Noam Chomsky - Turning the Tide U.S. intervention in

The Fifth Freedom
4. Planning For Global Hegemony
Classics in Politics: Turning the Tide Noam Chomsky
104
s World War II came to an end, US ideas concerning Latin
America were clarified by Secretary of War Henry Stimson (May
1945), in a discussion of how we must eliminate and dismantle
all regional systems dominated by any other power, particularly the
British, while maintaining and extending our own. With regard to Latin
America, he explained privately: “I think that it’s not asking too much to
have our little region over here [namely, Latin America] which never has
bothered anybody.” 47
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It should be noted that US officials had a ready explanation for the
distinction between control by the US and by other powers. As Abe
Fortas explained with regard to US trusteeship plans in the Pacific,
which Churchill regarded as a cover for annexation: “When we take over
the Marianas and fortify them we are doing so not only on the basis of
our own right to do so but as part of our obligation to the security of the
world . . . These reservations were being made in the interest of world
security rather than of our own security . . . what was good for us was
good for the world.” 48 On such assumptions, naturally regarded highly
by US officials and ideologists, quite a range of actions become
legitimate.
In keeping with Stimson’s conception, the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
through 1945 and early 1946, insisted that non-American forces must
be kept out of the Western Hemisphere, which “is a distinct military
entity, the integrity of which is a fundamental postulate of our security in
the event of another world war.” 49 In January 1947, Secretary of War
Patterson added that the resources of Latin America were essential to
the US because “it is imperative that our war potential be enhanced . . .
during any national emergency.” Patterson gave an expansive