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rodeo13 ago

Really excellent post, @Battle_of_Evermore!

I did some digging last night and came across something interesting. I think this NGO called Americares may be the even bigger global picture:

From the C2C website: “C2C’s partner in Haiti, AmeriCares, was instrumental in the founding of the Haiti Adolescent Girls Network.” Notice that this statement is just above the video with Bill Clinton. (https://care2communities.org/2012/02/28/haiti-adolescent-girls-network-2/))

Who is behind Americares? “AmeriCares guidance includes Honorary Chairman Zbigniew Brzezinski, Ambassador at Large Barbara Bush, and Prescott Sheldon Bush, Jr.“ (https://web.archive.org/web/20170419055700/http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/AmeriCares))

“The timing of the recent planeload of supplies to Iraq is hardly the first controversy over a shipment from AmeriCares. Sandinista officials accused AmeriCares of being a CIA front and part of the secret network of private groups used by Marine Corps Lt. Col. Oliver North to deliver aid to the Contras. In 1988 the embattled Sandinista government in Nicaragua rejected an airlift of newsprint donated by AmeriCares to the right-wing opposition daily newspaper, La Prensa. It had been timed to arrive just before the elections. The newspapers that supported the Sandinista government were unable to buy newsprint at that time because of a U.S.-imposed embargo on newsprint, but Vice President George Bush's staff called the Nicaraguan Embassy to try to expedite the shipment to La Prensa. Two years earlier, AmeriCares had delivered 200 tons of newsprint to La Prensa during another crisis created by the U.S.

AmeriCares has also delivered supplies to contra terrorists based in Honduras. AmeriCares' tax returns revealed donations of cash and materials to the brother of contra leader Adolfo Calero. The Nicaraguan Freedom Fund, a front organization of Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, channeled $350,000 to AmeriCares.

The AmeriCares website shows that its shipments seem to find their way to wherever the CIA is most active. Special "humanitarian supplies" have been shipped to contra forces in Afghanistan and their rear bases in Pakistan. An airlift was organized for U.S.-supported forces in Eritrea and Tigre during the war in Ethiopia. During the civil war raging in the Balkans, aid was sent to Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo.

AmeriCares often acts as an arm of U.S. foreign and domestic policy by reinforcing and supplying the most reactionary organizations. It controls the distribution network to millions of people in desperate need. This strengthens the infrastructure and influence of groups with a political agenda supportive of U.S. corporate goals. Millions of dollars of supplies flooding into a region during a war crisis or famine can exert enormous political influence. As Forbes, the magazine that calls itself the "capitalist tool," enthused, "AmeriCares is a splendid example of what a free-enterprise approach can accomplish in charity."

A look at AmeriCares' advisory board shows links to both the U.S. government and right-wing organizations in the United States. Besides its links to the former CIA director, AmeriCares' board includes his brother Prescott Bush, former U.S. Treasury Secretary William Simon, former U.S. Secretary of State Zbigniew Brzezinski, General Colin Powell, and former U.S. Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. If asked what word best characterized this group of people, would anyone say "humanitarians"?” (https://web.archive.org/web/20170419060521/http://truedemocracy.net/td2_2/68dyk.html))

AngB23 ago

Awesome research. Do you know how the money was channeled from Unification Church to AmeriCares? I was looking at a few donation sites and wondering if there's a way to follow or dig deeper into these money trails. I haven't researched yet who owns these donation sites, but, here's a few I found

https://mygrowfund.org/

If you use the drop down for Recipient- a TON of NGOs https://donate.charity.org/

http://www.globalhealthcommittee.org/donate.php

https://www.globalgiving.org/donate/11555/americares-foundation-inc/

https://bitpay.com/597153/donate

rodeo13 ago

Wow - didn't know there was a connection between the Unification Church and AmeriCares. I'll do some digging as well and see what comes up.