Consistent with the Hoover Report's recommendations that the United States had
to reconsider «long - standing American concepts of fair play» and «learn
to subvert, sabotage and destroy our enemies,» the shadow government built alliances between U.S. government officials, the Mafia, and international drug cartels; assassinated many thousands of civilians in Southeast Asia; carried out or attempted assassination of foreign leaders; trained death
squads and secret police forces; worked
to shore up unpopular dictators like the Shah of Iran and the Somoza dictatorship in prerevolutionary Nicaragua; worked
to destabilize «unfriendly» governments such as Allende in Chile and the Sandinistas in Nicaragua; cooperated with the Colombian drug cartel
to plot the assassination of the former U.S. ambassador
to Costa Rica, Lewis Tambs, with the intention of justifying a U.S. invasion of Nicaragua by blaming his death on the Sandinistas; contracted with the Reagan administration and the National Security Council
to find ways of circumventing a congressional ban prohibiting aid
to the contras,
including the trading of arms
to Iran in exchange for hostages and money for the contras; illegally shipped weapons from the United States
to the contras and allowed
returning planes
to use the same protected flight paths
to transport drugs into the United States; 11 targeted the U.S. people for disinformation campaigns; and helped prepare contingency plans for declaring a form of martial law in the United States that would have formally suspended constitutional freedoms.
Time for some brutal honesty... this team, as it stands, is in no better position
to compete next season than they were 12 months ago, minus the fact that some fans have been easily snowed by the acquisition of Lacazette, the free transfer LB and the release of Sanogo... if you look at the facts carefully you will see a team that still has far more questions than answers...
to better show what I mean by this statement I will briefly discuss the current state of affairs on a position - by - position basis... in goal we have 4 potential candidates, but in reality we have only 1 option with any real future and somehow he's the only one we have actively tried
to get rid of for years because he and his father were a little too involved on social media and he got caught smoking (funny how people still defend Wiltshire under the same and far worse circumstances)... you would think we would want
to keep any goaltender that Juventus had interest in, as they seem
to have a pretty good history when it comes
to that position... as far as the defenders on our current roster there are only a few individuals whom have the skill and / or youth worthy of our time and / or investment, as such we should get rid of anyone who doesn't meet those simple requirements, which means we should get rid of DeBouchy, Gibbs, Gabriel, Mertz and loan out Chambers
to see if last seasons foray with Middlesborough was an anomaly or a prediction of things
to come... some fans have lamented wildly about the
return of Mertz
to the starting lineup due
to his FA Cup performance but these sort of pie in the sky meanderings are indicative of what's wrong with this club and it's wishy - washy fan - base... in addition
to these moves the club should aggressively pursue the acquisition of dominant and mobile CB
to stabilize an all too fragile defensive group that has self - destructed on numerous occasions over the past 5 seasons... moving forward and building on our need
to re-establish our once dominant presence throughout the middle of the park we need
to target a CDM then do whatever it takes
to get that player into the fold without any of the usual nickel and diming we have become famous for (this kind of ruthless haggling has cost us numerous special players and certainly can't help make the player in question feel good about the way their future potential employer feels about them)... in order for us
to become dominant again we need
to be strong up the middle again from Goalkeeper
to CB
to DM
to ACM
to striker, like we did in our most glorious years before and during Wenger's reign... with this in mind, if we want Ozil
to be that dominant attacking midfielder we can't keep leaving him exposed
to constant ridicule about his lack of defensive prowess and provide him with the proper players in the final third... he was never a good defensive player in Real or with the German National
squad and they certainly didn't suffer as a result of his presence on the pitch... as for the rest of the midfield the blame falls squarely in the hands of Wenger and Gazidis, the fact that Ramsey, Ox, Sanchez and even Ozil were allowed
to regularly start when none of the aforementioned had more than a year left under contract is criminal for a club of this size and financial might... the fact that we could find money for Walcott and Xhaka, who weren't even guaranteed starters, means that our whole business model needs a complete overhaul... for me it's time
to get rid of some serious deadweight, even if it means selling them below what you believe their market value is just
to simply right this ship and change the stagnant culture that currently exists... this means saying goodbye
to Wiltshire, Elneny, Carzola, Walcott and Ramsey... everyone, minus Elneny, have spent just as much time on the training table as on the field of play, which would be manageable if they weren't so inconsistent from a performance standpoint (excluding Carzola, who is like the recent version of Rosicky — too bad, both will be deeply missed)... in their places we need
to bring in some proven performers with no history of injuries... up front, although I do like the possibilities that a player like Lacazette presents, the fact that we had
to wait so many years
to acquire some true quality at the striker position falls once again squarely at the feet of Wenger... this issue highlights the ultimate scam being perpetrated by this club since the arrival of Kroenke: pretend your a small market club when it comes
to making purchases but milk your fans like a big market club when it comes
to ticket prices and merchandising... I believe the reason why Wenger hasn't pursued someone of Henry's quality, minus a fairly inexpensive RVP, was that he knew that they would demand players of a similar ilk
to be brought on board and that wasn't possible when the business model was that of a «selling» club... does it really make sense that we could only make a cheeky bid for Suarez, or that we couldn't get Higuain over the line when he was being offered up for half the price he eventually went
to Juve for, or that we've only paid any interest
to strikers who were clearly not going
to press their current teams
to let them go
to Arsenal like Benzema or Cavani... just part of the facade that finally came crashing down when Sanchez finally called their bluff... the fact remains that no one wants
to win more than Sanchez,
including Wenger, and although I don't agree with everything that he has done off the field, I would much rather have Alexis front and center than a manager who has clearly bought into the Kroenke model in large part due
to the fact that his enormous ego suggests that only he could accomplish great things without breaking the bank... unfortunately that isn't possible anymore as the game has changed quite dramatically in the last 15 years, which has left a largely complacent and complicit Wenger on the outside looking in... so don't blame those players who demanded more and were left wanting... don't blame those fans who have tried desperately
to raise awareness for several years when cracks began
to appear... place the blame at the feet of those who were well aware all along of the potential pitfalls of just such a plan but continued
to follow it even when it was no longer a financial necessity, like it ever really was...