Test Your Foreign Policy Intelligence Quotient (FPIQ)

Answer the following questions and rate your knowledge of United States foreign policy.

  • 1. What historic event occurred at No Gun Ri in 1950?
  • 2. How did the United States acquire its military base in Diego Garcia?
  • 3. Which official United States agency coined the term "blowback" and predicted a 9/11- type attack?
  • 4. How many countries have been bombed by the United States since World War 2?
  • 5. Name the U.S. Marine Corps General who exposed the connection between U.S. military actions and the quest for corporate profits? – (Hint) – He wrote his expose’ in 1935.
  • 6. How many U.S. military bases are located in foreign countries?
  • 7. How many foreign nations have military bases in the U.S.?
  • 8. What is the name and location of the U.S. military base that has gained worldwide attention because its mission is the training of terrorists?
  • 9. What is the name of the U.S. official who gave Saddam Hussein permission to invade Kuwait?
  • 10. When did the U.S. start the war against Iraq?

Rating your F.P.I.Q.

A score of 10 correct means you are to be congratulated. You win the "Informed Citizen of the Week" award. Hopefully you will be invited to make a guest appearance on the Bill O’Reilly show, to be followed by appearances on Hannity & Colmes, Larry King, Oprah, Meet the Press, and the Colbert Report. More likely, you will be banned from ever speaking in the media.

A score of 9 answers correct, you are much better informed than the average citizen.

A score of 8 correct, not bad, but you need a little help.

If you scored 7, it’s time to hit the books. Suggested readings would include:

"People’s History of the United States: 1492 to Present (P.S.)"
by Howard Zinn
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060838655/mmn-20,

"Killing Hope"
by William Blum
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1842773690/mmn-20,

"Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire"
by Chalmers Johnson
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805075593/mmn-20,

"The Seven Deadly Spins"
by Mickey Z.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1567512712/mmn-20,

"Confessions of an Economic Hit Man"
by John Perkins
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452287081/mmn-20,

"On the Justice of Roosting Chickens: Reflections on the Consequences of U.S. Imperial Arrogance and Criminality"
by Ward Churchill
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1902593790/mmn-20,

and

"The New Rulers of the World"
by John Pilger
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984412X/mmn-20.

Also see the Robert Fisk war photos of civilian victims in Iraq. These photos have been censored out of most of the U.S. media.

If you had only 6 right answers, you need a lot of help.

If you had 5 or less correct, you probably work for, or get your information from, FOX, NBC, CBS, or ABC. Every time that you vote, you might be canceling the vote of an informed citizen. You need to reassess your right to participate in a democracy. No democracy can survive if the citizens are not well-informed.

The Answers

  • 1. No Gun Ri is the location of a U.S. massacre of civilians in South Korea. Survivors report that more than 400 unarmed men, women and children were gunned down by the U.S. military.
  • 2. Diego Garcia was acquired in the 1970s. The island was a paradise that had been inhabited for generations. The United States and Great Britain were complicit in crimes against humanity by the expulsion of the native population.
  • 3. "Blowback" is the term coined by the CIA in 1954. It has been well known since 1954 that U.S. foreign policy would result in blowback.
  • 4. Since WW 2, the United Stated has bombed: China (1945-46), Korea (1950-53), China (1950-53), Guatemala (1954), Indonesia (1958), Cuba (1959-60), Guatemala (1960), Congo (1964), Peru (1965), Laos (1964-73), Vietnam (1961-73), Cambodia (1969-70), Guatemala (1967-69), Grenada (1983), Libya (1986), El Salvador (1980s), Nicaragua (1980s), Panama (1989), Iraq (1991-99), Sudan (1998), Afghanistan (1998), Yugoslavia (1999). This list has been compiled by historian/author William Blum.
  • 5. U.S.M.C. General Smedley D. Butler wrote "War Is a Racket" in 1935.
  • 6. Author Chalmers Johnson states that there are more than 700 U.S. bases in foreign countries.
  • 7. None
  • 8. Fort Benning in Georgia is the location of the School of the Americas. Congress quietly renamed it The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in an attempt to sanitize its image. Around the world it is known as The School of Assassins.
  • 9. Ambassador Ms. April Catherine Glaspie.
  • 10. March 20, 2003 is the date of the start of the Shock and Awe bombing campaign and is often erroneously given as the date of the start of the war. The war really began with U.S. bombings in 1991.