The Pentagon Has a Small Coup Problem | The Nation
Since 9/11, the United States has spent more than $250 billion
training foreign military and police personnel. In 2015, almost 80,000
of them, hailing from 154 countries, received what’s formally known as Foreign Military Training (FMT).
The stated goals of two key FMT programs—International Military
Education and Training (IMET) and the Combating Terrorism Fellowship
Program (CTFP)—include promoting “international peace and security” and
increasing the awareness among foreign military personnel of
“internationally recognized human rights.” In reality, these programs
focus on strengthening US partner and proxy forces globally.
Caverley and Savage identified 275 military-backed coups that occurred
worldwide between 1970 and 2009. In 165 of them, members of that
country’s armed forces had received some IMET or CTFP training the year
before the coup."
And this process has been ongoing in Venezuela for decades, supplemented by internal economic sabotage from wealthy allies.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, center, in 2013. (Reuters / Mohamed Abd El Ghany)
