish fo r
asking such a question . "We have the Canal. That's a lot bigger than
Arbenz and United Fruit."
I had researched Guatemala, and I understood Torrijos's meaning . United Fruit Company had been that country's political equivalent of Panama's canal . Founded in the late 1800s, United Fruit soo n
grew into one of the most powerful forces in Central America . During the early 1950s, reform candidate Jacobo Arbenz was electe d
president of Guatemala in an election hailed all over the hemispher e
as a model of the democratic process. At the time, less than 3 percent
of Guatemalans owned 70 percent of the land . Arbenz promised t o
help the poor dig their way out of starvation, and after his electio n
he implemented a comprehensive land reform program .
"The poor and middle classes throughout Latin America ap72

Part II : 1971—1975

plauded Arbenz," Torrijos said . "Personally, he was one of my heroes .
But we also held our breath . We knew that United Fruit oppose d
these measures, since they were one of the largest and most oppressive landholders in Guatemala . They also owned big plantations i n
Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Santo Domingo ,
and here in Panama. They couldn't afford to let Arbenz give the res t
of us ideas ."
I knew the rest : United Fruit had launched a major public relations campaign in the United States, aimed at convincing the American public and congress that Arbenz was part of a Russian plot an d
that Guatemala was a Soviet satellite . In 1954, the CIA orchestrate d
a coup . American pilots bombed Guatemala City and the democratically elected Arbenz was overthrown, replaced by Colonel Carlos
Castillo Armas, a ruthless right-wing dictator .
The new government owed everything to United Fruit . By way of
thanks, the government reversed the land reform process, abolished
taxes on the interest and dividends paid to foreign investors, eliminated the secret ballot, and jailed thousands of its critics . Anyone who
dared to speak out against Castillo was persecuted . Historians trac e
the violence and terrorism that plagued Guatemala for most of th e
rest of the century to the not-so-secret alliance between United Fruit ,
the CIA, and the Guatemalan army under its colonel dictator .2
"Arbenz was assassinated," Torrijos continued . "Political an d
character assassination ." He paused and frowned. "How could your
people swallow that CIA rubbish? I won't go so easily The military
here are my people . Political assassination won't do ." He smiled .
"The CIA itself will have to kill me! "
We sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in his own thoughts .
Torrijos was the first to speak.
"Do you know who owns United Fruit?" he asked .
"Zapata Oil, George Bush's company—our UN ambassador ." I
said .
"A man with ambitions ." He leaned forward and lowered hi s
voice. "And now I'm up against his cronies at Bechtel ."
This startled me . Bechtel was the world's most powerful engineering firm and a frequent collaborator on projects with MAIN. In
the case of Panama's master plan, I had assumed that they were on e
of our major competitors .
"What do you mean?"

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"We've been considering building a new canal, a sea-level one ,
without locks. It can handle bigger ships . The Japanese may be interested in financing it ."
"They're the Canal 's biggest clients ."
"Exactly. Of course, if they provide the money, they will do the
construction ."
It struck me. "Bechtel will be out in the cold."
"The biggest construction job in recent history" He paused .
"Bechtel's loaded with Nixon, Ford, and Bush cronies ." (Bush, as U.S.
ambassador to the UN, and Ford, as House Minority Leader an d
Chairman of the Republican National Convention, were well known to Torrijos as Republican powerbrokers .) "I've been told that
the Bechtel family pulls the strings of the Republican Party"
This conversation left me feeling very uncomfortable . I was on e
of the people who perpetuated the system he so despised, and I wa s
certain he knew it . My job of convincing him to accept international
loans in exchange for hiring U.S. engineering and construction firm s
appeared to have hit a mammoth wall. I decided to confront hi m
head-on .
"General," I asked, "why did you invite me here? "
He glanced at his watch and smiled . "Yes, time now to get dow n
to our own business . Panama needs your help . I need your help ."
I was stunned . "My help? What can I do for you? "
"We will take back the Canal . But that's not enough ." He relaxe d
into his chair. "We must also serve as a model . We must show that
we care about our poor and we must demonstrate beyond any doub t
that our determination to win our independence is not dictated b y
Russia, China, or Cuba . We must prove to the world that Panama i s
a reasonable country, that we stand not against the United State s
butfor the rights of the poor."
He crossed one leg over the other . "In order to do that we need t o
build up an economic base that is like none in this hemisphere . Elec tricity, yes — but electricity that reaches the poorest of our poor an d
is subsidized. The same for transportation and communications .
And especially for agriculture . Doing that will take money—your
money the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank ."
Once again, he leaned forward . His eyes held mine . "I understand
that your company wants more work and usually gets it by inflatin g
the size of projects—wider highways, bigger power plants, deeper
74

Part II : 1971—1975

harbors . This time is different, though . Give me wha t's best for my
people, and I'll give you all the work you want ."
What he proposed was totally unexpected, and it both shocke d
and excited me. It certainly defied all I had learned at MAIN . Surely,
he knew that the foreign aid game was a sham — he had to know . It
existed to make him rich and to shackle his country with debt . It wa s
there so Panama would be forever obligated to the United States an d
the corporatocracy. It was there to keep Latin America on the path o f
Manifest Destiny and forever subservient to Washington and Wall
Street . I was certain that he knew that the system was based on th e
assumption that all men in power are corruptible, and that his decision not to use it for his personal benefit would be seen as a threat ,
a new form of domino that might start a chain reaction and eventually topple the entire system .
I looked across the coffee table at this man who certainly under stood that because of the Canal he enjoyed a very special and uniqu e
power, and that it placed him in a particularly precarious position .
He had to be careful . He already had established himself as a leade r
among LDC leaders . If he, like his hero Arbenz, was determined t o
take a stand, the world would be watching . How would the syste m
react? More specifically, how would the U .S. government react ?
Latin American history was littered with dead heroes .
I also knew I was looking at a man who challenged all the justifications I had formulated for my own actions . This man certainly had
his share of personal flaws, but he was no pirate, no Henry Morga n
or Francis Drake — those swashbuckling adventurers who used letters of marque from English kings as a cloak to legitimatize piracy .
The picture on the billboard had not been your typical political deception . "Omar's ideal is freedom ; the missile is not invented tha t
can kill an ideal!" Hadn't Tom Paine penned something similar?
It made me wonder, though . Perhaps ideals do not die, but wha t
about the men behind them? Che, Arbenz, Allende ; the latter wa s
the only one still alive, but for how long? And it raised another question : how would I respond if Torrijos were thrust into the role o f
martyr?
By the time I left him we both understood that MAIN would ge t
the contract for the master plan, and that I would see to it that w e
did Torrijos's bidding .

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Conversations with the General

75

CHAPTER 1 4

Entering a New and Sinister Perio d
in Economic History

As chief economist, I not only was in charge of a department a t
MAIN and responsible for the studies we carried out around the
globe, but I also was expected to be con v ersant with current economic trends and theories . The early 1970s were a time of major
shifts in international economics .
During the 1960s, a group of countries had formed OPEC, the
cartel of oil-producing nations, largely in response to the power of
the big refining companies . Iran was also a major factor . Even though
the shah owed his position and possibly his life to the United States '
clandestine intervention during the Mossadegh struggle—or perhaps because of that fact — the shah was acutely aware that th e
tables could be turned on him at any time . The heads of state of other
petroleum-rich nations shared this awareness and the paranoia that
accompanied it . They also knew that the major international oi l
companies, known as "The Seven Sisters," were collaborating to hol d
down petroleum prices — and thus the revenues they paid to the pro ducing countries — as a means of reaping their own windfall profits .
OPEC was organized in order to strike back.
This all came to a head in the early 1970s, when OPEC brought
the industrial giants to their knees . A series of concerted actions ,
ending with a 1973 oil embargo symbolized by long lines at U.S. gas
stations, threatened to bring on an economic catastrophe rivalin g
the Great Depression . It was a systemic shock to the developed

world economy, and of a magnitude that few people could begi n
to comprehend.
The oil crisis could not have come at a worse time for the Unite d
States . It was a confused nation, full of fear and self-doubt, reelin g
from a humiliating war in Vietnam and a president who was abou t
to resign . Nixon's problems were not limited to Southeast Asia an d
Watergate . He had stepped up to the plate during an era that, in retrospect, would be understood as the threshold of a new epoch i n
world politics and economics . In those days, it seemed that the `littl e
guys," including the OPEC countries, were getting the upper hand .
I was fascinated by world events. My bread was buttered by the
corporatocracy, yet some secret side of me enjoyed watching m y
masters being put in their places. I suppose it assuaged my guilt a
bit. I saw the shadow of Thomas Paine standing on the sidelines ,
cheering OPEC on.
None of us could have been aware of the full impact of the embargo at the time it was happening . We certainly had our theories ,
but we could not understand what has since become clear. In hindsight, we know that economic growth rates after the oil crisis wer e
about half those prevailing in the 1950s and 1960s, and that they
have taken place against much greater inflationary pressure . The
growth that did occur was structurally different and did not creat e
nearly as many jobs, so unemployment soared . To top it all off, the
international monetary system took a blow; the network of fixed
exchange rates, which had prevailed since the end of World War II ,
essentially collapsed .
During that time, I frequently got together with friends to discuss
these matters over lunch or over beers after work . Some of these peo ple worked for me — my staff included very smart men and women ,
mostly young, who for the most part were freethinkers, at least b y
conventional standards. Others were executives at Boston think tank s
or professors at local colleges, and one was an assistant to a state
congressman . These were informal meetings, sometimes attende d
by as few as two of us, while others might include a dozen participants . The sessions were always lively and raucous .
When I look back at those discussions, I am embarrassed by th e
sense of superiority I often felt . I knew things I could not share. My
friends sometimes flaunted their credentials — connections on Beaco n

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Entering a New and Sinister Period in Economic History 77

Hill or in Washington, professorships and PhDs — and I would answer this in my role as chief economist of a major consulting firm ,
who traveled around the world first class . Yet, I could not discuss my
private meetings with men like Torrijos, or the things I knew abou t
the ways we were manipulating countries on every continent . It was
both a source of inner arrogance and a frustration .
When we talked about the power of the little guys, I had to exercise a great deal of restraint . I knew what none of them could possibly
know, that the corporatocracy, its band of EHMs, and the jackal s
waiting in the background would never allow the little guys to gai n
control . I only had to draw upon the examples of Arbenz an d
Mossadegh—and more recently, upon the 1973 CIA overthrow of
Chile's democratically elected president, Salvador Allende . In fact, I
understood that the stranglehold of global empire was growin g
stronger, despite OPEC — or, as I suspected at the time but did no t
confirm until later, with OPEC's help .
Our conversations often focused on the similarities between th e
early 1970s and the 1930s . The latter represented a major watershe d
in the international economy and in the way it was studied, analyzed,
and perceived . That decade opened the door to Keynesian economics
and to the idea that government should play a major role in manag ing markets and providing services such as health, unemploymen t
compensation, and other forms of welfare . We were moving away
from old assumptions that markets were self-regulating and that the
state's intervention should be minimal .
The Depression resulted in the New Deal and in policies that pro moted economic regulation, governmental financial manipulation ,
and the extensive application of fiscal policy . In addition, both th e
Depression and World War II led to the creation of organization s
like the World Bank, the IMF, and the General Agreement on Tariff s
and Trade (GATT) . The 1960s was a pivotal decade in this perio d
and in the shift from neoclassic to Keynesian economics . It happened
under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and perhaps th e
most important single influence was one man, Robert McNamara .
McNamara was a frequent visitor to our discussion groups — i n
absentia, of course . We all knew about his meteoric rise to fame ,
from manager of planning and financial analysis at Ford Moto r
Company in 1949 to Ford's president in 1960, the first company

78

Part II : 1971-1975

head selected from outside the Ford family . Shortly after that,
Kennedy appointed him secretary of defense .
McNamara became a strong advocate of a Keynesian approach t o
government, using mathematical models and statistical approache s
to determine troop levels, allocation of funds, and other strategies i n
Vietnam. His advocacy of "aggressive leadership" became a hallmar k
not only of government managers but also of corporate executives . It
formed the basis of a new philosophical approach to teaching man agement at the nation's top business schools, and it ultimately led to a
new breed of CEOs who would spearhead the rush to global empire.'
As we sat around the table discussing world events, we were especially fascinated by McNamara's role as president of the Worl d
Bank, a job he accepted soon after leaving his post as secretary of defense . Most of my friends focused on the fact that he symbolized wha t
was popularly known as the military-industrial complex . He had
held the top position in a major corporation, in a government cabinet ,
and now at the most powerful bank in the world . Such an apparent
breach in the separation of powers horrified many of them ; I may
have been the only one among us who was not in the least surprised .
I see now that Robert McNamara's greatest and most siniste r
contribution to history was to jockey the World Bank into becomin g
an agent of global empire on a scale never before witnessed . He also
set a precedent . His ability to bridge the gaps between the primar y
components of the corporatocracy would be fine-tuned by his successors . For instance, George Shultz was secretary of the treasur y
and chairman of the Council on Economic Policy under Nixon ,
served as Bechtel president, and then became secretary of state unde r
Reagan . Caspar Weinberger was a Bechtel vice president and genera l
council, and later the secretary of defense under Reagan . Richard
Helms was Johnson's CIA director and then became ambassador t o
Iran under Nixon . Richard Cheney served as secretary of defens e
under George H . W. Bush, as Halliburton president, and as U .S. vice
president to George W. Bush . Even a president of the United States ,
George H. W. Bush, began as founder of Zapata Petroleum Corp ,
served as U.S . ambassador to the U.N. under presidents Nixon an d
Ford, and was Ford's CIA director .
Looking back, I am struck by the innocence of those days . In many
respects, we were still caught up in the old approaches to empir e

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building . Kermit Roosevelt had shown us a better way when he over threw an Iranian democrat and replaced him with a despotic king .
We EHMs were accomplishing many of our objectives in places lik e
Indonesia and Ecuador, and yet Vietnam was a stunning example o f
how easily we could slip back into old patterns .
It would take the leading member of OPEC, Saudi Arabia, t o
change that .

CHAPTER 1 5

The Saudi Arabia n
Money-laundering Affai r

In 1974, a diplomat from Saudi Arabia showed me photos of Riyadh ,
the capital of his country. Included in these photos was a herd of
goats rummaging among piles of refuse outside a government building. When I asked the diplomat about them, his response shocke d
me. He told me that they were the city's main garbage disposal system .
"No self-respecting Saudi would ever collect trash," he said . "We
leave it to the beasts."
Goats! In the capital of the world's greatest oil kingdom . It seeme d
unbelievable .
At the time, I was one of a group of consultants just beginning t o
try to piece together a solution to the oil crisis . Those goats led me to
an understanding of how that solution might evolve, especially give n
the country's pattern of development over the previous three centuries .
Saudi Arabia's history is full of violence and religious fanaticism .
In the eighteenth century, Mohammed ibn Saud, a local warlord ,
joined forces with fundamentalists from the ultraconservative Wahhabi sect. It was a powerful union, and during the next two hundre d
years the Saud family and their Wahhabi allies conquered most o f
the Arabian Peninsula, including Islam's holiest sites, Mecca an d
Medina.
Saudi society reflected the puritanical idealism of its founders ,
and a strict interpretation of Koranic beliefs was enforced . Religious
police ensured adherence to the mandate to pray five times a day.

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Women were required to cover themselves from head to toe . Punishment for criminals was severe ; public executions and stonings
were common . During my first visit to Riyadh, I was amazed when
my driver told me I could leave my camera, briefcase, and even m y
wallet in plain sight inside our car, parked near the open market ,
without locking it .
"No one," he said, "would think of stealing here . Thieves hav e
their hands cut off."
Later that day, he asked me if I would like to visit so-called Chop
Chop Square and watch a beheading. Wahhabism's adherence to
what we would consider extreme puritanism made the streets saf e
from thieves — and demanded the harshest form of corporal punishment for those who violated the laws . I declined the invitation.
The Saudi view of religion as an important element of politic s
and economics contributed to the oil embargo that shook the Western
world. On October 6, 1973 (Yom Kippur, the holiest of Jewish holi days), Egypt and Syria launched simultaneous attacks on Israel. It was
the beginning of the October War — the fourth and most destructiv e
of the Arab-Israeli wars, and the one that would have the greatest
impact on the world . Egypt's President Sadat pressured Saudi Arabia's King Faisal to retaliate against the United States' complicity '
with Israel by employing what Sadat referred to as "the oil weapon ."
On October 16, Iran and the five Arab Gulf states, including Saud i
Arabia, announced a 70 percent increase in the posted price of oil .
Meeting in Kuwait City, Arab oil ministers pondered further op tions . The Iraqi representative was vehemently in favor of targetin g
the United States . He called on the other delegates to nationaliz e
American businesses in the Arab world, to impose a total oil embarg o
on the United States and on all other nations friendly to Israel, an d
to withdraw Arab funds from every American bank . He pointed out
that Arab bank accounts were substantial and that this action could
result in a panic not unlike that of 1929 .
Other Arab ministers were reluctant to agree to such a radical
plan, but on October 17 they did decide to move forward with a mor e
limited embargo, which would begin with a 5 percent cut in production and then impose an additional 5 percent reduction ever y
month until their political objectives were met . They agreed that the
United States should be punished for its pro-Israeli stance and
should therefore have the most severe embargo levied against it .
82 Part II : 1971-1975

Several of the countries attending the meeting announced that the y
would implement cutbacks of 10 percent, rather than 5 percent .
On October 19, President Nixon asked Congress for $2 .2 billion
in aid to Israel . The next day, Saudi Arabia and other Arab producers imposed a total embargo on oil shipments to the United States ..
The oil embargo ended on March' 8, 1974 . Its duration was short,
its impact immense . The selling price of Saudi oil leaped from $1 .39
a barrel on January 1, 1970, to $8 .32 on January 1, 1974 . 2 Politicians
and future administrations would never forget the lessons learne d
during the early- to mid-1970s . In the long run, the trauma of thos e
few months served to strengthen the corporatocracy ; its three pillars
—big corporations, international banks, and government —bonde d
as never before . That bond would endure .
The embargo also resulted in significant attitude and polic y
changes . It convinced Wall Street and Washington that such an embargo could never again be tolerated. Protecting our oil supplies had
always been a priority ; after 1973, it became an obsession . The embargo elevated Saudi Arabia's status as a player in world politics an d
forced Washington to recognize the kingdom's strategic importance
to our own economy. Furthermore, it encouraged U.S. corporatocracy leaders to search desperately for methods to funnel petrodollar s
back to America, and to ponder the fact that the Saudi governmen t
lacked the administrative and institutional frameworks to properl y
manage its mushrooming wealth .
For Saudi Arabia, the additional oil income resulting from th e
price hikes was a mixed blessing . It filled the national coffers wit h
billions of dollars ; however, it also served to undermine some of th e
strict religious beliefs of the Wahhabis . Wealthy Saudis traveled
around the world. They attended schools and universities in Europe
and the United States . They bought fancy cars and furnished thei r
houses with Western-style goods . Conservative religious beliefs were
replaced by a new form of materialism — and it was this materialis m
that presented a solution to fears of future oil crises .
Almost immediately after the embargo ended, Washington began
negotiating with the Saudis, offering them technical support, militar y
hardware and training, and an opportunity to bring their nation int o
the twentieth century, in exchange for petrodollars and, most impor tantly, assurances that there would never again be another oil embargo .
The negotiations resulted in the creation of a most extraordinary

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organization, the United States-Saudi Arabian Joint Economic Com mission . Known as JECOR, it embodied an innovative concept that
was the opposite of traditional foreign aid programs : it relied o n
Saudi money to hire American firms to build up Saudi Arabia .
Although overall management and fiscal responsibility wer e
delegated to the U .S. Department of the Treasury, this commissio n
was independent to the extreme . Ultimately, it would spend billions
of dollars over a period of more than twenty-five years, with virtually
no congressional oversight. Because no U.S. funding was involved,
Congress had no authority in the matter, despite Treasury's role. After
studying JECOR extensively, David Holden and Richard Johns conclude, "It was the most far-reaching agreement of its kind eve r
concluded by the U .S. with a developing country. It had the potential
to entrench the U.S. deeply in the Kingdom, fortifying the concept of
mutual interdependence ."3
The Department of the Treasury brought MAIN in at an early
stage to serve as an adviser . I was summoned and told that my jo b
would be critical, and that everything I did and learned should b e
considered highly confidential . From my vantage point, it seeme d
like a clandestine operation . At the time, I was led to believe that
MAIN was the lead consultant in that process ; I subsequently
came to realize that we were one of several consultants whose expertise was sought .
Since everything was done in the greatest secrecy, I was not privy
to Treasury's discussions with other consultants, and I therefor e
cannot be certain about the importance of my role in this precedent setting deal . I do know that the arrangement established new standards for EHMs and that it launched innovative alternatives to th e
traditional approaches for advancing the interests of empire . I also
know that most of the scenarios that evolved from my studies were
ultimately implemented, that MAIN was rewarded with one of th e
first major — and extremely profitable—contracts in Saudi Arabia ,
and that I received a large bonus that year.
My job was to develop forecasts of what might happen in Saud i
Arabia if vast amounts of money were invested in its infrastructure,
and to map out scenarios for spending that money. In short, I was
asked to apply as much creativity as I could to justifying the infusion of
hundreds of millions of dollars into the Saudi Arabian economy, under conditions that would include U .S. engineering and construction
84 Part II : 1971-1975

companies . I was told to do this on my own, not to rely on my staff ,
and I was sequestered in a small conference room several floor s
above the one where my department was located . I was warned that
my job was both a matter of national security and potentially very lu crative for MAIN.
I understood, of course, that the primary objective here was no t
the usual —to burden this country with debts it could never repay —
but rather to find ways that would assure that a large portion o f
petrodollars found their way back to the United States . In the process,
Saudi Arabia would be drawn in, its economy would become increas ingly intertwined with and dependent upon ours, and presumably i t
would grow more Westernized and therefore more sympathetic wit h
and integrated into our system .
Once I got started, I realized that the goats wandering the street s
of Riyadh were the symbolic key; they were a sore point among
Saudis jet-setting around the world . Those goats begged to be replace d
by something more appropriate for this desert kingdom that craved
entry into the modern world . I also knew that OPEC economists
were stressing the need for oil-rich countries to obtain more valueadded products from their petroleum . Rather than simply exporting
crude oil, the economists were urging these countries to develop in dustries of their own, to use this oil to produce petroleum-base d
products they could sell to the rest of the world at a higher price tha n
that brought by the crude itself.
This twin realization opened the door to a strategy I felt certai n
would be a win-win situation for everyone . The goats, of course, wer e
merely an entry point. Oil revenues could be employed to hire U.S.
companies to replace the goats with the world's most modern garbag e
collection and disposal system, and the Saudis could take great prid e
in this state-of-the-art technology.
I came to think of the goats as one side of an equation that coul d
be applied to most of the kingdom's economic sectors, a formula for
success in the eyes of the royal family, the U.S . Department of the
Treasury, and my bosses at MAIN . Under this formula, money would
be earmarked to create an industrial sector focused on transforming
raw petroleum into finished products for export . Large petrochemical complexes would rise from the desert, and around them, hug e
industrial parks . Naturally, such a plan would also require the construction of thousands of megawatts of electrical generating capacity ,

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transmission and distribution lines, highways, pipelines, communications networks, and transportation systems, including new airports ,
improved seaports, a vast array of service industries, and the infra structure essential to keep all these cogs turning.
We all had high expectations that this plan would evolve int o
a model of how things should be done in the rest of the world .
Globe-trotting Saudis would sing our praises ; they would invite
leaders from many countries to come to Saudi Arabia and witnes s
the miracles we had accomplished ; those leaders would then call o n
us to help them devise similar plans for their countries and—i n
most cases, for countries outside the ring of OPEC — would arrang e
World Bank or other debt-ridden methods for financing them . Th e
global empire would be well served .
As I worked through these ideas, I thought of the goats, and th e
words of my driver often echoed in my ears : "No self-respecting
Saudi would ever collect trash ." I had heard that refrain repeatedly,
in many different contexts . It was obvious that the Saudis had no
intention of putting their own people to work at menial tasks,
whether as laborers in industrial facilities or in the actual construction of any of the projects . In the first place, there were too few of
them. In addition, the royal House of Saud had indicated a commitment to providing its citizens with a level of education and a
lifestyle that were inconsistent with those of manual laborers . The
Saudis might manage others, but they had no desire or motivation t o
become factory and construction workers . Therefore, it would b e
necessary to import a labor force from other countries — countrie s
where labor was cheap and where people needed work . If possible ,
the labor should come from other Middle Eastern or Islamic countries, such as Egypt, Palestine, Pakistan, and Yemen .
This prospect created an even greater new stratagem for development opportunities. Mammoth housing complexes would have t o
be constructed for these laborers, as would shopping malls, hospitals ,
fire and police department facilities, water and sewage treatmen t
plants, electrical, communications, and transportation networks —
in fact, the end result would be to create modern cities where onc e
only deserts had existed. Here, too, was the opportunity to explor e
emerging technologies in, for example, desalinization plants, micro wave systems, health care complexes, and computer technologies .
Saudi Arabia was a planner's dream come true, and also a fantasy
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Part II : 1971–1975

realized for anyone associated with the engineering and construction business. It presented an economic opportunity unrivaled b y
any other in history: an underdeveloped country with virtually un limited financial resources and a desire to enter the modern age in a
big way very quickly.
I must admit that I enjoyed this job immensely . There was n o
solid data available in Saudi Arabia, in the Boston Public Library, o r
anywhere else that justified the use of econometric models in thi s
context . In fact, the magnitude of the job — the total and immediat e
transformation of an entire nation on a scale never before witnesse d
— meant that even had historical data existed, it would have bee n
irrelevant .
Nor was anyone expecting this type of quantitative analysis, a t
least not at this stage of the game . I simply put my imagination to
work and wrote reports that envisioned a glorious future for th e
kingdom . I had rule-of-thumb numbers I could use to estimate suc h
things as the approximate cost to produce a megawatt of electricity ,
a mile of road, or adequate water, sewage, housing, food, and public
services for one laborer . I was not supposed to refine these estimates o r
to draw final conclusions . My job was simply to describe a series o f
plans (more accurately, perhaps, "visions") of what might be possible ,
and to arrive at rough estimates of the costs associated with them .
I always kept in mind the true objectives : maximizing payouts t o
U.S . firms and making Saudi Arabia increasingly dependent on th e
United States . It did not take long to realize how closely the tw o
went together; almost all the newly developed projects would requir e
continual upgrading and servicing, and they were so highly technica l
as to assure that the companies that originally developed them woul d
have to maintain and modernize them. In fact, as I moved forwar d
with my work, I began to assemble two lists for each of the project s
I envisioned : one for the types of design-and-construction contract s
we could expect, and another for long-term service and managemen t
agreements . MAIN, Bechtel, Brown & Root, Halliburton, Stone &
Webster, and many other U .S . engineers and contractors would
profit handsomely for decades to come .
Beyond the purely economic, there was another twist that woul d
render Saudi Arabia dependent on us, though in a very different way.
The modernization of this oil-rich kingdom would trigger advers e
reactions . For instance, conservative Muslims would be furious ; Israel

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87

and other neighboring countries would feel threatened . The economic development of this nation was likely to spawn the growth o f
another industry : protecting the Arabian Peninsula . Private companies specializing in such activities, as well as the U .S. military and
defense industry, could expect generous contracts — and, once again ,
long-term service and management agreements . Their presence
would require another phase of engineering and construction projects, including airports, missile sites, personnel bases, and all of the
infrastructure associated with such facilities .
I sent my reports in sealed envelopes through interoffice mail, ad dressed to "Treasury Department Project Manager." I occasionally
met with a couple of other members of our team — vice presidents a t
MAIN and my superiors . Sincawe had no official name for this proj ect, which was still in the research and development phase and wa s
not yet part of JECOR, we referred to it only—and with hushed
voices — as SAMA . Ostensibly, this stood for Saudi Arabian Moneylaundering Affair, but it was also a tongue-in-cheek play on words ;
the kingdom's central bank was called the Saudi Arabian Monetary
Agency, or SAMA.
Sometimes a Treasury representative would join us . I asked fe w
questions during these meetings . Mainly, I just described my work,
responded to their comments, and agreed to try to do whatever wa s
asked of me . The vice presidents and Treasury representatives were
especially impressed with my ideas about the long-term service an d
management agreements . It prodded one of the vice presidents t o
coin a phrase we often used after that, referring to the kingdom a s
"the cow we can milk until the sun sets on our retirement ." For me,
that phrase always conjured images of goats rather than cows .
It was during those meetings that I came to realize that several o f
our competitors were involved in similar tasks, and that in the en d
we all expected to be awarded lucrative contracts as a result of ou r
efforts . I assumed that MAIN and the other firms were footing th e
bill for this preliminary work, taking a short-term risk in order t o
throw our hats into the ring . This assumption was reinforced by th e
fact that the number I charged my time to on our daily personal tim e
sheets appeared to be a general and administrative overhead ac count. Such an approach was typical of the research and development/proposal preparation phase of most projects . In this case, the

88 Part II : 1971—1975

initial investment certainly far exceeded the norm, but those vic e
presidents seemed extremely confident about the payback.
Despite the knowledge that our competitors were also involved ,
we all assumed that there was enough work to go around . I also ha d
been in the business long enough to believe that the rewards be stowed would reflect the level of Treasury's acceptance of the work
we had done, and that those consultants who came up with the approaches that were finally implemented would receive the choices t
contracts . I took it as a personal challenge to create scenarios that
would make it to the design-and-construct stage . My star was al ready rising rapidly at MAIN. Being a key player in SAMA woul d
guarantee its acceleration, if we were successful .
During our meetings, we also openly discussed the likelihood that
SAMA and the entire JECOR operation would set new precedents .
It represented an innovative approach to creating lucrative work i n
countries that did not need to incur debts through the internationa l
banks . Iran and Iraq came immediately to mind as two additional
examples of such countries . Moreover, given human nature, we fel t
that the leaders of such countries would likely be motivated to tr y
to emulate Saudi Arabia . There seemed little doubt that the 197 3
oil embargo —which had initially appeared to be so negative —
would end up offering many unexpected gifts to the engineering an d
construction business, and would help to further pave the road t o
global empire .
I worked on that visionary phase for about eight months — although
never for more than several intense days at a time — sequestered i n
my private conference room or in my apartment overlooking Bosto n
Common . My staff all had other assignments and pretty much too k
care of themselves, although I checked in on them periodically . Over
time, the secrecy around our work declined . More people became
aware that something big involving Saudi Arabia was going on. Excitement swelled, rumors swirled. The vice presidents and Treasury
representatives grew more open—in part, I believe, because the y
themselves became privy to more information as details about the
ingenious scheme emerged .
Under this evolving plan, Washington wanted the Saudis t o
guarantee to maintain oil supplies and prices at levels that could
fluctuate but that would always remain acceptable to the United

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The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair 89

States and our allies . If other countries such as Iran, Iraq, Indonesia ,
or Venezuela threatened embargoes, Saudi Arabia, with its vast petroleum supplies, would step in to fill the gap ; simply the knowledge
that they might do so would, in the long run, discourage other countries from even considering an embargo . In exchange for this guarantee, Washington would offer the House of Saud an amazingly
attractive deal : a commitment to provide total and unequivocal U .S.
political and—if necessary — military support, thereby ensurin g
their continued existence as the rulers of their country .
It was a deal the House of Saud could hardly refuse, given its geographic location, lack of military might, and general vulnerabilit y
to neighbors like Iran, Syria, Iraq, and Israel . Naturally, therefore,
Washington used its advantage to impose one other critical condition, a condition that redefined the role of EHMs in the world an d
served as a model we would later attempt to apply in other countries,
most notably in Iraq . In retrospect, I sometimes find it difficult t o
understand how Saudi Arabia could have accepted this condition .
Certainly, most of the rest of the Arab world, OPEC, and other Islamic countries were appalled when they discovered the terms of th e
deal and the manner in which the royal house capitulated to Washington's demands .
The condition was that Saudi Arabia would use its petrodollars to
purchase U.S . government securities; in turn, the interest earned b y
these securities would be spent by the U .S. Department of the Treasury in ways that enabled Saudi Arabia to emerge from a medieva l
society into the modern, industrialized world. In other words, the
interest compounding on billions of dollars of the kingdom's oil income would be used to pay U.S . companies to fulfill the vision I (an d
presumably some of my competitors) had come up with, to conver t
Saudi Arabia into a modern industrial power. Our own U.S. Department of the Treasury would hire us, at Saudi expense, to buil d
infrastructure projects and even entire cities throughout the Arabia n
Peninsula.
Although the Saudis reserved the right to provide input regardin g
the general nature of these projects, the reality was that an elit e
corps of foreigners (mostly infidels, in the eyes of Muslims) would
determine the future appearance and economic makeup of the Arabian Peninsula . And this would occur in a kingdom founded on conservative Wahhabi principles and run according to those principles

for several centuries. It seemed a huge leap of faith on their part, ye t
under the circumstances, and due to the political and military pressures undoubtedly brought to bear by Washington, I suspected th e
Saud family felt they had few alternatives .
From our perspective, the prospects for immense profits seeme d
limitless . It was a sweetheart deal with potential to set an amazin g
precedent. And to make the deal even sweeter, no one had to obtai n
congressional approval — a process loathed by corporations, particularly privately owned ones like Bechtel and MAIN, which prefer no t
to open their books or share their secrets with anyone . Thomas W.
Lippman, an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute and a for mer journalist, eloquently summarizes the salient points of this deal :
The Saudis, rolling in cash, would deliver hundreds o f
millions of dollars to Treasury, which held on to the fund s
until they were needed to pay vendors or employees . Thi s
system assured that the Saudi money would be recycle d
back into the American economy ... It also ensured that
the commission's managers could undertake whateve r
projects they and the Saudis agreed were useful withou t
having to justify them to Congress .4
Establishing the parameters for this historic undertaking too k
less time than anyone could have imagined . After that, however, we
had to figure out a way to implement it . To set the process in motion,
someone at the highest level of government was dispatched to Saudi
Arabia — an extremely confidential mission . I never knew for sure ,
but I believe the envoy was Henry Kissinger .
Whoever the envoy was, his first job was to remind the royal famil y
about what had happened in neighboring Iran when Mossadeg h
tried to oust British petroleum interests . Next, he would outline a
plan that would be too attractive for them to turn down, in effec t
conveying to the Saudis that they had few alternatives . I have no
doubt that they were left with the distinct impression that they coul d
either accept our offer and thus gain assurances that we would sup port and protect them as rulers, or they could refuse—and go th e
way of Mossadegh . When the envoy returned to Washington, h e
brought with him the message that the Saudis would like to comply .
There was just one slight obstacle . We would have to convince key

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The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair 91

players in the Saudi government . This, we were informed, was a
family matter. Saudi Arabia was not a democracy, and yet it seeme d
that within the House of Saud there was a need for consensus .
In 1975, I was assigned to one of those key players . I always
thought of him as Prince W., although I never determined that h e
was actually a crown prince . My job was to persuade him that th e
Saudi Arabia Money-laundering Affair would benefit his country a s
well as him personally.
This was not as easy as it appeared at first . Prince W. professe d
himself a good Wahhabi and insisted that he did not want to see hi s
country follow in the footsteps of Western commercialism . He also
claimed that he understood the insidious nature of what we were
proposing. We had, he said, the same objectives as the crusaders a
millennium earlier: the Christianization of the Arab world . In fact,
he was partially right about this . In my opinion, the difference between the crusaders and us was a matter of degree . Europe's medieval
Catholics claimed their goal was to save Muslims from purgatory ;
we claimed that we wanted to help the Saudis modernize . In truth,
I believe the crusaders, like the corporatocracy, were primaril y
seeking to expand their empire .
Religious beliefs aside, Prince W. had one weakness — for beautifu l
blonds . It seems almost ludicrous to mention what has now becom e
an unfair stereotype, and I should mention that Prince W . was th e
only man among many Saudis I have known who had this proclivity ,
or at least the only one who was willing to let me see it . Yet, it playe d
a role in structuring this historic deal, and it demonstrates how fa r
I would go to complete my mission .

CHAPTER 1 6

Pimping, and Financin g
Osama bin Lade n

From the start, Prince W. let me know that whenever he came t o
visit me in Boston he expected to be entertained by a woman of hi s
liking, and that he expected her to perform more functions than thos e
of a simple escort . But he most definitely did not want a professional
call girl, someone he or his family members might bump into on th e
street or at a cocktail party My meetings with Prince W . were held in
secret, which made it easier for me to comply with his wishes .
"Sally" was a beautiful blue-eyed blond woman who lived in th e
Boston area. Her husband, a United Airlines pilot who traveled a grea t
deal both on and off the job, made little attempt to hide his infidelities. Sally had a cavalier attitude about her husband's activities . She
appreciated his salary, the plush Boston condo, and the benefits a
pilot's spouse enjoyed in those days . A decade earlier, she had bee n
a hippie who had become accustomed to promiscuous sex, and sh e
found the idea of a secret source of income attractive . She agreed to
give Prince W. a try, on one condition : she insisted that the future o f
their relationship depended entirely upon his behavior and attitud e
toward her .
Fortunately for me, each met the other's criteria.
The Prince W.-Sally Affair, a subchapter of the Saudi Arabi a
Money-laundering Affair, created its own set of problems for me .
MAIN strictly prohibited its partners from doing anything illicit .
From a legal standpoint, I was procuring sex — pimping — an illega l
activity in Massachusetts, and so the main problem was figuring ou t

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93

how to pay for Sall y's services . Luckily, the accounting departmen t
allowed me great liberties with my expense account . I was a goo d
tipper, and I managed to persuade waiters in some of the most pos h
restaurants in Boston to provide me with blank receipts ; it was a n
era when people, not computers, filled out receipts .
Prince W. grew bolder as time went by. Eventually, he wanted m e
to arrange for Sally to come and live in his private cottage in Saud i
Arabia. This was not an unheard-of request in those days ; there was
an active trade in young women between certain European countrie s
and the Middle East . These women were given contracts for some
specified period of time, and when the contract expired they wen t
home to very substantial bank accounts . Robert Baer, a case officer
in the CIA's directorate of operations for twenty years, and a specialist in the Middle East, sums it up : "In the early 1970s, when the
petrodollars started flooding in, enterprising Lebanese began smug gling hookers into the kingdom for the princes . . . Since no one in th e
royal family knows how to balance a checkbook, the Lebanese be came fabulously wealthy."l
I was familiar with this situation and even knew people wh o
could arrange such contracts. However, for me, there were two majo r
obstacles : Sally and the payment . I was certain Sally was not abou t
to leave Boston and move to a desert mansion in the Middle East. It
was also pretty obvious that no collection of blank restaurant receipts would cover this expense.
Prince W. took care of the latter concern by assuring me that h e
expected to pay for his new mistress himself ; I was only required t o
make the arrangements . It also gave me great relief when he went on
to confide that the Saudi Arabian Sally did not have to be the exac t
same person as the one who had kept him company in the United
States . I made calls to several friends who had Lebanese contacts i n
London and Amsterdam. Within a couple of weeks, a surrogate Sall y
signed a contract .
Prince W. was a complex person . Sally satisfied a corporeal desire ,
and my ability to help the prince in this regard earned me his trust .
However, it by no means convinced him that SAMA was a strateg y
he wanted to recommend for his country. I had to work very hard to
win my case . I spent many hours showing him statistics and helping
him analyze studies we had undertaken for other countries, including
the econometric models I had developed for Kuwait while training
94 Part II : 1971-1975

with Claudine, during those first few months before heading to Indonesia. Eventually he relented .
I am not familiar with the details of what went on between my
fellow EHMs and the other key Saudi players . All I know is that the
entire package was finally approved by the royal family . MAIN was
rewarded for its part with one of the first highly lucrative contracts ,
administered by the U.S . Department of the Treasury. We were com missioned to make a complete survey of the country's disorganize d
and outmoded electrical system and to design a new one that would
meet standards equivalent to those in the United States .
As usual, it was my job to send in the first team, to develop eco nomic and electric load forecasts for each region of the country.
Three of the men who worked for me — all experienced in international projects — were preparing to leave for Riyadh when word cam e
down from our legal department that under the terms of the contract we were obligated to have a fully equipped office up an d
running in Riyadh within the next few weeks . This clause had apparently gone unnoticed for over a month. Our agreement with
Treasury further stipulated that all equipment had to be manufactured either in the United States or in Saudi Arabia . Since Saudi
Arabia did not have factories for producing such items, everythin g
had to be sent from the States. To our chagrin, we discovered that
long lines of tankers were queued up, waiting to get into ports on th e
Arabian Peninsula . It could take many months to get a shipment o f
supplies into the kingdom .
MAIN was not about to lose such a valuable contract over a coupl e
of rooms of office furniture . At a conference of all the partners in volved, we brainstormed for several hours . The solution we settled
on was to charter a Boeing 747, fill it with supplies from Boston-are a
stores, and send it off to Saudi Arabia. I remember thinking that it
would be fitting if the plane were owned by United Airlines an d
commanded by a certain pilot whose wife had played such a critical
role in bringing the House of Saud around .

The deal between the United States and Saudi Arabia transforme d
the kingdom practically overnight. The goats were replaced by two

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Pimping, and Financing Osama bin Laden 95

hundred bright yellow American trash compactor trucks, provide d
under a $200 million contract with Waste Management, Inc .2 In
similar fashion, every sector of the Saudi economy was modernized ,
from agriculture and energy to education and communications . As
Thomas Lippman observed in 2003 :
Americans have reshaped a vast, bleak landscape o f
nomads' tents and farmers' mud huts in their own image ,
right down to Starbucks on the corner and the wheelchairaccessible ramps in the newest public buildings . Saud i
Arabia today is a country of expressways, computers ,
air-conditioned malls filled with the same glossy shops
found in prosperous American suburbs, elegant hotels ,
fast-food restaurants, satellite television, up-to-dat e
hospitals, high-rise office towers, and amusement park s
featuring whirling rides .3
The plans we conceived in 1974 set a standard for future negotiations with oil-rich countries . In a way, SAMA/JECOR was the next
plateau after the one Kermit Roosevelt had established in Iran . It
introduced an innovative level of sophistication to the arsenal o f
political-economic weapons used by a new breed of soldiers fo r
global empire .
The Saudi Arabia Money-laundering Affair and the Joint Com mission also set new precedents for international jurisprudence . This
was very evident in the case of Idi Amin . When the notorious Ugandan dictator went into exile in 1979, he was given asylum in Saud i
Arabia. Although he was considered a murderous despot responsibl e
for the deaths of between one hundred thousand and three hundre d
thousand people, he retired to a life of luxury, complete with car s
and domestic servants provided by the House of Saud. The Unite d
States quietly objected but refused to press the issue for fear of undermining its arrangement with the Saudis . Amin whiled away hi s
last years fishing and taking strolls on the beach . In 2003, he died in
Jiddah, succumbing to kidney failure at the age of eighty .4
More subtle and ultimately much more damaging was the rol e
Saudi Arabia was allowed to play in financing international terror ism. The United States made no secret of its desire to have the Hous e
of Saud bankroll Osama bin Laden's Afghan war against the Soviet
96 Part II : 1971-1975

Union during the 198os, and Riyadh and Washington together contributed an estimated 53 .5 billion to the mujahideen .5 However,
U.S . and Saudi participation went far beyond this .
In late 2003, US. News € ' World Report conducted an exhaustiv e
study titled, "The Saudi Connection ." The magazine reviewed thou sands of pages of court records, U .S. and foreign intelligence reports ,
and other documents, and interviewed dozens of government officials and experts on terrorism and the Middle East . Its findings
include the following :
The evidence was indisputable : Saudi Arabia, America's
longtime ally and the world's largest oil producer, ha d
somehow become, as a senior Treasury Departmen t
official put it, "the epicenter" of terrorist financing . . .
Starting in the late 1980s — after the dual shocks of
the Iranian revolution and the Soviet war in Afghanista n
— Saudi Arabia's quasi-official charities became the primary source of funds for the fast-growing jihad movement .
In some 20 countries the money was used to run paramilitary training camps, purchase weapons, and recrui t
new members .. .
Saudi largess encouraged U.S. officials to look the
other way, some veteran intelligence officers say. Billion s
of dollars in contracts, grants, and salaries have gone to a
broad range of former U.S. officials who had dealt wit h
the Saudis: ambassadors, CIA station chiefs, even cabine t
secretaries. . .
Electronic intercepts of conversations implicate d
members of the royal family in backing not onl y
Al Qaeda but also other terrorist groups .6
After the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, more evidence emerged about the covert relationships betwee n
Washington and Riyadh . In October 2003, Vanity Fair magazin e
disclosed information that had not previously been made public, i n
an in-depth report titled, "Saving the Saudis." The story that emerged
about the relationship between the Bush family, the House of Saud ,
and the bin Laden family did not surprise me . I knew that those relationships went back at least to the time of the Saudi Arabia n

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Money-laundering Affair, which began in 1974, and to George H . W.
Bush's terms as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (from 197 1
to 1973) and then as head of the CIA (from 1976 to 1977) . What sur prised me was the fact that the truth had finally made the press .
Vanity Fair concluded :
The Bush family and the House of Saud, the two most
powerful dynasties in the world, have had close personal ,
business, and political ties for more than 20 years .. .
In the private sector, the Saudis supported Harke n
Energy, a struggling oil company in which George W.
Bush was an investor. Most recently, former president
George H . W. Bush and his longtime ally, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, have appeared befor e
Saudis at fundraisers for the Carlyle Group, arguably the
biggest private equity firm in the world . Today, former
president Bush continues to serve as a senior adviser to
the firm, whose investors allegedly include a Saud i
accused of ties to terrorist support groups . ..
Just days after 9/11, wealthy Saudi Arabians, including members of the bin Laden family, were whisked ou t
of the U.S. on private jets . No one will admit to clearin g
the flights, and the passengers weren't questioned . Di d
the Bush family's long relationship with the Saudis hel p
make it happen? 7

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PART III : 1975-198 1

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;:. CHAPTER 1 7

Panama Canal Negotiation s
and Graham Greene

Saudi Arabia made many careers . Mine was already well on the way,
but my successes in the desert kingdom certainly opened new
f
doors for me . By 1977, I had built a small empire that included a staf
of around twenty professionals headquartered in our Boston office ,
and a stable of consultants from MAIN'S other departments and of fices scattered across the globe . I had become the youngest partner
in the firm's hundred-year history. In addition to my title of Chie f
Economist, I was named manager of Economics and Regional Plan ning. I was lecturing at Harvard and other venues, and newspaper s
were soliciting articles from me about current events .' I owned a
sailing yacht that was docked in Boston Harbor next to the histori c
battleship Constitution, "Old Ironsides," renowned for subduing th e
Barbary pirates not long after the Revolutionary War . I was being
paid an excellent salary and I had equity that promised to elevate m e
to the rarified heights of millionaire well before I turned forty . True,
my marriage had fallen apart, but I was spending time with beautiful and fascinating women on several continents.
Bruno came up with an idea for an innovative approach to fore casting: an econometric model based on the writings of a turn-ofthe-century Russian mathematician . The model involved assignin g
subjective probabilities to predictions that certain specific sectors o f
an economy would grow. It seemed an ideal tool to justify' the inflated rates of increase we liked to show in order to obtain larg e
loans, and Bruno asked me to see what I could do with the concept .

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I brought a young MIT mathematician, Dr . Nadipuram Prasad,
into my department and gave him a budget . Within six months h e
developed the Markov method for econometric modeling . Together
we hammered out a series of technical papers that presente d
Markov as a revolutionary method for forecasting the impact of infrastructure investment on economic development.
It was exactly what we wanted : a tool that scientifically "proved"
we were doing countries a favor by helping them incur debts the y
would never be able to pay off. In addition, only a highly skilled econometrician with lots of time and money could possibly comprehend
the intricacies of Markov or question its conclusions . The papers were
published by several prestigious organizations, and we formally pre sented them at conferences and universities in a number of countries .
The papers — and we — became famous throughout the industry.2
Omar Torrijos and I honored our secret agreement . I made sure
our studies were honest and that our recommendations took into ac count the poor . Although I heard grumbling that my forecasts i n
Panama were not up to their usual inflated standards, and even that
they smacked of socialism, the fact was that MAIN kept winnin g
contracts from the Torrijos government . These contracts included a
first —to provide innovative master plans that involved agricultur e
along with the more traditional infrastructure sectors . I also watched
from the sidelines as Torrijos and Jimmy Carter set out to renegoti ate the Canal Treaty.
The Canal negotiations generated great interest and great passions around the world. People everywhere waited to see whethe r
the United States would do what most of the rest of the world believed was the right thing — allow the Panamanians to take contro l
— or would instead try to reestablish our global version of Manifest
Destiny, which had been shaken by our Vietnam debacle . For many,
it appeared that a reasonable and compassionate man had bee n
elected to the U .S. presidency at just the right time . However, th e
conservative bastions of Washington and the pulpits of the religiou s
right rang with indignation . How could we give up this bulwark of
national defense, this symbol of U .S. ingenuity, this ribbon of wate r
that tied South America's fortunes to the whims of U .S. commercial
interests ?
During my trips to Panama, I became accustomed to staying at

the Hotel Continental . However, on my fifth visit I moved across th e
street to the Hotel Panama because the Continental was undergoin g
renovations and the construction was very noisy . At first, I resente d
the inconvenience — the Continental had been my home away fro m
home . But now the expansive lobby where I sat, with its rattan chair s
and paddle-bladed wooden ceiling fans, was growing on me . It could
have been the set of Casablanca, and I fantasized that Humphrey
Bogart might stroll in at any moment . I set down the copy of th e
New York Review of Books, in which I had just finished reading a
Graham Greene article about Panama, and stared up at those fans ,
recalling an evening almost two years earlier .
"Ford is a weak president who won't be reelected," Omar Torrijo s
predicted in 1975 . He was speaking to a group of influential Panamanians . I was one of the few foreigners who had been invited to th e
elegant old club with its whirring ceiling fans . "That's the reason I
decided to accelerate this Canal issue . It's a good time to launch a n
all-out political battle to win it back ."
The speech inspired me . I returned to my hotel room and scratche d
out a letter that I eventually mailed to the Boston Globe . Back in
Boston, an editor responded by calling me at my office to reques t
that I write an Op-Ed piece . "Colonialism in Panama Has No Plac e
in 1975" took up nearly half the page opposite the editorials in th e
September 19, 1975, edition .
The article cited three specific reasons for transferring the Cana l
to Panama. First, "the present situation is unjust — a good reason fo r
any decision ." Second, "the existing treaty creates far graver security
risks than would result from turning more control over to the Pana manians ." I referenced a study conducted by the Interoceanic Cana l
Commission, which concluded that "traffic could be halted for tw o
years by a bomb planted—conceivably by one man—in the side
of Gatun Dam," a point General Torrijos himself had publicly emphasized. And third, "the present situation is creating serious prob lems for already-troubled United States-Latin American relations ."
I ended with the following:
The best way of assuring the continued and efficient op eration of the Canal is to help Panamanians gain contro l
over and responsibility for it . In so doing, we could tak e

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Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham Greene 103

pride in initiating an action that would reaffirm commitments to the cause of self-determination to which w e
pledged ourselves 200 years ago . . .
Colonialism was in vogue at the turn of the centur y
(early 19005) as it had been in 1775 . Perhaps ratification
of such a treaty can be understood in the context of thos e
times. Today it is without justification . Colonialism ha s
no place in 1975 . We, celebrating our bicentennial ,
should realize this, and act accordingly. 3
Writing that piece was a bold move on my part, especially since I
had recently been made a partner at MAIN . Partners were expected
to avoid the press and certainly to refrain from publishing politica l
diatribes on the editorial pages of New England's most prestigiou s
newspaper. I received through interoffice mail a pile of nasty, mostly
anonymous notes stapled to copies of the article . I was certain that
I recognized the handwriting on one as that of Charlie Illingworth .
My first project manager had been at MAIN for over ten years (com pared to less than five for me) and was not yet a partner. A fierce
skull and crossbones figured prominently on the note, and its message was simple : "Is this Commie really a partner in our firm? "
Bruno summoned me to his office and said, "You'll get loads o f
grief over th i s MAIN'S a pretty conservative place . But I want you t o
know I think you're smart . Torrijos will love it; I do hope you'r e
sending him a copy. Good . Well, these jokers here in this office, the
ones who think Torrijos is a Socialist, really won't give a damn a s
long as the work flows in ."
Bruno had been right — as usual. Now it was 1977, Carter was i n
the White House, and serious Canal negotiations were under way .
Many of MAIN's competitors had taken the wrong side and ha d
been turned out of Panama, but our work had multiplied . And I wa s
sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Panama, having just finished reading an article by Graham Greene in the New York Review ofBooks.
The article, "The Country with Five Frontiers," was a gutsy piec e
that included a discussion of corruption among senior officers i n
Panama's National Guard. The author pointed out that the general
himself admitted to giving many of his staff special privileges, suc h
as superior housing, because "If I don't pay them, the CIA will ." Th e
clear implication was that the U.S. intelligence community was

determined to undermine the wishes of President Carter and, if necessary, would bribe Panama's military chiefs into sabotaging th e
treaty negotiations .4 I could not help but wonder if the jackals had
begun to circle Torrijos .
I had seen a photograph in the "People" section of TIME or
Newsweek of Torrijos and Greene sitting together ; the caption indicated that the writer was a special guest who had become a goo d
friend. I wondered how the general felt about this novelist, whom h e
apparently trusted, writing such a critique.
Graham Greene's article raised another question, one that relate d
to that day in 1972 when I had sat across a coffee table from Torrijos .
At the time, I had assumed that Torrijos knew the foreign aid gam e
was there to make him rich while shackling his country with debt . I
had been sure he knew that the process was based on the assumption that men in power are corruptible, and that his decision not t o
seek personal benefit — but rather to use foreign aid to truly help hi s
people — would be seen as a threat that might eventually topple th e
entire system . The world was watching this man ; his actions ha d
ramifications that reached far beyond Panama and would therefor e
not be taken lightly.
I had wondered how the corporatocracy would react if loan s
made to Panama helped the poor without contributing to impossibl e
debts . Now I wondered whether Torrijos regretted the deal he and I
had struck that day— and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about thos e
deals myself. I had stepped back from my EHM role. I had playe d
his game instead of mine, accepting his insistence on honesty in ex change for more contracts . In purely economic terms, it had been a
wise business decision for MAIN . Nonetheless, it had been inconsistent with what Claudine had instilled in me ; it was not advancing
the global empire . Had it now unleashed the jackals ?
I recalled thinking, when I left Torrijos's bungalow that day, that
Latin American history is littered with dead heroes . A system base d
on corrupting public figures does not take kindly to public figure s
who refuse to be corrupted.
Then I thought my eyes were playing tricks . A familiar figure was
walking slowly across the lobby . At first, I was so confused that I believed it was Humphrey Bogart, but Bogart was long deceased . The n
I recognized the man ambling past me as one of the great figures i n
modern English literature, author of The Pride and the Glory, Th e

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105

Comedians, Our Man in Havana, and of the article I had just se t

down on the table next to me . Graham Greene hesitated a moment ,
peered around, and headed for the coffee shop.
I was tempted to call out or to run after him, but I stopped my self: An inner voice said he needed his privacy ; another warned that
he would shun me. I picked up the New York Review of Books an d
was surprised a moment later to discover that I was standing in th e
doorway to the coffee shop .
I had breakfasted earlier that morning, and the maitre d' gave m e
an odd look . I glanced around. Graham Greene sat alone at a tabl e
near the wall . I pointed to the table beside him .
"Over there," I told the maitre d'. "Can I sit there for anothe r
breakfast? "
I was always a good tipper ; the maitre d' smiled knowingly and
led me to the table .
The novelist was absorbed in his newspaper. I ordered coffee and
a croissant with honey. I wanted to discover Greene's thoughts about
Panama, Torrijos, and the Canal affair, but had no idea how to initi ate such a conversation . Then he looked up to take a sip fro m
his glass.
"Excuse me," I said .
He glared at me — or so it seemed . "Yes? "
"I hate to intrude. But you are Graham Greene, aren't you? "
"Why, yes indeed ." He smiled warmly. "Most people in Panam a
don't recognize me ."
I gushed that he was my favorite novelist, and then gave him a
brief life history, including my work at MAIN and my meetings with
Torrijos . He asked if I was the consultant who had written an articl e
about the United States getting out of Panama . "In the Boston Globe ,
if I recall correctly."
I was flabbergasted .
"A courageous thing to do, given your position," he said . "Won't
you join me?"
I moved to his table and sat there with him for what must hav e
been an hour and a half. I realized as we chatted how very close t o
Torrijos he had grown . He spoke of the general at times like a fathe r
speaking about his son .

106 Part III : 1975—1981

"The general," he said, "invited me to write a book about his coun try. I'm doing just that. This one will be nonfiction -- something a bi t
off the line for me ."
I asked him why he usually wrote novels instead of nonfiction .
"Fiction is safer," he said . "Most of my subject matter is contro versial . Vietnam . Haiti . The Mexican Revolution . A lot of publisher s
would be afraid to publish nonfiction about these matters ." He
pointed at the New York Review of Books, where it lay on the table I
had vacated. "Words like those can cause a great deal of damage ."
Then he smiled. "Besides, I like to write fiction . It gives me much
greater freedom ." He looked at me intensely. "The important thin g
is to write about things that matter . Like your Globe article abou t
the Canal."
His admiration for Torrijos was obvious . It seemed that Panama's
head of state could impress a novelist every bit as much as he impressed the poor and dispossessed . Equally obvious was Greene's
concern for his friend's life .
`"It's a huge endeavor," he exclaimed, "taking on the Giant of th e
North ." He shook his head sadly. "I fear for his safety ."
Then it was time for him to leave .
"Must catch a flight to France," he said, rising slowly and shakin g
my hand. He peered into my eyes . "Why don't you write a book?" He
gave me an encouraging nod . "It's in you . But remember, make it
about things that matter ." He turned and walked away. Then he
stopped and came back a few steps into the restaurant .
"Don't worry," he said . "The general will prevail. He'll get th e
Canal back."
Torrijos did get it back . In that same year, 1977, he successfully
negotiated new treaties with President Carter that transferred th e
Canal Zone and the Canal itself over to Panamanian control . The n
the White House had to convince the U.S. Congress to ratify it . A
long and arduous battle ensued . In the final tally, the Canal Treaty
was ratified by a single vote . Conservatives swore revenge .
When Graham Greene's nonfiction book Getting to Know the General came out many years later, it was dedicated, "To the friends of m y
friend, Omar Torrijos, in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Panama ."5

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CHAPTER 1 8

Iran's King of King s

Between 1975 and 1978, I frequently visited Iran . Sometimes I commuted between Latin America or Indonesia and Tehran . The Shah
of Shahs (literally, "King of Kings," his official title) presented a com pletely different situation from that in the other countries where w e
worked .
Iran was oil rich and, like Saudi Arabia, it did not need to incu r
debt in order to finance its ambitious list of projects . However, Iran
differed significantly from Saudi Arabia in that its large population ,
while predominantly Middle Eastern and Muslim, was not Arabic .
In addition, the country had a history of political turmoil — both internally and in its relationships with its neighbors . Therefore, w e
took a different approach : Washington and the business communit y
joined forces to turn the shah into a symbol of progress .
We launched an immense effort to show the world what a strong ,
democratic friend of U.S . corporate and political interests could accomplish . Never mind his obviously undemocratic title or the les s
obvious fact of the CIA-orchestrated coup against his democraticall y
elected premier ; Washington and its European partners were determined to present the shah's government as an alternative to thos e
in Iraq, Libya, China, Korea, and other nations where a powerfu l
undercurrent of anti-Americanism was surfacing .
To all appearances, the shah was a progressive friend of the under privileged . In 1962, he ordered large private landholdings broken u p
and turned over to peasant owners . The following year, he inaugurated
108

his White Revolution, which involved an extensive agenda for socio economic reforms . The power of OPEC grew during the 197os, an d
the shah became an increasingly influential world leader . At th e
same time, Iran developed one of the most powerful military force s
in the Muslim Middle East . '
MAIN was involved in projects that covered most of the country,
from tourist areas along the Caspian Sea in the north to secret military installations overlooking the Straits of Hormuz in the south .
Once again, the focus of our work was to forecast regional development potentials and then to design electrical generating, transmission, and distribution systems that would provide the all-importan t
energy required to fuel the industrial and commercial growth tha t
would realize these forecasts.
I visited most of the major regions of Iran at one time or another .
I followed the old caravan trail through the desert mountains, fro m
Kirman to Bandar 'Abbas, and I roamed the ruins of Persepolis, th e
legendary palace of ancient kings and one of the wonders of the classical world . I toured the country's most famous and spectacular sites :
Shiraz, Isfahan, and the magnificent tent city near Persepolis where
the shah had been crowned . In the process, I developed a genuine
love for this land and its complex people .
On the surface, Iran seemed to be a model example of Christian Muslim cooperation . However, I soon learned that tranquil appearances may mask deep resentment .
Late one evening in 1977, I returned to my hotel room to find a
note shoved under my door. I was shocked to discover that it wa s
signed by a man named Yamin . I had never met him, but he ha d
been described to me during a government briefing as a famous an d
most subversive radical . In beautifully crafted English script, th e
note invited me to meet him at a designated restaurant . However,
there was a warning : I was to come only if I was interested in exploring a side of Iran that most people "in my position" never saw. I
wondered whether Yamin knew what my true position was . I realized that I was taking a big risk ; however, I could not resist th e
temptation to meet this enigmatic figure .
My taxi dropped me off in front of a tiny gate in a high wall — s o
high that I could not see the building behind it . A beautiful Iranian
woman wearing a long black gown ushered me in and led me dow n
a corridor illuminated by ornate oil lamps hanging from a low ceiling .

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At the end of this corridor, we entered a room that dazzled like th e
interior of a diamond, blinding me with its radiance . When my eyes
finally adjusted . I saw that the walls were inlaid with semipreciou s
stones and mother-of-pearl . The restaurant was lighted by tall whit e
candles protruding from intricately sculpted bronze chandeliers .
A tall man with long black hair, wearing a tailored nary blue suit ,
approached and shook my hand . He introduced himself as Yamin, i n
an accent that suggested he was an Iranian who had been educate d
in the British school system, and I was immediately struck by ho w
little he looked like a subversive radical . He directed me past severa l
tables where couples sat quietly eating, to a very private alcove ; he
assured me we could talk in complete confidentiality . I had the distinct impression that this restaurant catered to secret rendezvous .
Ours, quite possibly, was the only non-amorous one that night .
Yamin was very cordial . During our discussion, it became obviou s
that he thought of me merely as an economic consultant, not a s
someone with ulterior motives. He explained that he had singled me
out because he knew I had been a Peace Corps volunteer and be cause he had been told that I took every possible opportunity to ge t
to know his country and to mix with its people .
"You are very young compared to most in your profession," h e
said . "You have a genuine interest in our history and our curren t
problems . You represent our hope ."
This, as well as the setting, his appearance, and the presence of s o
many others in the restaurant, gave me a certain degree of comfort.
I had become accustomed to people befriending me, like Rasy i n
Java and Fidel in Panama, and I accepted it as a compliment and a n
opportunity . I knew that I stood out from other Americans because
I was in fact infatuated with the places I visited . I have found that
people warm to you very quickly if you open your eyes, ears, an d
heart to their culture .
Yamin asked if I knew about the Flowering Desert project. 2 "The
shah believes that our deserts were once fertile plains and lus h
forests . At least, that's what he claims . During Alexander the Great's
reign, according to this theory, vast armies swept across these lands,
traveling with millions of goats and sheep . The animals ate all th e
grass and other vegetation . The disappearance of these plants cause d
a drought, and eventually the entire region became a desert . Now all
we have to do, or so the shah says, is plant millions upon millions of

trees . After that — presto — the rains will return and the desert wil l
bloom again. Of course, in the process we will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars ." He smiled condescendingly. "Companie s
like yours will reap huge profits."
"I take it you don't believe in this theory."
`"The desert is a symbol . Turning it green is about much mor e
than agriculture ."
Several waiters descended upon us with trays of beautifully pre sented Iranian food . Asking my permission first, Yamin proceeded t o
select an assortment from the various trays . Then he turned back
to me .
'A question for you, Mr . Perkins, if I might be so bold . What destroyed the cultures of your own native peoples, the Indians? "
I responded that I felt there had been many factors, including
greed and superior weapons .
"Yes . True . All of that. But more than anything else, did it no t
come down to a . destruction of the environment?" He went on to ex plain how once forests and animals such as the buffalo are destroyed ,
and once people are moved onto reservations, the very foundation s
of cultures collapse.
"You see, it is the same here," he said . "The desert is our environ ment. The Flowering Desert project threatens nothing less than the
destruction of our entire fabric. How can we allow this to happen? "
I told him that it was my understanding that the whole idea be hind the project carne from his people . He responded with a cynical
laugh, saying that the idea was planted in the shah's mind by my ow n
United States government, and that the shah was just a puppet o f
that government.
"A true Persian would never permit such a thing," Yamin said .
Then he launched into a long dissertation about the relationship be tween his people — the Bedouins — and the desert . He emphasized
the fact that many urbanized Iranians take their vacations in th e
desert . They set up tents large enough for the entire family and
spend a week or more living in them .
"We— my people—are part of the desert. The people the shah
claims to rule with that iron hand of his are not just ofthe desert . We
are the desert ."
After that, he told me stories about his personal experiences i n
the desert . When the evening was over, he escorted me back to th e

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Iran 's King of Kings

111

tiny door in the large wall . My taxi was waiting in the street outside .
Yamin shook my hand and expressed his appreciation for the time I
had spent with him . He again mentioned my young age and m y
openness, and the fact that my occupying such a position gave hi m
hope for the future .
"I am so glad to have had this time with a man like you ." He continued to hold my hand in his . "I would request of you only one more
favor. I do not ask this lightly. I do it only because, after our tim e
together tonight, I know it will be meaningful to you . You'll gain a
great deal from it ."
"What is it I can do for you? "
"I would like to introduce you to a dear friend of mine, a man wh o
can tell you a great deal about our King of Kings . He may shock you ,
but I assure you that meeting him will be well worth your time ."

CHAPTER 1 9

Confessions of a Tortured Ma n

Several days later, Yamin drove me out of Tehran, through a dust y
and impoverished shantytown, along an old camel trail, and ou t
to the edge of the desert . With the sun setting behind the city,
he stopped his car at a cluster of tiny mud shacks surrounded by
palm trees .
"A very old oasis," he explained, "dating back centuries before
Marco Polo ." He preceded me to one of the shacks . "The man inside
has a PhD from one of your most prestigious universities. For reasons that will soon be clear, he must remain nameless . You can cal l
him Doc."
He knocked on the wooden door, and there was a muffled response . Yamin pushed the door open and led me inside . The tiny
room was windowless and lit only by an oil lamp on a low table i n
one corner. As my eyes adjusted, I saw that the dirt floor was covered
with Persian carpets . Then the shadowy outline of a man began t o
emerge. He was seated in front of the lamp in a way that kept hi s
features hidden . I could tell only that he was bundled in blanket s
and was wearing something around his head . He sat in a wheelchair,
and other than the table, this was the only piece of furniture in th e
room . Yamin motioned for me to sit on a carpet . He went up and
gently embraced the man, speaking a few words in his ear, then returned and sat at my side .
`"I've told you about Mr. Perkins," he said . "We're both honored t o
have this opportunity to visit with you, sir ."

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113

"Mr. Perkins. You are welcome ." The voice, with barely any detectable accent, was low and hoarse . I found myself leaning forward
into the small space between us as he said, "You see before you a
broken man . I have not always been so . Once I was strong like you .
I was a close and trusted adviser to the shah." There was a long pause .
"The Shah of Shahs, King of Kings." His tone of voice sounded, I
thought, more sad than angry.
"I personally knew many of the world's leaders . Eisenhower, Nixon,
de Gaulle . They trusted me to help lead this country into the capitalist camp . The shah trusted me, and," he made a sound that coul d
have been a cough, but which I took for a laugh, "I trusted the shah .
I believed his rhetoric . I was convinced that Iran would lead th e
Muslim world into a new epoch, that Persia would fulfill its promise .
It seemed our destiny — the shah's, mine, all of ours who carried ou t
the mission we thought we had been born to fulfill ."
The lump of blankets moved ; the wheelchair made a wheezin g
noise and turned slightly . I could see the outline of the man's face in
profile, his shaggy beard, and—then it grabbed me—the flatness .
He had no nose! I shuddered and stifled a gasp .
"Not a pretty' sight, would you say, ah, Mr . Perkins? Too bad yo u
can't see it in full light . It is truly grotesque ." Again there was th e
sound of choking laughter. "But as I'm sure you can appreciate, I mus t
remain anonymous . Certainly, you could learn my identity if yo u
tried, although you might find that I am dead . Officially, I no longe r
exist . Yet I trust you won't try. You and your family are better off not
knowing who I am . The arm of the shah and SAVAK reaches far ."
The chair wheezed and returned to its original position . I felt a
sense of relief, as though not seeing the profile somehow obliterate d
the violence that had been done . At the time, I did not know of thi s
custom among some Islamic cultures . Individuals deemed to have
brought dishonor or disgrace upon society or its leaders are punished by having their noses cut off. In this way, they' are marked fo r
life — as this man's face clearly demonstrated .
"I'm sure, Mr. Perkins, you're wondering why we invited you here ."
Without waiting for my response, the man in the wheelchair continued, "You see, this man who calls himself the King of Kings is i n
reality satanic . His father was deposed by your CIA with — I hate t o
say it — my help, because he was said to be a Nazi collaborator . An d
then there was the Mossadegh calamity . Today, our shah is on the
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route to surpassing Hitler in the realms of evil . He does this with th e
full knowledge and support of your government ."
"Why is that? " I asked.
`"Quite simple . He is your only real ally in the Middle East, an d
the industrial world rotates on the axle of oil that is the Middle East .
Oh, you have Israel, of course, but that 's actually a liability to you,
not an asset . And no oil there. Your politicians must placate the Jew ish vote, must get their money to finance campaigns . So you're stuck
with Israel, I'm afraid . However, Iran is the key. Your oil companie s
— which carry even more power than the Jews — need us . You nee d
our shah—or you think you do, just as you thought you neede d
South Vietnam's corrupt leaders."
"Are you suggesting otherwise? Is Iran the equivalent to Vietnam? "
"Potentially much worse . You see, this shah won't last muc h
longer. The Muslim world hates him . Not just the Arabs, but Muslims everywhere—Indonesia, the United States, but mostly right
here, his own Persian people ." There was a thumping sound and I
realized that he had struck the side of his chair. "He is evil! We
Persians hate him ." Then silence . I could hear only his heavy breath ing, as though the exertion had exhausted him .
"Doc is very close to the mullahs," Yamin said to me, his voice lo w
and calm . "There is a huge undercurrent among the religious faction s
here and it pervades most of our country, except for a handful of
people in the commercial classes who benefit from the shah' s
capitalism ."
"I don't doubt you," I said. "But I must say that during four visits
here, I've seen nothing of it . Everyone I talk with seems to love th e
shah, to appreciate the economic upsurge ."
"You don't speak Farsi," Yamin observed . "You hear only what i s
told to you by those men who benefit the most . The ones who hav e
been educated in the States or in England end up working for th e
shah . Doc here is an exception — now."
He paused, seeming to ponder his next words . "It's the same wit h
your press . They only talk with the few who are his kin, his circle . Of
course, for the most part, your press is also controlled by oil . So they
hear what they want to hear and write what their advertisers wan t
to read."
"Why are we telling you all this, Mr . Perkins?" Doe's voice was
even more hoarse than before, as if the effort of speaking and th e

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emotions were draining what little energy the man had mustered fo r
this meeting. "Because we'd like to convince you to get out and t o
persuade your company to stay away from our country . We wan t
to warn you that although you may think yo u'll make a great deal o f
money here, it's an illusion . This government will not last." Again, I
heard the sound of his hand thudding against the chair. "And whe n
it goes, the one that replaces it will have no sympathy for you an d
your kind ."
"You're saying we won't be paid? "
Doc broke down in a fit of coughing . Yamin went to him an d
rubbed his back. When the coughing ended, he spoke to Doe in Fars i
and then came back to his seat .
"We must end this conversation, Yamin said to me . "In answer to
your question : yes, you will not be paid . You'll do all that work, an d
when it comes time to collect your fees, the shah will be gone ."
During the drive back, I asked Yamin why he and Doc wanted t o
spare MAIN the financial disaster he had predicted .
"We'd be happy to see your company go bankrupt . However, we'd
rather see you leave Iran. Just one company like yours, walking away,
could start a trend . That's what we're hoping . You see, we don't wan t
a bloodbath here, but the shah must go, and we'll try anything that
will make that easier. So we pray to Allah that you'll convince you r
Mr. Zambotti to get out while there is still time ."
"Why me? "
"I knew during our dinner together, when we spoke of the Flowering Desert project, that you were open to the truth . I knew that ou r
information about you was correct—you are a man between tw o
worlds, a man in the middle."
It made me wonder just how much he did know about me .

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CHAPTER 2 0

The Fall of a King

One evening in 1978, while I was sitting alone at the luxurious ba r
off the lobby of the Hotel InterContinental in Tehran, I felt a tap o n
my shoulder. I turned to see a heavyset Iranian in a business suit .
"John Perkins! You don't remember me?"
The former soccer player had gained a lot of weight, but the voic e
was unmistakable. It was my old Middlebury friend Farhad, who m
I had not seen in more than a decade . We embraced and sat dow n
together . It quickly became obvious that he knew all about me an d
about my work . It was equally obvious that he did not intend t o
share much about his own work .
"Let's get right to the point," he said as we ordered our secon d
beers . "I'm flying to Rome tomorrow . My parents live there . I have a
ticket for you on my flight . Things are falling apart here. You've go t
to get out ." He handed me an airline ticket. I did not doubt him for
a moment .
In Rome, we dined with Farhad's parents . His father, the retire d
Iranian general who once stepped in front of a would-be assassin' s
bullet to save the shah's life, expressed disillusionment with his for mer boss. He said that during the past few years the shah had showe d
his true colors, his arrogance and greed . The general blamed U.S.
policy — particularly its backing of Israel, of corrupt leaders, and o f
despotic governments—for the hatred sweeping the Middle East ,
and he predicted that the shah would be gone within months .
"You know," he said, "you sowed the seeds of this rebellion in th e

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early fifties, when you overthrew Mossadegh . You thought it very
clever back then — as did I . But now it returns to haunt you — us ."'
I was astounded by his pronouncements . I had heard somethin g
similar from Yamin and Doc, but coming from this man it took o n
new significance . By this time, everyone knew of the existence of a
fundamentalist Islamic underground, but we had convinced our selves that the shah was immensely popular among the majority o f
his people and was therefore politically invincible . The general ,
however, was adamant .
`"Mark my words," he said solemnly, "the shah's fall will be only th e
beginning . It's a preview of where the Muslim world is headed . Our
rage has smoldered beneath the sands too long . Soon it will erupt."
Over dinner, I heard a great deal about Ayatollah Ruhollah Kho meini . Farhad and his father made it clear that they did not support
his fanatical Shiism, but they were obviously impressed by the in roads he had made against the shah . They told me that this cleric,
whose given name translates to "inspired of God," was born into a
family of dedicated Shiite scholars in a village near Tehran, in 1902 .
Khomeini had made it a point not to become involved in th e
Mossadegh-shah struggles of the early 1950s, but he actively op posed the shah in the 1960s, criticizing the ruler so adamantly tha t
he was banished to Turkey, then to the Shiite holy city of An Najaf in
Iraq, where he became the acknowledged leader of the opposition.
He sent out letters, articles, and tape-recorded messages urging Ira nians to rise up, overthrow the shah, and create a clerical state .
Two days after that dinner with Farhad and his parents, new s
came out of Iran of bombings and riots. Ayatollah Khomeini and th e
mullahs had begun the offensive that would soon give them control .
After that, things happened fast . The rage Farhad's father had de scribed exploded in a violent Islamic uprising . The shah fled hi s
country for Egypt in January 1979, and then, diagnosed with cancer,
headed for a New York Hospital .
Followers of the Ayatollah Khomeini demanded his return . In
November 1979, a militant Islamic mob seized the United State s
Embassy in Tehran and held fifty-two American hostages for the
next 444 days.2 President Carter attempted to negotiate the releas e
of the hostages . When this failed, he authorized a military rescu e
mission, launched in April 1980 . It was a disaster, and it turned out

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to be the hammer that would drive the final nail into Carter's presidential coffin .
Tremendous pressure, exerted by U.S. commercial and political
groups, forced the cancer-ridden shah to leave the United States .
From the day he fled Tehran he had a difficult time finding sanctuary; all his former friends shunned him . However, General Torrijo s
exhibited his customary compassion and offered the shah asylum i n
Panama, despite a personal dislike of the shah's politics . The shah
arrived and received sanctuary at the very same resort where the
new Panama Canal Treaty had so recently been negotiated .
The mullahs demanded the shah's return in exchange for the
hostages held in the U.S. Embassy. Those in Washington who had
opposed the Canal Treaty accused Torrijos of corruption and collu sion with the shah, and of endangering the lives of U.S. citizens. They
too demanded that the shah be turned over to Ayatollah Khomeini .
Ironically, until only a few weeks earlier, many of these same people
had been the shah's staunchest supporters . The once-proud King of
Kings eventually returned to Egypt, where he died of cancer .
Doe's prediction came true. MAIN lost millions of dollars in Iran ,
as did many of our competitors. Carter lost his bid for reelection .
The Reagan-Bush administration marched into Washington with
promises to free the hostages, to bring down the mullahs, to retur n
democracy to Iran, and to set straight the Panama Canal situation .
For me, the lessons were irrefutable . Iran illustrated beyond any
doubt that the United States was a nation laboring to deny the trut h
of our role in the world . It seemed incomprehensible that we coul d
have been so misinformed about the shah and the tide of hatred tha t
had surged against him . Even those of us in companies like MAIN,
which had offices and personnel in the country, had not known . I felt
certain that the NSA and the CIA must have seen what had been s o
obvious to Torrijos even as far back as my meeting with him in 1972 ,
but that our own intelligence community had intentionally encouraged us all to close our eyes.

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CHAPTER 2 1

Colombia : Keystone of Latin America

While Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Panama offered fascinating and disturbing studies, they also stood out as exceptions to the rule. Due to
vast oil deposits in the first two and the Canal in the third, they di d
not fit the norm. Colombia's situation was more typical, and MAIN
was the designer and lead engineering firm on a huge hydroelectri c
project there .
A Colombian college professor writing a book on the history o f
Pan-American relations once told me that Teddy Roosevelt had appreciated the significance of his country. Pointing at a map, the U.S.
president and former Rough Rider reportedly described Colombi a
as "the keystone to the arch of South America ." I have never verifie d
that story; however, it is certainly true that on a map Colombia ,
poised at the top of the continent, appears to hold the rest of th e
continent together. It connects all the southern countries to the Isthmus of Panama and therefore to both Central and North America .
Whether Roosevelt actually described Colombia in those terms o r
not, he was only one of many presidents who understood its pivota l
position . For nearly two centuries, the United States has viewe d
Colombia as a keystone—or perhaps more accurately, as a portal
into the southern hemisphere for both business and politics .
The country also is endowed with great natural beauty : spectacular palm-lined beaches on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, majestic mountains, pampas that rival the Great Plains of the Nort h
American Midwest, and vast rain forests rich in biodiversity. The
120

people, too, have a special quality, combining the physical, cultural ,
and artistic traits of diverse ethnic backgrounds ranging from the loca l
Taironas to imports from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East .
Historically, Colombia has played a crucial role in Latin American history and culture . During the colonial period, Colombia wa s
the seat of the viceroy for all Spanish territories north of Peru an d
south of Costa Rica . The great fleets of gold galleons set sail from it s
coastal city of Cartagena to transport priceless treasures from as far
south as Chile and Argentina to ports in Spain . Many of the critical
actions in the wars for independence occurred in Colombia ; for example, forces under Simon Bolivar were victorious over Spanish roy alists at the pivotal Battle of Boyaca, in 1819 .
In modern times, Colombia has had a reputation for producin g
some of Latin America's most brilliant writers, artists, philosophers, an d
other intellectuals, as well as fiscally responsible and relatively democratic governments. It became the model for President Kennedy's
nation-building programs throughout Latin America . Unlike Guatemala, its government was not tarnished with the reputation of being
a CIA creation, and unlike Nicaragua, the government was an electe d
one, which presented an alternative to both right-wing dictators an d
Communists . Finally, unlike so many other countries, includin g
powerful Brazil and Argentina, Colombia did not mistrust the Unite d
States . The image of Colombia as a reliable ally has continued, de spite the blemish of its drug cartels .l
The glories of Colombia's history, however, are counterbalanced
by hatred and violence. The seat of the Spanish viceroy was also hom e
to the Inquisition . Magnificent forts, haciendas, and cities were constructed over the bones of Indian and African slaves . The treasures
carried on the gold galleons, sacred objects and masterpieces of ar t
that had been melted down for easy transport, were ripped from th e
hearts of ancient peoples . The proud cultures themselves were lai d
to waste by conquistador swords and diseases . More recently, a controversial presidential election in 1945 resulted in a deep division be tween political parties and led to La Violencia (1948-1957), during
which more than two hundred thousand people died .
Despite the conflicts and ironies, both Washington and Wall
Street historically have viewed Colombia as an essential factor i n
promoting Pan-American political and commercial interests . This is
due to several factors, in addition to Colombia's critical geographi c

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location, including the perception that leaders throughout the hemi sphere look to Bogota for inspiration and guidance, and the fact that .
the country is both a source of many products purchased in th e
United States — coffee, bananas, textiles, emeralds, flowers, oil, an d
cocaine — and a market for our goods and services .
One of the most important services we sold to Colombia. during
the late twentieth century was engineering and construction expertise . Colombia was typical of many places where I worked. It wa s
relatively easy to demonstrate that the country could assume vas t
amounts of debt and then repay these debts from the benefits realized both from the projects themselves and from the country's natural resources. Thus, huge investments in electrical power grids ,
highways, and telecommunications would help Colombia open u p
its vast gas and oil resources and its largely undeveloped Amazonian
territories ; these projects, in turn, would generate the income necessary to pay off the loans, plus interest .
That was the theory. However, the reality, consistent with ou r
true intent around the world, was to subjugate Bogota, to further th e
global empire . My job, as it had been in so many places, was to pre sent the case for exceedingly large loans . Colombia did not have th e
benefit of a Torrijos ; therefore, I felt I had no choice but to develop
inflated economic and electric load forecasts .
With the exception of the occasional bouts of guilt over my job ,
Colombia became a personal refuge for me . Ann and I had spent a
couple of months there in the early 1970s, and had even made a dow n
payment on a small coffee farm located in the mountains along th e
Caribbean coast . I think our time together during that period cam e
as close as anything could to healing the wounds we had inflicted o n
each other over the preceding years . Ultimately, however, the wound s
went too deep, and it was not until after our marriage fell apart tha t
I became truly acquainted with the country.
During the 1970s, MAIN had been awarded a number of contracts to develop various infrastructure projects, including a networ k
of hydroelectric facilities and the distribution systems to transpor t
the electricity from deep in the jungle to cities high in the mountains. I was given an office in the coastal city of Barranquilla, and it
was there, in 1977, that I met a beautiful Colombian woman wh o
would become a powerful agent of change in my life .

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Paula had long blond hair and striking green eyes—not what
most foreigners expect in a Colombian. Her mother and father ha d
emigrated from northern Italy, and in keeping with her heritage, sh e
became a fashion designer. She went a step further, however, and buil t
a small factory where her creations were transformed into clothes ,
which she then sold at upscale boutiques throughout the country, a s
well as in Panama and Venezuela . She was a deeply compassionate
person who helped me get through some of the personal trauma of
my broken marriage and begin dealing with some of my attitudes to ward women, which had affected me so negatively . She also taught me
a great deal about the consequences of the actions I took in my job .
As I have said before, life is composed of a series of coincidences
over which we have no control . For me, those included being raised
as the son of a teacher at an all-male prep school in rural New Hamp shire, meeting Ann and her Uncle Frank, the Vietnam War, an d
meeting Einar Greve. However, once we are presented with such coincidences, we face choices . How we respond, the actions we take i n
the face of coincidences, makes all the difference . For example, excelling at that school, marrying Ann, entering the Peace Corps, an d
choosing to become an economic hit man -- all these decisions ha d
brought me to my current place in life.
Paula was another coincidence, and her influence would lead me
to take actions that changed the course of my life . Until I met her, I
had pretty much gone along with the system . I often found mysel f
questioning what I was doing, sometimes feeling guilty about it, ye t
I always discovered a way to rationalize staying in the system . Perhaps Paula just happened along at the right time . It is possible that
I would have taken the plunge anyway, that my experiences in Saud i
Arabia, Iran, and Panama would have nudged me into action . But
I am certain that even as one woman, Claudine, had been instrumental in persuading me to join the ranks of EHMs, another, Paula ,
was the catalyst I needed at that time . She convinced me to go deep
inside myself and see that I would never be happy as long as I continued in that role .

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CHAPTER 2 2

American Republic versu s
Global Empire

"I'll be frank," Paula said one day, while we were sitting in a coffe e
shop . "The Indians and all the farmers who live along the river you'r e
damming hate you . Even people in the cities, who aren't directly affected, sympathize with the guerrillas who've been attacking your
construction camp . Your government calls these people Communists ,
terrorists, and narcotics traffickers, but the truth is they're just peopl e
with families who live on lands your company is destroying ."
I had just told her about Manuel Torres . He was an engineer employed by MAIN and one of the men recently attacked by guerrilla s
at our hydroelectric dam construction site. Manuel was a Colombian
citizen who had a job because of a U .S. Department of State rule pro hibiting us from sending U .S . citizens to that site . We referred to it as
the Colombians are Expendable doctrine, and it symbolized an attitude I had grown to hate . My feelings toward such policies were
making it increasingly difficult for me to live with myself .
"According to Manuel, they fired AK-47s into the air and at hi s
feet," I told Paula . "He sounded calm when he told me about it, bu t
I know he was almost hysterical. They didn't shoot anyone . Just gav e
them that letter and sent them downriver in their boats ."
"My God," Paula exclaimed . "The poor man was terrified."
"Of course he was ." I told her that I had asked Manuel whether h e
thought they were FARC or M-I9, referring to two of the most infamous Colombian guerrilla groups .
"And ?"
124

"He said, neither. But he told me that he believes what they sai d
in that letter."
Paula picked up the newspaper I had brought and read the lette r
aloud .
"`We, who work every day just to survive, swear on the blood o f
our ancestors that we will never allow dams across our rivers . We are
simple Indians and mestizos, but we would rather die than stand b y
as our land is flooded . We warn our Colombian brothers : stop working for the construction companies .– She set the paper down . "What
did you say to him? "
I hesitated, but only for a moment . "I had no choice . I had to to e
the company line . I asked him if he thought that sounds like a lette r
a farmer would write ."
She sat watching me, patiently.
"He just shrugged ." Our eyes met. "Oh, Paula, I detest myself for
playing this role ."
"What did you do next?" she pressed .
"I slammed my fist on the desk . I intimidated him . I asked hi m
whether farmers with AK-47s made any sense to him . Then I asked
if he knew who invented the AK-47."
"Did he? "
"Yes, but I could hardly hear his answer. A Russian,' he said . Of
course, I assured him that he was right, that the inventor had bee n
a Communist named Kalashnikov, a highly decorated officer in th e
Red Army. I brought him around to understand that the people wh o
wrote that note were Communists ."
"Do you believe that?" she asked .
Her question stopped me . How could I answer, honestly? I recalle d
Iran and the time Yamin described me as a man caught between two
worlds, a man in the middle . In some ways, I wished I had been in tha t
camp when the guerrillas attacked, or that I was one of the guerrillas .
An odd feeling crept over me, a sort of jealousy for Yamin and Doc an d
the Colombian rebels . These were men with con victions . They ha d
chosen real worlds, not a no-man's territory somewhere between .
"I have a job to do," I said at last .
She smiled gently.
"I hate it," I continued . I thought about the men whose image s
had come to me so often over the years, Tom Paine and other Revolutionary War heroes, pirates and frontiersmen . They stood at the

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American Republic versus Global Empire 125

edges, not in the middle. They had taken stands and lived with th e
consequences . "Every day I come to hate my job a little more ."
She took my hand . "Your job? "
Our eyes met and held . I understood the implication . "Myself."
She squeezed my hand and nodded slowly . I felt an immediat e
sense of relief, just admitting it .
"What will you do, John? "
I had no answer . The relief turned into defensiveness . I stammered out the standard justifications : that I was trying to do good,
that I was exploring ways to change the system from within, and —
the old standby—that if I quit, someone even worse would fill m y
shoes . But I could see from the way she watched me that she was not
buying it . Even worse, I knew that I was not buying it either . She had
forced me to understand the essential truth : it was not my job, but
me, that was to blame .
"What about you?" I asked at last . "What do you believe? "
She gave a little sigh and released my hand, asking, "You trying t o
change the subject? "
I nodded.
"Okay," she agreed. "Under one condition . That we'll return to it
another day ." She picked up a spoon and appeared to examine it . "I
know that some of the guerrillas have trained in Russia and China ."
She lowered the spoon into her cafe con leche, stirred, and then slowl y
licked the spoon . "What else can they do? They need to learn abou t
modern weapons and how to fight the soldiers who've gone throug h
your schools. Sometimes they sell cocaine in order to raise money fo r
supplies . How else can they buy guns? They're up against terribl e
odds . Your World Bank doesn't help them defend themselves . In
fact, it forces them into this position ." She took a sip of coffee . "I be lieve their cause is just. The electricity will help only a few, the wealth iest Colombians, and thousands will die because the fish and wate r
are poisoned, after you build that dam of yours ."
Hearing her speak so compassionately about the people who op posed us — me — caused my flesh to crawl . I found myself clawing at
my forearms .
"How do you know so much about the guerrillas?" Even as I
asked it, I had a sinking feeling, a premonition that I did not want t o
know the answer.

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Part III : 1975—1981

"1 went to school with some of them," she said . She hesitated,
pushed her cup away. "My brother joined the movement."
There it was . I felt absolutely deflated . I thought I knew all abou t
her, but this... I had the fleeting image of a man coming home to fin d
his wife in bed with another man .
"How come you never told me? "
"Seemed irrelevant. Why would I? It isn't something I bra g
about ." She paused. "I haven't seen him for two years . He has to b e
very careful ."
"How do you know he's alive? "
"I don't, except recently the government put him on a wanted list .
That's a good sign ."
I was fighting the urge to be judgmental or defensive . I hoped she
could not discern my jealousy. "How did he become one of them? "
I asked.
Fortunately, she kept her eyes on the coffee cup . "Demonstrating
outside the offices of an oil company—Occidental, I think . He was
protesting drilling on indigenous lands, in the forests of a tribe facin g
extinction — him and a couple dozen of his friends . They were attacked
by the army, beaten, and thrown into prison—for doing nothin g
illegal, mind you, just standing outside that building waving placard s
and singing ." She glanced out a nearby window . "They kept him i n
jail for nearly six months . He never did tell us what happened there ,
but when he came out he was a different person ."
It was the first of many similar conversations with Paula, and I
now know that these discussions set the stage for what was to follow .
My soul was torn apart, yet I was still ruled by my wallet and b y
those other weaknesses the NSA had identified when they profile d
me a decade earlier, in 1968 . By forcing me to see this and to con front the deeper feelings behind my fascination with pirates and
other rebels, Paula helped me along the trail toward salvation.
Beyond my own personal dilemmas, my times in Colombia als o
helped me comprehend the distinction between the old America n
republic and the new global empire . The republic offered hope to th e
world . Its foundation was moral and philosophical rather tha n
materialistic . It was based on concepts of equality and justice for all .
But it also could be pragmatic, not merely a utopian dream but als o
a living, breathing, magnanimous entity. It could open its arms to

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127

shelter the downtrodden . It was an inspiration and at the same tim e
a force to reckon with ; if needed, it could swing into action, as i t
had during World War II, to defend the principles for which it stood .
The very institutions — the big corporations, banks, and governmen t
bureaucracies — that threaten the republic could be used instead t o
institute fundamental changes in the world . Such institutions posses s
the communications networks and transportation systems necessary
to end disease, starvation, and even wars — if only they could be convinced to take that course .
The global empire, on the other hand, is the republic's nemesis . It
is self-centered, self-serving, greedy, and materialistic, a syste m
based on mercantilism . Like empires before, its arms open only t o
accumulate resources, to grab everything in sight and stuff its insatiable maw. It will use whatever means it deems necessary to help its
rulers gain more power and riches .
Of course, in learning to understand this distinction I also developed a clearer sense of my own role . Claudine had warned me ; sh e
had honestly outlined what would be expected of me if I accepte d
the job MAIN offered . Yet, it took the experience of working in coun tries like Indonesia, Panama, Iran, and Colombia in order for me to
understand the deeper implications . And it took the patience, love ,
and personal stories of a woman like Paula .
I was loyal to the American republic, but what we were perpetrating through this new, highly subtle form of imperialism was th e
financial equivalent of what we had attempted to accomplish militarily in Vietnam . If Southeast Asia had taught us that armies hav e
limitations, the economists had responded by devising a better plan ,
and the foreign aid agencies and the private contractors who serve d
them (or, more appropriately, were served by them) had becom e
proficient at executing that plan .
In countries on every continent, I saw how men and wome n
working for U.S. corporations — though not officially part of th e
EHM network — participated in something far more pernicious tha n
anything envisioned in conspiracy theories . Like many of MAIN's
engineers, these workers were blind to the consequences of their actions, convinced that the sweatshops and factories that made shoe s
and automotive parts for their companies were helping the poo r
climb out of poverty, instead of simply burying them deeper in a type

128

Part III : 1975—1981

of slavery reminiscent of medieval manors and southern plantations .
Like those earlier manifestations of exploitation, modern serfs or slave s
were socialized into believing they were better off than the unfortunate souls who lived on the margins, in the dark hollows of Europe ,
in the jungles of Africa, or in the wilds of the American frontier .
The struggle over whether I should continue at MAIN or shoul d
quit had become an open battlefield . There was no doubt that m y
conscience wanted out, but that other side, what I liked to think o f
as my business-school. persona, was not so sure. My own ernpire kept
expanding ; I added employees, countries, and shares of stock to m y
various portfolios and to my ego . In addition to the seduction of th e
money and lifestyle, and the adrenaline high of power, I often re called Claudine warning me that once I was in I could never get out .
Of course, Paula sneered at this . "What would she know? "
I pointed out that Claudine had been right about a great man y
things .
"That was a long time ago . Lives change . Anyway, what differenc e
does it make? You're not happy with yourself. What can Claudine or
anyone else do to make things worse than that?"
It was a refrain Paula often came back to, and I eventually agreed .
I admitted to her and to myself that all the money, adventure, an d
glamour no longer justified the turmoil, guilt, and stress . As a
MAIN partner, I was becoming wealthy, and I knew that if I staye d
longer I would be permanently trapped.
One day, while we were strolling along the beach near the ol d
Spanish fort at Cartagena, a place that had endured countless pirat e
attacks, Paula hit upon an approach that had not occurred to me .
"What if you never say anything about the things you know?" sh e
asked.
`"You mean.. . just keep quiet? "
"Exactly. Don't give them an excuse to come after you . In fact,
give them every reason to leave you alone, to not muddy the water ."
It made a great deal of sense — I wondered why it never occurre d
to me before . I would not write books or do anything else to expos e
the truth as I had come to see it . I would not be a crusader ; instead ,
I would just be a person, concentrate on enjoying life, travel fo r
pleasure, perhaps even start a family with someone like Paula . I had
had enough ; I simply wanted out .

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"Everything Claudine taught you is a deception, " Paula added.
"Your life's a lie." She smiled condescendingly. "Have you looked at
your own resume recently? "
I admitted that I had not .
"Do," she advised. "I read the Spanish version the other day. If it's
anything like the English one, I think you'll find it very interesting ."

CHAPTER 2 3

The Deceptive Resum e

While I was in Colombia, word arrived that Jake Dauber had retire d
as MAIN's president . As expected, chairman and CEO Mac Hall appointed Bruno as Dauber's replacement . The phone lines betwee n
Boston and Barranquilla went crazy. Everyone predicted that I, too ,
would soon be promoted ; after all, I was one of Bruno's most truste d
proteges.
These changes and rumors were an added incentive for me to re view my own position . While still in Colombia, I followed Paula's ad vice and read the Spanish version of my resume . It shocked me . Back
in Boston, I pulled out both the English original and a Novembe r
1978 copy of MAINLINES, the corporate magazine ; that editio n
featured me in an article titled, "Specialists Offer MAIN'S Client s
New Services ." (See pages 133 and 134 .)
I once had taken great pride in that resume and that article, an d
yet now, seeing them as Paula did, I felt a growing sense of ange r
and depression. The material in these documents represented intentional deceptions, if not lies . And these documents carried a deepe r
significance, a reality that reflected our times and reached to the core
of our current march to global empire : they epitomized a strategy
calculated to convey appearances, to shield an underlying reality . I n
a strange way, they symbolized the story of my life, a glossy venee r
covering synthetic surfaces.
Of course, it did not give me any great comfort to know that I had
to take much of the responsibility for what was included in m y

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131

resume. According to standard operating procedures, I was require d
to constantly update both a basic resume and a file with pertinent
backup information about clients served and the type of work done .
If a marketing person or project manager wanted to include me in a
proposal or to use my credentials in some other way, he could massage
this basic data in a manner that emphasized his particular needs .
For instance, he might choose to highlight my experience in th e
Middle East, or in making presentations before the World Bank an d
other multinational forums . Whenever this was done, that perso n
was supposed to get my approval before actually publishing the revised resume . However, since like many other MAIN employee s
I traveled a great deal, exceptions were frequently made . Thus, the
resume Paula suggested I look at, and its English counterpart, wer e
completely new to me, although the information certainly was included in my file.
At first glance, my resume seemed innocent enough . Under Experience, it stated that I had been in charge of major projects in the
United States, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, and it provided a laundry list of the types of projects : development planning ,
economic forecasting, energy demand forecasting, and so on . Thi s
section ended by describing my Peace Corps work in Ecuador ; however, it omitted any reference to the Peace Corps itself, leaving th e
impression that I had been the professional manager of a constructio n
materials company, instead of a volunteer assisting a small cooperative composed of illiterate Andean peasant brick makers .
Following that was a long list of clients . This list included the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the officia l
name of the World Bank) ; the Asian Development Bank ; the government of Kuwait ; the Iranian Ministry of Energy ; the ArabianAmerican Oil Company of Saudi Arabia ; Instituto de Recurso s
Hidraulicos y Electrification ; Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara ;
and many others . But the one that caught my attention was the final
entry : U.S. Treasury Department, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia . I was
amazed that such a listing had ever made it to print, even though i t
was obviously part of my file .
Setting aside the resume for a moment, I turned to the MAINLINES article . I clearly recalled my interview with its author, a ver y
talented and well-intentioned young woman . She had given it to me
for my approval before publishing it. I remembered feeling gratified
132

Part III : 1975—1981

JOHN M . PERKIN S

EXPERIENC E
John M . Perkins is Manager of the Economic s
Department of the Power and Eovironmentai Syiteln S
Division Sin g e ruining MAIN . Mr . Perkins has been in charge of
maim projects in the United States . Asia . Latin
Amcriea and the Middle East . This work has icluded
development planning, economic forecasting, energy
demand forecasting, marketing studies, plant siting ,
fuel allocation analysis . economic feasibility studies ,
mental and economic impact studies ,
mein
investment planning and management consulting . In
addit ion, many projects have involved training clients
in the use ;:f techniques developed by Mr . Perkins and
in „ s'a it
Rurer try Mr . Perkins has been in charge of a projec t
design
computer program packages fo r
h ) proj e cting energy dernand and quantifying th e
re la taonsh ips between economic development an d
energy production . '_)evaluating environnten t al and
socioeconomic impacts of projects, and 3) applyin g
Markov and economet he models to national and
rcµional economic planning .
Prier to joining MAIN . Mr . Perkins spent thre e
years to Ecuador conducting marketing studies an d
t m :garuzinp and managing a construe Lon material s
mpany . He also conducted studies of the feasibilit y
organizing credit and savings cooperative s
!Ecuador .
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts in Business Adm utisirat ion
Boston Universit y
Post Graduate Studies .
Model Building, Engineering Economics .
Econometrics . Probability Method s
LANGUAGE S
English, Spanis h
PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATION S
Amcricari Economic Associatio n
Society for lnteenational Developmen t
PUBLICATIONS
"A Mar kov Process Applied to Forecastin g
the Demand Mr Ele c tricitp
"A Macro Approach to Energy Forecasting "
"A Model for Describing the Direct an d
Indirect Interrelationships between th e
Economy and the Environm cnt "
"Electric Energy Rom Interconnected Systems "
"Markov Method Applied to Planning '

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CREDENTIALS
Forecasting Studie s
Marketing Studies
Feasibility Studie s
Site Selection Studie s
Economic Impact Studies
Investment Plannin g
Fuel Supply Studies
Economic Development Plannin g
Training Program s
Project Managemen t
Allocation Planning
Management Consultin g
Clients served :
u Arabian-American Oil Company . Saudi Arabi a
a Asian Development Ban k
o Boise Cascade Corporation
o City Service Corporation
o Dayton Power & Light Compan y
o General Elect r ic Company
o Government of Kuwai t
Hidraulicos y
o Instituto de Recursos
Elect rificaci on, Panam a
o Inter-American Development Ban k
International Bank for Reconstruction an d
Developmen t
o Ministry of Energy . Ira n
o New York Time s
o Power Authority of the State of New York
n Perusahaan Umum Listrik Negara . Indonesia
o South Carolina Electric and Gas Compan y
o Technical Association Of the Pulp and Pape r
Industry
o Union Camp Corporation
.Kingdom
o U .S Treasury Dep . :f Saudi Arahi a

The Deceptive Resume 133

that she had painted such a flattering portrait of me, and I immediately approved it . Once again, the responsibility fell on my shoulders .
The article began :

Specialists offe r
MAI N 's clients new service s
ry Pauline Ouellette

Loosing over the - acs be in q
:he desks, it, easy to tea t h a t
toncrnios and Regional Planning i s
me of the most recent/, Implie d
end reoidly o uv ng disciplines a t
H AIN . Tc date, tn_re are tout 2 G
tecta rets in tris crimp, cante red
weir a serer 'year pet Md . These
pct if l i sts i' el .:de net onl y
.o . rm Isis, but em; planner s
mographers market specialists
nd NAI NH first sociologist.
','Vh ale several people
eerie
nfI ential l e getting the economic s
'roup started, it asically came
about through the efforts of on e
ran, John Perkins, who is nems
read of th e coup .
Hired as an assistant to the hea d
cad forecaster in January , 1971 ,
ohn was one of Inc few
conomists work ng for MAIN a t
he time. For his - rat assignment ,
'e was sent as pa't of an 1 i -ma r
earn to do an electricity deman d
lady in Indonesia .
"They wanted to see if i col d
ervive there for three months, " h e
aid laughing 'em in iscent y . Bu t
site his background, John had n o
rouble " sureisi^g . " He had jus t
pent Three years in Ecuador with a
;o nstruct ion Materias Cc-o p
iap ng the Quechua Indians, direc t
descendants of the 'ncas . Tee
MAINLINES

Indians , John said, were bon g
ex lcited in heir work ns hr e k
makers so he was asked b'; a ^
E, adohan agency to form a eo-op .
He then tented a truck to 1 el c
them sell their bricks e molly t o th e
cc. rsurre's . As a remit, profit s
-apid y increased by 5d4, . Th e
ro- is were divided among t ee
members o' t h e cc-ou whir' , afte r
2 1S years, 'luded 200 familiesIt was coring tri s tine tha t
John °er<ins met Einar Greve I s
farmer employee) who was wo r kin g
in the town of = auto Ecuador, on a
hydroelectric project -or MAIN .
The two became f-iendly and ,
through continual cor-espondence,
John was offered a position with
MAIN .
About a year '.ate-, John becam e
the head ocd forecaste r and, as the
demands Horn clients an d
ins: .tut ons s cn as the Acrid Ban k
grew, he realized that mor e
ecororrists were needed at MA'. N ,
"Wh Is MAIN s an engineering
fire," he said, "the clients were
tel'ing us we hag to ce more tha n
that . " He hired more economists i n
1973 to meet the clients' need s
a^.d, as a result, formed th e
discip ire which brought him th e
title of Chief Economist.
.. ohn's latest project involve s

Looking over the faces behind the desks, it's easy to tel l
that Economics and Regional Planning is one of the mos t
recently formed and rapidly growing disciplines at MAIN . ..
While several people were influential in getting th e
economics group started, it basically came about through
the efforts of one man, John Perkins, who is now head of
the group .
Hired as an assistant to the head load forecaster i n
January, 1971, John was one of the few economists working for MAIN at the time. For his first assignment, he
was sent as part of an 11-man team to do an electricity
demand study in Indonesia.

Perkin s
ag-icu ltural Jr re H+prrert to Panam a
from omei he recen t.
returned
after a mont '-'s stay
t was i n
Panama that MAIN ronducred it s
est soeicloglcal study tnrouy h
Martha Hayes, MAIN's first
soctoloy se, Marc spent ' month s
Panama to determine the imcac t
o` tine erojeet en poop e Ives an d
cultures . Specialists in ag'iCUltur e
and other re ates fields *ere als o
hi r ed in conjunction weh thi s
study .
The expar si m of [commies an d
Regional Planning has been fast
eared, yet ken feels he has bee n
lucky in that earn and ni.lual hired
has been a hard wor stin g
crofessional . As he spoke to er e
Gorr across his desk, the inte r es t
and support re holds for --is staf f
was evident a'-d admirable.

The article briefly summarized my previous work history, described how I had "spent three years in Ecuador," and then continued with the following :
It was during this time that John Perkins met Eina r
Greve (a former employee) [he had since left MAIN to
become president of the Tucson Gas & Electric Company] who was working in the town of Paute, Ecuador ,
on a hydroelectric project for MAIN. The two becam e
friendly and, through continual correspondence, Joh n
was offered a position with MAIN .
About a year later, John became the head load fore caster and, as the demands from clients and institution s
such as the World Bank grew, he realized that more
economists were needed at MAIN .

November 197 8

None of the statements in either document were outright lies —
the backup for both documents was on the record, in my file ; however, they conveyed a perception that I now found to be twisted an d
sanitized. And in a culture that worships official documents, the y
perpetrated something that was even more sinister. Outright lies ca n
be refuted . Documents like those two were impossible to refut e

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135

because they were based on glimmers of truth, not open deceptions ,
and because they were produced by a corporation that had earne d
the trust of other corporations, international banks, and governments.
This was especially true of the resume because it was an officia l
document, as opposed to the article, which was a bylined intervie w
in a magazine . The MAIN logo, appearing on the bottom of the resume and on the covers of all the proposals and reports that resum e
was likely to grace, carried a lot of weight in the world of international business ; it was a seal of authenticity that elicited the sam e
level of confidence as those stamped on diplomas and framed certificates hanging in doctors' and lawyers' offices .
These documents portrayed me as a very competent economist ,
head of a department at a prestigious consulting firm, who was traveling around the globe conducting a broad range of studies tha t
would make the world a more civilized and prosperous place . The
deception was not in what was stated, but in what was omitted . If
I put on an outsider's hat—took a purely objective look—I had t o
admit that those omissions raised many questions .
For example, there was no mention of my recruitment by th e
NSA or of Einar Greve's connection with the Army and his role as a n
NSA liaison. There obviously was no discussion of the fact that I ha d
been under tremendous pressure to produce highly inflated economic
forecasts, or that much of my job revolved around arranging hug e
loans that countries like Indonesia and Panama could never repay.
There was no praise for the integrity of my predecessor, Howar d
Parker, nor any acknowledgment that I became the head load fore caster because I was willing to provide the biased studies my bosse s
wanted, rather than — like Howard — saying what I believed wa s
true and getting fired as a result . Most puzzling was that final entry,
under the list of my clients : U.S. Treasury Department, Kingdom of
Saudi Arabia .
I kept returning to that line, and I wondered how people woul d
interpret it. They might well ask what is the connection between th e
U.S . Department of the Treasury and Saudi Arabia . Perhaps some
would take it as a typo, two separate lines erroneously compresse d
into one . Most readers, though, would never guess the truth, that it
had been included for a specific reason . It was there so that those in
the inner circle of the world where I operated would understand tha t
I had been part of the team that crafted the deal of the century, the
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Part III : 1975—1981

deal that changed the course of world history but never reached th e
newspapers . I helped create a covenant that guaranteed continue d
oil for America, safeguarded the rule of the House of Saud, an d
assisted in the financing of Osama bin Laden and the protection o f
international criminals like Uganda 's Idi Amin . That single line i n
my resume spoke to those in the know . It said that MAIN's chief
economist was a man who could deliver .
The final paragraph of the MAINLINES article was a personal
observation by the author, and it struck a raw nerve :
The expansion of Economics and Regional Planning
has been fast paced, yet John feels he has been lucky i n
that each individual hired has been a hard-workin g
professional . As he spoke to me from across his desk ,
the interest and support he holds for his staff was evident
and admirable .
The fact was that I had never thought of myself as a bona fid e
economist . I had graduated with a bachelor of science in busines s
administration from Boston University, emphasis on marketing . I
had always been lousy in mathematics and statistics . At Middlebury
College, I had majored in American literature ; writing had com e
easily to me . My status as chief economist and as manager of Economics and Regional Planning could not be attributed to my capabilities in either economics or planning ; rather, it was a function o f
my willingness to provide the types of studies and conclusions m y
bosses and clients wanted, combined with a natural acumen for persuading others through the written word . In addition, I was cleve r
enough to hire very competent people, many with master's degree s
and a couple with PhDs, acquiring a staff who knew a whole lot mor e
about the technicalities of my business than I did . Small wonder that
the author of that article concluded that "the interest and support h e
holds for his staff was evident and admirable ."
I kept these two documents and several other similar ones in th e
top drawer of my desk, and I returned to them frequently After ward, I sometimes found myself outside my office, wandering amon g
the desks of my staff, looking at those men and women who worke d
for me and feeling guilty about what I had done to them, and abou t
the role we all played in widening the gap between rich and poor . I

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137

thought about the people who starved each day while my staff and I
slept in first-class hotels, ate at the finest restaurants, and built up
our financial portfolios .
I thought about the fact that people I trained had now joined th e
ranks of EHMs . I had brought them in . I had recruited them and
trained them . But it had not been the same as when I joined . Th e
world had shifted and the corporatocracy had progressed . We ha d
gotten better or more pernicious . The people who worked for m e
were a different breed from me . There had been no NSA polygraph s
or Claudines in their lives . No one had spelled it out for them, wha t
they were expected to do to carry on the mission of global empire .
They had never heard the term economic hit man or even EHM, no r
had they been told they were in for life . They simply had learne d
from my example and from my system of rewards and punishments .
They knew that they were expected to produce the types of studie s
and results I wanted . Their salaries, Christmas bonuses, indeed thei r
very jobs, depended on pleasing me .
I, of course, had done everything I could imagine to lighten thei r
burden . I had written papers, given lectures, and taken every possible opportunity to convince them of the importance of optimisti c
forecasts, of huge loans, of infusions of capital that would spur GN P
growth and make the world a better place. It had required less tha n
a decade to arrive at this point where the seduction, the coercion ,
had taken a much more subtle form, a sort of gentle style of brain washing . Now these men and women who sat at desks outside m y
office overlooking Boston's Back Bay were going out into the worl d
to advance the cause of global empire . In a very real sense, I had cre ated them, even as Claudine had created me . But unlike me, the y
had been kept in the dark .
Many nights I lay awake, thinking, fretting about these things .
Paula's reference to my resume had opened a Pandora's box, and I
often felt jealous of my employees for their naivete . I had intention ally deceived them, and in so doing, had protected them from thei r
own consciences . They did not have to struggle with the moral issue s
that haunted me.
I also thought a great deal about the idea of integrity in business ,
about appearances versus reality . Certainly I told myself, people have
deceived each other since the beginning of history. Legend and folklore are full of tales about distorted truths and fraudulent deals :
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Part III : 1975—1981

cheating rug merchants, usurious moneylenders, and tailors willin g
to convince the emperor that his clothes are invisible only to him .
However, much as I wanted to conclude that things were th e
same as they always had been, that the facade of my MAIN resum e
and the reality behind it were merely reflections of human nature, I
knew in my heart this was not the case . Things had changed . I now
understood that we have reached a new level of deception, one tha t
will lead to our own destruction — not only morally, but also physi cally, as a culture — unless we make significant changes soon .
The example of organized crime seemed to offer a metaphor . Mafia
bosses often start out as street thugs . But over time, the ones wh o
make it to the top transform their appearance. They take to wearin g
impeccably tailored suits, owning legitimate businesses, and wrap ping themselves in the cloak of upstanding society. They support local
charities and are respected by their communities . They are quick t o
lend money to those in desperate straits. Like the John Perkins i n
the MAIN resume, these men appear to be model citizens . However,
beneath this patina is a trail of blood. When the debtors cannot pay ,
hit men move in to demand their pound of flesh . If this is no t
granted, the jackals close in with baseball bats . Finally, as a last resort, out come the guns.
I realized that my gloss as chief economist, head of Economic s
and Regional Planning, was not the simple deception of a rug dealer ,
not something of which a buyer can beware . It was part of a sinister
system aimed not at outfoxing an unsuspecting customer, but rathe r
at promoting the most subtle and effective form of imperialism th e
world has ever known . Every one of the people on my staff also held
a title — financial analyst, sociologist, economist, lead economist ,
econometrician, shadow pricing expert, and so forth — and yet non e
of those titles indicated that every one of them was, in his or her ow n
way, an EHM, that every one of them was serving the interests o f
global empire.
Nor did the fact of those titles among my staff suggest that w e
were just the tip of the iceberg . Every major international company
— from ones that marketed shoes and sporting goods to those tha t
manufactured heavy equipment — had its own EHM equivalents .
The march had begun and it was rapidly encircling the planet . The
hoods had discarded their leather jackets, dressed up in busines s
suits, and taken on an air of respectability. Men and women were

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descending from corporate headquarters in New York, Chicago, Sa n
Francisco, London, and Tokyo, streaming across every continent t o
convince corrupt politicians to allow their countries to be shackle d
to the corporatocracy, and to induce desperate people to sell thei r
bodies to sweatshops and assembly lines .
It was disturbing to understand that the unspoken details behin d
the wmitten words of my resume and of that article defined a world o f
smoke and mirrors intended to keep us all shackled to a system that
is morally repugnant and ultimately self-destructive . By getting m e
to read between the lines, Paula had nudged me to take one mor e
step along a path that would ultimately transform my life .

CHAPTER 2 4

Ecuador's President Battles Big Oi l

My work in Colombia and Panama gave me many opportunities t o
stay in touch with and to visit the first country to be my home awa y
from home . Ecuador had suffered under a long line of dictators an d
right-wing oligarchies manipulated by U .S. political and commercia l
interests . In a way, the country was the quintessential banana re public, and the corporatocracy had made major inroads there .
The serious exploitation of oil in the Ecuadorian Amazon basi n
began in the late 1960s, and it resulted in a buying spree in which
the small club of families who ran Ecuador played into the hand s
of the international banks . They saddled their country with huge
amounts of debt, backed by the promise of oil revenues . Roads and
industrial parks, hydroelectric dams, transmission and distributio n
systems, and other power projects sprang up all over the country .
International engineering and construction companies struck it ric h
— once again.
One man whose star was rising over this Andean country was th e
exception to the rule of political corruption and complicity with th e
corporatocracy. Jaime Roldos was a university professor and attorney in his late thirties, whom I had met on several occasions . He was
charismatic and charming . Once, I impetuously offered to fly to
Quito and provide free consulting services any time he asked . I said
it partially in jest, but also because I would gladly have done it on m y
own vacation time — I liked him and, as I was quick to tell him, wa s
always looking for a good excuse to visit his country . He laughed and

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141

offered me a similar deal, saying that whenever I needed to negotiate my oil bill, I could call on him .
He had established a reputation as a populist and a nationalist, a
person who believed strongly in the rights of the poor and in the responsibility of politicians to use a country's natural resources prudently. When he began campaigning for the presidency in 1978, h e
captured the attention of his countrymen and of citizens in every na tion where foreign interests exploited oil — or where people desire d
independence from the influences of powerful outside forces . Roldo s
was the rare modern politician who was not afraid to oppose th e
status quo . He went after the oil companies and the not-so-subtl e
system that supported them .
For instance, he accused the Summer Institute of Linguistic s
(SIL), an evangelical missionary group from the United States, o f
sinister collusion with the oil companies . I was familiar with SI L
missionaries from my Peace Corps days . The organization had entered Ecuador, as it had so many other countries, under the pretex t
of studying, recording, and translating indigenous languages .
SIL had been working extensively with the Huaorani tribe in th e
Amazon basin area, during the early years of oil exploration, when a
disturbing pattern emerged . Whenever seismologists reported t o
corporate headquarters that a certain region had characteristics
indicating a high probability of oil beneath the surface, SIL went i n
and encouraged the indigenous people to move from that land, ont o
missionary reservations ; there they would receive free food, shelter,
clothes, medical treatment, and missionary-style education . The con dition was that they had to deed their lands to the oil companies .
Rumors abounded that SIL missionaries used an assortment o f
underhanded techniques to persuade the tribes to abandon their
homes and move to the missions . A frequently repeated story was
that they had donated food heavily laced with laxatives — then offere d
medicines to cure the diarrhea epidemic. Throughout Huaorani territory, SIL airdropped false-bottomed food baskets containing tin y
radio transmitters; receivers at highly sophisticated communication s
stations, manned by U .S. military personnel at the army base i n
Shell, tuned in to these transmitters . Whenever a member of th e
tribe was bitten by a poisonous snake or became seriously ill, an SI L
representative arrived with antivenom or the proper medicines — ofte n
in oil company helicopters .
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During the early days of oil exploration, five SIL missionarie s
were found dead with Huaorani spears protruding from their bodies . Later, the Huaoranis claimed they did this to send SIL a message
to keep out . The message went unheeded. In fact, it ultimately had
the opposite effect . Rachel Saint, the sister of one of the murdere d
men, toured the United States, appearing on national television i n
order to raise money and support for SIL and the oil companies, wh o
she claimed were helping the "savages" become civilized and educated .
SIL received funding from the Rockefeller charities . Jaime Roldo s
claimed that these Rockefeller connections proved that SIL was re ally a front for stealing indigenous lands and promoting oil exploration ; family scion John D . Rockefeller had founded Standard Oi l
—which later divested into the majors, including Chevron, Exxon ,
and Mobil ..
Roldos struck me as a man who walked the path blazed by Torrijos .
Both stood up to the world's strongest superpower . Torrijos wante d
to take back the Canal, while Roldos's strongly nationalistic positio n
on oil threatened the world's most influential companies . Like Torrijos ,
Roldos was not a Communist, but rather stood for the right of hi s
country to determine its own destiny. And as they had with Torrijos ,
pundits predicted that big business and Washington would neve r
tolerate Roldos as president, that if elected he would meet a fate
similar to that of Guatemala's Arbenz or Chile's Allende .
It seemed to me that the two men together might spearhead a
new movement in Latin American politics and that this movement
might form the foundation of changes that could affect every natio n
on the planet. These men were not Castros or Gadhafis. They were
not associated with Russia or China or, as in Allende's case, with th e
international Socialist movement . They were popular, intelligent ,
charismatic leaders who were pragmatic instead of dogmatic . They
were nationalistic but not anti-American . If corporatocracy was built
on three pillars — major corporations, international banks, and colluding governments — Roldos and Torrijos held out the possibility of
removing the pillar of government collusion .
A major part of the Roldos platform was what came to be known a s
the Hydrocarbons Policy. This policy was based on the premise tha t
Ecuador's greatest potential resource was petroleum and that al l
future exploitation of that resource should be done in a manner tha t
would bring the greatest benefit to the largest percentage of th e

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population . Roldos was a firm believer in the state's obligation t o
assist the poor and disenfranchised . He expressed hope that th e
Hydrocarbons Policy could in fact be used as a vehicle for bringin g
about social reform . He had to walk a fine line, however, because h e
knew that in Ecuador, as in so many other countries, he could not b e
elected without the support of at least some of the most influentia l
families, and that even if he should manage to win without them, h e
would never see his programs implemented without their support .
I was personally relieved that Carter was in the White Hous e
during this crucial time . Despite pressures from Texaco and other oi l
interests, Washington stayed pretty much out of the picture . I knew
this would not have been the case under most other administration s
— Republican or Democrat.
More than any other issue, I believe it was the Hydrocarbons Polic y
that conv inced Ecuadorians to send Jaime Roldos to the Presidentia l
Palace in Quito — their first democratically elected president after a
long line of dictators . He outlined the basis of this policy in his Au gust 10, 1979, inaugural address :

We believe our relations with foreign companies have
to be just; we have to be tough in the struggle ; we have t o
be prepared for all kinds of pressures, but we should no t
display fear or an inferiority complex in negotiating with
those foreigners . : 3
On New Year's Day, 1980, I made a resolution . It was the beginning of a new decade . In twenty-eight days, I would turn thirty-five .
I resolved that during the next year I would make a major change i n
my life and that in the future I would try to model myself after mod ern heroes like Jaime Roldos and Omar Torrijos .
In addition, something shocking had happened months earlier .
From a profitability standpoint, Bruno had been the most successfu l
president in MAIN's history. Nonetheless, suddenly and withou t
warning, Mac Hall had fired him .

We must take effective measures to defend the energy
resources of the nation . The State (must) maintain th e
diversification of its exports and not lose its economi c
independence . .. Our decisions will be inspired solely by
national interests and in the unrestricted defense of our
sovereign rights . 2
Once in office, Roldos had to focus on Texaco, since by that tim e
it had become the main player in the oil game . It was an extremely
rocky relationship . The oil giant did not trust the new president an d
did not want to be part of any policy that would set new precedents .
It was very aware that such policies might serve as models in other
countries .
A speech delivered by a key advisor to Roldos, Jose Carvajal ,
summed up the new administration's attitude :
If a partner [Texaco] does not want to take risks, to mak e
investments for exploration, or to exploit the areas of an
oil concession, the other partner has the right to make
those investments and then to take over as the owner . ..
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CHAPTER 2 5

I

Quit

Mac Hall's firing of Bruno hit MAIN like an earthquake . It cause d
turmoil and dissension throughout the company. Bruno had hi s
share of enemies, but even some of them were dismayed. To many
employees it was obvious that the motive had been jealousy . During
discussions across the lunch table or around the coffee wagon, peopl e
often confided that they thought Hall felt threatened by this man
who was more than fifteen years his junior and who had taken th e
firm to new levels of profitability .
"Hall couldn't allow Bruno to go on looking so good," one ma n
said. "Hall had to know that it was just a matter of time before Brun o
would take over and the old man would be out to pasture ."
As if to prove such theories, Hall appointed Paul Priddy as the
new president . Paul had been a vice president at MAIN for years an d
was an amiable, nuts-and-bolts engineer . In my opinion, he was als o
lackluster, a yes-man who would bow to the chairman's whims an d
would never threaten him with stellar profits. My opinion was share d
by many others .
For me, Bruno's departure was devastating . He had been a personal mentor and a key factor in our international work. Priddy, o n
the other hand, had focused on domestic jobs and knew little if anything about the true nature of our overseas roles . I had to questio n
where the company would go from here . I called Bruno at his hom e
and found him philosophical .
"Well, John, he knew he had no cause," he said of Hall, "so I
146

demanded a very good severance package, and I got it. Mac controls
a huge block of voting stock, and once he made his move there wa s
nothing I could do ." Bruno indicated that he was considering several
offers of high-level positions at multinational banks that had bee n
our clients .
I asked him what he thought I should do .
"Keep your eyes open," he advised . "Mac Hall has lost touch with
reality, but no one will tell him so — especially not now, after what he
did to me ."
In late March 1980, still smarting from the firing, I took a sailin g
vacation in the Virgin Islands . I was joined by "Mary," a young woma n
who also worked for MAIN . Although I did not think about it whe n
I chose the location, I now know that the region's history was a factor in helping me make a decision that would start to fulfill my Ne w
Year's resolution . The first inkling occurred early one afternoon a s
we rounded St . John Island and tacked into Sir Francis Drake Channel, which separates the American from the British Virgin Islands .
The channel was named, of course, after the English scourge o f
the Spanish gold fleets . That fact reminded me of the many time s
during the past decade when I had thought about pirates and othe r
historical figures, men like Drake and Sir Henry Morgan, who robbe d
and plundered and exploited and yet were lauded—even knighte d
— for their activities . I had often asked myself why, given that I had
been raised to respect such people, I should have qualms about exploiting countries like Indonesia, Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador .
So many of my heroes — Ethan Allen, Thomas Jefferson, George
Washington, Daniel Boone, Davy Crockett, Lewis and Clark, t o
name just a few — had exploited Indians, slaves, and lands that di d
not belong to them, and I had drawn upon their examples to assuag e
my guilt. Now, tacking up Sir Francis Drake Channel, I saw the foll y
of my past rationalizations .
I remembered some things I had conveniently ignored over the
years . Ethan Allen spent several months in fetid and cramped Britis h
prison ships, much of the time locked into thirty pounds of iro n
shackles, and then more time in an English dungeon . He was a prisoner of war, captured at the 1775 Battle of Montreal while fightin g
for the same sorts of freedom Jaime Roldos and Omar Torrijos no w
sought for their people . Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, an d
all the other Founding Fathers had risked their lives for similar ideals .

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Winning the revolution was no foregone conclusion; they understood that if they lost, they would be hanged as traitors . Daniel
Boone, Davy Crockett, and Lewis and Clark also had endured grea t
hardships and made many sacrifices .
And Drake and Morgan? I was a bit hazy about that period in his tory, but I remembered that Protestant England had seen itself sorel y
threatened by Catholic Spain . I had to admit to the possibility tha t
Drake and Morgan had turned to piracy in order to strike at the hear t
of the Spanish empire, at those gold ships, to defend the sanctity o f
England, rather than out of a desire for self-aggrandizement .
As we sailed up that channel, tacking back and forth into the
wind, inching closer to the mountains rising from the sea—Great
Thatch Island to the north and St . John to the south—I could not
erase these thoughts from my mind . Mary handed me a beer and
turned up the volume on a Jimmy Buffett song . Yet, despite the beaut y
that surrounded me and the sense of freedom that sailing usually
brings, I felt angry. I tried to brush it off. I chugged down the beer .
The emotion would not leave . I was angered by those voices from
history and the way I had used them to rationalize my own greed. I
was furious at my parents, and at Tilton—that self-righteous prep
school on the hill—for imposing all that history on me . I popped
open another beer . I could have killed Mac Hall for what he had
done to Bruno .
A wooden boat with a rainbow flag sailed past us, its sails billow ing out on both sides, downwinding through the channel . A half
dozen young men and women shouted and waved at us, hippies i n
brightly colored sarongs, one couple stark naked on the foredeck . It
was obvious from the boat itself and the look about them that the y
lived aboard, a communal society, modern pirates, free, uninhibited .
I tried to wave back but my hand would not obey . I felt overcome
with jealousy.
Mary stood on the deck, watching them as they faded into th e
distance at our stern . "How would you like that life?" she asked.
And then I understood. It was not about my parents, Tilton, or
Mac Hall . It was my life I hated. Mine . The person responsible, the
one I loathed, was me .
Mary shouted something. She was pointing over the starboar d
bow She stepped closer to me . "Leinster Bay," she said . "Tonight's
anchorage."
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Part III : 1975—1981

There it was, nestled into St . John Island, a cove where pirate ship s
had lain in wait for the gold fleet when it passed through this very
body of water . I sailed in closer, then handed the tiller over to Mar y
and headed up to the foredeck . As she navigated the boat aroun d
Watermelon Cay and into the beautiful bay, I lowered and bagge d
the jib and hauled the anchor out of its locker . She deftly droppe d
the mainsail . I nudged the anchor over the side ; the chain rattle d
down into the crystal clear water and the boat drifted to a stop .
After we settled in, Mary took a swim and a nap . I left her a note
and rowed the dinghy ashore, beaching it just below the ruins of an
old sugar plantation . I sat there next to the water for a long time, trying not to think, concentrating on emptying myself of all emotion .
But it did not work .
Late in the afternoon, I struggled up the steep hill and found my self standing on the crumbling walls of this ancient plantation, look ing down at our anchored sloop . I watched the sun sink toward th e
Caribbean. It all seemed very idyllic, yet I knew that the plantatio n
surrounding me had been the scene of untold misery ; hundreds of
African slaves had died here — forced at gunpoint to build the statel y
mansion, to plant and harvest the cane, and to operate the equipment that turned raw sugar into the basic ingredient of rum . The
tranquility of the place masked its history of brutality, even as i t
masked the rage that surged within me .
The sun disappeared behind a mountain-ridged island . A vast
magenta arch spread across the sky. The sea began to darken, and I
came face-to-face with the shocking fact that I too had been a slaver,
that my job at MAIN had not been just about using debt to dra w
poor countries into the global empire . My inflated forecasts were no t
merely vehicles for assuring that when my country needed oil w e
could call in our pound of flesh, and my position as a partner was no t
simply about enhancing the firm's profitability . My job was als o
about people and their families, people akin to the ones who had die d
to construct the wall I sat on, people I had exploited.
For ten years, I had been the heir of those slavers who ha d
marched into African jungles and hauled men and women off to
waiting ships . Mine had been a more modern approach, subtler — I
never had to see the dying bodies, smell the rotting flesh, or hear th e
screams of agony. But what I had done was every bit as sinister, an d
because I could remove myself from it, because I could cut myself of
f

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from the personal aspects, the bodies, the flesh, and the screams ,
perhaps in the final analysis I was the greater sinner .
I glanced again at the sloop where it rode at anchor, straining
against the outflowing tide . Mary was lounging on the deck, probably drinking a margarita and waiting to hand one to me . In that moment, seeing her there in that last light of the day, so relaxed, s o
trusting, I was struck by what I was doing to her and to all the other s
who worked for me, the ways I was turning them into EHMs . I was
doing to them what Claudine had done to me, but without Claudine' s
honesty. I was seducing them through raises and promotions to be
slavers, and yet they like me, were also being shackled to the system .
They too were enslaved .
I turned away from the sea and the bay and the magenta sky. I
closed my eyes to the walls that had been built by slaves torn fro m
their African homes . I tried to shut it all out. When I opened my
eyes, I was staring at a large gnarled stick, as thick as a baseball ba t
and twice as long. I leaped up, grabbed the stick, and began slam ming it against the stone walls . I beat on those walls until I collapsed
from exhaustion. I lay in the grass after that, watching the cloud s
drift over me.
Eventually I made my way back down to the dinghy . I stood there
on the beach, looking out at our sailboat anchored in the azure waters, and I knew what I had to do. I knew that if I ever went back t o
my former life, to MAIN and all it represented, I would be lost for ever. The raises, the pensions, the insurance and perks, the equity . . .
The longer I stayed, the more difficult it was to get out . I had become
a slave . I could continue to beat myself up as I had beat on thos e
stone walls, or I could escape .
Two days later I returned to Boston . On April 1, 1980, I walked
into Paul Priddy's office and resigned .

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CHAPTER 2 6

Ecuador's Presidential Deat h

Leaving MAIN was no easy matter ; Paul Priddy refused to believ e
inc . 'April Fool's," he winked .
I assured him that I was serious . Recalling Paula's advice that I
should do nothing to antagonize anyone or to give cause for suspicio n
that I might expose my EHM work, I emphasized that I appreciate d
everything MAIN had done for me but that I needed to move on . I
had always wanted to write about the people that MAIN had introduced me to around the world, but nothing political . I said I wante d
to freelance for National Geographic and other magazines, and t o
continue to travel . I declared my loyalty to MAIN and swore that I
would sing its praises at every opportunity . Finally, Paul gave in .
After that, everyone else tried to talk me out of resigning . I wa s
reminded frequently about how good I had it, and I was even accuse d
of insanity. I came to understand that no one wanted to accept th e
fact that 1 was leaving voluntarily, at least in part, because it force d
them to look at themselves . If I were not crazy for leaving, then the y
might have to consider their own sanity in staying . It was easier t o
see me as a person who had departed from his senses .
Particularly disturbing were the reactions of my staff . In thei r
eyes, I was deserting them, and there was no strong heir apparent .
However, I had made up my mind . After all those years of vacillation, I now was determined to make a clean sweep.
Unfortunately, it did not quite work out that way . True, I n o
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the cash-out of my stock was not sufficient for retirement . Had I
stayed at MAIN another few years, I might have become the fortyyear-old millionaire I had once envisioned; however, at thirty-five I
had a long way to go to accomplish that objective . It was a cold an d
dreary April in Boston .
Then one day Paul Priddy called and pleaded with me to come t o
his office . "One of our clients is threatening to drop us," he said . "They
hired us because they wanted you to represent them on the exper t
witness stand ."
I thought a lot about it . By the time I sat across the desk fro m
Paul, I had made my decision . I named my price — a retainer that wa s
more than three times what my MAIN salary had been . To my surprise, he agreed, and that started me on a new career .
For the next several years, I was employed as a highly paid exper t
witness — primarily for U.S. electric utility companies seeking to hav e
new power plants approved for construction by public utilitie s
commissions . One of my clients was the Public Service Company o f
New Hampshire . My job was to justify, under oath, the economi c
feasibility of the highly controversial Seabrook nuclear power plant .
Although I was no longer directly involved with Latin America, I
continued to follow events there . As an expert witness, I had lots o f
time between appearances on the stand . I kept in touch with Paul a
and renewed old friendships from my Peace Corps days in Ecuado r
— a country that had suddenly jumped to center stage in the worl d
of international oil politics.
Jaime Roldos was moving forward . He took his campaign promises seriously and he was launching an all-out attack on the oil companies. He seemed to see clearly the things that many others on bot h
sides of the Panama Canal either missed or chose to ignore . He understood the underlying currents that threatened to turn the worl d
into a global empire and to relegate the citizens of his country to a ver y
minor role, bordering on servitude . As I read the newspaper articles
about him, I was impressed not only by his commitment, but also b y
his ability to perceive the deeper issues . And the deeper issues pointed
to the fact that we were entering a new epoch of world politics .
In November 1980, Carter lost the U .S . presidential election t o
Ronald Reagan . The Panama Canal Treaty he had negotiated with
Torrijos, and the situation in Iran, especially the hostages held at th e
U.S . Embassy and the failed rescue attempt, were major factors .
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However, something subtler was also happening. A president whos e
greatest goal was world peace and who was dedicated to reducing
U.S . dependence on oil was replaced by a man who believed that th e
United States' rightful place was at the top of a world pyTamid hel d
up by military muscle, and that controlling oil fields wherever the y
existed was part of our Manifest Destiny. A president who installe d
solar panels on White House roofs was replaced by one who, immediately upon occupying the Oval Office, had them removed .
Carter may have been an ineffective politician, but he had a visio n
for America that was consistent with the one defined in our Declaration of Independence . In retrospect, he now seems naively archaic ,
a throwback to the ideals that molded this nation and drew so man y
of our grandparents to her shores . When we compare him to his immediate predecessors and successors, he is an anomaly . His world view was inconsistent with that of the EHMs .
Reagan, on the other hand, was most definitely a global empir e
builder, a servant of the corporatocracy. At the time of his election ,
I found it fitting that he was a Hollywood actor, a man who had fol lowed orders passed down from moguls, who knew how to take di rection . That would be his signature . He would cater to the men wh o
shuttled back and forth from corporate CEO offices to bank board s
and into the halls of government . He would serve the men who appeared to serve him but who in fact ran the government— men like
Vice President George H . W. Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz ,
Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Richard Cheney; Richar d
Helms, and Robert McNamara . He would advocate what those me n
wanted : an America that controlled the world and all its resources ,
a world that answered to the commands of that America, a U .S. military that would enforce the rules as they were written by America,
and an international trade and banking system that supporte d
America as CEO of the global empire .
As I looked into the future, it seemed we were entering a perio d
that would be very good to the EHMs . It was another twist of fat e
that I had chosen this moment in history to drop out . The more I reflected on it, however, the better I felt about it . I knew that my timing
was right .
As for what this meant in the long term, I had no crystal ball ;
however, I knew from history that empires do not endure and that th e
pendulum always swings in both directions . From my perspective ,

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men like Roldos offered hope . I was certain that Ecuador's new pres ident understood many of the subtleties of the current situation . I
knew that he had been a Torrijos admirer and had applauded Carte r
for his courageous stand on the Panama Canal issue . I felt certai n
that Roldos would not falter. I could only hope that his fortitud e
would light a candle for the leaders of other countries, who neede d
the type of inspiration he and Torrijos could provide .
Early in 1981, the Roldos administration formally presented hi s
new hydrocarbons law to the Ecuadorian Congress . If implemented,
it would reform the country's relationship to oil companies . By man y
standards, it was considered revolutionary and even radical . It certainly aimed to change the way business was conducted . Its influence would stretch far beyond Ecuador, into much of Latin Americ a
and throughout the world . l
The oil companies reacted predictably—they pulled out all th e
stops. Their public relations people went to work to vilify Jaim e
Roldos, and their lobbyists swept into Quito and Washington, briefcases full of threats and payoffs . They tried to paint the first democratically elected president of Ecuador in modern times as anothe r
Castro. But Roldos would not cave in to intimidation . He responded
by denouncing the conspiracy between politics and oil — and religion .
He openly accused the Summer Institute of Linguistics of colludin g
with the oil companies and then, in an extremely bold—perhap s
reckless — move, he ordered SIL out of the country . 2
Only weeks after sending his legislative package to Congress an d
a couple of days after expelling the SIL missionaries, Roldos warne d
all foreign interests, including but not limited to oil companies, tha t
unless they implemented plans that would help Ecuador's people ,
they would be forced to leave his country. He delivered a major
speech at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium in Quito and then heade d
off to a small community in southern Ecuador.
He died there in a fiery airplane crash, on May 24, 1981 . 3
The world was shocked . Latin Americans were outraged . Newspapers throughout the hemisphere blazed, "CIA Assassination!" I n
addition to the fact that Washington and the oil companies hate d
him, many circumstances appeared to support these allegations, an d
such suspicions were heightened as more facts became known .
Nothing was ever proven, but eyewitnesses claimed that Roldos ,
forewarned about an attempt on his life, had taken precautions,
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Part Iv : 1981-Present

including traveling in two airplanes . At the last moment, it was said,
one of his security officers had convinced him to board the decoy air plane . It had blown up .
Despite world reaction, the news hardly made the U.S. press .
Osvaldo Hurtado took over as Ecuador's president . He reinstated
the Summer Institute of Linguistics and their oil company sponsors .
By the end of the year, he had launched an ambitious program to in crease oil drilling by Texaco and other foreign companies in the Gulf
of Guayaquil and the Amazon basin . 4
Omar Torrijos, in eulogizing Roldos, referred to him as "brother ."
He also confessed to having nightmares about his own assassination ; he saw himself dropping from the sky in a gigantic fireball . It
was prophetic .

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CHAPTER 2 7

Panama : Another Presidential Deat h

I was stunned by Roldos's death, but perhaps I should not have been .
I was anything but naive . I knew about Arbenz, Mossadegh, Allend e
— and about many other people whose names never made the news papers or history books but whose lives were destroyed and sometime s
cut short because they stood up to the corporatocracy . Nevertheless ,
I was shocked . It was just so very blatant .
I had concluded, after our phenomenal success in Saudi Arabia ,
that such wantonly overt actions were things of the past . I though t
the jackals had been relegated to zoos . Now I saw that I was wrong .
I had no doubt that Roldos's death had not been an accident . It had
all the markings of a CIA-orchestrated assassination . I understoo d
that it had been executed so blatantly in order to send a message .
The new Reagan administration, complete with its fast-draw Holly wood cowboy image, was the ideal vehicle for delivering such a mes sage . The jackals were back, and they wanted Omar Torrijos an d
everyone else who might consider joining an anti-corporatocrac y
crusade to know it .
But Torrijos was not buckling . Like Roldos, he refused to be intimidated . He, too, expelled the Summer Institute of Linguistics, an d
he adamantly refused to give in to the Reagan administration's demands to renegotiate the Canal Treaty.
Two months after Roldos's death, Omar Torrijos's nightmar e
came true ; he died in a plane crash . It was July 31, 1981 .

Latin America and the world reeled . Torrijos was known acros s
the globe ; he was respected as the man who had forced the Unite d
States to relinquish the Panama Canal to its rightful owners, an d
who continued to stand up to Ronald Reagan . He was a champion o f
human rights, the head of state who had opened his arms to refugee s
across the political spectrum, including the shah of Iran, a charismati c
voice for social justice who, many believed, would be nominated fo r
the Nobel Peace Prize . Now he was dead . "CIA Assassination!" once
again headlined articles and editorials .
Graham Greene began his book Getting to Know the General, the
one that grew out of the trip when I met him at the Hotel Panama ,
with the following paragraph :
In August 1981, my bag was packed for my fifth visit to
Panama when the news came to me over the telephone o f
the death of General Omar Torrijos Herrera, my frien d
and host. The small plane in which he was flying to a
house which he owned at Coclesito in the mountains o f
Panama had crashed, and there were no survivors . A fe w
days later the voice of his security guard, Sergeant Chuchu ,
alias Jose de Jesus Martinez, ex-professor of Marxist philosophy at Panama University, professor of mathematic s
and a poet, told me, "There was a bomb in that plane . I
know there was a bomb in the plane, but I can't tell yo u
why over the telephone ."1
People everywhere mourned the death of this man who ha d
earned a reputation as defender of the poor and defenseless, an d
they clamored for Washington to open investigations into CIA activities . However, this was not about to happen . There were me n
who hated Torrijos, and the list included people with immense power .
Before his death, he was openly loathed by President Reagan, Vic e
President Bush, Secretary of Defense Weinberger, and the Join t
Chiefs of Staff, as well as by the CEOs of many powerful corporations .
The military chiefs were especially incensed by provisions in th e
Torrijos-Carter Treaty that forced them to close the School of th e
Americas and the U.S . Southern Command's tropical warfare center.
The chiefs thus had a serious problem . Either they had to figure ou t

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Panama : Another Presidential Death 159

some way to get around the new treaty ; or they needed to find another country that would be willing to harbor these facilities — a n
unlikely prospect in the closing decades of the twentieth century . O f
course, there was also another option : dispose of Torrijos and renegotiate the treaty with his successor.
Among Torrijos's corporate enemies were the huge multinationals .
Most had close ties to U.S . politicians and were involved in exploiting Latin American labor forces and natural resources — oil, lumber ,
tin, copper, bauxite, and agricultural lands . They included manufacturing firms, communications companies, shipping and transportation conglomerates, and engineering and other technologicall y
oriented corporations .
The Bechtel Group, Inc . was a prime example of the cozy relation ship between private companies and the U .S . government. I knew
Bechtel well ; we at MAIN often worked closely with the company,
and its chief architect became a close personal friend . Bechtel was th e
United States' most influential engineering and construction company .
Its president and senior officers included George Shultz and Caspar
Weinberger, who despised Torrijos because he brazenly courted a
Japanese plan to replace Panama's existing canal with a new, mor e
efficient one .2 Such a move not only would transfer ownership fro m
the United States to Panama but also would exclude Bechtel from
participating in the most exciting and potentially lucrative engineering project of the century.
Torrijos stood up to these men, and he did so with grace, charm ,
and a wonderful sense of humor . Now he was dead, and he had bee n
replaced by a protege, Manuel Noriega, a man who lacked Torrijos' s
wit, charisma, and intelligence, and a man who many suspected had
no chance against the Reagans, Bushes, and Bechtels of the world .
I was personally devastated by the tragedy . I spent many hours
reflecting on my conversations with Torrijos . Late one night, I sat for
a long time staring at his photo in a magazine and recalling my firs t
night in Panama, riding in a cab through the rain, stopping befor e
his gigantic billboard picture . "Omar's ideal is freedom ; the missile
is not invented that can kill an ideal!" 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 collaborat e
with Carter to return the Panama Canal to the people who rightfull y
deserved to own it, or that this victory, along with his attempts t o

reconcile differences between Latin American Socialists and the dic tators, would so infuriate the Reagan-Bush administration that i t
would seek to assassinate him .3 I could not have known that on an other dark night he would be killed during a routine flight in hi s
Twin Otter, or that most of the world outside the United States woul d
have no doubt that Torrijos's death at the age of fifty-two was jus t
one more in a series of CIA assassinations .
Had Torrijos lived, he undoubtedly would have sought to quel l
the growing violence that has plagued so many Central and Sout h
American nations . Based on his record, we can assume that he would
have tried to work out an arrangement to mitigate international oi l
company destruction of the Amazon regions of Ecuador, Colombia ,
and Peru . One result of such action would be the alleviation of th e
terrible conflicts that Washington refers to as terrorist and dru g
wars, but which Torrijos would have seen as actions taken by desperate people to protect their families and homes . Most importantly,
I feel certain that he would have served as a role model for a ne w
generation of leaders in the Americas, Africa, and Asia — somethin g
the CIA, the NSA, and the EHMs could not allow .

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Panama : Another Presidential Death 161

11 CHAPTER 2 8

My Energy Company, Enron ,
and George W. Bus h

At the time of Torrijos's death, I had not seen Paula for several
months . I was dating other women, including Winifred Grant, a
young environmental planner I had met at MAIN, and whose father
happened to be chief architect at Bechtel . Paula was dating a Colom bian journalist. We remained friends but agreed to sever our romantic ties .
I struggled with my job as an expert witness, particularly in justi fying the Seabrook nuclear power plant . It often seemed as though I
had sold out again, slipping back into an old role simply for the sake
of money. Winifred was an immense help to me during this period .
She was an avowed environmentalist, yet she understood the practical necessities of providing ever-increasing amounts of electricity.
She had grown up in the Berkeley area of San Francisco's East Ba y
and had graduated from UC Berkeley . She was a freethinker whos e
views on life contrasted with those of my puritanical parents an d
of Ann.
Our relationship developed . Winifred took a leave of absenc e
from MAIN, and together we sailed my boat down the Atlantic coast
toward Florida. We took our time, frequently leaving the boat in different ports so I could fly off to provide expert witness testimony.
Eventually, we sailed into West Palm Beach, Florida, and rented an
apartment . We married, and our daughter, Jessica, was born on May
17, 1982 . I was thirty-six, considerably older than all the other men
who hung out in Lamaze class .

Part of my job on the Seabrook case was to convince the Ne w
Hampshire Public Service Commission that nuclear power was th e
best and most economical choice for generating electricity in the state .
Unfortunately, the longer I studied the issue, the more I began t o
doubt the validity of my own arguments . The literature was constantly
changing at that time, reflecting a growth in research, and the evidence increasingly indicated that many alternative forms of energ y
were technically superior and more economical than nuclear power .
The balance also was beginning to shift away from the old theor y
that nuclear power was safe . Serious questions were being raised
about the integrity of backup systems, the training of operators, the
human tendency to make mistakes, equipment fatigue, and the in adequacy of nuclear waste disposal . I personally became uncomfortable with the position I was expected to take —was paid to take
— under oath in what amounted to a court of law . At the same time ,
I was becoming convinced that some of the emerging technologie s
offered electricity-generating methods that could actually help th e
environment . This was particularly true in the area of generatin g
electricity from substances previously considered waste products .
One day I informed my bosses at the New Hampshire utility com pany that I could no longer testify on their behalf . I gave up this very
lucrative career and decided to create a company that would mov e
some of the new technologies off the drawing boards and put th e
theories into practice. Winifred supported me one hundred percent ,
despite the uncertainties of the venture and the fact that, for the firs t
time in her life, she was now starting a family .
Several months after Jessica's birth in 1982, I founded Independent Power Systems (IPS), a company whose mission included devel oping environmentally beneficial power plants and establishin g
models to inspire others to do likewise . It was a high-risk business ,
and most of our competitors eventually failed . However, "coincidences" came to our rescue . In fact, I was certain that many time s
someone stepped in to help, that I was being rewarded for my pas t
service and for my commitment to silence .
Bruno Zambotti had accepted a high-level position at the Inter American Development Bank. He agreed to serve on the IPS boar d
and to help finance the fledgling company . We received backing fro m
Bankers Trust ; ESI Energy ; Prudential Insurance Company ; Chadbourne and Parke (a major Wall Street law firm, in which forme r

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My Energy Company, Enron, and George W . Bush 163

U.S . senator, presidential candidate, and secretary of state E d
Muskie, was a partner) ; and Riley Stoker Corporation (an engineering firm, owned by Ashland Oil Company, which designed and buil t
highly sophisticated and innovative power plant boilers) . We eve n
had backing from the U .S. Congress, which singled out IPS for exemption from a specific tax, and in the process gave us a distinct ad vantage over our competitors .
In 1986, IPS and Bechtel simultaneously — but independently o f
each other — began construction of power plants that used highly innovative, state-of-the-art technologies for burning waste coal with out producing acid rain . By the end of the decade these two plant s
had revolutionized the utility industry, directly contributing to ne w
national antipollution laws by proving once and for all that many so called waste products actually can be converted into electricity, an d
that coal can be burned without creating acid rain, thereby dispellin g
long-standing utility company claims to the contrary . Our plant als o
established that such unproven, state-of-the-art technologies could
be financed by a small independent company, through Wall Stree t
and other conventional means .' As an added benefit, the IPS power
plant sent vented heat to a three and one-half-acre hydroponi c
greenhouse, rather than into cooling ponds or cooling towers .
My role as IPS president gave me an inside track on the energ y
industry. I dealt with some of the most influential people in the busi ness : lawyers, lobbyists, investment bankers, and high-level executives at the major firms . I also had the advantage of a father-in-law
who had spent over thirty years at Bechtel, had risen to the positio n
of chief architect, and now was in charge of building a city in Saud i
Arabia — a direct result of the work I had done in the early 1970s ,
during the Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair . Winifred grew
up near Bechtel's San Francisco world headquarters and was also a
member of the corporate family ; her first job after graduating fro m
UC Berkeley was at Bechtel.
The energy industry was undergoing major restructuring . The big
engineering firms were jockeying to take over — or at least to compete
with —the utility companies that previously had enjoyed the privileges of local monopolies . Deregulation was the watchword of the day,
and rules changed overnight . Opportunities abounded for ambitiou s
people to take advantage of a situation that baled the courts and Con gress . Industry pundits dubbed it the "Wild West of Energy" era .

One casualty of this process was MAIN . As Bruno predicted, Ma c
Hall had lost touch with reality and no one dared tell him so . Paul
Priddy never asserted control, and MAIN's management not onl y
failed to take advantage of the changes sweeping the industry bu t
also made a series of fatal mistakes . Only a few years after Bruno de livered record profits, MAIN dropped its EHM role and was in dir e
financial straits . The partners sold MAIN to one of the large engineering and construction firms that had played its cards right .
While I had received almost thirty dollars a share for my stock i n
1980, the remaining partners settled for less than half that amount ,
approximately four years later . Thus did one hundred years of prou d
service end in humiliation . I was sad to see the company fold, but I
felt vindicated that I had gotten out when I did. The MAIN nam e
continued under the new ownership for a while, but then it wa s
dropped . The logo that had once carried such weight in countrie s
around the globe fell into oblivion .
MAIN was one example of a company that did not cope well i n
the changing atmosphere of the energy industry. At the opposite en d
of the spectrum was a company we insiders found fascinating : Enron.
One of the fastest-growing organizations in the business, it seeme d
to come out of nowhere and immediately began putting togethe r
mammoth deals . Most business meetings open with a few moment s
of idle chatter while the participants settle into their seats, pou r
themselves cups of coffee, and arrange their papers ; in those day s
the idle chatter often centered on Enron . No one outside the company
could fathom how Enron was able to accomplish such miracles .
Those on the inside simply smiled at the rest of us, and kept quiet .
Occasionally, when pressed, they talked about new approaches t o
management, about "creative financing," and about their commitment to hiring executives who knew their way through the corridor s
of power in capitals across the globe .
To me, this all sounded like a new version of old EHM techniques . The global empire was marching forward at a rapid pace .
For those of us interested in oil and the international scene, ther e
was another frequently discussed topic : the vice president's son ,
George W. Bush . His first energy company, Arbusto (Spanish fo r
bush) was a failure that ultimately was rescued through a 198 4
merger with Spectrum 7 . Then Spectrum 7 found itself poised at th e
brink of bankruptcy, and was purchased, in 1986, by Harken Energ y

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My Energy Company, Enron, and George W Bush 165

Corporation ; G. W. Bush was retained as a board member and consultant with an annual salary of $120,000 . 2
We all assumed that having a father who was the U .S . vice presi dent factored into this hiring decision, since the younger Bush' s
record of accomplishment as an oil executive certainly did not warrant it . It also seemed no coincidence that Harken took this opportunity to branch out into the international field for the first time i n
its corporate history, and to begin actively searching for oil investments in the Middle East . Vanity Fair magazine reported, "Once
Bush took his seat on the board, wonderful things started to happen
to Harken — new investments, unexpected sources of financing ,
serendipitous drilling rights ."3
In 1989, Amoco was negotiating with the government of Bahrain
for offshore drilling rights . Then Vice President Bush was electe d
president . Shortly thereafter, Michael Ameen — a State Departmen t
consultant assigned to brief the newly confirmed U .S. ambassador to
Bahrain, Charles Hostler — arranged for meetings between th e
Bahraini government and Harken Energy . Suddenly, Amoco was
replaced by Harken . Although Harken had not previously drilled outside the southeastern United States, and never offshore, it won exclu sive drilling rights in Bahrain, something previously unheard of in th e
Arab world . Within a few weeks, the price of Harken Energy stoc k
increased by over twenty percent, from $4 .50 to $5 .50 per share. 4
Even seasoned energy people were shocked by what had happened in Bahrain . "I hope G . W. isn't up to something his father wil l
pay for," said a lawyer friend of mine who specialized in the energ y
industry and also was a major supporter of the Republican Party. We
were enjoying cocktails at a bar around the corner from Wall
Street, high atop the World Trade Center . He expressed dismay. "I
wonder if it's really worth it," he continued, shaking his head sadly.
"Is the son's career worth risking the presidency? "
I was less surprised than my peers, but I suppose I had a uniqu e
perspective . I had worked for the governments of Kuwait, Saud i
Arabia, Egypt, and Iran, I was familiar with Middle Eastern politics ,
and I knew that Bush, just like the Enron executives, was part of th e
network I and my EHM colleagues had created ; they were the feuda l
lords and plantation masters .5

CHAPTER 2 9

I Take a Bribe

During this time in my life, I came to realize that we truly had entered a new era in world economics . Events set in motion whil e
Robert McNamara—the man who had served as one of my model s
— reigned as secretary of defense and president of the World Ban k
had escalated beyond my gravest fears . McNamara's Keynesian inspired approach to economics, and his advocacy of aggressiv e
leadership, had become pervasive . The EHM concept had expande d
to include all manner of executives in a wide variety of businesses .
They may not have been recruited or profiled by the NSA, but they
were performing similar functions .
The only difference now was that the corporate executive EHM s
did not necessarily involve themselves with the use of funds from th e
international banking community. While the old branch, my branch ,
continued to thrive, the new version took on aspects that were eve n
more sinister . During the 1980s, young men and women rose up
through the ranks of middle management believing that any mean s
justified the end : an enhanced bottom line . Global empire was simply a pathway to increased profits .
The new trends were typified by the energy industry, where I
worked. The Public Utility Regulatory Policy Act (PURPA) wa s
passed by Congress in 1978, went through a series of legal challenges ,
and finally became law in 1982 . Congress originally envisioned th e
law as a way to encourage small, independent companies like min e
to develop alternative fuels and other innovative approaches t o

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167

producing electricity. Under this law, the major utility companies
were required to purchase energy generated by the smaller companies, at fair and reasonable prices . This policy was a result of Carte r's
desire to reduce U .S . dependence on oil — all oil, not just importe d
oil. The intent of the law was clearly to encourage both alternativ e
energy sources and the development of independent companies that
reflected America's entrepreneurial spirit . However, the reality turne d
out to be something very different .
During the 1980s and into the 1990s, the emphasis switche d
from entrepreneurship to deregulation . I watched as most of the othe r
small independents were swallowed up by the large engineering an d
construction firms, and by the public utility companies themselves .
The latter found legal loopholes that allowed them to create holdin g
companies, which could own both the regulated utility companie s
and the unregulated independent energy-producing corporations .
Many of them launched aggressive programs to drive the independents into bankruptcy and then purchase them . Others simply starte d
from scratch and developed their own equivalent of the independents .
The idea of reducing our oil dependence fell by the wayside. Reagan was deeply indebted to the oil companies ; Bush had made hi s
own fortune as an oilman . And most of the key players and cabine t
members in these two administrations were either part of the oil industry or were part of the engineering and construction companie s
so closely tied to it . Moreover, in the final analysis, oil and construc tion were not partisan ; many Democrats had profited from and were
beholden to them also .
IPS continued to maintain a vision of e nv ironmentally beneficial
energy. We were committed to the original PURPA goals, and w e
seemed to lead a charmed life . We were one of the few independent s
that not only survived but also thrived . I have no doubt that the reason for this was because of my past services to the corporatocracy .
What was going on in the energy field was symbolic of a trend
that was affecting the whole world . Concerns about social welfare,
the environment, and other quality-of-life issues took a backseat t o
greed . In the process, an overwhelming emphasis was placed on pro moting private businesses . At first, this was justified on theoretica l
bases, including the idea that capitalism was superior to and woul d
deter communism . Eventually, however, such justification was un needed . It was simply accepted a priori that there was something

inherently better about projects owned by wealthy investors rathe r
than by governments . International organizations such as the Worl d
Bank bought into this notion, advocating deregulation and privatization of water and sewer systems, communications networks, utilit y
grids, and other facilities that up until then had been managed by
governments .
As a result, it was easy to expand the EHM concept into the large r
community, to send executives from a broad spectrum of businesse s
on missions previously reserved for the few of us recruited into an
exclusive club . These executives fanned out across the planet. They
sought the cheapest labor pools, the most accessible resources, an d
the largest markets . They were ruthless in their approach . Like
the EHMs who had gone before them—like me, in Indonesia, i n
Panama, and in Colombia—they found ways to rationalize thei r
misdeeds . And like us, they ensnared communities and countries .
They promised affluence, a way for countries to use the private sec tor to dig themselves out of debt . They built schools and highways ,
donated telephones, televisions, and medical services . In the end,
however, if they found cheaper workers or more accessible resource s
elsewhere, they left . When they abandoned a community whos e
hopes they had raised, the consequences were often devastating, bu t
they apparently did this without a moment's hesitation or a nod t o
their own consciences .
I had to wonder, though, what all this was doing to their psyches ,
whether they had their moments of doubt, as I had had mine . Di d
they ever stand next to a befouled canal and watch a young woman
try to bathe while an old man defecated upriver? Were there n o
Howard Parkers left to ask the tough questions?
Although I enjoyed my IPS successes and my life as a family man ,
I could not fight my moments of severe depression . I was now the father of a young girl, and I feared for the future she would inherit . I
was weighed down with guilt for the part I had played .
I also could look back and see a very disturbing historical trend .
The modern international financial system was created near the end
of World War II, at a meeting of leaders from many countries, hel d
in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire — my home state . The World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund were formed in order t o
reconstruct a devastated Europe, and they achieved remarkable suc cess . The system expanded rapidly, and it was soon sanctioned b y

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I Take a Bribe

169

every major U.S. ally and hailed as a panacea for oppression. It would,
we were assured, save us all from the evil clutches of communism .
But I could not help wondering where all this would lead us . By
the late 1980s, with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the worl d
Communist movement, it became apparent that deterring communism was not the goal ; it was equally obvious that the global empire, which was rooted in capitalism, would have free reign . As Jim
Garrison, president of the State of the World forum, observes :
Taken cumulatively, the integration of the world as a whole ,
particularly in terms of economic globalization and th e
mythic qualities of "free market" capitalism, represents a
veritable "empire" in its own right . . . No nation on eart h
has been able to resist the compelling magnetism of globalization . Few have been able to escape the "structura l
adjustments" and "conditionalities" of the World Bank ,
the International Monetary Fund, or the arbitrations of
the World Trade Organization, those international financial institutions that, however inadequate, still determine
what economic globalization means, what the rules are ,
and who is rewarded for submission and punished fo r
infractions . Such is the power of globalization that withi n
our lifetime we are likely to see the integration, even i f
unevenly, of all national economies in the world into a
single global, free market system .'
As I mulled over these issues, I decided it was time to write a tell all book, Conscience of an Economic Hit Man, but I made no attempt
to keep the work quiet . Even today, I am not the sort of writer wh o
writes in isolation . I find it necessary to discuss the work I am doing .
I receive inspiration from other people, and I call upon them to hel p
me remember and put into perspective events of the past . I like to
read sections of the materials I am working on to friends, so I ma y
hear their reactions . I understand that this may be risky, yet I know
no other way for me to write . Thus, it was no secret that I was writing a book about my time with MAIN .
One afternoon in 1987, another former MAIN partner contacte d
me and offered me an extremely lucrative consulting contract wit h
Stone & Webster Engineering Corporation (SWEC) . At that time,

SWEC was one of the world 's premier engineering and constructio n
companies, and it was trying to forge a place for itself in the changing environment of the energy industry . My contact explained that
I would report to their new subsidiary, an independent energy development branch modeled after companies like my own IPS . I
was relieved to learn that I would not be asked to get involved in an y
international or EHM-type projects .
In fact, he told me, I would not be expected to do very much at all.
I was one of the few people who had founded and managed a success ful independent energy company, and I had an excellent reputatio n
in the industry. SWEC's primary interest was to use my resume an d
to include me on its list of advisers, which was legal and was consisten t
with standard industry practices . The offer was especially attractive
to me because, due to a number of circumstances, I was considering
selling IPS. The idea of joining the SWEC stable and receiving a
spectacular retainer was welcome .
The day he hired me, the CEO of SWEC took me out to a privat e
lunch. We chatted informally for some time, and as we did so I realized that a side of me was eager to get back into the consulting business, to leave behind the responsibilities of running a complicate d
energy company, of being responsible for over a hundred people
when we were constructing a facility, and of dealing with all the liabilities associated with building and operating power plants . I ha d
already envisioned how I would spend the substantial retainer I
knew he was about to offer me . I had decided to use it, among othe r
things, to create a nonprofit organization .
Over dessert, my host brought up the subject of the one book I
had already published, The Stress-Free Habit. He told me he had hear d
wonderful things about it. Then he looked me squarely in the eye .
"Do you intend to write any more books?" he asked .
My stomach tightened . Suddenly, I understood what this was all
about. I did not hesitate . "No," I said . "I don't intend to try to publish
any more books at this time ."
"I'm glad to hear that," he said . "We value our privacy at this com pany. Just like at MAIN."
"I understand that ."
He sat back and, smiling, seemed to relax . "Of course, books like
your last one, about dealing with stress and such things, are perfectl y
acceptable . Sometimes they can even further a man's career. As a

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I Take a Bribe 171

consultant to SWEC, you are perfectly free to publish that sort o f
thing ." He looked at me as though expecting a response .
"That 's good to know."
"Yes, perfectly acceptable . However, it goes without saying tha t
you'll never mention the name of this company in your books, an d
that you will not write about anything that touches on the nature o f
our business here or the work you did at MAIN. You will not mention
political subjects or any dealings with international banks and devel opment projects ." He peered at me . "Simply a matter of confidentiality "
"It goes without saying," I assured him . For an instant, my heart
seemed to stop beating . An old feeling returned, similar to ones I
had experienced around Howard Parker in Indonesia, while drivin g
through Panama City beside Fidel, and while sitting in a Colombia n
coffee shop with Paula . I was selling out—again . This was not a
bribe in the legal sense — it was perfectly aboveboard and legitimat e
for this company to pay to include my name on their roster, to call
upon me for advice or to show up at a meeting from time to time ,
but I understood the real reason I was being hired .
He offered me an annual retainer that was equivalent to an executive's salary.
Later that afternoon I sat in an airport, stunned, waiting for m y
flight back to Florida . I felt like a prostitute . Worse than that, I felt
I had betrayed my daughter, my family, and my country. And yet, I
told myself, I had little choice . I knew that if I had not accepted thi s
bribe, the threats would have followed.

CHAPTER 3 0

The United States Invades Panam a

Torrijos was dead, but Panama continued to hold a special place i n
my heart . Living in South Florida, I had access to many sources o f
information about current events in Central America . Torrijos's
legacy lived on, even if it was filtered through people who were not
graced with his compassionate personality and strength of character.
Attempts to settle differences throughout the hemisphere continue d
after his death, as did Panama's determination to force the Unite d
States to live up to the terms of the Canal Treaty.
Torrijos's successor, Manuel Noriega, at first appeared committe d
to following in his mentor's footsteps . I never met Noriega person ally, but by all accounts, he initially endeavored to further the caus e
of Latin America's poor and oppressed . One of his most importan t
projects was the continued exploration of prospects for building a
new canal, to be financed and constructed by the Japanese . Predictably, he encountered a great deal of resistance from Washingto n
and from private U.S. companies . As Noriega himself writes :

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Part IV : 1981—Present

Secretary of State George Shultz was a former executiv e
of the multinational construction company Bechtel ;
Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger had been a Bechte l
vice president. Bechtel would have liked nothing bette r
than to earn the billions of dollars in revenue that cana l
construction would generate ... The Reagan and Bus h
administrations feared the possibility that Japan might
173

dominate an eventual canal construction project ; not
only was there a misplaced concern about security, ther e
was also the question of commercial rivalry . U.S. construction firms stood to lose billions of dollars.l
But Noriega was no Torrijos . He did not have his former boss's
charisma or integrity. Over time, he developed an unsavory reputation for corruption and drug dealing, and was even suspected of arranging the assassination of a political rival, Hugo Spadafora .
Noriega built his reputation as a colonel heading up the Panamanian Defense Forces' G-2 unit, the military intelligence comman d
that was the national liaison with the CIA . In this capacity, he developed a close relationship with CIA Director William J . Casey. The
CIA used this connection to further its agenda throughout the Carib bean and Central and South America . For example, when the Reagan
administration wanted to give Castro advance warning of the 198 3
U.S . invasion of Grenada, Casey turned to Noriega, asking him t o
serve as messenger. The colonel also helped the CIA infiltrate Colombian and other drug cartels .
By 1984, Noriega had been promoted to general and commande r
in chief of the Panamanian Defense Forces . It is reported that whe n
Casey arrived in Panama City that year and was met at the airport by
the local CIA chief, he asked, "Where's my boy? Where's Noriega? "
When the general visited Washington, the two men met privately a t
Casey's house . Many years later, Noriega would admit that his clos e
bond with Casey made him feel invincible. He believed that the CIA ,
like G-2, was the strongest branch of its country's government . H e
was convinced that Casey would protect him, despite Noriega's stanc e
on the Panama Canal Treaty and U .S. Canal Zone military bases .2
Thus, while Torrijos had been an international icon for justic e
and equality, Noriega became a symbol of corruption and decadence .
His notoriety in this regard was assured when, on June 12, 1986, the
New York Times ran a front-page article with the headline, "Panam a
Strongman Said to Trade in Drugs and Illicit Money." The expose ,
wTitten by a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, alleged that the general
was a secret and illegal partner in several Latin American businesses ; that he had spied on and for both the United States and Cuba ,
acting as a sort of double agent ; that G-2, under his orders, had in

fact beheaded Hugo Spadafora ; and that Noriega had personally
directed "the most significant drug running in Panama ." This articl e
was accompanied by an unflattering portrait of the general, and a
follow-up the next day included more details .3
Compounding his other problems, Noriega was also saddle d
with a U.S. president who suffered from an image problem, wha t
journalists referred to as George H . W. Bush's "wimp factor."4 This
took on special significance when Noriega adamantly refused t o
consider a fifteen-year extension for the School of the Americas . The
general's memoirs provide an interesting insight :
As determined and proud as we were to follow throug h
with Torrijos's legacy, the United States didn't want any
of this to happen. They wanted an extension or a renegotiation for the installation [School of the Americas] ,
saying that with their growing war preparations in Central America, they still needed it . But that School of the
Americas was an embarrassment to us . We didn't want a
training ground for death squads and repressive rightwing militaries on our soil.5
Perhaps, therefore, the world should have anticipated it, but in
fact the world was stunned when, on December 20, 1989, the Unite d
States attacked Panama with what was reported to be the largest air borne assault on a city since World War II .6 It was an unprovoke d
attack on a civilian population. Panama and her people posed absolutely no threat to the United States or to any other country . Politicians, governments, and press around the world denounced the
unilateral U.S. action as a clear violation of international law.
Had this military operation been directed against a country that
had committed mass murder or other human rights crimes — Pinochet's Chile, Stroessner's Paraguay, Somosa's Nicaragua, D'Aubuisson's
El Salvador, or Saddam's Iraq, for example—the world might have
understood . But Panama had done nothing of the sort ; it had merely
dared to defy the wishes of a handful of powerful politicians and cor porate executives . It had insisted that the Canal Treaty be honored ,
it had held discussions with social reformers, and it had explore d
the possibility of building a new canal with Japanese financing an d

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The United States Invades Panama 175

construction companies . As a result, it suffered devastating consequences . As Noriega puts it:
I want to make it very clear : the destabilization campaig n
launched by the United States in 1986, ending with th e
1989 Panama invasion, was a result of the U .S . rejection
of any scenario in which future control of the Panam a
Canal might be in the hands of an independent, sovereign Panama— supported by Japan . . . Shultz and Weinberger, meanwhile, masquerading as officials operatin g
in the public interest and basking in popular ignoranc e
about the powerful economic interests they represented ,
were building a propaganda campaign to shoot m e
down.7

favorable to the United States, was to frighten countries like Iraq int o
submission.
David Harris, a contributing editor at the New York Times Magazine and the author of many books, has an interesting observation .
In his 2001 book Shooting the Moon, he states :
Of all the thousands of rulers, potentates, strongmen ,
juntas, and warlords the Americans have dealt with in al l
corners of the world, General Manuel Antonio Noriega i s
the only one the Americans came after like this . Just onc e
in its 225 years of formal national existence has th e
United States ever invaded another country and carrie d
its ruler back to the United States to face trial and imprisonment for violations of American law committed o n
that ruler's own native foreign turf. 8

Washington's stated justification for the attack was based on on e
man . The United States' sole rationale for sending its young me n
and women to risk their lives and consciences killing innocent peo ple, including untold numbers of children, and setting fire to huge
sections of Panama City, was Noriega . He was characterized as evil ,
as the enemy of the people, as a drug-trafficking monster, and a s
such he provided the administration with an excuse for the massiv e
invasion of a country with two million inhabitants — which coincidentally happened to sit on one of the most valuable pieces of rea l
estate in the world.
I found the invasion disturbing to the point of driving me into a
depression that lasted many days . I knew that Noriega had bodyguards, yet I could not help believing that the jackals could hav e
taken him out, as they had Roldos and Torrijos . Most of his body guards, I suspected, had been trained by U .S. military personnel and
probably could have been paid either to look the other way or t o
carry out an assassination themselves .
The more I thought and read about the invasion, therefore, th e
more convinced I became that it signaled a U .S . policy turn back
toward the old methods of empire building, that the Bush administration was determined to go one better than Reagan and to demon strate to the world that it would not hesitate to use massive force i n
order to achieve its ends . It also seemed that the goal in Panama, i n
addition to replacing the Torrijos legacy with a puppet administration

Following the bombardment, the United States suddenly found
itself in a delicate situation . For a while, it seemed as though th e
whole thing would backfire . The Bush administration might hav e
quashed the wimp rumors, but now it faced the problem of legitimacy, of appearing to be a bully caught in an act of terrorism . It was
disclosed that the U.S. Army had prohibited the press, the Red Cross ,
and other outside observers from entering the heavily bombed area s
for three days, while soldiers incinerated and buried the casualties .
The press asked questions about how much evidence of criminal an d
other inappropriate behavior was destroyed, and about how man y
died because they were denied timely medical attention, but suc h
questions were never answered .
We shall never know many of the facts about the invasion, no r
shall we know the true extent of the massacre . Defense Secretary
Richard Cheney claimed a death toll between five hundred and six
hundred, but independent human rights groups estimated it at thre e
thousand to five thousand, with another twenty-five thousand lef
t
homeless .9 Noriega was arrested, flown to Miami, and sentenced t o
forty years' imprisonment ; at that time, he was the only person i n
the United States officially classified as a prisoner of war .' 0
The world was outraged by this breach of international law an d
by the needless destruction of a defenseless people at the hands o f
the most powerful military force on the planet, but few in the Unite d

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The United States Invades Panama 177

States were aware of either the outrage or the crimes Washingto n
had committed. Press coverage was very limited . A number of factors contributed to this, including government policy, White House
phone calls to publishers and television executives, congresspeopl e
who dared not object, lest the wimp factor become their problem ,
and journalists who thought the public needed heroes rather tha n
objectivity.
One exception was Peter Eisner, a Newsday editor and Associate d
Press reporter who covered the Panama invasion and continued t o
analyze it for many years . In The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega : America's Prisoner, published in 1997, Eisner writes :
The death, destruction and injustice wrought in th e
name of fighting Noriega —and the lies surrounding tha t
event —were threats to the basic American principles o f
democracy... Soldiers were ordered to kill in Panama an d
they did so after being told they had to rescue a country
from the clamp of a cruel, depraved dictator ; once the y
acted, the people of their country (the U .S.) marche d
lockstep behind them . 11
After lengthy research, including interviews with Noriega in hi s
Miami prison cell, Eisner states :
On the key points, I do not think the evidence shows
Noriega was guilty of the charges against him . I do not
think his actions as a foreign military leader or a sovereign head of state justify the invasion of Panama or that
he represented a threat to U .S. national security.12
Eisner concludes :
My analysis of the political situation and my reporting i n
Panama before, during, and after the invasion brough t
me to the conclusion that the U .S. invasion of Panam a
was an abominable abuse of power. The invasion principally served the goals of arrogant American politicians
and their Panamanian allies, at the expense of unconscionable bloodshed . 13
178

Part IV : 1981—Present

The Arias family and the pre-Torrijos oligarchy, which had serve d
as U.S . puppets from the time when Panama was torn from Colombia until Torrijos took over, were reinstated . The new Canal Treat y
became a moot point . In essence, Washington once again con trolled the waterway, despite anything the official documents said .
As I reflected on those incidents and all that I had experience d
while working for MAIN, I found myself asking the same question s
over and over : How many decisions —including ones of great historical significance that impact millions of people—are made b y
men and women who are driven by personal motives rather than b y
a desire to do the right thing? How many of our top government officials are driven by personal greed instead of national loyalty? Ho w
many wars are fought because a president does not want his constituents to perceive him as a wimp ?
Despite my promises to SWEC's president, my frustration an d
feelings of impotence about the Panama invasion prodded me int o
resuming work on my book, except now I decided to focus on Torrijos .
I saw his story as a way to expose many of the injustices that infec t
our world, and as a way to rid myself of my guilt . This time, however,
I was determined to keep silent about what I was doing, rather tha n
seeking advice from friends and peers .
As I worked on the book, I was stunned by the magnitude of what
we EHMs had accomplished, in so many places . I tried to concentrate on a few countries that stood out, but the list of places where I
had worked and which were worse off afterward was astounding . I
also was horrified by the extent of my own corruption . I had done a
great deal of soul searching, yet I realized that while I was in th e
midst of it I had been so focused on my daily activities that I had no t
seen the larger perspective . Thus, when I was in Indonesia I frette d
over the things Howard Parker and I discussed, or the issues raise d
by Rasy's young Indonesian friends . While I was working in Panama ,
I was deeply affected by the implications of what I had seen durin g
Fidel's introduction of the slums, the Canal Zone, and the discotheque . In Iran, my conversations with Yamin and Doc troubled m e
immensely. Now, the act of writing this book gave me an overview I
understood how easy it had been not to see the larger picture an d
therefore to miss the true significance of my actions .
How simple this sounds, and how self-evident ; yet, how insidiou s
the nature of these experiences . For me it conjures the image of a

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The United States Invades Panama 179

soldier. In the beginning, he is naive . He may question the moralit y
of killing other people, but mostly he has to deal with his own fear ,
has to focus on survival . After he kills his first enemy, he is overwhelmed with emotions . He may wonder about the family of the
dead man and feel a sense of remorse . But as time goes on and he
participates in more battles, kills more people, he becomes hardened . He is transformed into a professional soldier.
I had become a professional soldier . Admitting that fact opene d
the door for a better understanding of the process by which crime s
are committed and empires are built . I could now comprehend wh y
so many people have committed atrocious acts — how, for example ,
good, family-loving Iranians could work for the shah's brutal secre t
police, how good Germans could follow the orders of Hitler, ho w
good American men and women could bomb Panama City .
As an EHM, I never drew a penny directly from the NSA or any
other government agency ; MAIN paid my salary. I was a private cit izen, employed by a private corporation . Understanding this helpe d
me see more clearly the emerging role of the corporate executive-as EHM . A whole new class of soldier was emerging on the world scene ,
and these people were becoming desensitized to their own actions .
I wrote:
Today, men and women are going into Thailand, th e
Philippines, Botswana, Bolivia, and every other countr y
where they hope to find people desperate for work . They
go to these places with the express purpose of exploitin g
wretched people — people whose children are severel y
malnourished, even starving, people who live in shanty towns and have lost all hope of a better life, people wh o
have ceased to even dream of another day . These me n
and women leave their plush offices in Manhattan or Sa n
Francisco or Chicago, streak across continents an d
oceans in luxurious jetliners, check into first-class hotels ,
and dine at the finest restaurants the country has to offer .
Then they go searching for desperate people .
Today, we still have slave traders . They no longer fin d
it necessary to march into the forests of Africa looking fo r
prime specimens who will bring top dollar on the auction

blocks in Charleston, Cartagena, and Havana. They simply recruit desperate people and build a factory to pro duce the jackets, blue jeans, tennis shoes, automobile
parts, computer components, and thousands of othe r
items they can sell in the markets of their choosing . Or
they may elect not even to own the factory themselves ;
instead, they hire a local businessman to do all their dirt y
work for them .
These men and women think of themselves as upright .
They return to their homes with photographs of quaint
sites and ancient ruins, to show to their children . They
attend seminars where they pat each other on the bac k
and exchange tidbits of advice about dealing with the eccentricities of customs in far-off lands . Their bosses hire
lawyers who assure them that what they are doing is perfectly legal . They have a cadre of psychotherapists and
other human resource experts at their disposal to convince them that they are helping those desperate people .
The old-fashioned slave trader told himself that h e
was dealing with a species that was not entirely human ,
and that he was offering them the opportunity to becom e
Christianized . He also understood that slaves were fundamental to the survival of his own society, that the y
were the foundation of his economy . The modern slave
trader assures himself (or herself) that the desperat e
people are better off earning one dollar a day than n o
dollars at all, and that they are receiving the opportunity
to become integrated into the larger world community' .
She also understands that these desperate people ar e
fundamental to the survival of her company, that they ar e
the foundation for her own lifestyle . She never stops t o
think about the larger implications of what she, he r
lifestyle, and the economic system behind them are doin g
to the world — or of how they may ultimately impact he r
children's future .

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The United States Invades Panama 181

CHAPTER 3 1

An EHM Failure in Iraq

My role as president of IPS in the 1980s, and as a consultant t o
SWEC in the late 1980s and throughout much of the 1990s, gave m e
access to information about Iraq that was not available to most people .
Indeed, during the 1980s the majority of Americans knew littl e
about the country. It simply was not on their radar screen . However,
I was fascinated by what was going on there .
I kept in touch with old friends who worked for the World Bank,
USAID, the IMF, or one of the other international financial organi zations, and with people at Bechtel, Halliburton, and the other majo r
engineering and construction companies, including my own father in-law. Many of the engineers employed by IPS subcontractors an d
other independent power companies were also involved in projects
in the Middle East . I was very aware that the EHMs were hard a t
work in Iraq .
The Reagan and Bush administrations were determined to tur n
Iraq into another Saudi Arabia . There were many compelling reasons for Saddam Hussein to follow the example of the House of
Saud . He had only to observe the benefits they had reaped from th e
Money-laundering Affair . Since that deal was struck, modern citie s
had risen from the Saudi desert, Riyadh's garbage-collecting goat s
had been transformed into sleek trucks, and now the Saudis enjoye d
the fruits of some of the most advanced technologies in the world :
state-of-the-art desalinization plants, sewage treatment systems ,
communications networks, and electric utility grids .

Saddam Hussein undoubtedly was aware that the Saudis also en joyed special treatment when it came to matters of international law .
Their good friends in Washington turned a blind eye to many Saud i
activities, including the financing of fanatical groups — many o f
which were considered by most of the world to be radicals borderin g
on terrorism — and the harboring of international fugitives . In fact,
the United States actively sought and received Saudi Arabian finan cial support for Osama bin Laden's Afghan war against the Sovie t
Union . The Reagan and Bush administrations not only encourage d
the Saudis in this regard, but also they pressured many other countries to do the same — or at least to look the other way.
The EHM presence in Baghdad was very strong during th e
1980s . They believed that Saddam eventually would see the light ,
and I had to agree with this assumption . After all, if Iraq reached a n
accord with Washington similar to that of the Saudis, Saddam coul d
basically write his own ticket in ruling his country, and might eve n
expand his circle of influence throughout that part of the world .
It hardly mattered that he was a pathological tyrant, that he had
the blood of mass murders on his hands, or that his mannerisms an d
brutal actions conjured images of Adolph Hitler. The United States
had tolerated and even supported such men many times before . We
would be happy to offer him U.S. government securities in exchang e
for petrodollars, for the promise of continued oil supplies, and for a
deal whereby the interest on those securities was used to hire U .S.
companies to improve infrastructure systems throughout Iraq, t o
create new cities, and to turn the deserts into oases . We would be willing to sell him tanks and fighter planes and to build him chemica l
and nuclear power plants, as we had done in so many other countries ,
even if these technologies could conceivably be used to produce ad vanced weaponry.
Iraq was extremely important to us, much more important tha n
was obvious on the surface . Contrary to common public opinion ,
Iraq is not simply about oil . It is also about water and geopolitics.
Both the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow through Iraq ; thus, of al l
the countries in that part of the world, Iraq controls the most important sources of increasingly critical water resources . During th e
1980s, the importance of water — politically as well as economically —
was becoming obvious to those of us in the energy and engineerin g
fields . In the rush toward privatization, many of the major companie s

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An EHM Failure in Iraq 183

that had set their sights on taking over the small independent powe r
companies now looked toward privatizing water systems in Africa ,
Latin America, and the Middle East.
In addition to oil and water, Iraq is situated in a very strategic lo cation . It borders Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, an d
Turkey, and it has a coastline on the Persian Gulf. It is within easy
missile-striking distance of both Israel and the former Soviet Union .
Military strategists equate modern Iraq to the Hudson River valley
during the French and Indian War and the American Revolution . In
the eighteenth century, the French, British, and Americans knew
that whoever controlled the Hudson River valley controlled the continent . Today, it is common knowledge that whoever controls Ira q
holds the key to controlling the Middle East.
Above all else, Iraq presented a vast market for American technology and engineering expertise . The fact that it sits atop one of th e
world's most extensive oil fields (by some estimates, even greate r
than Saudi Arabia's) assured that it was in a position to finance huge
infrastructure and industrialization programs . All the major players
— engineering and construction companies ; computer systems sup pliers ; aircraft, missile, and tank manufacturers ; and pharmaceutical
and chemical companies — were focused on Iraq .
However, by the late 1980s it was apparent that Saddam was no t
buying into the EHM scenario . This was a major frustration and a
great embarrassment to the first Bush administration . Like Panama,
Iraq contributed to George H . W. Bush's wimp image. As Bus h
searched for a way out, Saddam played into his hands . In August
1990, he invaded the oil-rich sheikhdom of Kuwait. Bush responded
with a denunciation of Saddam for violating international law, eve n
though it had been less than a year since Bush himself had stage d
the illegal and unilateral invasion of Panama .
It was no surprise when the president finally ordered an all-ou t
military attack . Five hundred thousand U.S . troops were sent in as
part of an international force . During the early months of 1991, an
aerial assault was launched against Iraqi military and civilian tar gets. It was followed by a one hundred-hour land assault that route d
the outgunned and desperately inferior Iraqi army . Kuwait was safe .
A true despot had been chastised, though not brought to justice .
Bush's popularity ratings soared to 90 percent among the America n
people .

I was in Boston attending meetings at the time of the Iraq invasion — one of the few occasions when I was actually asked to d o
something for SWEC. I vividly recall the enthusiasm that greeted
Bush 's decision . Naturally, people throughout the Stone & Webste r
organization were excited, though not only because we had taken a
stand against a murderous dictator. For them, a U .S. victory in Iraq
offered possibilities for huge profits, promotions, and raises .
The excitement was not limited to those of us in businesses tha t
would directly benefit from war. People across the nation seemed al most desperate to see our country reassert itself militarily . I believ e
there were many reasons for this attitude, including the philosophical change that occurred when Reagan defeated Carter, the Irania n
hostages were released, and Reagan announced his intention t o
renegotiate the Panama Canal Treaty . Bush's invasion of Panama
stirred the already smoldering flames .
Beneath the patriotic rhetoric and the calls for action, however ,
I believe a much more subtle transformation was occurring in th e
way U.S . commercial interests—and therefore most of the peopl e
who worked for American corporations — viewed the world . The
march toward global empire had become a reality in which much o f
the country participated . The dual ideas of globalization and privatization were making significant inroads into our psyches .
In the final analysis, this was not solely about the United States .
The global empire had become just that ; it reached across all borders. What we had previously considered U .S. corporations were now
truly international, even from a legal standpoint . Many of them wer e
incorporated in a multitude of countries ; they could pick and choose
from an assortment of rules and regulations under which to conduc t
their activities, and a multitude of globalizing trade agreements an d
organizations made this even easier . Words like democracy, socialism, and capitalism were becoming almost obsolete . Corporatocracy
had become a fact, and it increasingly exerted itself as the single ma jor influence on world economies and politics .
In a strange turn of events, I succumbed to the corporatocrac y
when I sold IPS in November 1990 . It was a lucrative deal for my
partners and me, but we sold out mainly because Ashland Oil Company put tremendous pressure on us . I knew from experience that
fighting them would be extremely costly in many ways, while sellin g
would make us wealthy. However, it did strike me as ironic that a n

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An EHM Failure in Iraq 185

oil company would become the new owners of my alternative energy
company ; part of me felt like a traitor.
SWEC demanded very little of my time. Occasionally, I was asked
to fly to Boston for meetings or to help prepare a proposal . I wa s
sometimes sent to places like Rio de Janeiro, to hobnob with th e
movers and shakers there . Once, I flew to Guatemala on a private jet .
I frequently called project managers to remind them that I was o n
the payroll and available . Receiving all that money for doing so ver y
little rubbed at my conscience . I knew the business well and wanted to
contribute something useful . But it simply was not on the agenda .
The image of being a man in the middle haunted me. I wanted to
take some action that would justify my existence and that might tur n
all the negatives of my past into something positive . I continued to
work surreptitiously—and very irregularly—on Conscience of an
Economic Hit Man, and yet I did not deceive myself into believin g
that it would ever be published .
In 1991, I began guiding small groups of people into the Amazo n
to spend time with and learn from the Shuars, who were eager t o
share their knowledge about environmental stewardship and indigenous healing techniques . During the next few years, the demand fo r
these trips increased rapidly and resulted in the formation of a non profit organization, Dream Change Coalition . Dedicated to changin g
the way people from industrialized countries see the earth and ou r
relationship to it, Dream Change developed a following around th e
world and empowered people to create organizations with simila r
missions in many countries . TIME magazine selected it as one o f
thirteen organizations whose Web sites best reflect the ideals an d
goals of Earth Day .1
Throughout the 1990s, I became increasingly involved in th e
nonprofit world, helping to create several organizations and serving
on the board of directors of others . Many of these grew out of th e
work of highly dedicated people at Dream Change and involve d
working with indigenous people in Latin America — the Shuars an d
Achuars of the Amazon, the Quechuas of the Andes, the Mayas i n
Guatemala—or teaching people in the United States and Europ e
about these cultures . SWEC approved of this philanthropic work ; i t
was consistent with SWEC's own commitment to the United Way. I
also wrote more books, always careful to focus on indigenous teachings and to avoid references to my EHM activities . Besides alleviating

my boredom, these measures helped me keep in touch with Lati n
America and the political issues that were dear to me.
But try as I might to convince myself that my nonprofit and writing activities provided a balance, that I was making amends for my
past activities, I found this increasingly difficult . In my heart, I knew
I was shirking my responsibilities to my daughter . Jessica was inheriting a world where millions of children are born saddled wit h
debts they will never be able to repay. And I had to accept responsibility for it.
My books grew in popularity, especially one titled, The World Is
As You Dream It. Its success led to increasing demands for me to
give workshops and lectures . Sometimes, standing in front of an audience in Boston or New York or Milan, I was struck by the irony . If
the world is as you dream it, why had I dreamed such a world? Ho w
had I managed to play such an active role in manifesting such a
nightmare ?
In 1997, I was commissioned to teach a weeklong Omega Institute workshop in the Caribbean, at a resort on St . John Island. I
arrived late at night . When I awoke the next morning, I walked ont o
a tiny balcony and found myself looking out at the very bay where ,
seventeen years earlier, I had made the decision to quit MAIN . I col lapsed into a chair, overcome with emotion .
Throughout the week, I spent much of my free time on that balcony, looking down at Leinster Bay, trying to understand my feelings .
I came to realize that although I had quit, I had not taken the nex t
step, and that my decision to remain in the middle was exacting a
devastating toll . By the end of the week, I had concluded that the world
around me was not one that I wanted to dream, and that I needed t o
do exactly what I was instructing my students to do : to change my
dreams in ways that reflected what I really wanted in my life .
When I returned home, I gave up my corporate consulting practice . The president of SWEC who had hired me was now retired . A
new man had come aboard, one who was younger than me and was
apparently unconcerned about me telling my story . He had initiated
a cost-cutting program and was happy not to have to pay me that exorbitant retainer any longer.
I decided to complete the book I had been working on for so long ,
and just making the decision brought a wonderful sense of relief . I
shared my ideas about writing with close friends, mostly people i n

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An EHM Failure in Iraq 187

the nonprofit world who were involved with indigenous cultures an d
rain forest preservation . To my surprise, they were dismayed . They
feared that speaking out would undermine my teaching work an d
jeopardize the nonprofit organizations I supported . Many of us were
helping Amazon tribes protect their lands from oil companies ; coming clean, I was told, could undermine my credibility, and might se t
back the whole movement . Some even threatened to withdra w
their support .
So, once again, I stopped writing . Instead, I focused on takin g
people deep into the Amazon, showing them a place and a tribe tha t
are mostly untouched by the modern world . In fact, that is where I
was on September 11, 2001 .

::.

CHAPTER 3 2

September 11 and its Aftermath
for Me, Personall y

On September 10, 2001, I was traveling down a river in th e
Ecuadorian Amazon with Shakaim Chumpi, the coauthor of my boo k
Spirit of the Shuar. We were leading a group of sixteen North Amer icans to his community deep in the rain forest . The visitors had come
to learn about his people and to help them preserve their preciou s
rain forests .
Shakaim had fought as a soldier in the recent Ecuador-Peru conflict. Most people in the major oil-consuming nations have neve r
heard about this war, yet it was fought primarily to provide the m
with oil . Although the border between these two countries was disputed for many years, only recently did a resolution become urgent.
The reason for the urgency was that the oil companies needed t o
know with which country to negotiate in order to win concession s
for specific tracts of the oil-rich lands . Borders had to be defined .
The Shuars formed Ecuador's first line of defense . They prove d
themselves to be ferocious fighters, often overcoming superior num bers and better-equipped forces . The Shuars did not know anything
about the politics behind the war or that its resolution would ope n
the door to oil companies. They fought because they come from a
long tradition of warriors and because they were not about to allo w
foreign soldiers onto their lands .
As we paddled down the river, watching a flock of chattering parrot s
fly overhead, I asked Shakaim whether the truce was still holding .

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189

"Yes," he said, "but I'm afraid I must tell you that we are no w
preparing to go to war with you." He went on to explain that, of
course, he did not mean me personally or the people in our group .
"You are our friends," he assured me . He was, he said, referring to
our oil companies and to the military forces that would come int o
his jungle to defend them .
"We've seen what they did to the Huaorani tribe . They destroye d
their forests, polluted the rivers, and killed many people, includin g
children . Today, the Huaorani hardly exist as a people anymore . We
won't let that happen to us . We won't allow oil companies into ou r
territory, any more than we would the Peruvians . We have all swor n
to fight to the last man."1
That night our group sat around a fire in the center of a beautifu l
Shuar longhouse built from split bamboo slats placed in the groun d
and covered with a thatched roof. I told them about my conversatio n
with Shakaim . We all wondered how many other people in the worl d
felt similarly about our oil companies and our country . How many,
like the Shuars, were terrified that we would come into their live s
and destroy their culture and their lands? How many hated us?
The next morning, I went down to the little office where we kep t
our two-way radio . I needed to arrange for pilots to fly in and pick u s
up in a few days . As I was talking with them, I heard a shout .
"My God!" the man on the other end of the radio exclaimed . "New
York is under attack ." He turned up the commercial radio that ha d
been playing music in the background . During the next half hour, we
received a minute-by-minute account of the events unfolding in th e
United States . Like everyone else, it was a moment I shall never forget .
When I returned to my home in Florida, I knew I had to visi t
Ground Zero, the former site of the World Trade Center towers, so I
arranged to fly to New York . I checked into my uptown hotel in earl y
afternoon . It was a sunny November day, unseasonably balmy. I
strolled along Central Park, filled with enthusiasm, then headed fo r
a part of the city where once I had spent a lot of time, the area nea r
Wall Street now known as Ground Zero .
As I approached, my enthusiasm was replaced with a sense o f
horror. The sights and smells were overwhelming —the incredible
destruction ; the twisted and melted skeletons of those once-grea t
buildings; the debris ; the rancid odor of smoke, charred ruins, and

burnt flesh . I had seen it all on TV, but being here was different .
I had not been prepared for this—especially not for the people .
Two months had passed and still they stood around, those who lived
or worked nearby, those who had survived . An Egyptian man was loi tering outside his small shoe repair shop, shaking his head in disbelief .
"Can't get used to it," he muttered . "I lost many customers, many
friends. My nephew died up there ." He pointed at the blue sky. " I
think I saw him jump . I don't know . . . So many were jumping, holding hands and flapping their arms as though they could fly ."
It came as a surprise, the way people talked with one another . In
New York City And it went beyond language . Their eyes met. Although somber, they exchanged looks of compassion, half-smile s
that spoke more than a million words .
But there was something else, a sense about the place itself. At
first, I couldn't figure it out ; then it struck me : the light . Lower Manhattan had been a dark canyon, back in the days when I made th e
pilgrimage to this part of town to raise capital for IPS, when I use d
to plot strategy with my investment bankers over dinner at Windows
on the World. You had to go that high, to the top of the World Trad e
Center, if you wanted to see light . Now, here it was at street level .
The canyon had been split wide open, and we who stood on th e
street beside the ruins were warmed by the sunshine . I couldn't hel p
wondering if the view of the sky, of the light, had helped people ope n
their hearts . I felt guilty just thinking such thoughts .
I turned the corner at Trinity Church and headed down Wal l
Street . Back to the old New York, enveloped in shadow. No sky no
light. People hurried along the sidewalk, ignoring one another . A co p
screamed at a stalled car.
I sat down on the first steps I came to, at number fourteen . Fro m
somewhere, the sounds of giant fans or an air blower rose above th e
other noises . It seemed to come from the massive stone wall of the
New York Stock Exchange building . I watched the people . They hus tled up and down the street, leaving their offices, hurrying home, o r
heading to a restaurant or bar to discuss business . A few walked in
tandem and chatted with each other. Most, though, were alone an d
silent . I tried to make eye contact ; it didn't happen .
The wail of a car alarm drew my attention down the street . A man
rushed out of an office and pointed a key at the car ; the alarm went

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191

silent. I sat there quietly for a few long moments . After a while, I
reached into my pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper
covered with statistics .
Then I saw him . He shuffled along the street, staring down at his
feet. He had a scrawny gray beard and wore a grimy overcoat tha t
looked especially out of place on this warm afternoon on Wall Street .
I knew he was Afghan .
He glanced at me . Then, after only a second of hesitation, h e
started up the steps . He nodded politely and sat down beside me ,
leaving a yard or two between us. From the way he looked straigh t
ahead, I realized it would be up to me to begin the conversation .
"Nice afternoon ."
"Beautiful ." His accent was thick. "Times like these, we want sun shine."
"You mean because of the World Trade Center? "
He nodded .
"You're from Afghanistan? "
He stared at me . "Is it so obvious? "
"I've traveled a lot . Recently, I visited the Himalayas, Kashmir ."
"Kashmir." He pulled at his beard. "Fighting ."
"Yes, India and Pakistan, Hindus and Muslims . Makes you wonder about religion, doesn't it? "
His eyes met mine . They were deep brown, nearly black . They
struck me as wise and sad . He turned back toward the New York
Stock Exchange building . With a long gnarled finger, he pointed at
the building .
"Or maybe," I agreed, "it's about economics, not religion ."
"You were a soldier? "
I couldn't help but chuckle . "No. An economic consultant." I
handed him the paper with the statistics . "These were my weapons ."
He reached over and took them. "Numbers."
"World statistics."
He studied the list, then gave a little laugh . "I can't read ." H e
handed it back to me .
"The numbers tell us that twenty-four thousand people die ever y
day from hunger."
He whistled softly, then took a moment to think about this, an d
sighed . "I was almost one of them . I had a little pomegranate farm
near Kandahar. Russians arrived and mujahideen hid behind trees

and in water ditches ." He raised his hands and pointed them like a
rifle. "Ambushing" He lowered his hands. "All my trees and ditche s
were destroyed ."
'After that, what did you do? "
He nodded at the list I held. "Does it show beggars? "
It did not, but I thought I remembered . "About eighty million in
the world, I believe ."
"I was one." He shook his head, seemed lost in thought . We sat i n
silence for a few minutes before he spoke again. "I do not like beggaring . My child dies . So I raise poppies ."
"Opium? "
He shrugged. "No trees, no water. The only way to feed our families ."
I felt a lump in my throat, a depressing sense of sadness combined with guilt . "We call raising opium poppies evil, yet many of ou r
wealthiest people owe their fortunes to the drug trade ."
His eyes met mine and seemed to penetrate my soul . "You were a
soldier," he stated, nodding his head to confirm this simple fact .
Then he rose slowly to his feet and hobbled down the steps . I wante d
him to stay, but I felt powerless to say anything . I managed to get t o
my feet and start after him . At the bottom of the steps I was stoppe d
by a sign . It included a picture of the building where I had been seated .
At the top, it notified passersby that the sign had been erected by
Heritage Trails of New York . It said :
The Mausoleum of Halicarnassus piled on top of the bel l
tower of St . Mark's in Venice, at the corner of Wall an d
Broad —that's the design concept behind 14 Wall Street .
In its day the world's tallest bank building, the 539-foothigh skyscraper originally housed the headquarters o f
Bankers Trust, one of the country's wealthiest financial
institutions .
I stood there in awe and looked up at this building . Shortly after
the turn of the last century, 14 Wall Street had played the role th e
World Trade Center would later assume ; it had been the very symbo l
of power and economic domination . It had also housed Bankers
Trust, one of the firms I had employed to finance my energy company. It was an essential part of my heritage — the heritage, as the ol d
Afghan man so aptly put it, of a soldier.
That I had ended up here this day, talking with him, seemed a n

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193

odd coincidence . Coincidence . The word stopped me . I thought about
how our reactions to coincidences mold our lives . How should I re act to this one?
Continuing to walk, I scanned the heads in the crowd, but I coul d
find no sign of him . At the next building, there was an immens e
statue shrouded in blue plastic . An engraving on the building's ston e
face revealed that this was Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street, where o n
April 30, 1789, George Washington had taken the oath of office a s
first president of the United States . This was the exact spot wher e
the first man given the responsibility to safeguard life, liberty, an d
the pursuit of happiness for all people was sworn in . So close to
Ground Zero ; so close to Wall Street .
I went on around the block, to Pine Street . There I came face-to face with the world headquarters of Chase, the bank David Rockefeller built, a bank seeded with oil money and harvested by men lik e
me . This bank, an institution that served the EHMs and that was a
master at promoting global empire, was in many ways the very sym bol of the corporatocracy.
I recalled reading that the World Trade Center was a projec t
started by David Rockefeller in 1960, and that in recent years th e
complex had been considered an albatross . It had the reputation o f
being a financial misfit, unsuited to modern fiber-optic and Interne t
technologies, and burdened with an inefficient and costly elevato r
system . Those two towers once had been nicknamed David and Nel son, Now the albatross was gone .
I kept walking, slowly, almost reluctantly . Despite the warmth o f
the afternoon, I felt a chill, and I realized that a strange anxiousness ,
a foreboding, had taken hold of me . I could not identify its sourc e
and I tried to brush it off, picking up my pace . I eventually found
myself once again looking at that smoldering hole, the twisted metal ,
that great scar in the earth . I leaned against a building that had es caped the destruction and stared into the pit . I tried to imagine th e
people rushing out of the collapsing tower and the firefighters dashing
in to help them . I tried to think about the people who had jumped ,
the desperation they felt . But none of these things came to me .
Instead, I saw Osama bin Laden accepting money, and weapon s
worth millions of dollars, from a man employed by a consultin g
company under contract to the United States government . Then I
saw myself sitting at a computer with a blank screen .

I looked around, away from Ground Zero, at the New Yor k
streets that had avoided the fire and now were returning to normal .
I wondered what the people who walked those streets today thought
about all this — not simply about the destruction of the towers, bu t
also about the ruined pomegranate farms and the twenty-fou r
thousand who starve every single day. I wondered if they though t
about such things at all, if they could tear themselves away fro m
their jobs and gas-guzzling cars and their interest payments lon g
enough to consider their own contribution to the world they wer e
passing on to their children . I wondered what they knew about Afghanistan — not the Afghanistan on television, the one littered wit h
U.S. military tents and tanks, but the old man's Afghanistan. I wondered what those twenty-four thousand who die every day think .
And then I saw myself again, sitting before a blank compute r
screen.
I forced my attention back to Ground Zero . At the moment, one
thing was certain : my country was thinking about revenge, and it was
focusing on countries like Afghanistan . But I was thinking about all
the other places in the world where people hate our companies, ou r
military, our policies, and our march toward global empire .
I wondered, What about Panama, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran ,
Guatemala, most of Africa?
I pushed myself off the wall I had been leaning against an d
started walking away. A short, swarthy man was waving a newspape r
in the air and shouting in Spanish . I stopped .
"Venezuela on the brink of revolution!" he yelled above the nois e
of the traffic, the honking horns, and the milling people .
I bought his paper and stood there for a moment scanning th e
lead article. It was about Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's democraticall y
elected, anti-American president, and the undercurrent of hatre d
generated by U.S. policies in Latin America .
What about Venezuela ?

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11

and its Aftermath for Me, Personally

195

CHAPTER 3 3

Venezuela : Saved by Sadda m

I had watched Venezuela for many years . It was a classic example of
a country that rose from rags to riches as a result of oil . It was also a
model of the turmoil oil wealth foments, of the disequilibrium between rich and poor, and of a country shamelessly exploited by th e
corporatocracy: It had become the epitome of a place where old-styl e
EHMs like me converged with the new-style, corporate version .
The events I read about in the newspaper that day at Ground
Zero were a direct result of the 1998 elections, when the poor and
disenfranchised of Venezuela elected Hugo Chavez by a landslide as
their president .) He immediately instituted drastic measures, takin g
control of the courts and other institutions and dissolving the Venezuelan Congress . He denounced the United States for its "shameles s
imperialism," spoke out forcefully against globalization, and introduce d
a hydrocarbons law that was reminiscent, even in name, to the on e
Jaime Roldos had brought to Ecuador shortly before his airplan e
went down . The law doubled the royalties charged to foreign oil companies. Then Chavez defied the traditional independence of the
state-owned oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, by replacing it s
top executives with people loyal to him .2
Venezuelan oil is crucial to economies around the world . In 200 2
the nation was the world's fourth-largest oil exporter and the number three supplier to the United States .3 Petroleos de Venezuela, wit h
forty thousand employees and $50 billion a year in sales, provide s
80 percent of the country's export revenue. It is by far the most

important factor in Venezuel a's economy.4 By taking over the indus try, Chavez had thrust himself onto the world stage as a major player .
Many Venezuelans saw this as destiny; the completion of a proces s
that began eighty years earlier. On December 14, 1922, a huge oi l
blowout had gushed from the earth near Maracaibo . One hundre d
thousand barrels of crude sprayed into the air each day for the next
three days, and this single geologic event changed Venezuela forever.
By 1930, the country was the world's largest oil exporter. Venezuelans looked to oil as a solution to all their problems .
Oil revenues during the next forty years enabled Venezuela t o
evolve from one of the most impoverished nations in the world t o
one of the wealthiest in Latin America . All of the country's vital statistics improved : health care, education, employment, longevity, an d
infant survival rates . Businesses prospered.
During the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, petroleum prices skyrocketed and Venezuela's national budget quadrupled . The EHMs went
to work . The international banks flooded the country with loans that
paid for vast infrastructure and industrial projects and for th e
highest skyscrapers on the continent . Then, in the 1980s, the corporate-style EHMs arrived . It was an ideal opportunity for them to cut
their fledgling teeth . The Venezuelan middle class had become sizable, and provided a ripe market for a vast array of products, ye t
there was still a very large poor sector available to labor in the sweat shops and factories .
Then oil prices crashed, and Venezuela could not repay its debts .
In 1989, the IMF imposed harsh austerity measures and pressure d
Caracas to support the corporatocracy in many other ways . Venezuelans reacted violently ; riots killed over two hundred people . The
illusion of oil as a bottomless source of support was shattered . Betwee n
1978 and 2003, Venezuela's per capita income plummeted by over
40 percent .'
As poverty increased, resentment intensified . Polarization resulted, with the middle class pitted against the poor. As so often occurs
in countries whose economies depend on oil production, demo graphics radically shifted . The sinking economy took its toll on th e
middle class, and many fell into the ranks of the poor .
The new demographics set the stage for Chavez — and for conflic t
with Washington . Once in power, the new president took action s

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Venezuela: Saved by Saddam 197

that challenged the Bush administration . Just before the Septembe r
11 attacks, Washington was considering its options . The EHMs had
failed; was it time to send in the jackals ?
Then 9/11 changed all priorities . President Bush and his advisers
focused on rallying the world community to support U.S. activities in
Afghanistan and an invasion of Iraq . On top of that, the U.S. economy was in the middle of a recession . Venezuela was relegated to a
back burner. However, it was obvious that at some point Bush an d
Chavez would come to blows . With Iraqi and other Middle Eastern
oil supplies threatened, Washington could not afford to ignor e
Venezuela for long .
Wandering around Ground Zero and Wall Street, meeting the ol d
Afghan man, and reading about Chavez's Venezuela brought me to a
point I had avoided for many years, and it forced me to take a har d
look at the consequences of the things I had done over the past thre e
decades . I could not possibly deny the role I had played or the fac t
that my work as an EHM now affected my daughter's generation i n
very negative ways . I knew I could no longer postpone taking actio n
to atone for what I had done. I had to come clean about my life, i n
a manner that would help people wake up to the fact of corporatocracy and understand why so much of the world hates us .
I started writing once again, but as I did so, it seemed to me tha t
my story was too old . Somehow, I needed to bring it up to date . I
considered traveling to Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuela and writin g
a contemporary commentary on those three countries . They seeme d
to embody an irony of current world affairs : each had undergon e
traumatic political turmoil and ended up with leaders who left a
great deal to be desired (a cruel and despotic Taliban, a psychopathic
Saddam, and an economically inept Chavez), yet in no case did th e
corporatocracy respond by attempting to solve the deeper problems o f
these countries . Rather, the response was simply to undermine leader s
who stood in the way of our oil policies . In many respects, Venezuel a
was the most intriguing case because, while military interventio n
had already occurred in Afghanistan and appeared inevitable in Iraq ,
the administration's response to Chavez remained a mystery . As far
as I was concerned, the issue was not about whether Chavez was a
good leader; it was about Washington's reaction to a leader wh o
stood in the way of the corporatocracy's march to global empire .

Before I had time to organize such a trip, however, circumstance s
once again intervened. My nonprofit work took me to South Americ a
several times in 2002 . A Venezuelan family whose businesses were going bankrupt under the Chavez regime joined one of my trips to th e
Amazon . We became close friends, and I heard their side of the story.
I also met with Latin Americans from the other end of the economi c
spectrum, who considered Chavez a savior . The events unfolding i n
Caracas were symptomatic of the world we EHMs had created .
By December 2002, the situation in both Venezuela and in Iraq
reached crisis points . The two countries were evolving into perfec t
counterpoints for each other . In Iraq, all the subtle efforts —both th e
EHMs and the jackals — had failed to force Saddam to comply, an d
now we were preparing for the ultimate solution, invasion . In Venezuela, the Bush administration was bringing Kermit Roosevelt' s
Iranian model into play. As the New York Times reported ,
Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans filled the street s
here today to declare their commitment to a nationa l
strike, now in its 28th day, to force the ouster of President Hugo Chavez .
The strike, joined by an estimated 30,000 oil workers ,
threatens to wreak havoc on this nation, the world's fifth largest oil producer, for months to come . ..
In recent days, the strike has reached a kind of stale mate . Mr. Chavez is using nonstriking workers to try to
normalize operations at the state-owned oil company .
His opponents, led by a coalition of business and labo r
leaders, contend, though, that their strike will push th e
company, and thus the Chavez government, to collapse .6
This was exactly how the CIA brought down Mossadegh and re placed him with the shah. The analogy could not have been stronger.
It seemed history was uncannily repeating itself, fifty years later .
Five decades, and still oil was the driving force.
Chavez's supporters continued to clash with his opponents . Several people, it was reported, were shot to death and dozens mor e
were wounded. The next day, I talked with an old friend who fo r
many years had been involved with the jackals . Like me, he had

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Venezuela : Saved by Saddam 199

never worked directly for any government, but he had led clandestine operations in many countries . He told me that a private con tractor had approached him to foment strikes in Caracas and to
bribe military officers — many of whom had been trained at th e
School of the Americas — to turn against their elected president . He
had turned down the offer, but he confided, "The man who took th e
job knows what he's doing."7
Oil company executives and Wall Street feared a rise in oil price s
and a decline in American inventories . Given the Middle East situation, I knew the Bush administration was doing everything in it s
power to overthrow Chavez . Then came the news that they had succeeded ; Chavez had been ousted . The New York Times took this tur n
of events as an opportunity to provide a historical perspective — an d
also to identify the man who appeared to play the Kermit Roosevel t
role in contemporary Venezuela:
The TJnited States .. . supported authoritarian regime s
throughout Central and South America during and afte r
the Cold War in defense of its economic and politica l
interests .
In tiny Guatemala, the Central Intelligence Agenc y
mounted a coup overthrowing the democratically elected
government in 1954, and it backed subsequent right wing governments against small leftist rebel groups fo r
four decades . Roughly 200,000 civilians died .
In Chile, a CIA-supported coup helped put Gen .
Augusto Pinochet in power from 1973 to 1990 . In Peru,
a fragile democratic government is still unraveling th e
agency's role in a decade of support for the now-depose d
and disgraced president, Alberto K . Fujimori, and hi s
disreputable spy chief, Vladimiro L . Montesinos .
The United States had to invade Panama in 1989 to
topple its narco-dictator, Manuel A . Noriega, who, fo r
almost 20 years, was a valued informant for America n
intelligence . And the struggle to mount an unarme d
opposition against Nicaragua's leftists in the 1980s by
any means necessary, including selling arms to Iran fo r
cold cash, led to indictments against senior Reagan
administration officials .
200 Part IV : 1981—Present

Among those investigated back then was Otto J . Reich ,
a veteran of Latin American struggles . No charges wer e
ever filed against Mr . Reich. He later became United State s
Ambassador to Venezuela and now serves as assistant secretary of state for inter-American affairs by presidential appointment . The fall of Mr. Chavez is a feather in his cap .8
If Mr. Reich and the Bush administration were celebrating th e
coup against Chavez, the party was suddenly cut short . In an amazing turnabout, Chavez regained the upper hand and was back i n
power less than seventy-two hours later . Unlike Mossadegh in Iran ,
Chavez had managed to keep the military on his side, despite all at tempts to turn its highest-ranking officers against him. In addition ,
he had the powerful state oil company on his side . Petroleos de
Venezuela defied the thousands of striking workers and made a
comeback .
Once the dust cleared, Chavez tightened his government's grip o n
oil company employees, purged the military of the few disloyal officers who had been persuaded to betray him, and forced many of hi s
key opponents out of the country . He demanded twenty-year priso n
terms for two prominent opposition leaders, Washington-connecte d
operatives who had joined the jackals to direct the nationwide strike.9
In the final analysis, the entire sequence of events was a calamity
for the Bush administration . As the Los Angeles Times reported ,
Bush administration officials acknowledged Tuesday that
they had discussed the removal of Venezuelan Presiden t
Hugo Chavez for months with military and civilian leaders from Venezuela . .. The administration's handling o f
the abortive coup has come under increasing scrutiny .lo
It was obvious that not only had the EHMs failed, but so had th e
jackals. Venezuela in 2003 turned out to be very different from Iran
in 1953. I wondered if this was a harbinger or simply an anomaly —
and what Washington would do next .
At least for the time being, I believe a serious crisis was averted i n
Venezuela—and Chavez was saved —by Saddam Hussein . The Bus h
administration could not take on Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuel a
all at once. At the moment, it had neither the military muscle nor th e

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political support to do so. I knew, however, that such circumstance s
could change quickly, and that President Chavez was likely to fac e
fierce opposition in the near future . Nonetheless, Venezuela was a
reminder that not much had changed in fifty years — except the out come.

,aa

CHAPTER 3 4

Ecuador Revisite d

Venezuela was a classic case . However, as I watched events unfolding there, I was struck by the fact that the truly significant battl e
lines were being drawn in yet another country. They were significan t
not because they represented more in terms of dollars or human lives ,
but because they involved issues that went far beyond the materialistic goals that generally define empires . These battle lines extende d
beyond the armies of bankers, business executives, and politicians ,
deep into the soul of modern civilization . And they were being established in a country I had come to know and love, the one wher e
I had first worked as a Peace Corps volunteer : Ecuador.
In the years since I first went there, in 1968, this tiny country ha d
evolved into the quintessential victim of the corporatocracy. My con temporaries and I, and our modern corporate equivalents, ha d
managed to bring it to virtual bankruptcy. We loaned it billions of
dollars so it could hire our engineering and construction firms t o
build projects that would help its richest families . As a result, in
those three decades, the official poverty level grew from 50 to 70 per cent, under- or unemployment increased from 15 to 70 percent, public debt increased from $240 million to $16 billion, and the share o f
national resources allocated to the poorest citizens declined from 2 0
percent to 6 percent . Today, Ecuador must devote nearly 50 percent
of its national budget simply to paying off its debts — instead of to
helping the millions of its citizens who are officially classified as dan gerously impoverished .l

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The situation in Ecuador clearly demonstrates that this was no t
the result of a conspiracy; it was a process that had occurred during
both Democratic and Republican administrations, a process that
had involved all the major multinational banks, many corporations ,
and foreign aid missions from a multitude of countries . The Unite d
States played the lead role, but we had not acted alone .
During those three decades, thousands of men and women participated in bringing Ecuador to the tenuous position it found itsel f
in at the beginning of the millennium. Some of them, like me, ha d
been aware of what they were doing, but the vast majority had
merely performed the tasks they had been taught in business, engineering, and law schools, or had followed the lead of bosses in m y
mold, who demonstrated the system by their own greedy exampl e
and through rewards and punishments calculated to perpetuate it .
Such participants saw the parts they played as benign, at worst ; in
the most optimistic view, they were helping an impoverished nation .
Although unconscious, deceived, and — in many cases — selfdeluded, these players were not members of any clandestine conspir acy; rather, they were the product of a system that promotes th e
most subtle and effective form of imperialism the world has ever wit nessed . No one had to go out and seek men and women who could b e
bribed or threatened — they had already been recruited by companies ,
banks, and government agencies . The bribes consisted of salaries ,
bonuses, pensions, and insurance policies ; the threats were based o n
social mores, peer pressure, and unspoken questions about the future of their children's education .
The system had succeeded spectacularly. By the time the new
millennium rolled in, Ecuador was thoroughly entrapped . We ha d
her, just as a Mafia don has the man whose daughter's wedding an d
small business he has financed and then refinanced . Like any goo d
Mafiosi, we had taken our time . We could afford to be patient, knowing that beneath Ecuador's rain forests lies a sea of oil, knowing that
the proper day would come .
That day had already arrived when, in early 2003, I wound my
way from Quito to the jungle town of Shell in my Subaru Outback .
Chavez had reestablished himself in Venezuela. He had defied George
W. Bush and had won . Saddam was standing his ground and was
preparing to be invaded . Oil supplies were depleted to their lowes t
level in nearly three decades, and the prospects of taking more from

our prime sources looked bleak — and therefore, so did the health of
the corporatocracy's balance sheets . We needed an ace in the hole. It
was time to cut away our Ecuadorian pound of flesh .
As I drove past the monster dam on the Pastaza River, I realize d
that here in Ecuador the battle was not simply the classic struggl e
between the rich of the world and the impoverished, between thos e
who exploit and the exploited . These battle lines would ultimatel y
define who we are as a civilization . We were poised to force this tin y
country to open its Amazon rain forests to our oil companies . The
devastation that would result was immeasurable .
If we insisted on collecting the debt, the repercussions would g o
far beyond our abilities to quantify them . It was not just about the
destruction of indigenous cultures, human lives, and hundreds of
thousands of species of animals, reptiles, fish, insects, and plants ,
some of which might contain the undiscovered cures to any numbe r
of diseases . It was not just that rain forests absorb the deadly green house gases produced by our industries, give off the oxygen that is
essential to our lives, and seed the clouds that ultimately create a
large percentage of the world's fresh water. It went beyond all the
standard arguments made by ecologists for saving such places, an d
reached deep into our souls .
If we pursued this strategy, we would continue an imperialist pat tern that had begun long before the Roman Empire . We decry slavery,
but our global empire enslaves more people than the Romans and al l
the other colonial powers before us . I wondered how we could execut e
such a shortsighted policy in Ecuador and still live with our collective conscience.
Peering through the window of the Subaru at the deforeste d
slopes of the Andes, an area that during my Peace Corps days ha d
been lush with tropical growth, I was suddenly surprised by anothe r
realization . It dawned on me that this view of Ecuador as a significant battle line was purely personal, that in fact every country wher e
I had worked, every country with resources coveted by the empire ,
was equally significant. I had my own attachment to this one, whic h
stemmed from those days back in the late 1960s when I lost my innocence here . However, it was subjective, my personal bias .
Though the Ecuadorian rain forests are precious, as are the indigenous people and all the other life forms that inhabit them, the y
are no more precious than the deserts of Iran and the Bedouins o f

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Yamin's heritage . No more precious than the mountains of Java, th e
seas off the coast of the Philippines, the steppes of Asia, the savannas
of Africa, the forests of North America, the icecaps of the Arctic, or
hundreds of other threatened places . Every one of these represents
a battle line, and every one of them forces us to search the depths o f
our individual and collective souls .
I was reminded of a statistic that sums it all up : The income rati o
of the one-fifth of the world's population in the wealthiest countries
to the one-fifth in the poorest countries went from 30 to 1 in 1960 to
74 to 1 in 1995 .2 And the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the IMF, and the rest of the banks, corporations ,
and governments involved in international "aid" continue to tell u s
that they are doing their jobs, that progress has been made .
So here I was in Ecuador again, in the country that was just on e
of many battle lines but that holds a special place in my heart . It wa s
2003, thirty-five years after I had first arrived as a member of a
U.S. organization that bears the word peace in its name. This time, I
had come in order to try to prevent a war that for three decades I ha d
helped to provoke .
It would seem that events in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Venezuel a
might be enough to deter us from another conflict; yet, in Ecuado r
the situation was very different . This war would not require the U .S.
Army, for it would be fought by a few thousand indigenous warriors
equipped only with spears, machetes, and single-shot, muzzle-loade d
rifles. They would face off against a modern Ecuadorian army, a
handful of U.S. Special Forces advisers, and jackal-trained mercenaries hired by the oil companies. This would be a war, like the 199 5
conflict between Ecuador and Peru, that most people in the Unite d
States would never hear about, and recent events had escalated th e
probability of such a war.
In December 2002, oil company representatives accused an indigenous community of taking a team of its workers hostage ; they
suggested that the warriors involved were members of a terroris t
group, with implications of possible ties to al-Qaeda . It was an issue
made especially complicated because the oil company had not receive d
government permission to begin drilling . However, the company
claimed its workers had the right to perform preliminary, non drilling investigations — a claim vehemently disputed by the indigenous groups a few days later, when they shared their side of the story' .

The oil workers, tribal representatives insisted, had trespassed o n
lands where they were not allowed ; the warriors had carried no
weapons, nor had they threatened the oil workers with violence o f
any sort . In fact, they had escorted the workers to their village, where
they offered them food and chicha, a local beer. While their visitors
feasted, the warriors persuaded the workers' guides to paddle away .
However, the tribe claimed, the workers were never held agains t
their will ; they were free to go wherever they pleased .3
Driving down that road, I remembered what the Shuars had tol d
me in 1990 when, after selling IPS, I returned to offer to help the m
save their forests. "The world is as you dream it," they had said, an d
then pointed out that we in the North had dreamed of huge industries, lots of cars, and gigantic skyscrapers . Now we had discovere d
that our vision had in fact been a nightmare that would ultimatel y
destroy us all .
"Change that dream," the Shuars had advised me . Yet here it was,
more than a decade later, and despite the work of many people an d
nonprofit organizations, including the ones I had worked with, th e
nightmare had reached new and horrifying proportions .
When my Outback finally pulled into the jungle town of Shell, I
was hustled off to a meeting. The men and women who attende d
represented many tribes : Kichwa, Shuar, Achuar, Shiwiar, and Zaparo . Some had walked for days through the jungle, others had flow n
in on small planes, funded by nonprofits. A few wore their traditional
kilts, face paint, and feathered headbands, though most attempte d
to emulate the townspeople, wearing slacks, T-shirts, and shoes .
Representatives from the community accused of taking hostages
spoke first. They told us that shortly after the workers returned to
the oil company, over a hundred Ecuadorian soldiers arrived in their
small community. They reminded us that this was at the beginning
of a special season in the rain forests, the fruiting of the chonta . A
tree sacred to indigenous cultures, its fruit comes but once a year
and signals the start of the mating season for many of the region's
birds, including rare and endangered species . As they flock to it, th e
birds are extremely vulnerable . The tribes enforce strict policies
forbidding the hunting of these birds during chonta season.
"The timing of the soldiers couldn't have been worse," a woman
explained . I felt her pain and that of her companions as they tol d
their tragic stories about how the soldiers ignored the prohibitions .

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They shot down the birds for sport and for food . In addition, they
raided family gardens, banana groves, and manioc fields, often irreparably destroying the sparse topsoil . They used explosives in the
rivers for fishing, and they ate family pets . They confiscated the local
hunters' guns and blowguns, dug improper latrines, polluted th e
rivers with fuel oil and solvents, sexually molested women, and neglected to properly dispose of garbage, which attracted insects an d
vermin .
"We had two choices," a man said. "We could fight, or we coul d
swallow our pride and do our best to repair the damage . We decide d
it was not yet the time to fight." He described how they had attempte d
to compensate for the military's abuses by encouraging their ow n
people to go without food . He called it a fast, but in fact it sounde d
closer to voluntary starvation . Old people and children became mal nourished and grew sick.
They spoke about threats and bribes . "My son," a woman said,
"speaks English as well as Spanish and several indigenous dialects .
He worked as a guide and translator for an ecotourist company.
They paid him a decent salary. The oil company offered him te n
times as much . What could he do? Now he writes letters denouncing
his old company and all the others who come to help us, and in his
letters calls the oil companies our friends ." She shook her body, like
a dog shaking off water. "He is no longer one of us. My son. . ."
An elderly man wearing the traditional toucan-feather headdres s
of a shaman stood up . "You know about those three we elected to
represent us against the oil companies, who died in that plane crash ?
Well, I'm not going to stand here and tell you what so many say, tha t
the oil companies caused the crash . But I can tell you that those thre e
deaths dug a big hole in our organization . The oil companies lost n o
time filling that hole with their people?'
Another man produced a contract and read it. In exchange fo r
three hundred thousand dollars, it ceded a vast territory over to a
lumber company. It was signed by three tribal officials .
"These aren't their real signatures," he said . "I ought to know; one is
my brother. It's another type of assassination. To discredit our leaders ."
It seemed ironic and strangely appropriate that this was takin g
place in a region of Ecuador where the oil companies had not ye t
been given permission to drill . They had drilled in many area s
around this one, and the indigenous people had seen the results, had

witnessed the destruction of their neighbors . As I sat there listening,
I asked myself how the citizens of my country would react if gatherings like this were featured on CNN or the evening news.
The meetings were fascinating and the revelations deeply disturbing.
But something else also happened, outside the formal setting o f
those sessions . During breaks, at lunch, and in the evening, when I
talked with people privately, I frequently was asked why the Unite d
States was threatening Iraq . The impending war was discussed o n
the front pages of Ecuadorian newspapers that made their way int o
this jungle town, and the coverage was very different from coverag e
in the States . It included references to the Bush family's ownershi p
of oil companies and United Fruit, and to Vice President Cheney' s
role as former CEO of Halliburton .
These newspapers were read to men and women who had neve r
attended school. Everyone seemed to take an interest in this issue .
Here I was, in the Amazon rain forest, among illiterate people man y
in North America consider "backward," even "savages," and yet prob ing questions were being asked that struck at the heart of the global
empire.
Driving out of Shell, back past the hydroelectric dam and hig h
into the Andes, I kept thinking about the difference between what I
had seen and heard during this visit to Ecuador and what I had be come accustomed to in the United States . It seemed that Amazonian
tribes had a great deal to teach us, that despite all our schooling an d
our many hours reading magazines and watching television news,
we lacked an awareness they had somehow found. This line of thinking made me think of "The Prophecy of the Condor and Eagle," whic h
I have heard many times throughout Latin America, and of simila r
prophecies I have encountered around the world .
Nearly every culture I know prophesies that in the late 1990s w e
entered a period of remarkable transition. At monasteries in the Himalayas, ceremonial sites in Indonesia, and indigenous reservations
in North America, from the depths of the Amazon to the peaks of th e
Andes and into the ancient Mayan cities of Central America, I hav e
heard that ours is a special moment in human history, and that eac h
of us was born at this time because we have a mission to accomplish .
The titles and words of the prophecies differ slightly. They tell
variously of a New Age, the Third Millennium, the Age of Aquarius ,
the Beginning of the Fifth Sun, or the end of old calendars and th e

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commencement of new ones . Despite the varying terminologies ,
however, they have a great deal in common, and "The Prophecy of
the Condor and Eagle" is typical . It states that back in the mists of
history, human societies divided and took two different paths : that
of the condor (representing the heart, intuitive and mystical) an d
that of the eagle (representing the brain, rational and material) . In
the 1490s, the prophecy said, the two paths would converge and th e
eagle would drive the condor to the verge of extinction . Then, five
hundred years later, in the 1990s, a new epoch would begin, one i n
which the condor and eagle will have the opportunity to reunite an d
fly together in the same sky, along the same path . If the condor an d
eagle accept this opportunity, they will create a most remarkable offspring, unlike any ever seen before .
"The Prophecy of the Condor and Eagle" can be taken at man y
levels—the standard interpretation is that it foretells the sharing
of indigenous knowledge with the technologies of science, the balancing of yin and yang, and the bridging of northern and souther n
cultures . However, most powerful is the message it offers about con sciousness ; it says that we have entered a time when we can benefi t
from the many diverse ways of seeing ourselves and the world, an d
that we can use these as a springboard to higher levels of awareness .
As human beings, we can truly wake up and evolve into a more con scious species .
The condor people of the Amazon make it seem so obvious that i f
we are to address questions about the nature of what it is to be huma n
in this new millennium, and about our commitment to evaluatin g
our intentions for the next several decades, then we need to open our
eyes and see the consequences of our actions—the actions of th e
eagle — in places like Iraq and Ecuador . We must shake ourselves
awake. We who live in the most powerful nation history has ever
known must stop worrying so much about the outcome of soap op eras, football games, quarterly balance sheets, and the daily Do w
Jones averages, and must instead reevaluate who we are and wher e
we want our children to end up . The alternative to stopping to as k
ourselves the important questions is simply too dangerous .

CHAPTER 3 5

Piercing the Veneer

Shortly after I returned home from Ecuador in 2003, the Unite d
States invaded Iraq for the second time in a little over a decade . Th e
EHMs had failed . The jackals had failed. So young men and wome n
were sent to kill and die among the desert sands . One important
question the invasion raised, but one that I figured few American s
would be in a position to consider, was what this would mean for th e
royal House of Saud . If the United States took over Iraq, which ac cording to many estimates has more oil than Saudi Arabia, ther e
would seem to be little need to continue honoring the pact we struck
with the Saudi royal family in the 1970s, the deal that originate d
with the Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair .
The end of Saddam, like the end of Noriega in Panama, woul d
change the formula. In the case of Panama, once we had reinstate d
our puppets, we controlled the Canal, regardless of the terms of th e
treaty Torrijos and Carter had negotiated . Once we controlled Iraq ,
then, could we break OPEC? Would the Saudi royal family becom e
irrelevant in the arena of global oil politics? A few pundits were al ready questioning why Bush attacked Iraq rather than funneling all
of our resources into pursuing al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Could it b e
that from the point of view of this administration — this oil family —
establishing oil supplies, as well as a justification for constructio n
contracts, was more important than fighting terrorists ?
There also was another possible outcome, however ; OPEC migh t
attempt to reassert itself. If the United States took control of Iraq ,

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the other petroleum-rich countries might have little to lose by raisin g
oil prices and/or reducing supplies . This possibility tied in with another scenario, one with implications that would likely occur to fe w
people outside the world of higher international finance, yet whic h
could tip the scales of the geopolitical balance and ultimately brin g
down the system the corporatocracy had worked so hard to construct. It could, in fact, turn out to be the single factor that woul d
cause history's first truly global empire to self-destruct .
In the final analysis, the global empire depends to a large extent
on the fact that the dollar acts as the standard world currency, an d
that the United States Mint has the right to print those dollars . Thus,
we make loans to countries like Ecuador with the full knowledg e
that they will never repay them ; in fact, we do not want them to hono r
their debts, since the nonpayment is what gives us our leverage, ou r
pound of flesh . Under normal conditions, we would run the risk of
eventually decimating our own funds ; after all, no creditor can afford too many defaulted loans . However, ours are not normal circumstances . The United States prints currency that is not backed b y
gold. Indeed, it is not backed by anything other than a general
worldwide confidence in our economy and our ability to marshal th e
forces and resources of the empire we have created to support us .
The ability to print currency gives us immense power . It means ,
among other things, that we can continue to make loans that wil l
never be repaid — and that we ourselves can accumulate hug e
debts . By the beginning of 2003, the United States' national debt ex ceeded a staggering $6 trillion and was projected to reach $7 trillio n
before the end of the year—roughly $24,000 for each U.S. citizen.
Much of this debt is owed to Asian countries, particularly to Japa n
and China, who purchase U .S . Treasury securities (essentially, IOUs )
with funds accumulated through sales of consumer goods — includin g
electronics, computers, automobiles, appliances, and clothing good s
— to the United States and the worldwide market s
As long as the world accepts the dollar as its standard currency,
this excessive debt does not pose a serious obstacle to the corporatocracy. However, if another currency should come along to replac e
the dollar, and if some of the United States' creditors (Japan o r
China, for example) should decide to call in their debts, the situatio n
would change drastically. The United States would suddenly fin d
itself in a most precarious situation .

In fact, today the existence of such a currency is no longer hypothetical ; the euro entered the international financial scene o n
January 1, 2002 and is growing in prestige and power with ever y
passing month. The euro offers an unusual opportunity for OPEC, i f
it chooses to retaliate for the Iraq invasion, or if for any other reaso n
it decides to flex its muscles against the United States . A decision by
OPEC to substitute the euro for the dollar as its standard currency
would shake the empire to its very foundations . If that were to hap pen, and if one or two major creditors were to demand that we repay
our debts in euros, the impact would be enormous .
I had these things on my mind on the morning of Good Friday ,
April 18, 2003, as I walked the short distance from my house to th e
converted garage that serves as my office, sat down at the desk ,
turned on the computer, and as usual, went to the New York Times
Web site . The headline leaped out at me ; it immediately transporte d
me from my thoughts about the new realities of international finance, the national debt, and euros back to that of my old profession : "U.S. Gives Bechtel a Major Contract in Rebuilding Iraq ."
The article stated, "The Bush administration awarded the Bechte l
Group of San Francisco the first major contract today in a vast re construction plan for Iraq" Farther down the page, the authors in formed readers that "The Iraqis will then work with the World Ban k
and the International Monetary Fund, institutions in which th e
United States enjoys wide influence, to reshape the country."2
Wide influence! There was an understatement .
I linked to another Times article, "Company Has Ties in Washington, and to Iraq." I skipped through the first several paragraphs ,
which repeated much of the information from the previous article ,
and came to :
Bechtel has longstanding ties to the national securit y
establishment .. . One director is George P . Shultz, wh o
was secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan .
Before joining the Reagan administration, Mr . Shultz ,
who also serves as a senior counselor to Bechtel, wa s
the company 's president, working alongside Caspar W.
Weinberger, who served as an executive at the San Fran cisco-based company before his appointment as defens e
secretary. This year, President Bush appointed Bechtel' s

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Piercing the Veneer 213

chief executive, Riley P . Bechtel, to serve on the Presi dent's Export Council .3
Here in these articles was the story of modern history, the drive t o
global empire, in a nutshell. What was going on in Iraq and de scribed in the morning press was the result of the work Claudine had
trained me to do some thirty-five years before, and of the work o f
other men and women who shared a lust for self-aggrandizement
not unlike the one I had known . It marked the current point of th e
corporatocracy's progress along the road to bringing every person in
the world under its influence .
These articles were about the 2003 invasion of Iraq and about th e
contracts now being signed, both to rebuild that country from the
wreckage created by our military and to build anew in the mold o f
the modern, westernized model . Yet, without saying so, the news o f
April 18, 2003, also harked back to the early 1970s and the Saud i
Arabian Money-laundering Affair . SAMA and the contracts flowin g
out of it had established new and irrevocable precedents that allowe d
— indeed mandated — U.S. engineering and construction companie s
and the petroleum industry to co-opt the development of a desert
kingdom . In the same mighty blow, SAMA established new rules fo r
the global management of petroleum, redefined geopolitics, an d
forged with the Saudi royal family an alliance that would ensur e
their hegemony as well as their commitment to playing by our rules.
As I read those articles, I could not help but wonder how man y
other people knew, as I did, that Saddam would still be in charge i f
he had played the game as the Saudis had . He would have his missiles and chemical plants ; we would have built them for him, an d
our people would be in charge of upgrading and servicing them . It
would be a very sweet deal — even as Saudi Arabia had been .
Until now, the mainstream media had been careful not to publicize this story. But today, here it was . True, it was a mere inkling ; the
articles were only the meekest ghosts of a summary, yet the stor y
seemed to be emerging. Wondering if the New York Times was takin g
a maverick stance, I visited the CNN Web site and read, "Bechte l
Wins Iraq Contract ." The CNN story was very similar to the one i n
the Times, except it added ,
Several other companies have at various times bee n
reported as possible competitors for the job, either as
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Part IV : 1981—Present

primary bidders or as parts of teams, including th e
Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) unit of Halliburton Co . —
of which Vice President Dick Cheney once was CEO . . .
[Already] Halliburton has won a contract, which coul d
be worth $7 billion and could last up to two years, t o
make emergency repairs to Iraq's oil infrastructure .4
The story of the march to global empire did indeed appear to b e
leaking out . Not the details, not the fact that it was a tragic story of
debt, deception, enslavement, exploitation, and the most blatan t
grab in history for the hearts, minds, souls, and resources of peopl e
around the world . Nothing in these articles hinted that the story o f
Iraq in 2003 was the continuation of a shameful story . Nor did the y
disclose that this story, as old as empire, has now taken on new an d
terrifying dimensions, both because of its magnitude during this
time of globalization and because of the subtlety with which it is ex ecuted . Despite its shortfalls, however, the story did appear to b e
leaking out, almost reluctantly.
The idea of the reluctant story, leaking out, hit very close to home .
It reminded me of my own personal story and of the many years I
had postponed telling it . I had known for a very long time that I ha d
a confession to make ; still, I postponed making it. Thinking back, I
see that my doubts, the whisperings of guilt, were there from the be ginning . They had started in Claudine's apartment, even before I
made the commitment to go to Indonesia on that first trip, and the y
had haunted me almost incessantly all these years .
I also knew that had the doubts, the pain, and the guilt not constantly nagged me, I would never have gotten out. Like so many others ,
I would have been stuck. I would not have stood on a beach in th e
Virgin Islands and decided to quit MAIN. Yet, I was still deferring,
just as we as a culture continue to defer .
These headlines seemed to hint at the alliance between big corporations, international banks, and governments, but like my MAI N
resume, the stories barely touched the surface . It was a gloss . Th e
real story had little to do with the fact that the major engineering
and construction firms were once again receiving billions of dollars
to develop a country in our image — among a people who in all like lihood had no desire to reflect that image — or that an elite band o f

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men was repeating an age-old ritual of abusing the privileges of thei r
high government positions .
That picture is just too simple . It implies that all we need to do ,
if we decide to right the wrongs of the system, is to throw these me n
out. It feeds into the conspiracy theories and thereby provides a
convenient excuse to turn on the TV and forget about it all, comfortabl e
in our third-grade view of history, which runs : "They" will take care of
it; the ship of state is seaworthy and will get nudged back on course . We
may have to wait for the next election, but all will turn out for the best .
The real story of modern empire — of the corporatocracy that exploits desperate people and is executing history's most brutal, selfish ,
and ultimately self-destructive resource-grab — has little to do wit h
what was exposed in the newspapers that morning and has every thing to do with us. And that, of course, explains why we have suc h
difficulty listening to the real story We prefer to believe the myt h
that thousands of years of human social evolution has finally perfected the ideal economic system, rather than to face the fact we hav e
merely bought into a false concept and accepted it as gospel. We have
convinced ourselves that all economic growth benefits humankind ,
and that the greater the growth, the more widespread the benefits .
Finally we have persuaded one another that the corollary to thi s
concept is valid and morally just : that people who excel at stokin g
the fires of economic growth should be exalted and rewarded, whil e
those born at the fringes are available for exploitation .
This concept and its corollary are used to justify all manner o f
piracy—licenses are granted to rape and pillage and murder innocent people in Iran, Panama, Colombia, Iraq, and elsewhere . EHMs,
jackals, and armies flourish for as long as their activities can b e
shown to generate economic growth — and they almost alway s
demonstrate such growth . Thanks to the biased "sciences" of fore casting, econometrics, and statistics, if you bomb a city and then re build it, the data shows a huge spike in economic growth .
The real story is that we are living a lie . Like my MAIN resume ,
we have created a veneer that hides the fatal cancers beneath th e
surface . Those cancers are exposed by the X-rays of our statistics ,
which disclose the terrifying fact that history's most powerful an d
wealthiest empire has outrageously high rates of suicide, drug abuse ,
divorce, child molestation, rape, and murder, and that like a malignant

cancer, these afflictions spread their tentacles in an ever-widenin g
radius every year . In our hearts, each of us feels the pain . We cry out
for change . Yet, we slam our fists to our mouths, stifling those cries ,
and so we go unheard .
It would be great if we could just blame it all on a conspiracy but w e
cannot. The empire depends on the efficacy of big banks, corporations ,
and governments —the corporatocracy— but it is not a conspiracy .
This corporatocracy is ourselves—we make it happen —which, o f
course, is why most of us find it difficult to stand up and oppose it .
We would rather glimpse conspirators lurking in the shadows, because most of us work for one of those banks, corporations, or governments, or in some way are dependent on them for the goods an d
services they produce and market . We cannot bring ourselves to bite
the hand of the master who feeds us .
That is the situation I was pondering as I sat staring at the head lines on the screen of my computer . And it raised a number of questions. How do you rise up against a system that appears to provid e
you with your home and car, food and clothes, electricity and healt h
care — even when you know that the system also creates a worl d
where twenty-four thousand people starve to death each day an d
millions more hate you, or at least hate the policies made by representatives you elected? How do you muster the courage to step out
of line and challenge concepts you and your neighbors have alway s
accepted as gospel, even when you suspect that the system is ready
to self-destruct? Slowly, I stood up and headed back to the house t o
pour myself another cup of coffee .
I took a short detour and picked up my copy of the Palm Beach
Post, lying near the mailbox beside our driveway . It had the same
Bechtel-Iraq article, copyrighted by the New York Times . But now I
noticed the date on the masthead : April 18 . It is a famous date, at
least in New England, instilled in me by my Revolutionary War minded parents and by Longfellow's poem :
Listen, my children, and you shall hea r
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five ;
Hardly a man is now aliv e
Who remembers that famous day and year.

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217

This year, Good Friday happened to fall on the anniversary o f
Paul Revere's ride . Seeing that date on the front page of the Pos t
made me think of the colonial silversmith racing his horse throug h
the dark streets of New England towns, waving his hat and shouting ,
"The British are coming!" Revere had risked his life to spread th e
word, and loyal Americans responded . They stopped the empire ,
back then .
I wondered what had motivated them, why those colonial Amer icans were willing to step out of line . Many of the ringleaders had
been prosperous . What had inspired them to risk their businesses, t o
bite the hand that fed them, to risk their lives? Each of them undoubtedly had personal reasons, and yet there must have been som e
unifying force, some energy or catalyst, a spark that ignited all thos e
individual fires at that single moment in history.
And then it came to me : words.
The telling of the real story about the British Empire and its selfis h
and ultimately self-destructive mercantile system had provided tha t
spark. The exposure of the underlying meaning, through the word s
of men like Tom Paine and Thomas Jefferson, fired the imagination s
of their countrymen, opened hearts and minds . The colonists bega n
to question, and when they did, they discovered a new reality tha t
cut away at the deceits . They discerned the truth behind the patina,
understood the way the British Empire had manipulated, deceived ,
and enslaved them .
They saw that their English masters had formulated a system an d
then had managed to convince most people of a lie —that it was th e
best system mankind could offer, that the prospects for a bette r
world depended on channeling resources through the King of Eng land, that an imperial approach to commerce and politics was th e
most efficient and humane means of helping the majority of the peo ple — when in fact the truth was that the system enriched only a ver y
few at the expense of the many . This lie, and the resulting exploitation, endured and expanded for decades, until a handful of philosophers, businessmen, farmers, fishermen, frontiersmen, writers, an d
orators began to speak the truth .
Words . I thought about their power as I refilled my coffee cup,
walked back to my office, and returned to the computer .

I logged off the CNN Web site and brought up the file I had bee n
working on the night before . I read the last paragraph I had written :
This story must be told. We live in a time of terrible crisi s
— and tremendous opportunity The story of this particula r
economic hit man is the story of how we got to where w e
are and why we currently face crises that seem insurmountable. This story must be told because only b y
understanding our past mistakes will we be able to tak e
advantage of future opportunities .. . . Most importantly,
this story must be told because today, for the first time in
history, one nation has the ability, the money, and th e
power to change all this . It is the nation where I was bor n
and the one I served as an EHM : the United States o f
America.
This time I would not stop . The coincidences of my life and the
choices I had made around them had brought me to this point . I
would move forward.
I thought again of that other man, that lone rider gallopin g
through the dark New England countryside, shouting out his warning. The silversmith knew that the words of Paine had preceded him ,
that people had read those words in their homes and discussed the m
in the taverns . Paine had pointed out the truth about the tyranny o f
the British Empire . Jefferson would proclaim that our nation wa s
dedicated to the principles of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness . And Revere, riding through the night, understood that me n
and women throughout the colonies would be empowered by those
words ; they would rise up and fight for a better world .
Words ...
I made my decision to stop procrastinating, to finish finally wha t
I had started so many times over all those years, to come clean, t o
confess — to write the words in this book .

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Part Iv : 1981-Present

Piercing the Veneer 219

a:: EPILOGU E

We have arrived at the end of this book, and also at a beginning . You
are probably wondering where to go next, what you can do to stop
the corporatocracy and to end this insane and self-destructive marc h
to global empire . You are ready to leave the book behind and pounc e
on the world .
You want ideas, and I could offer you some .
I could point out that the chapter you just read, about Bechte l
and Halliburton in Iraq, is old news . By the time you read it, it may
seem redundant . However, the significance of those newspaper articles goes far beyond the timeliness of their content . That chapter,
I hope, will change the way you view the news, help you to rea d
between the lines of every newspaper article that comes before yo u
and to question the deeper implications of every radio and televisio n
report you tune in to.
Things are not as they appear . NBC is owned by General Electric ,
ABC by Disney, CBS by Viacom, and CNN is part of the huge AO L
Time Warner conglomerate. Most of our newspapers, magazines,
and publishing houses are owned — and manipulated —by gigantic
international corporations . Our media is part of the corporatocracy.
The officers and directors who control nearly all our communications outlets know their places ; they are taught throughout life that
one of their most important jobs is to perpetuate, strengthen, an d
expand the system they have inherited . They are very efficient at do ing so, and when opposed, they can be ruthless . So the burden falls
on you to see the truth beneath the veneer and to expose it . Speak i t
to your family and friends ; spread the word .
I could give you a list of practical things to do . For instance, cu t
back on your oil consumption . In 1990, before we first invaded Iraq,
we imported 8 million barrels of oil ; by 2003 and the second invasion, this had increased more than 50 percent, to over 12 millio n
barrels .' The next time you are tempted to go shopping, read a boo k
instead, exercise, or meditate . Downsize your home, wardrobe, car ,
office, and most everything else in your life . Protest against "free"

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trade agreements and against companies that exploit desperat e
people in sweatshops or that pillage the environment .
I could tell you that there is great hope within the current system,
that there is nothing inherently wrong with banks, corporations, an d
governments — or with the people who manage them — and tha t
they certainly do not have to compose a corporatocracy . I could go
into detail about how the problems confronting us today are not th e
result of malicious institutions ; rather, they stem from fallaciou s
concepts about economic development . The fault lies not in the insti tutions themselves, but in our perceptions of the manner in whic h
they function and interact with one another, and of the role thei r
managers play in that process.
In fact, those highly effective worldwide communications an d
distribution networks could be used to bring about positive an d
compassionate changes . Imagine if the Nike swoosh, MacDonald's
arches, and Coca-Cola logo became symbols of companies whos e
primary goals were to clothe and feed the world's poor in environ mentally beneficial ways . This is no more unrealistic than putting a
man on the moon, breaking up the Soviet Union, or creating the in frastructure that allows those companies to reach every corner of th e
planet . We need a revolution in our approach to education, to em power ourselves and our children to think, to question, and to dar e
to act. You can set an example . Be a teacher and a student ; inspire
everyone around you through your example .
I could encourage you to take specific actions that will impact th e
institutions in your life . Speak out whenever any forum presents itself,
write letters and e-mails, phone in questions and concerns, vot e
for enlightened school boards, county commissions, and local ordinances . When you must shop, do it consciously ; get personally involved .
I could remind you of what the Shuars told me in 1990, that th e
world is as you dream it, and that we can trade in that old nightmar e
of polluting industries, clogged highways, and overcrowded cities fo r
a new dream based on Earth-honoring and socially responsible prin ciples of sustainability and equality . It is within our power to transform ourselves, to change the paradigm .
I could enumerate the amazing opportunities we have availabl e
to us for creating a better world, right now : enough food and water for
everyone ; medicines to cure diseases and to prevent epidemics tha t
needlessly plague millions of people today ; transportation systems

that can deliver life 's essentials to even the most remote corners o f
the planet ; the ability to raise literacy levels and to provide Internet
services that could make it possible for every person on the planet t o
communicate with every other person ; tools for conflict resolution
that could render wars obsolete ; technologies that explore both the
vastness of space and the most minute, subatomic energy, whic h
could then be applied to developing more ecologic and efficien t
homes for everyone ; sufficient resources to accomplish all of th e
above ; and much more .
I could suggest steps for you to take immediately, to help other s
understand the crises and the opportunities .
• Offer study groups about Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
at your local bookstore or library, or both (a guideline for doing
this is available at www.JohnPerkins.org) .
• Develop a presentation for a nearby elementary school on you r
favorite subject (sports, cooking, ants — almost anything), an d
use it to help students wake up to the true nature of the societ y
they are inheriting .
• Send e-mails to all the addresses in your file, expressing feeling s
triggered by this and other books you read .
But I suspect you have already thought of most of these things .
You just need to pick a couple that most appeal to you and do them ,
and to realize that all of these are part of a much greater commitmen t
that you and I must make . We must commit ourselves absolutel y
and unequivocally to shaking ourselves and everyone around us
awake. We must hear the wisdom of the prophecies, open our hearts
and minds to the possibilities, become conscious, and then take action .
However, this book is not a prescription ; it is a confession, pure
and simple. It is the confession of a man who allowed himself to be come a pawn, an economic hit man ; a man who bought into a corrupt system because it offered so many perks, and because buying i n
was easy to justify ; a man who knew better but who could alway s
find excuses for his own greed, for exploiting desperate people an d
pillaging the planet ; a man who took full advantage of the fact tha t
he was born into one of the wealthiest societies history has eve r
known, and who also could pity himself because his parents wer e
not at the top of the pyramid ; a man who listened to his teachers ,

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Confessions of an Economic Hit man

Epilogue 223

read the textbooks on economic development, and then followed the
example of other men and women who legitimatize every action that
promotes global empire, even if that action results in murder, genocide, and environmental destruction ; a man who trained others t o
follow in his footsteps . It is my confession .
The fact that you have read this far indicates that you can relat e
on some personal level to my confession, that you and I share a lot i n
common . We may have traveled different roads, but we have drive n
similar vehicles, used the same fuels, and stopped to eat at restaurants owned by the same corporations.
For me, confessing was an essential part of my personal wake-u p
call. Like all confessions, it is the first step toward redemption.
Now it is your turn. You need to make your own confession .
When you come clean on who you are, why you are here during thi s
time in history, why you have done the things you have — the one s
you are proud of, and those others—and where you intend to g o
next, you will experience an immediate sense of relief . It may be
nothing less than euphoric .
Believe me when I say that writing this book has been deepl y
emotional, and often a painful and humiliating experience . It has
been frightening in a way nothing I ever faced before has bee n
frightening . But it has opened me to a sense of relief I have never
known until now, a feeling I can only describe as ecstatic .
Ask yourself these questions . What do I need to confess? Ho w
have I deceived myself and others? Where have I deferred? Wh y
have I allowed myself to be sucked into a system that I know is un balanced? What will I do to make sure our children, and all childre n
everywhere, are able to fulfill the dream of our Founding Fathers, th e
dream of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? What course wil l
I take to end the needless starvation, and make sure there is neve r
again a day like September 11? How can I help our children under stand that people who live gluttonous, unbalanced lives should b e
pitied but never, ever emulated, even if those people present them selves, through the media they control, as cultural icons and try t o
convince us that penthouses and yachts bring happiness? Wha t
changes will I commit to making in my attitudes and perceptions ?
What forums will I use to teach others and to learn more on my own ?
These are the essential questions of our time . Each of us need s
to answer them in our own way and to express our answers clearly,

unequivocally. Paine and Jefferson and all the other patriots ar e
watching over our shoulders. Their words continue to inspire us to day. The spirits of those men and women who left their farms an d
fishing boats and headed out to confront the mighty British Empire ,
and of those who fought to emancipate the slaves during the Civil
War, and of those who sacrificed their lives to protect the world from
fascism, speak to us . As do the spirits of the ones who stayed at hom e
and produced the food and clothes and gave their moral support ,
and of all the men and women who have defended what was won o n
those battlefields : the teachers, poets, artists, entrepreneurs, healt h
workers, the manual laborers . .. you and me .
The hour is ours . It is now time for each and every one of us t o
step up to the battle line, to ask the important questions, to searc h
our souls for our own answers, and to take action .
The coincidences of your life, and the choices you have made i n
response to them, have brought you to this point .. .

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Confessions of an Economic Hit man

Epilogue

225

JOHN PERKINS PERSONAL HISTORY
1973

196 3
196 4
196 5
196 6
1967

196 8

1969

197 0
197 1

1972

Graduates prep school, enters Middlebury College .
Befriends Farhad, son of an Iranian general . Drops
out of Middlebury
Works for Hearst newspapers in Boston .
Enters Boston University College of Busines s
Administration .
Marries former Middlebury classmate, whose "Uncl e
Frank" is a top-echelon executive at the National
Security Agency (NSA) .
Profiled by the NSA as an ideal economic hit man .
With Uncle Frank's blessing, joins the Peace Corp s
and is assigned to the Ecuadorian Amazon, where
ancient indigenous tribes battle U.S. oil companies.
Lives in the rain forest and the Andes . Experience s
firsthand the deceitful and destructive practices employed by oil companies and government agencies ,
and their negative impacts on local cultures an d
environments .
In Ecuador, meets vice president of international con sulting firm MAIN, who is also an NSA liaison officer .
Joins MAIN, undergoes clandestine training i n
Boston as an economic hit man (EHM), and is sen t
as part of an eleven-man team to Java, Indonesia .
Struggles with conscience over pressure to falsify
economic studies .
Due to willingness to "cooperate," is promoted to chie f
economist and is viewed as a "whiz kid ." Meets important leaders, including World Bank president
Robert McNamara. Sent on special assignment t o
Panama . Befriended by Panamanian president an d
charismatic leader, Omar Torrijos ; learns about history of U.S. imperialism and Torrijos's determination

1974

1975

197 6

1977

1978

197 9

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to transfer Canal ownership from the United State s
to Panama .
Career skyrockets . Builds empire within MAIN ;
continues work in Panama ; travels extensively an d
conducts studies in Asia, Latin America, and th e
Middle East.
Instrumental in initiating a huge EHM success i n
Saudi Arabia . Royal family agrees to invest billion s
of dollars of oil income in U.S. securities and to allow
the U.S . Department of the Treasury to use the inter est from those investments to hire U .S. firms to build
power and water systems, highways, ports, and citie s
in the kingdom . In exchange, the United States guarantees that the royal family will continue to rule .
This will serve as a model for future EHM deals, including one that ultimately fails in Iraq .
Promoted again — to youngest partner in MAIN' s
one hundred-year history— and named manager o f
Economics and Regional Planning . Publishes series
of influential papers ; lectures at Harvard and othe r
institutions .
Heads major projects around the world, in Africa ,
Asia, Latin America, North America, and the Middl e
East. Learns from the shah of Iran a revolutionar y
approach to EHM empire building .
Due to personal relationships in Colombia, become s
exposed to the plight of farmers who are branded as
communist terrorists and drug traffickers, but are i n
fact peasants trying to protect their families and homes .
Rushed out of Iran by Farhad. Together, they fly to
the Rome home of Farhad's father, an Iranian general, who predicts the shah's imminent ouster an d
blames U.S. policy, corrupt leaders, and despotic governments for the hatred sweeping the Middle East.
He warns that if the United States does not becom e
more compassionate, the situation will deteriorate .
Struggles with conscience as the shah flees his countr y
and Iranians storm the U.S. Embassy, taking fifty-two
John Perkins Personal History 227

1980

1981

1982

1983–1989

1990–1991

1992–2000

hostages . Realizes that the United States is a natio n
laboring to deny the truth about its imperialist rol e
in the world. After years of tension and frequent separations, divorces first wife .
Suffers from deep depression, guilt, and the realization that money and power have trapped him a t
MAIN. Quits .
Is deeply disturbed when Ecuador's president Jaim e
Roldos (who has campaigned on an anti-oil platform )
and Panama's Omar Torrijos (who has incurred the
wrath of powerful Washington interests, due to his
positions on the Panama Canal and U .S. military
bases) die in fiery airplane crashes that have all th e
markings of CIA assassinations . Marries for the second time, to a woman whose father is chief architec t
at Bechtel Corporation and is in charge of designin g
and building cities in Saudi Arabia —work finance d
through the 1974 EHM deal .
Creates Independent Power Systems Inc . (IPS), a
company committed to producing environmentall y
friendly electricity. Fathers Jessica .
Succeeds spectacularly as IPS CEO, with much hel p
from "coincidences" — people in high places, tax
breaks, etc . As a father, frets over world crises and
former EHM role . Begins writing a tell-all book, but
is offered a lucrative consultants' retainer on the condition that he not write the book.
Following the U.S. invasion of Panama and imprisonment of Noriega, sells IPS and retires at forty-five .
Contemplates book about life as an EHM, but instead is persuaded to direct energies toward creatin g
a nonprofit organization, an effort which, he is told ,
would be negatively impacted by such a book.
Watches the EHM failures in Iraq that result in th e
first Gulf War. Three times starts to write the EH M
book, but instead gives in to threats and bribes . Trie s
to assuage conscience by writing books about indigenous peoples, supporting nonprofit organizations,

teaching at New Age forums, traveling to the Amazo n
and the Himalayas, meeting with the Dalai Lama, etc .
2001–2002 Leads a group of North Americans deep into the
Amazon, and is there with an indigenous tribe o n
September If, 2001 . Spends a day at Ground Zero
and commits to writing the book that can heal hi s
pain and expose the truth behind EHMs .
2003–2004 Returns to the Ecuadorian Amazon to meet wit h
the indigenous tribes who have threatened wa r
against the oil companies ; writes Confessions of a n
Economic Hit Man.

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John Perkins Personal History

229

5. Chris Jochnick, " Perilous Prosperity, " New Internationalist, June 2001,
http ://www.newint .org/issue335/perilous .htm . For more extensive information, see also Pamela Martin, The Globalization of Contentious Politics :
The Amazonian Indigenous Rights Movement (New York : Rutledge,
2002) ; Kimerling,Amazon Crude (New York: Natural Resource Defens e
Council, 1991) ; Leslie Wirpsa, trans ., Upheaval in the Back Yard: Illegitimate Debts and Human Rights — The Case of Ecuador-Norway (Quito ,
Ecuador : Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales, 2002) ; and Gregory
Palast, "Inside Corporate America," Guardian, October 8, 2000 .

NOTE S

Prefac e
1.The United Nations World Food Programme, http ://www.wfp .org/
index.asp?section=l (accessed December 27, 2003) . In addition, the
National Association for the Prevention of Starvation estimates that " Everyday 34,000 children under five die of hunger or preventable disease s
resulting from hunger" (http ://www .napsoc.org, accessed December 27,
2003) . Starvation.net estimates that "if we were to add the next two leading ways (after starvation) the poorest of the poor die, waterborne disease s
and AIDS, we would be approaching a daily body count of 50,000 deaths "
(http ://www .starvation .net, accessed December 27, 2003) .
2. U.S . Department of Agriculture findings, reported by the Food Researc h
and Action Center (FRAC), http ://www.frac.org (accessed December 27 ,
2003) .
3. United Nations . Human Development Report . (New York : United Nations ,
1999) .
4. "In 1998, the United Nations Development Program estimated that it woul d
cost an additional $9 billion (above current expenditures) to provide clea n
water and sanitation for everyone on earth. It would cost an additional $1 2
billion, they said, to cover reproductive health services for all women world wide . Another $13 billion would be enough not only to give every person o n
earth enough food to eat but also basic health care . An additional $6 billion could provide basic education for all . . . Combined they add up to $4 0
billion"—John Robbins, author of Diet for a New America and The Foo d
Revolution, http ://www.foodrevolution .org (accessed December 27, 2003).

Prologu e
1. Gina Chavez et al ., Tarimiat—Firmes enNuestro Territorio : FIPSE vs.
ARCO . eds. Mario Melo and Juana Sotomayor (Quito, Ecuador : CDES an d
CONAIE, 2002) .
2. Sandy Tolan, " Ecuador : Lost Promises," National Public Radio, Morning
Edition, July 9, 2003, http ://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/
2003/jul/latinoil (accessed July 9, 2003) .
3. Juan Forero, "Seeking Balance : Growth vs . Culture in the Amazon, New
York Times, December 10, 2003 .
4. Abby Ellin, " Suit Says ChevronTexaco Dumped Poisons in Ecuador," New
York Times, May 8, 2003 .

6. For information about the impact of oil on national and global economies ,
see Michael T. Klare, Resource Wars : The New Landscape of Global Conflict
(New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2001) ; Daniel Yergin, The Prize : The
Epic Quest for Oil, Money c' Power (New York: Free Press, 1993) ; an d
Daniel Yergin and Joseph Stanislaw, The Commanding Heights : The Battle
for the World Economy (New York : Simon & Schuster, 2001) .
7.James S . Henry, "Where the Money Went," Across the Board, March/Apri l
2004, pp 42-45 . For more information, see Henry's book The Bloo d
Bankers : Tales from the Global Underground Economy (New York: Fou r
Walls Eight Windows, 2003) .
8. Gina Chavez et al., Tarimiat—Firmes en Nuestro Territorio : FIPSE vs .
ARCO, eds . Mario Melo and Juana Sotomayor (Quito, Ecuador : CDES an d
CONAIE, 2002) ; Petroleo, Ambiente y Derechos en la Amazonia Centr o
Sur, Edition Victor Lopez A, Centro de Derechos Economicos y Sociales ,
OPIP, IACYT-A (under the auspices of Oxfam America) (Quito, Ecuador :
Sergrafic, 2002) .
9. Sandy Tolan, " Ecuador: Lost Promises," National Public Radio, Morning
Edition, July 9, 2003, http ://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features /
2003/jul/latinoil (accessed July 9, 2003) .
10. For more on the jackals and other types of hit men, see P . W. Singer, Corporate Warriors : The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca, NY
and London : Cornell University Press, 2003) ; James R. Davis, Fortune 's
Warriors: PrivateArmies and the New World Order (Vancouver an d
Toronto : Douglas & McIntyre, 2000) ; Felix I . Rodriguez and John Weisman, Shadow Warrior : The CIA Hero oflOO Unknown Battles (New York :
Simon and Schuster, 1989) .

Chapter 2 . "In for Life "
1. For a detailed account of this fateful operation, see Stephen Kinzer, All th e

Shah's Men : An American Coup and the Roots of Middle East Terro r
(Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc ., 2003) .
2. Jane Mayer, "Contract Sport : What Did the Vice-President Do for Halliburton?", New Yorker, February 16 & 23, 2004, p 83 .

Chapter 3 . Indonesia : Lessons for an EH M
1 . For more on Indonesia and its history, see Jean Gelman Taylor, Indonesia :

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Notes 231

Peoples and Histories (New Haven and London : Yale University Press ,
2003) ; and Theodore Friend, Indonesian Destinies (Cambridge MA and
London : The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 2003) .

Chapter 6 . My Role as Inquisito r
1 . Theodore Friend, Indonesian Destinies (Cambridge MA and London : The
Belknap Press of Harvard University 2003), p 5 .

Chapter 10 . Panama's President and Hero
1.See David McCullough, The Path Between the Seas : The Creation of the
Panama Canal 1870-1914 (New York : Simon and Schuster, 1999) ; Willia m
Friar, Portrait ofthe Panama Canal : From Construction to the Twenty-Firs t
Century (New York: Graphic Arts Publishing Company, 1999) ; Graham
Greene, Conversations with the General (New York: Pocket Books, 1984) .
2. See "Zapata Petroleum Corp .", Fortune, April 1958, p 248 ; Darwin Payne ,
Initiative in Energy : Dresser Industries, Inc . 1880-1978 (New York: Simo n
and Schuster, 1979) ; Steve Pizzo et al ., Inside Job: The Looting ofAmerica 's
Savings and Loans (New York : McGraw Hill, 1989) ; Gary Webb, Dark Alliance : The CIA, The Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion (New York :
Seven Stories Press, 1999) ; Gerard Colby and Charlotte Denner, Thy Wil l
Be Done, The Conquest of the Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelis m
in theAge of Oil (NewYork: HarperCollins, 1995) .
3. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega. America 's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997) ; Omar Torrijos Herrera,
Ideario (Editorial Universitaria Centroamericano, 1983) ; Graham Greene ,
Conversations with the General (New York : Pocket Books, 1984) .
4. Graham Greene, Conversations with the General (New York: Pocket Books,
1984) ; Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega,
America 's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997) .
5. Derrick Jensen, A Language Older than Words (New York : Context Books ,
2000), pp 86-88 .
6. Graham Greene, Conversations with the General (New York: Pocket Books,
1984) ; Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Xoriega.
America 's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997) .

Chapter 13 . Conversations with the Genera l
1. William Shawcross : The Shah's Last Ride: The Fate ofan Ally (New York :
Simon and Schuster, 1988) ; Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah's Men: AnAmeriean Coup and the Roots ofMiddle East Terror (Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2003), p 45 .
2. A great deal has been written about Arbenz, United Fruit, and the violen t
history of Guatemala ; see for example (my Boston University political science professor) Howard Zinn,A People 's History of the United States (New
York : Harper & Row, 1980) ; Diane K. Stanley, For the Record : The United

Fruit Company's Sixty-At Years in Guatemala (Guatemala City : Centro
Impresor Piedra Santa, 1994) . For quick references : " The Banana Republic:
The United Fruit Company," http ://www.mayaparadise.com/ufcle .html ;
" CIA Involved in Guatemala Coup, 1954," http ://www.english .upenn .edu /
-afilreis/50s/guatemala.html. For more on the Bush family's involvement :
" Zapata Petroleum Corp .," Fortune, April 1958, p 248 .

Chapter 14 . Entering a New and Sinister Period in Economic Histor y
1 . " Robert S . McNamara : 8th Secretary of Defense,"
http ://www.defenselink.mil (accessed December 23, 2003) .

Chapter 15 . The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affai r
1. For more on the events leading up to the 1973 oil embargo and the impact
of the embargo, see : Thomas W. Lippman, Inside the Mirage : America 's
Fragile Partnership with Saudi Arabia (Boulder CO : Westview Press,
2004), pp 155-159 ; Daniel Yergin, The Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money
Es Power (New York : Free Press, 1993) ; Stephen Schneider, The Oil Price
Revolution (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983) ; Ian Seymour, OPEC: Instrument ofChange (London : McMillan, 1980) .
2. Thomas W Lippman, Inside the Mirage : America 's Fragile Partnership
with Saudi Arabia (Boulder CO : Westview Press, 2004), p 160 .
3. David Holden and Richard Johns, The House ofSaud : The Rise and Rule of
the Most Powerful Dynasty in the Arab World (New York : Holt Rinehart
and Winston, 1981), p 359 .
4. Thomas W. Lippman, Inside the Mirage : America 's Fragile Partnership
with SaudiArabia (Boulder CO : Westview Press, 2004), p 167 .

Chapter 16 . Pimping, and Financing Osama bin Lade n
1. Robert Baer, Sleeping with the Devil : How Washington Sold Our Soul fo r
Saudi Oil (New York : Crown Publishers, 2003), p 26 .
2. Thomas W. Lippman, Inside the Mirage: America 's Fragile Partnership
with Saudi Arabia (Boulder CO : Westview Press, 2004), p 162 .
3. Thomas W. Lippman, Inside the Mirage : America 's Fragile Partnership
with SaudiArabia (Boulder CO : Westview Press, 2004), p 2 .
4. Henry Wasswa, " Idi Amin, Murderous Ugandan Dictator, Dies," Associate d
Press, August 17, 2003 .
5. "The Saudi Connection," U.S. News € World Report, December 15, 2003, p 21 .
6. " The Saudi Connection," U.S. News £: World Report, December 15, 2003,
pp 19, 20, 26 .
7. Craig Unger, "Saving the Saudis," Vanity Fair, October 2003 . For more on
the Bush family's involvement, Bechtel, etc., see : "Zapata Petroleum Corp .,"
Fortune, April 1958, p 248 ; Darwin Payne, Initiative in Energy : Dresse r
Industries, Inc. 1880-1978 (New York : Simon and Schuster, 1979) ; Nathan

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Vardi, "Desert Storm : Bechtel Group Is Leading the Charge," and "Contact s
for Contracts," both in Forbes, June 23, 2003, pp 63-66 ; Graydon Carter,
"Editor's Letter : Fly the Friendly Skies . . ." Vanity Fair, October 2003 ;
Richard A. Oppel with Diana B . Henriques, "A Nation at War : The Con tractor. Company has ties in Washington, and to Iraq," New York Times ,
April 18, 2003 .

Chapter 17 . Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham Green e
1.See for example : John M . Perkins, "Colonialism in Panama Has No Place i n
1975," Boston Evening Globe, Op-Ed page, September 19, 1975 ; John M .
Perkins, " U.S .-Brazil Pact Upsets Ecuador, " The Boston Globe, Op-Ed page ,
May-10, 1976 .
2. For examples of papers by John Perkins published in technical journals ,
see : John M . Perkins et al ., 'A Markov Process Applied to Forecasting, Par t
I — Economic Development " and "A Markov Process Applied to Forecasting, Part II — The Demand for Electricity," The Institute of Electrical an d
Electronics Engineers, Conference Papers C 73 475-1 (July 1973) and C 7 4
146-7 (January 1974), respectively ; John M . Perkins and Nadipuram R.
Prasad, "A Model for Describing Direct and Indirect Interrelationship s
Between the Economy and the Environment, " Consulting Engineer, Apri l
1973 ; Edwin Vennard, John M . Perkins, and Robert C. Ender, " Electric
Demand from Interconnected Systems," TAPPI Journal (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry), 28th Conference Edition, 1974 ;
John M . Perkins et al ., "Iranian Steel : Implications for the Economy an d
the Demand for Electricity" and "Markov Method Applied to Planning, "
presented at the Fourth Iranian Conference on Engineering, Pahlavi University, Shiraz, Iran, May 12-16, 1974 ; and Economic Theories andApplications : A Collection of Technical Papers with a Foreward by John M . Perkins
(Boston : Chas . T. Main, Inc ., 1975) .
3. John M . Perkins, " Colonialism in Panama Has No Place in 1975," Bosto n
Evening Globe, Op-Ed page, September 19, 1975 .
4. Graham Greene, Getting to Know the General (New York : Pocket Books ,
1984), pp 89-90 .
5. Graham Greene, Getting to Know the General (New York : Pocket Books ,
1984) .

Chapter 18 . Iran's King of King s
1. William Shawcross, The Shah 's Last Ride : The Fate of an Ally (New York :
Simon and Schuster, 1988) . For more about the Shah's rise to power, se e
H . D . S . Greenway, "The Iran Conspiracy, " New York Review of Books ,
September 23, 2003 ; Stephen Kinzer, All the Shah 's Men : An American
Coup and the Roots ofMiddle East Terror (Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2003) .
2. For more about Yamin, the Flowering Desert project, and Iran, see Joh n
Perkins, Shapes/lifting (Rochester, VT : Destiny Books, 1997) .

Chapter 20 . The Fall of a Kin g
1. For more about the Shah's rise to power, see H .D .S . Greenway, "The Iran
Conspiracy," New York Review ofBooks, September 23, 2003 ; Stephe n
Kinzer, All the Shah 's Men : An American Coup and the Roots ofMiddle
East Terror (Hoboken, NJ : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2003) .
2. See TIME magazine cover articles on the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ,
February 12, 1979, January 7, 1980, and August 17, 1987 .

Chapter 21 . Colombia : Keystone of Latin Americ a
1 . Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennet, Thy Will Be Done, The Conquest of th e
Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in theAge of Oil (New York :
HarperCollins, 1995), p 381 .

Chapter 24 . Ecuador's President Battles Big Oi l
1. For extensive details on SIL, its history, activities, and association with the
oil companies and the Rockefellers, see Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennet ,

Thy Will Be Done, The Conquest of the Amazon : Nelson Rockefeller an d
Evangelism in the Age of Oil (New York : HarperCollins, 1995) ; Joe Kane,
Savages (New York : Alfred A . Knopf, 1995) (for information on Rachel
Saint, pp 85, 156, 227) .

2. John D . Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick an d
Oxford : Transaction Books, 1987), p 272 .
3. Jose Carvajal Candall, " Objetivos y Politicas de CEPE " (Quito, Ecuador :
Primer Seminario, 1979), p 88 .

Chapter 26 . Ecuador's Presidential Deat h
1.John D . Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick and Ox ford : Transaction Books, 1987), p 272 .
2. Gerard Colby and Charlotte Dennet : Thy Will Be Done, The Conquest of th e
Amazon: Nelson Rockefeller and Evangelism in theAge of Oil (New York ,
HarperCollins, 1995), p 813 .
3. John D. Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick and Ox ford : Transaction Books, 1987), p 303 .
4. John D. Martz, Politics and Petroleum in Ecuador (New Brunswick and Ox ford : Transaction Books, 1987), pp 381, 400 .

Chapter 27 . Panama : Another Presidential Deat h
1.Graham Greene, Getting to Know the General (New York : Pocket Books,
1984), p H .
2. George Shultz was secretary of the Treasury and chairman of the Counci l
on Economic Policy under Nixon-Ford, 1972-1974, executive president o r
president of Bechtel , 1974-1982, secretary of state under Reagan-Bush ,
1982-1989 ; Caspar Weinberger was director of the Office of Managemen t
and Budget and secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Nixon -

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2. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhun t
UnlikeAny Other, Ever (Boston : Little, Brown and Company; 2001), p 31-34.

Ford, 1973-75, vice president and general counsel of Bechtel Group ,
1975-80, secretary of defense under Reagan-Bush, 1980-87.

3 . During the 1973 Watergate hearings, in his testimony before the U .S . Sen ate, John Dean was the first to disclose U.S . plots to assassinate Torrijos ; i n
1975, at Senate inquiries into the CIA, chaired by Senator Frank Church,
additional testimony and documentation of plans to kill both Torrijos an d
Noriega were presented . See, for example. Manuel Noriega with Peter
Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America's Prisoner (New York :
Random House, 1997), p 107.

3. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhun t
UnlikeAny Other, Ever (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 43 .
4. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America 's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997), p 212 ; see also Crai g
Unger, " Saving the Saudis," Vanity Fair October 2003, p 165 .
5. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997), p 114 .

Chapter 28 . My Energy Company, Enron, and George W . Bus h

6. See ww'w.famoustexans .com/georgebush .htm, p 2 .

1. For additional information on IPS, its wholly-owned subsidiary Archbal d
Power Corporation, and former CEO John Perkins, see Jack M . Daly an d
Thomas J . Duffy, " Burning Coal's Waste at Archbald," Civil Engineering,
July 1988 ; Vince Coveleskie, "Co-Generation Plant Attributes Cited, " Th e
Scranton Times, October 17, 1987 ; Robert Curran, `Archbald Facility Dedicated," Scranton Tribune, October 17, 1987 ; "Archibald Plant Will Turn
Coal Waste into Power," Citizen 's Voice, Wilkes-Barre, PA, June 6, 1988 ;
"Liabilities to Assets : Culm to Light, Food," editorial, Citizen's Voice,
Wilkes-Barre, PA, June 7, 1988 .

7. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America 's Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 56-57.

2. Joe Conason, " The George W. Bush Success Story, " Harpers Magazine, February 2000 ; Craig Unger, " Saving the Saudis," Vanity Fair. October 2003 ,
p 165 .
3. Craig Unger, " Saving the Saudis," Vanity Fair, October 2003, p 178 .
4. See George Lardner Jr. and Lois Romano, "The Turning Point After Comin g
Up Dry," Washington Post, July 30, 1999 ; Joe Conason, "The George W
Bush Success Story," Harpers Magazine, February 2000 ; and Sam Parry,
"The Bush Family Oiligarchy — Part Two : The Third Generation,"
http :/jwww.newnetizen .com/presidential/bushoiligarchy.htm (accesse d
April 19, 2002) .
5. This theory took on new significance and seemed ready to fall under th e
spotlight of public scrutiny when, years later, it became clear that th e
highly respected accounting firm of Arthur Andersen had conspired wit h
Enron executives to cheat energy consumers, Enron employees, and th e
American public out of billions of dollars . The impending 2003 Iraq war
pushed the spotlight away . During the war, Bahrain played a critical role i n
President George W. Bush 's strategy.

Chapter 29 . I Take a Bribe
1 . Jim Garrison, American Empire: Global Leader or Rogue Power? (San Fran cisco : Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc ., 2004), p 38 .

8. David Harris, Shooting the Moon : The True Story of an American Manhun t
Unlike Any Other, Ever (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 6 .
9. wwlscfamoustexans .com/georgebush .htm, p 3 .
10. David Harris, Shooting the Moon: The True Story of an American Manhun t
Unlike Any Other. Ever (Boston : Little, Brown and Company, 2001), p 4 .
11.Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America's Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 248 .
12. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, America 's Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p 211.
13. Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs ofManuel Noriega, Amerlea's Prisoner (New York: Random House, 1997), p moi •

Chapter 31 . An EHM Failure in Ira q
1 . Morris Barrett, " The Web 's Wild World," TIME, April 26, 1999, p 62 .

Chapter 32 . September 11 and its Aftermath for Me, Personall y
1 . For more about the Huaoranis, see Joe Kane, Savages (New York : Alfred A .
Knopf; 1995) .

Chapter 33 . Venezuela : Saved by Sadda m
1. " Venezuela on the Brink," editorial, New York Times, December 18, 2002 .

2. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, directed by Kim Bartley an d
Donnacha O'Briain (in association with the Irish Film Board, 2003) .
See www.chavezthefilm .com .

3."Venezuelan President Forced to Resign," Associated Press, April 12, 2002 .

Chapter 30 . The United States Invades Panam a

4. Simon Romero, " Tenuous Truce in Venezuela for the State and its Oil Company," New York Times, April 24, 2002 .

1 . Manuel Noriega with Peter Eisner, The Memoirs of Manuel Noriega, America 's Prisoner (New York : Random House, 1997), p 56.

5. Bob Edwards, "What Went Wrong with the Oil Dream in Venezuela, "
National Public Radio, Morning Edition, July 8, 2003 .

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6. Ginger Thompson, "Venezuela Strikers Keep Pressure on Chavez and Oi l
Exports," New York Times, December 30, 2002 .
7. For more on the jackals and other types of hit men, see : P. W. Singer, Corporate Warriors : The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Ithaca NY an d
London : Cornell University Press, 2003) ; James R. Davis, Fortune's Warriors : Private Armies and the New World Order (Vancouver and Toronto :
Douglas & McIntyre, 2000) ; Felix I . Rodriguez and John Weisman ,
Shadow Warrior: The CIA Hero of 100 Unknown Battles (New York : Simon
and Schuster, 1989) .

4 . http ://money.cnn .com/2003/04/17/news/companies/war-hechtel /
index.htm .

Epilogu e
1 . Energy Information Administration, reported in USA Today, March 1 ,
2004, p 1 .

8. Tim Weiner, 'A Coup by Any Other Name," New York Times, April 14, 2002 .
9. "Venezuela Leader Urges 20 Years for Strike Chiefs," Associated Press, February 22, 2003 .
10. Paul Richter. " U.S. Had Talks on Chavez Ouster, " Los Angeles Times, Apri l
17, 2002 .

Chapter 34 . Ecuador Revisite d
1. Chris Jochnick, " Perilous Prosperity," New Internationalist, June 2001,
http ://www.newint.org/issue335/perilous .htm.
2. United Nations . Human Development Report (New York : United Nations ,
1999) .
3. For additional information on the hostage situation, see Alan Zibel, "Natives Seek Redress for Pollution," Oakland Tribune, December 10, 2002 ;
Hoy (Quito, Ecuador daily newspaper) articles of December 10-28, 2003 ;
Achuar Free Eight Oil Hostages, " El Commercio (Quito daily newspaper) ,
December 16, 2002 (also carried by Reuters) ; " Ecuador: Oil Firm Stop s
Work because Staff Seized, Demands Government Action," and "Sarayac u
— Indigenous Groups to Discuss Release of Kidnapped Oil Men, " El Universa (Guayaquil, Ecuador, daily newspaper), http ://www.eluniverso .com,
December 24, 2002 ; and Juan Forero, " Seeking Balance : Growth vs. Culture
in the Amazon," New York Times, December 10, 2003 . Current, update d
information about Ecuador's Amazonian people is available at th e
Pachamama Alliance Web site : http ://www.pachamama.org .

Chapter 35 . Piercing the Venee r
1. National debt statistics from the Bureau of the Public Debt, reported a t
www.publicdebt .treas .gov/opd/opdpenny.htm ; national income statistics
from the World Bank at www.worldbank.org/data/databytopic/GNIPC .pdf.
2. Elizabeth Becker and Richard A. Oppel, 'A Nation at War : Reconstruction .
U .S . Gives Bechtel a Major Contract in Rebuilding Iraq, " New York Times,
April 18, 2003, http ://www.nytimes .com/2003/04/18/international /
worldspecial/18REBU.html .
3. Richard A . Oppel with Diana B . Henriques, "A Nation at War : The Con tractor. Company Has Ties in Washington, and to Iraq ," New York Times,
April 18, 2003, http ://www.nvtimes .com/2003/04/18/international /
worldspecial/18CONT.html .

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INDEX

A
Afghanistan, 96-97, 21 1
Agoyan hydroelectric plant, xix
AIDS medicines, xii
Allen, Ethan, 14 7
Allende, Salvador, 7 8
al-Qaeda, 206, 21 1
Amazon, xvii-xx, 21 0
Ameen, Michael, 16 6
Arvin, Idi, 9 6
Amoco, 16 6
antipollution laws, 164
Arab-Israeli war, 82
Arbenz, Jacob, 72-7 3
Arbusto, 165-166
Arias, Arnulfo, 5 9
Arias family, 17 9
Armas, Carlos Castillo, 73
Ashland Oil Company, 185-18 6
Asian Development Bank, 3 7
assassinations
Hugo Spadafora, 174
Jaime Roldos, ix, 156
Omar Torrijos, ix, 158-16 1

Bechtel Group, Inc ., 73-74, 160, 164 ,
173, 213, 214-21 5
bin Laden, Osama, 96-97, 183, 19 4
bin Laden family, 97-9 8
British Petroleum (later BP), 1 8
British Virgin Islands, 14 7
Bunau-Varilla, Philippe, 5 9
Bush, George H . W., 59, 79, 168
bin Laden family and, 9 8
United Fruit Company, 72-73, 20 9
"wimp factor; 175, 18 4
Bush, George W., 79, 16 6
Arbusto, 165-16 6
rallying of support for U.S .
activities, 19 8
Venezuelan activities, 19 9
Bush administration (George H . W.) ,
173-174
Bush administration (George W) ,
201, 213-21 4
Bush family, 20 9
C
Canal Treaty, 59, 102-103, 154-155 ,
158-161 . See also Panama
Canal Zone, 61, 64, 65 . See als o
Panam a
Carlyle Group, 9 8
Carter, Jimmy, 102,118-119,154 ,
159-160, 16 8
Carvajal, Jose, 144-14 5
Casey, William J., 174
Chas . T. Main, Inc. (MAIN) . Se e
MAIN
Chase Bank, 194
Chavez, Hugo, xx, 195, 197-202, 204 .
See also Venezuel a
Cheney, Richard, 79, 177

B
Baer, Robert, 9 4
Bahasa Indonesia, 38
Bahrain, 16 6
Baker, James A ., III, 9 8
banking industry
Asian Development Bank, 3 7
Chase Bank, 19 4
Inter-American Development
Bank, 74
Panama, 6 3
Bechtel, Riley P., 214

Chile, 78, 20 0
Chuchu, Sergeant (Jose de Jesu s
Martinez), 159
Chumpi, Shakaim, 18 9
CIA, 73, 156, 161, 20 0
Civilization on Trial (Toynbee), 45
"Claudine," xi, 14, 22, 53-5 4
Colombia, 6 1
economic/electric load
forecasting, 12 2
historical overview of, 120-12 2
La Violencia, 12 1
rule against sending U.S . citizens
to, 12 4
colonial Americans, 218
colonialism, in Panama, 10 3
commerce, imperial approach to, 21 8
Common Sense (Paine), 49, 6 3
communism, 61, 17 0
conspiracies, xii-xiii, 156, 216, 21 7
corporal punishment, 82
corporatocracy, xii-xiii, 2 6
actions to stop, 221-22 5
basis of, 217
growth of, 78
media as part of, 22 1
of modern empire, 21 6
obstacles to, 212-21 3
pillars of, 143
strengthening of, 8 3
corruption, 75, 179
" Country with Five Frontiers, Th e "
(Greene), 104-105
coups, 73, 200, 20 1
culture, Indonesian, 38-3 9
D
Dauber, Jake, 5 2
deb t
creation of foreign, 15-16, 1 7
Ecuador 's, 203
Ira n 's payment of, 114-11 6
United States, 21 2
world, xviii

Department of State, rule agains t
sending U.S . citizens to
Colombia, 12 4
Department of the Treasury, 8 4
Depression, New Deal policies, 78
deregulation, 164-165, 16 8
desensitization, 180-18 1
destabilization campaigns, U.S., 176
developed countries (DCs), 47-4 8
" Doc," 113-11 6
dollars versus euros, 213
Dominican Republic, 6 1
Dream Change Coalition, 18 6
E
econometric model, 101-10 2
economic forecasting, 84-85, 12 2
economic hit men (EHMs )
description of, ix
effects of work of, 198
goals/objectives of the job, 15, 17
identification of potential, 1 9
rationalizations of deeds by, 16 9
role of, 9 0
standards for, 8 4
training, 14-15
economics, 26, 78, 83-8 4
Ecuador, xvii-xx, 141-145, 189-190,
203-210 . See also Roldos ,
Jaim e
Ecuadorian Congress, 15 6
Huaorani tribe, 18 6
Hydrocarbons Policy, 143-14 4
national budget/debt, 20 3
oil spill, xvii-xviii
poverty levels, 20 3
Shell, xvi, 20 7
tribal wars against oil companies ,
xvi-xvii
Eisner, Peter, 178
electric load forecasting, 31, 54,
109, 12 2
embassies, 16, 118-11 9
empire building, xx-xxi, 176, 216
energy industry, 164-165, 168-16 9
England, 1 8

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Enron, 165
euros versus dollars, 213
F
Faisal, King, 82
"Farhad," 5-6, 117-119
"Fidel, 63
financing of terrorism, 96-97
fixed exchange rates, 77
Flowering Desert project, 110-111
forecasting
economic/electric load
(Colombia), 122
electric load, 31, 54, 109, 12 2
Saudi Arabian economic, 84-8 5
foreign aid, 47-48, 75
foreign policy, U .S ., 21, 47
free market system, 170
free trade agreements, 221-22 2
Fujimori, Alberto K ., 20 0
future actions, 221-225
G
Gadhafi, Muammar, 6 0
Garrison, Jim, 17 0
General Agreement on Tariffs an d
Trade (GATT), 7 8
Getting to Know the Genera l
(Greene), 159
global empire, 170
globalization, 18 5
global management of petroleum, 214
Grant, Winifred, 16 2
Greene, Graham, 104-107, 15 9
Greve, Einar, 9, 13, 13 4
gross national product (GNP) ,
deceptive nature of, 16
Ground Zero, 190-195 . See also
September 11, 2001 attack s
Guatemala, 72-73 . 20 0
H
Hall, Mac, 52, 145, 165
Harken Energy, 98, 165-166
Harris, David, 177
Hayes, Martha, 134

Helms, Richard, 79
holy wars, 49
hostages, U.S . Embassy (Iran),
118-119
Hostler, Charles, 166
House of Saud . See Saudi Arabia
Huaorani tribe (Ecuador), 142-143,
190
hunger, x, xii, 192
Hurtado, Osvaldo, 157
Hussein, Saddam, 182, 20 0
hydrocarbons law, 156, 196
Hydrocarbons Policy, 143-144
hydroelectric plants, Agoyan, xi x
I
ideals, 75
Illingworth, Charlie, 24-25, 28-29,
104
imperialism, 48, 139, 218
importation of labor forces, 86
income, world population, 65, 206
Independent Power Systems, Inc .
(IFS), 163-164, 168, 185-186
Indonesia, 16
creation of language for, 38
culture, 38-39
Japanese invasion of, 20
oil industry; 25
views of Americans, 42-46
Instituto de Recursos Hidraulicos y
Electrificacion, 71
integrity 138-139
intelligence community, U .S ., 104-105
Inter-American Development Bank,
74
international financial system
trends, 169-170
international law, U.S . breach of,
177-178
International Monetary Fund (IMF),
19, 78, 169-170
international monetary system, 77
Interoceanic Canal Commission,
103-104
invasions, 20, 176-177, 184, 200

Iran
Islamic uprising, 117-119
OPEC oil embargo, 76-77
payment of debts by, 114-116
rebellion against British
Petroleum, 18
Shah of Shahs, 108
Torrijos 's opinions of, 72
Iraq, 182, 183-184, 199, 200
Islam, 45-46,117-119
J
Jakarta, 2 4
Japanese invasion of Indonesia, 20
jihads, 49
Johnson administration, 78-79
Joint Economic Commissio n
(JECOR), 83-8 4
K
Kellogg Brown & Root, 214-21215
Kennedy administration, 78-79, 121
Khadafi (or Gadhafi), Muammar, 60
Khomeini, Ruhollah, Ayatollah,
118-119
Kissinger, Henry, 91
Kuwait, 184
L
labor forces, importation to Saudi
Arabia of, 86
language, creation of Indonesian, 38
leaders, discrediting of, 208
less-developed countries (LDCs),
47-48
Lippman, Thomas W, 91, 96
loans, conditions of, xvii.
See also debt
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth,
217-218
M
macroeconomics, 26
MAIN
beliefs of employees, 55-56
Colombian contracts, 122

competitors, 12, 89
Department of the Treasury and ,
84
effects of Saudi Arabian deal,
94-9 8
electrical forecasting, 109
electrification project in Southeas t
Asia, 2 1
energy industry, position on, 16 5
firing of Bruno Zambotti, 145-146
folding of, 16 5
gender biases, 13
losses in Iran, 11 9
Manifest Destiny; 60-61, 75,15 5
Markov method for econometric
modeling, 10 2
"Martin, Claudine ," xi, 14, 22, 53-5 4
Martinez, Jose de Jesus (Sergeant
Chuchu), 15 9
"Mary," 147-15 0
McNamara, Robert, 26, 55, 78-79, 167
media, 22 1
Memoirs ofManuel Noriega:
America 's Prisoner (Eisner), 178
military-industrial complex, 79
military support to Saudi Arabia,
conditions of, 90
missionary groups, Summer
Institute of Linguistics (SIL) ,
141-142
Monroe, James, 61
Monroe Doctrine, 61
Montesinos, Viadimiro L ., 20 0
Mormino, Paul, 5 4
Mossadegh, Mohammad, 18, 72 ,
91, 114
Muslims, 45-46, 118-11 9
N
national budget/debt, Ecuador's, 20 3
National Security Agency (NSA), 6,
7- 8
nation-building programs, 12 1
natural resources, xviii, 183-184 ,
205-206, 207-20 8
New Deal policies, 78

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242

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Index

24 3

New Hampshire Public Servic e
Commission, 163
New York City, 190-19 5
Nicaragua, 20 0
Nixon, Richard, 43, 7 7
Noriega, Manuel, 160, 173-181, 20 0
nuclear power, 154, 16 3
0
October War, 8 2
off-shore drilling rights (Bahrain), 16 6
oil income, 8 3
oil industry
devastation of rain forests, 205 ,
207-20 8
George W. Bush and, 165-16 6
global management o f
petroleum, 214
guarantee of oil supplies to U.S . by
Saudi Arabia, 89-9 0
hydrocarbons law, 156, 19 6
Indonesia, 2 5
off-shore drilling rights
(Bahrain), 16 6
Oil Boom, xviii
oil concessions, xix-x x
oil embargos, 76-77, 82-83, 89,19 7
oil spills, xvii-xvii i
OPEC, 76-77, 109, 197, 211-21 2
protecting U.S . supplies, 83
revenues, 19 7
rising prices, 20 0
U.S . dependence on oil, reductio n
of, 16 8
Venezuelan oil, 196-19 7
organized crime metaphor, 139-140
Ouellette, Pauline, 134
P
Pahlavi, Mohammad Reza, Shah, 18 .
71-72
Paine, Thomas, 49
Panama, 58-60, 61, 200, 211 . See
also Torrijos, Omar
banking industry, 63
canal traffic, 63

Canal Treaty, 59, 102-103,
154-155, 158-161
Canal Zone, 64, 6 5
goal of invasion of, 176-17 7
income per capita, 6 5
Instituto de Recursos Hidraulico s
y Electrification, 71
Interoceanic Canal Commission ,
103-10 4
prostitution laws, 6 8
U.S . invasion of, 173-179, 20 0
Panamanian Defense Forces, 17 4
Pan-American interests, 121-12 2
Parker, Howard, 28-33, 5 2
"Paula," 122-123,124-127,129-13 0
Paul Revere's Ride (Longfellow) ,
217-218
Peace Corp, 8-1 0
Perkins, John . See also Independent
Power Systems, Inc . (IPS )
acceptance of bribe, 170-17 2
birth of daughter, 16 2
early life, 3- 4
education, 4- 5
expert witness/consulting
practice, 154, 163, 18 7
job with NSA, 7- 8
marriage to Ann, 5- 6
marriage to Winifred, 16 2
Peace Corp, 8-1 0
personal history timeline ,
226-229
position with MAIN, 10-1 1
promotions at MAIN, 10 1
recruitment by MAIN, 9
resignation from MAIN, 150,
153-154
resume, 131-140
self-reflection, 124-130, 147-150,
179-181
separation from Ann, 22, 50-5 1
Spirit of the Shuar (Perkins and
Chumpi), 189
Stress-Free Habit, The, 171
"Uncle Frank," 6-7
visit to Ground Zero, 189-195

The World Is As You Dream It, 18 6
writing of books, 170, 179 ,
187-188, 198, 21 8
Petroleos de Venezuela, 19 6
petroleum . See oil industr y
pharmaceutical industry, xii
Pinochet, Augusto, 20 0
piracy, 216
polarization, 19 7
pollution, antipollution laws, 16 4
poverty levels, xviii, 24, 197, 203
Prasad, Nadipuram " Ram," 10 2
Priddy, Paul, 145-146, 153, 15 4
" Prince W.", 92, 93-95
privatization, 183-184, 18 5
" Prophecy of the Condor and Eagle ,"
209-21 0
prostitution laws (Panama), 68
Public Service Company of Ne w
Hampshire, 15 4
Public Utility Regulatory Policy Ac t
(PURPA), 16 7
R
rain forests, xviii, 205-206, 207-20 8
Rasmon ( " Rasp"), 38-39, 4 2
Reagan, Ronald, 154-155, 16 8
Reagan administration,173-174
redemption, 22 4
Reich, Otto J., 20 1
religious laws, Saudi Arabia, 81-8 2
Republican Party, 74
Revere, Paul, 217-21 8
Riyadh . See Saudi Arabi a
Rockefeller, David, 194
Roldos, Jaime, ix, 141-145, 154, 156,
196 . See also Ecuador
Roosevelt, Kermit, 18-19, 72, 80,19 9
Roosevelt, Theodore, 58-59, 61 ,
120-12 3
S
Sadat, Anwar, 8 2
Saint, Rachel, 14 3
" Sally," 93-9 5
Saud, Mohammed ibn, 81

Saudi Arabi a
dependence on United States ,
87-8 8
financing of terrorism, 96-9 7
guarantee of oil supplies to U.S .
by, 89-9 0
historical overview of, 81-8 2
importation of labor forces, 8 6
oil income, 8 3
" Prince W.", 92, 93-9 5
religious laws, 81-8 2
" Saudi Connection, The," 96-9 7
" Saving the Saudis," 97-9 8
trash removal by gnats, 85, 18 2
U.S . relations, 83-84, 87-88, 9 0
Saudi Arabian Money-laundering
Affair/Saudi Arabian Monetary
Agency (SAMA), 88, 92, 96,
182-185, 211, 214
"Saudi Connection, The," 96-9 7
SAVAK, 11 4
"Saving the Saudis," 97-9 8
School of the Americas, 61-62 ,
159-160, 175
Schultz, George P., 74, 79,160,173 ,
176, 21 3
Seabrook nuclear power plant, 154 ,
16 3
September 11, 2001 attacks, x, 98 ,
190-195, 19 8
Shell, Ecuador, xvi, 20 7
Shooting the Moon (Harris), 17 7
Shuars, 186, 189, 207, 22 2
Sir Francis Drake Channel, 14 7
slave trader analogy, 180-18 1
soldier image, 179-18 0
Southeast Asian foreign policy,
U.S., 2 1
Soviet Union, bin Laden/Afgha n
war, 96-97, 183
Spadafora, Hugo, 174, 175
Spectrum 7, 165-16 6
Spirit of the Shuar (Perkins an d
Chumpi), 18 9
statistics, manipulation of, 1 3
steps to avoid future crises, 221-22 5

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244

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Index 245

Stone & Webster Engineering Corpo ration (SWEC), 170-172, 185
story leaks, 215
Stress-Free Habit, The (Perkins), 171
Suharto, 21
Sukarno, 20-21, 37-38
Summer Institute of Linguistics
(SIL), 141-142, 156, 157, 158
T
terroris m
deaths from, x
Saudi terrorist financing, 96-9 7
September 11, 2001 attacks, 98,
189-19 5
Texaco, xvi i
Torres, Manuel, 124-12 5
Torrijos, Omar, ix, 58-60, 61, 66 ,
102. See also Panam a
death of, 158-161
offer of asylum to exiled leaders ,
11 9
on President Ford, 103
on Roldos's death, 157
torture, " Doc," 113-11 6
Toynbee, Arnold, 45, 4 6
training centers, warfare, 61-6 2
trans Andean oil pipeline, xvii-xvii i
trash removal by goats, 85, 18 2
tribal wars (Ecuador), against oil
companies, xvi-xvii
truth, denial of, 11 9
U
United Fruit Company, 72-73, 20 9
United State s
breach of international law,
177-17 8
colonial Americans, 218
commercial interests ,
transformations in, 18 5
invasion of Panama, 173-179, 20 0
national debt, 21 2
old republic versus new empire ,
127-12 8
policy on empire building, 176

pro-Israeli stance, punishment
for, 82-83
relations with Saudi Arabia,
83-84, 87-88, 90
services sold to Colombia by, 122
views of Indonesia by Americans,
42-46
United States-Saudi Arabian Joint
Economic Commission
(JECOR), 83-8 4
United Way, 18 6
U.S . Department of State, rule
against sending U .S . citizens t o
Colombia, 124
U.S . Department of the Treasury, 8 4
U.S . Embassy (Iran) seizure, 118-11 9
U.S . intelligence community, 104-10 5
U.S . Southern Command, 159-16 0
USAID, 37

Weinberger, Caspar, 79, 160, 213
"wimp factor" (George H . W. Bush),
175, 18 4
World and the West, The (Toynbee), 45
World Bank, 19, 74, 78, 79, 169-170
World Is As You Dream It. The
(Perkins), 186
World Trade Organization (WTO) ,
170
World War II, 7 8

Y
"Yamin," 109-11 2
Z
Zambotti, Bruno, 52, 101, 104, 145 ,
163-16 4
Zapata Petroleum Corp ., 73, 79

V
Venezuela, xx, 61, 196-202 . See also
Chavez, Hugo
Vietnam War, 21
Violencia, La (Colombia), 12 1
W
Wahhabi sect, 81-8 2
Wall Street, 19 3
warfare training centers, 61-62 ,
159-16 0
war s
Arab-Israeli, 8 2
bin Laden/Afghan war, 96-97, 18 3
Ecuador, xvi-xvii, 20 6
holy, 4 9
October War, 8 2
tribal (Ecuador), xvi-xvi i
Vietnam, 2 1
World War II, 78
Washington, George, 194
Waste Management, Inc ., 96
waste products, 16 3
water resources, Iraq 's, 183-18 4
wealth, private financial, xi x
weapons production, 56-57

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246

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man

Index 24 7

ABOUT THE AUTHO R

John Perkins has lived four lives : as an economic hit man (EHM) ; as
the CEO of a successful alternative energy company, who was re warded for not disclosing his EHM past ; as an expert on indigenous
cultures and shamanism, a teacher and writer who used this expertise to promote ecology and sustainability while continuing t o
honor his vow of silence about his life as an EHM ; and now as a
writer who, in telling the real-life story about his extraordinary deal ings as an EHM, has exposed the world of international intrigue an d
corruption that is turning the American republic into a global empire despised by increasing numbers of people around the planet .
As an EHM, John's job was to conv ince third world countries to
accept enormous loans for infrastructure development —loans tha t
were much larger than needed — and to guarantee that the development projects were contracted to U.S. corporations like Halliburton
and Bechtel . Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the
U.S . government and the international aid agencies allied with i t
were able to control these economies and to ensure that oil an d
other resources were channeled to serve the interests of building a
global empire .
In his EHM capacity, John traveled all over the world and wa s
either a direct participant in or a witness to some of the most dramatic events in modern history, including the Saudi Arabian Moneylaundering Affair, the fall of the shah of Iran, the death of Panama' s
President Omar Torrijos, the subsequent invasion of Panama, and
events leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In 1980, Perkins founded Independent Power Systems, Inc . (IPS),
an alternative energy company. Under his leadership as CEO, IP S
became an extremely successful firm in a high-risk business wher e
most of his competitors failed . Many "coincidences" and favors fro m
people in powerful positions helped make IPS an industry leader.
John also served as a highly paid consultant to some of the corpora tions whose pockets he had previously helped to line — taking on this

role partly in response to a series of not-so-veiled threats and lucra tive payoffs .
After selling IPS in 1990, John became a champion for indigenou s
rights and en vironmental movements, working especially closel y
with Amazon tribes to help them preserve their rain forests . H e
wrote five books, published in many languages, about indigenous
cultures, shamanism, ecology, and sustainability ; taught at universitie s
and learning centers on four continents ; and founded and served on
the board of directors of several leading nonprofit organizations .
One of the nonprofit organizations he founded and chaired ,
Dream Change Coalition (later simply Dream Change, or DC), be came a model for inspiring people to attain their personal goals and ,
at the same time, to be more conscious of the impacts their lives hav e
on others and on the planet . DC seeks to empower individuals t o
create more balanced and sustainable communities . DC's Pollutio n
Offset Lease for Earth (POLE) program offsets the atmospheric pol lution we each create, helps indigenous people preserve their forests ,
and promotes earth-honoring changes in consciousness . DC has developed a following around the world and has inspired people i n
many countries to form organizations with similar missions .

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248

About the Author 249

During the 1990s and into the new millennium, John honore d
his vow of silence about his EHM life and continued to receive lucrative corporate consulting fees . He assuaged his guilt by applying
to his nonprofit work much of the money he earned as a consultant .
Arts & Entertainment television featured him in a special title d
"Headhunters of the Amazon," narrated by Leonard Nimoy . Italia n
Cosmopolitan ran a major article on his "Shapeshifting" workshop s
in Europe . TIME magazine selected Dream Change as one of th e
thirteen organizations in the world whose Web sites best reflect th e
ideals and goals of Earth Day.
Then came September 11, 2001 . The terrible events of that da y
convinced John to drop the veil of secrecy around his life as a n
EHM, to ignore the threats and bribes, and to write Confessions of
an Economic Hit Man . He came to believe in his responsibility t o
share his insider knowledge about the role the U.S. government ,
multinational "aid" organizations, and corporations have played in
bringing the world to a place where such an event could occur . He
wanted to expose the fact that EHMs are more ubiquitous today tha n
ever before . He felt he owed this to his country, to his daughter, to al l
the people around the world who suffer because of the work he an d
his peers have done, and to himself. In this book, he outlines the
dangerous path his country is taking as it moves away from th e
original ideals of the American republic and toward a quest fo r
global empire .
Previous books by John Perkins include Shapeshing, The World
Is As You Dream It, Psychonavigation, The Stress-Free Habit, and
Spirit of the Shuar .

To learn more about John, to find out where he is lecturing, to order
his books, or to contact him, please go to his Web site :
www.JohnPerkins.org.
To discover more about the work of Dream Change, the 501(c) 3
nonprofit that is transforming global consciousness, please visit :
www.dreamchange .org.

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