Covert Operations

CIA-MI6 coup overthrowing democratically elected Prime Minister Mossadegh to protect British oil interests. Installed Shah Pahlavi.

Operation TPAJAX: The CIA and MI6 overthrew Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh after he nationalized British oil interests. The coup installed Shah Pahlavi, whose brutal 26-year dictatorship created the conditions for the 1979 Islamic Revolution — and 45+ years of US-Iran hostility. The entire modern Middle East crisis traces partly back to this single covert operation.

The original sin of US Middle East policy. Overthrowing Iran's democracy for oil profits created the chain of events leading to the Islamic Revolution, the hostage crisis, and decades of conflict. The blowback is still shaping world events 70 years later.

CIA-orchestrated coup against democratically elected President Árbenz to protect United Fruit Company interests. Led to 36-year civil war and genocide.

Operation PBSUCCESS: The CIA overthrew Guatemala's democratically elected President Jacobo Árbenz because his land reform threatened United Fruit Company profits. The coup installed a military dictatorship that began a 36-year civil war, killing 200,000 people — mostly indigenous Maya — in what a UN truth commission later called genocide.

The CIA overthrew a democracy to protect a fruit company's profits. The result: 36 years of military dictatorships and 200,000 dead — predominantly indigenous people. This is what happens when government serves corporate interests with military force.

CIA-organized invasion of Cuba using Cuban exiles. Complete failure — all invaders killed or captured within 3 days.

The CIA trained and armed 1,400 Cuban exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow Fidel Castro. The invasion was a catastrophic failure — most invaders were captured within 72 hours. The humiliation pushed Cuba closer to the Soviet Union, directly leading to the 1962 Missile Crisis that brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Covert regime change attempt that backfired spectacularly. The CIA trained and armed exiles to overthrow a sovereign government without congressional authorization or public debate. When it failed, Kennedy faced pressure to escalate rather than admit failure — the classic sunk-cost fallacy that drives endless interventions. The resulting Cuban Missile Crisis nearly caused nuclear war. Proves that secret government agencies operating without accountability will drag the nation into disasters that democratically elected leaders must then own.

CIA destabilization campaign and support for military coup against democratically elected President Allende. Installed Pinochet dictatorship.

The CIA supported the military coup that overthrew Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende. General Augusto Pinochet seized power and ruled for 17 years — 3,200 people were murdered, 40,000 tortured, and 200,000 exiled. Declassified documents confirm extensive CIA involvement in destabilizing Allende's government.

"I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people." — Henry Kissinger. The US overthrew a democracy because voters chose the "wrong" candidate. 3,200 murdered. 40,000 tortured.

Beyond the major wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, the United States conducts counterterrorism operations in at least 78 countries spanning every continent except Antarctica. U.S. Special Forces have deployed to 149 countries — 75% of the world's nations. These operations include training missions, intelligence operations, drone strikes, special operations raids, 'advise and assist' deployments, secret detention and interrogation programs, extraordinary rendition flights, signals intelligence collection, and the construction of a vast network of military bases and lily-pad outposts across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The 'Other Operations' category encompasses the full scope of the Global War on Terror beyond the named conflicts — a shadow war fought largely in secret, authorized by a single 60-word sentence passed three days after 9/11.

Sixty words written in 3 days after 9/11 have been used to justify military operations in 22+ countries for over two decades. No sunset clause. No re-authorization required. The founders would be appalled.

The Global Drone Campaign (2004-present) represents the most significant transformation in American warfare since the nuclear bomb: the development of a permanent, worldwide apparatus for extrajudicial killing by remote control. Operating across at least seven countries — Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and Libya — the United States has conducted over 14,000 drone strikes since 2004, killing an estimated 8,858-16,901 people including 910-2,200 civilians and 283-454 children (Bureau of Investigative Journalism estimates). The program, conducted jointly by the CIA and the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), operates under the legal authority of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force — a 60-word resolution passed to authorize action against the perpetrators of 9/11, now stretched to cover killings in countries the U.S. has never declared war on, against organizations that did not exist on September 11, 2001. The campaign has included the deliberate killing of American citizens without trial, the use of "signature strikes" targeting unidentified individuals based on behavioral patterns, and the systematic undercounting of civilian casualties through the classification of all military-age males in strike zones as combatants. Zero American military personnel have been killed in drone operations, making it warfare without political cost — and therefore warfare without democratic accountability.

The government claims the power to execute people — including American citizens — anywhere on earth without trial, evidence, or oversight. A 16-year-old American citizen was killed in a drone strike. When asked about it, the White House press secretary said he "should have had a more responsible father."