Villagers massacred by U.S. Army troops at My Lai in Vietnam, March 16, 1968.
This year marks the 250th year of this country’s existence. We will be hammered with lies and propaganda about how this is the greatest country in the world—in fact, we are already being hammered with this. But the truth is this: this is a country founded in slavery and genocide, one that became an empire through wars of conquest, and that has continued to “build on” that foundation.
This is nothing to celebrate. In fact, it is something to expose and to make this year a “teachable moment” for masses of people in this country.
The following chart aims to contribute to that effort. It lays bare some of the horrific atrocities and injustices committed on other countries by this empire just since the end of World War 2. From what we have compiled here--and we will add to this as we learn more--the U.S. is responsible for the deaths of at least 14 million people through its wars, coups, backing of reactionary forces, and other crimes.
We challenge anyone to come up with any country since World War 2—the years we are told that America has “preserved the peace”—that has anywhere close to this record of terror and horror against other peoples. We challenge our readers to dig deeper into each of these stories, and you will find a people, a culture, a country that bears the scars and trauma of these crimes to this day. And we ask everyone to help us with this project. Send us your research, and your comments in response to this chart (email to revolution.reports@yahoo.com or message @TheRevcoms).
Outright Wars
The nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 1945
214,000 deaths
As World War 2 was coming to an end, the US dropped 2 nuclear bombs on Japanese cities. It is estimated that more than 140,000 people died in Hiroshima, and 74,000 in Nagasaki when Hiroshima and Nagasaki were struck with atomic bombs.1
The Korean War,
1950-53
2.5 million deaths
The U.S. orchestrated a UN invasion with 340,000 troops, 90 percent American. U.S. planes carpet bombed North Korea and leveled the entire country. Thousands of tons of napalm—jellied gasoline that burns people alive—were also dropped. President Truman threatened to use nuclear weapons against then-socialist China, which was defeating the American forces for a time during the Korean War. Over the next three years of combat and massive bombings, U.S. and U.S.-led forces killed at least 2.5 million North Koreans, South Koreans, and Chinese.2
Vietnam, 1961-1975 3 million deaths
Vietnam, 1961-1975 3 million deaths
People with severe flesh burns after napalm attack, June 8, 1972. Photo: Wikipedia
The U.S. sent more than 500,000 troops and dropped millions of tons of bombs on this country in Southeast Asia in an effort to defeat the national liberation struggle of the Vietnamese people.
By the time the war ended in America’s defeat in April 1975, its military had slaughtered some 2 million Vietnamese civilians and one million Vietnamese soldiers.3
Invasion of Dominican Republic, 1965
2,500 deaths
On April 28, 1965, 22,000 U.S. Marines and other troops invaded the Dominican Republic to crush a just, mass uprising against the country’s pro-U.S. tyranny. The forces guided bombing missions over villages, forbade public political meetings, and oversaw the deaths of 2,500 Dominicans during the occupation.4
Bombing of Laos, 1964-1973
50,000 deaths
(in decades since, 20,000 more killed or maimed by unexploded ordinance)
During the war in Vietnam, U.S. warplanes dropped two million tons of bombs on the small neighboring country of Laos, more than all the bombs dropped during World War 2 combined. It's estimated 80 million cluster bombs did not detonate, most of which are still buried in farmland. More than 50,000 were killed during the bombing, but over 20,000 more people have been killed or maimed by unexploded ordinance—including cluster bombs—in the decades since the war ended.5
Bombing of Cambodia, 1969-1973
150,000 deaths
The U.S. also carpet bombed Cambodia during the war in Vietnam, directly or indirectly killing what was estimated as 50,000-150,000. But in the year 2000, it was revealed that the tonnage of bombs dropped on Cambodia during those years was 5 times what had previously been admitted. “Given the fivefold increase in tonnage revealed by the database, the number of casualties is surely higher.”6
Christmas bombing of North Vietnam, December 18-29, 1972
2,300 deaths
The U.S. massively bombed the densely populated cities of Hanoi and Haiphong to force concessions by North Vietnam in negotiations to end the war. It claimed 1,600 Vietnamese civilians were killed, but Vietnamese sources estimate there were 2,300 civilian deaths—about 1,500 in Hanoi alone.7
Invasion of Grenada, 1983
70 deaths, 400 wounded
The U.S. invaded this small island nation to overthrow its leftist government, an action the UN denounced as a “flagrant” violation of international law. U.S. forces killed 45 Grenadians and 25 Cubans working there in support of Grenada’s government, and wounded a total of 396 Grenadians and Cubans.8
The invasion of Panama, 1989-1990
at least 2,000-3,000 deaths
On December 20, 1989, the U.S. military invaded Panama with 27,684 troops and 300 aircraft, removing Manuel Noriega and his Panamanian Defense Force from power. Whole neighborhoods were destroyed. The Catholic and Episcopal Churches have estimated 2,000-3,000 were killed, a figure they believe is conservative.9
The Persian Gulf War—the U.S. assault on Iraq, 1990-1991
170,000 deaths, 300,000 wounded
From January 16 to February 27, 1991, the U.S. waged war against Iraq to strengthen its grip on the Persian Gulf and set the tone for the post-Soviet “new world order” it sought to establish. Some 100,000 Iraqi soldiers were killed and another 300,000 wounded. The war also caused the deaths of 70,000 civilians by January 1992.10
Invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, 2001-2021
close to 100,000 deaths
(indirect deaths not included)
In October 2001, U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan, drove the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime from power, and installed a widely hated, pro-U.S. “Islamic Republic.” But the U.S. never succeeded in defeating the Taliban or stabilizing the country. Close to 100,000 Afghan fighters and civilians died; but indirect deaths are not included.11
Invasion, occupation, and ongoing intervention in Iraq, 2003-present
2.4 million deaths
In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein’s regime based on the lie that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction. The U.S. war and occupation sparked armed resistance and led to the rise of reactionary Islamic jihadism and the ethnic-sectarian conflict that continues to this day. An estimated 2.4 million were killed from 2003 to 2018 (estimates range from 1.5 million to 3.4 million).12
U.S. drone strikes and other covert operations in Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia, 2004-present
9,000-17,000 deaths
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, George W. Bush launched the so-called “war on terror”—a global war to retaliate for the attacks and expand and strengthen the U.S. empire. America’s drone war became a key component. Drones were deployed against Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Somalia. The Obama administration greatly stepped up the number of unmanned drone attacks. Total killings as of 2020: 8,858-16,901. Civilians killed: 910-2,200; children killed: 283-454.13
U.S., British, French war on Libya, 2011
250,000 deaths
In March 2011, the U.S., Britain, and France seized on a mass uprising against Muammar Qaddafi’s oppressive, 42-year-long rule, to launch a war. Their goal: overthrow Qaddafi and tighten their grip on Libya. For the next seven months, the U.S.-led coalition carried out extensive bombing raids and military operations. But the war, violence and chaos unleashed in Libya continued for years, killing about 250,000 Libyans.14
US Joins Iran–Israel war (13-24 June 2025)—the Twelve-Day War
1,200 deaths
Israel bombed military and nuclear facilities in Iran on June 13, assassinating prominent military leades, nuclear scientists, politicians, and civilians, and damaging and destroying air defenses, killing an estimated 1,200 people. The U.S. bombed 3 nuclear sites on June 22. On 24 June, Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire.15
CIA or Military Coordination in Coups
Military intervention in the Chinese Revolution, 1945-1949
2.5 million deaths
When civil war broke out in China between the revolutionary forces led by Mao Zedong and the reactionary Nationalist Party (Kuomintang/KMT) under Chiang Kai-shek, the U.S. funneled billions of dollars in aid and military equipment to back the KMT. An estimated 2.5 million were killed.16
Military intervention in Greek civil war, 1947-49
50,000 deaths
Taking over from Britain in 1947, the U.S. armed, trained, and led the reactionary Greek military in a bloody counterinsurgency against anti-fascist Greek guerrilla fighters who held out for nearly three years, suffering losses of many tens of thousands before their surrender in October 1949. In this “Third Phase” of the Greek civil war, the total deaths were estimated at 50,000, and a million people were forced from their homes.17
CIA coup in Iran, 1953
number of deaths not known
On August 19, 1953, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), along with British intelligence, launched a military coup overthrowing Iran’s popular, elected prime minister, Mohammad Mossadegh. In 1951, Mossadegh had nationalized Britain’s Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. By evening, about 300 had been killed in the fighting, and Iran’s Mohammad Reza Shah [King] Pahlavi’s throne was secure.18
Murder of Patrice Lumumba in Congo, 1961
number of deaths not known
A firing squad executed the Congolese anti-colonialist leader Patrice Lumumba just months after he was elected prime minister of the newly founded Republic of the Congo. This brutal murder was carried out by Lumumba’s Congolese enemies, but President Eisenhower’s CIA Director, Allen Dulles, had declared that “[Lumumba’s] removal must be an urgent and prime objective.” Mobutu Sese Seko “arranged” Lumumba's execution, took power in 1961, and served the interests of the imperialists—who considered him a 'stabilizing' force in Africa—for decades. It's estimated that between 500,000-1 million were killed under the influence of his polices, including the Rwanda genocide of 1994.19
The Bay of Pigs invasion, 1961
2,500 deaths
The U.S. attempted to spark the overthrow of Cuba’s government, headed by Fidel Castro, by organizing this invasion by reactionary Cuban exiles. It was defeated, but during the fighting some 2,500 Cuban soldiers, militia personnel, and others were killed, wounded, or went missing.20
Backing for Brazil coup, 1964
1,000 deaths, 30,000 tortured
A section of the Brazilian military carried out a coup that overthrew President João Goulart, The U.S. had prepared the coup for two years or more and provided supplies and funding for it. It gave rise to two decades of murderous military rule, including murders, disappearances and torture. At least 8,350 were killed between 1964-1985.21
CIA orchestrates bloodbath in Indonesia, 1965-1966
500,000 deaths
At the end of 1965, the reactionary Indonesian military, led by the pro-U.S. General Suharto, launched a massive bloodbath set in motion, backed, and orchestrated by the U.S., which provided the military with equipment, weapons, and ultimately tens of billions of dollars. CIA advisers gave the military a “hit list” of 5,000, then checked off their names as they were murdered. At least 500,000, perhaps more than a million, were killed, including members of the Communist Party of Indonesia, trade unionists, intellectuals, teachers, land reform advocates, ordinary peasants, ethnic Chinese, women, and children. Hundreds of thousands more were arrested and tortured.22
CIA-organized military coup in Chile, 1973
3,000 executed, thousands more disappeared
Beginning in the early morning hours of September 11, 1973, the Chilean military, with political guidance and secret backing from the U.S., carried out a coup against the leftist government of Chilean president Salvador Allende. More than 3,000 Chilean people were executed, thousands more were “disappeared,” and tens of thousands tortured; over 140,000 people were rounded up during the coup.23
U.S. foments civil war in 800,000 deaths
Angola, 1975-1994
U.S. foments civil war in 800,000 deaths
Angola, 1975-1994
Angolan and Cuban soldiers fighting together in the Angolan Civil War, 1975.
The U.S. also backed South Africa’s military intervention in Angola to weaken or overthrow the MPLA government, prevent the Soviet Union or its ally Cuba from gaining a foothold in Southern Africa, and help preserve the racist apartheid government of South Africa. A savage civil war was unleashed which lasted until 2002. Some 800,000 were killed, over four million were driven from their homes, and the society was devastated. 24
Covertly fueling terror in Mozambique, 1977-1992
1 million dead
Between 1977 and 1992, the U.S. covertly fueled a reactionary war and a barbaric campaign of mass terror in the southern Africa country of Mozambique. RENAMO systematically carried out crimes against humanity as part of a strategy to cripple and destabilize Mozambique’s government. Add: It carried out brutal massacres, and directly murdered some 100,000 people in all. It also devastated agriculture (as well as the country’s infrastructure) spawning mass starvation and famines which resulted in 1 million killed.25
Supporting Indonesian genocide in East Timor, 1975-1999
200,000-300,000 deaths
The U.S.-backed Indonesian invasion and occupation of East Timor resulted in the worst slaughter relative to population since the Holocaust. From 1975 to 1999, the Indonesian military bombed, massacred, tortured, raped, and brutalized the population of East Timor until nearly 200,000 to 300,000 were killed – at least a third of the original population. During this time, the U.S. continually gave the military the economic and diplomatic support that enabled this horrific genocide.26
U.S. proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, 1979-1989
as many as 1 million deaths
After the Soviet Union, the U.S.’s main imperialist rival, invaded Afghanistan in 1979, the U.S., along with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, armed, organized, and funded the reactionary Islamic fundamentalist Mujahideen (who later became Afghanistan’s Taliban and Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda) to wage war against the Soviet forces and the Afghan regime it backed. When the Soviets finally pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, between 800,000 and 1.5 million Afghans (along with 15,000 Soviet soldiers) had been killed in this reactionary bloodbath and five million Afghans, one-third of its population at the time, had been driven out of the country as refugees.27
U.S. backs El Salvador death squads, 1980-92
75,000 deaths plus 8,000 disappeared
To crush a guerrilla struggle against its brutal client regime, the U.S. supported, funded, and armed death squads that carried out extra-judicial executions and massacres which killed as many as 75,000 Salvadorans.28
Fueling the Iran-Iraq war, 1980-1988
1 million Iranian deaths, 250,000-500,000 Iraqi deaths
In September 1980, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein invaded Iran with a green light from the U.S. Their common goal—to weaken or topple the new Islamic Republic. The U.S. sold (or had allies sell) arms to Iraq, including the capability to make biological and chemical weapons (which were used against Iran), and provided military intelligence. For a time, the U.S. also supplied Iran with weapons. U.S. machinations prolonged the war and worsened the slaughter: Conservative estimates place the death toll at 262,000 to 367,000 Iranians and 105,000 Iraqis, plus an estimated 700,000 injured or wounded on both sides.29
The U.S.-sponsored Contra war in Nicaragua, 1981-1988
65,000 deaths
After the Sandinistas overthrew the pro-U.S. Somoza dictatorship in 1978, and established friendly ties with the Soviet Union, the U.S. was determined to overthrow them. A US proxy army, the Contras, waged all-out war ... burning down schools and medical clinics, raping, torturing, mining harbors, bombing and strafing. As many as 65,000 people were killed. The US regained power after forcing a “free election.” Today, Nicaragua is one of the poorest and most violence plagued nations in the hemisphere.30
U.S.-backed genocide in Guatemala, 1982-1983 75,000 deaths
U.S.-backed genocide in Guatemala, 1982-1983 75,000 deaths
Bodies of 20 villagers killed near Salacuin, in northern Guatemala, May 11, 1982 Photo: AP
In 1982, the U.S. backed a military coup by the Christian fanatic General José Efraín Ríos Montt, who then launched a genocidal assault on Guatemala’s indigenous Mayan population. With U.S. aid and support, Guatemala’s military systematically destroyed more than 600 indigenous Mayan villages and slaughtered some 75,000 people. The Guatemalan military regime’s savage, U.S.-supported war against leftist opponents and peasants (which had begun in the 1960s) continued until 1996. During those decades it’s estimated that some 200,000 people were disappeared or killed.31
America’s complicity in the massacre of Iraqi Kurds, 1987-1988
60,000 deaths
After facilitating Iraq’s development of chemical weapons, the U.S. turned a blind eye and continued to support it when it used them against Iraq’s Kurds. As many as 60,000 were massacred, including an estimated 5,000 in one gas attack according to an Iraq scholar. A Defense Intelligence Agency officer told the New York Times that the Pentagon “wasn’t so horrified by Iraq’s use of gas. It was just another way of killing people—whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn’t make any difference.32
Military intervention in the former Yugoslavia: Bosnia, 1994-95; Serbia, 1999
495 killed by NATO bombing in Kosovo and Serbia; war caused 100,000 deaths
In the 1990s, the multi-national Republic of Yugoslavia was torn apart by the forces of reactionary nationalism, egged on, backed, and manipulated by Germany, Russia, the U.S., and other imperialist powers. A complex series of brutal wars erupted in which over 100,000 died. At various points, NATO—under U.S. command—intervened in order to shape the outcome in U.S. interests, carrying out its own war crimes. In April 1999 alone, NATO planes conducted hundreds of runs, destroying homes, apartment complexes, and bridges, killing over 495 civilians, and wounding 450 in Kosovo and Serbia.33
Military coup in Honduras, 2009
unknown number of deaths
The Honduran military carried out a coup against the elected president, Manuel Zelaya, a liberal-leaning populist. The coup had backing from Barak Obama’s Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. State Department. The generals and politicians behind the coup brought to power an openly fascist and pro-U.S. regime that plunged the Honduran people even more deeply into the hell of U.S. domination, state-sponsored political assassinations and terrorism, and intensified violence, poverty, and oppression.34
U.S.-Saudi war in Yemen, 2015-present
377,000 deaths
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia, with U.S. arms, technical support, and political backing, launched a war against Yemen’s Houthi movement, which had taken power. The Saudis have bombed Yemen’s food, water, and medical systems, causing massive hunger and disease. Estimates are 150,800 deaths by violence, 226,200 by hunger, lack of healthcare, and unsafe water. Yemen is now facing the largest humanitarian crisis on Earth.35
Backing and arming Ukraine in dangerous proxy war with Russia, February 2022-present
Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the U.S. has supplied massive amount of arms ($188 billion total so far, as of 12/31/25. $64.6 billion is military aid), and intelligence to the Ukrainian army. The aim is to weaken Russia and its ability to challenge the U.S. Tens of thousands have died in this war. There is very real danger of this proxy war between imperialist rivals spiraling into direct war, including the use of nuclear weapons, between the U.S. and Russian imperialists.36
U.S. support for Israel’s wars, 1948-present
The Nakba, 1947-1949
15,000 deaths
The U.S. supported the foundation of Israel, which was created by defeating armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq in war. Between 1947 and 1949, at least 750,000 Palestinians, of a population of 1.9 million, were expelled and made refugees, violently forced from their lands and homes. Zionist forces took more than 78 percent of historic Palestine, ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed about 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities. This is known as the Nakba (Arabic for catastrophe). Since then Israel has launched a series of aggressive wars in the region. Israel, backed with billions of dollars of U.S. aid annually, has increasingly functioned as a key U.S. proxy and attack dog.
1967 War [“Six-Day War”], June 5, 1967-June 10, 1967
18,000 deaths
In 1967, Israel launched a preemptive war against Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, crippling their air forces. Israel then carried out a successful ground offensive, seizing the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt; the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan; and the Golan Heights from Syria. Egypt’s casualties numbered more than 11,000, with 6,000 for Jordan, and 1,000 for Syria, compared with only 700 for Israel.37
1973 Arab-Israeli War, October 6-26, 1973
8,000-18,500 deaths
The war started after a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria fought to regain lands that had been seized by Israel in the 1967 war. The lowest casualty estimate is 8,000 (5,000 Egyptians and 3,000 Syrians) killed and 18,000 wounded. The highest estimate is 18,500 (15,000 Egyptians and 3,500 Syrians) killed.38
1982 Lebanon War, June 1982-September 1982
22,000 estimated deaths, 20,000 injured
Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon with the goals of expelling the Palestine Liberation Organization, removing Syrian influence over Lebanon, and installing a pro-Israeli Christian government. By the end of the second week, International Red Cross and Lebanese police figures claimed up to 19,000 people died and 20,000 were injured, mostly civilians. The Siege of Beirut, by late August 1982, left 6,776 dead. In addition, more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees were murdered at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese militias who were allowed into the camps by the Israeli Defense Forces. The U.S. continued to staunchly support Israel overall, including the need to crush the Palestinian resistance and other anti-U.S. forces in the region.39
Massacre in Gaza, 2008-09
1,400 deaths
Between December 27, 2008 and January 19, 2009, Israel waged a war of wanton death and destruction as collective punishment of Gazans after Hamas (an Islamist Party) was voted into power. Between 1,166 and 1,417 people were killed, including 844 unarmed civilians, 281 of them children. On January 9, Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress voted overwhelmingly in support of Israel’s actions, declaring—in direct opposition to the findings of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Red Cross, and other humanitarian organizations—that Israel’s armed forces bore no responsibility for the large numbers of civilian casualties from their assault on Gaza.40
2014 Gaza War, July 8, 2014-August 26, 2014
12,700 deaths
2,251 Palestinians were killed, including 1,462 Palestinian civilians, of whom 299 were women and 551 children; and 11,231 Palestinians were injured. Again, both Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate passed resolutions unanimously supporting Israel’s slaughter.41
2018—the Great March of Return
150 deaths, over 9,000 injured
Weekly protests began March 30, 2018 at Gaza’s border with Israel. They demanded that Israel’s crippling blockade be lifted and Palestinian refugees be given the right to return to their homes stolen by Israel in the 189 Palestinians had been killed in the demonstrations,with over 9,000 others injured, including children, paramedics, and journalists. Of those injured, 5,814 were hit by live ammunition. The Trump/Pence regime responded by blaming the unarmed Palestinians for the violence.42
U.S.-Israeli genocide in over 90,000 deaths
Gaza, 2023-present
U.S.-Israeli genocide in over 90,000 deaths
Gaza, 2023-present
Palestinian mother holds her malnourished sons, 4 and 3 years old, at Friends of the Patient Hospital in Gaza City, July 29, 2025. Photo: AP
The true human cost of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip is far greater than 'official' estimates. Independent research published in the world’s leading medical journals verify more than 75,000 “violent deaths” by early 2025. This figure sits 34.7 percent higher than the 49,090 “violent deaths” reported by the Gaza Ministry of Health (MoH) for the same period. The MoH now estimates that as of February 16, 2026, at least 72,063 people have been killed since the start of the war (603 since the “ceasefire” in the Gaza Strip on October 10, 2025.43
Economic Sanctions on Vital Necessities: “Sanctions as deadly as war”
The U.S., imposes more international sanctions than any other country. (International sanctions are restrictions on international transactions imposed by governments in pursuit of foreign policy objectives.) By targeting key economic sectors such as finance and energy, sanctions restrict access to critical imports like medicine, food, and parts for water and electrical systems, causing widespread suffering without the visible devastation of bombs and missiles. According to a new study published on July 25, 2025 in the Lancet Global Health, broad economic sanctions, often portrayed as a less violent alternative to war, have been responsible for an estimated 564,000 deaths each year for the past 50 years (from 1971-2021) - most of them children under the age of five. According to the report: “US sanctions, in contrast, often aim to create conditions conducive to regime change or shifts in political behaviour, with the deterioration of living conditions in target countries in some cases being acknowledged by policy makers as part of the intended mechanism through which objectives are to be attained.”44
U.S.-UN killer sanctions on Iraq, 1990-2003
1.2 million deaths
The U.S. and UN enforced crippling economic sanctions on Iraq, with catastrophic results for millions of Iraqis, especially the young, the sick, and the elderly. By 1997, the UN reported that more than 1.2 million Iraqis had died as a result of medical shortages caused by the war and sanctions,and there are estimates that a minimum of 250,000 children under the age of 5 had died due to sanctions by 1999, with the Geneva International Centre for Justice putting the number at a minimum of 500,000. When Bill Clinton’s UN Ambassador, Madeleine Albright, was asked by a journalist in 1996 about the deaths of half a million Iraqi children, Albright replied: “We think the price is worth it.”45
Murderous Sanctions on Venezuela, 2015-Present
100,000 deaths
In 2015, then-U.S. President Barak Obama declared Venezuela an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to U.S. national security, setting 'legal grounds' for the imposition of economic coercive measures. Beginning in 2017, Trump regime launced wave after wave of sanctions. The U.S. sanctions program has had devastating consequences for the Venezuelan people. A study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), by economists Mark Weisbrot and Jeffrey Sachs, estimates more than 40,000 deaths between the 2 years 2017-2018.46
Other:
Turning Micronesia into a nuclear testing ground, 1946-1962
From 1946 to 1962, the U.S. turned Micronesia—a region in the Western Pacific Ocean comprising thousands of small islands, including the Marshall Islands—into a nuclear test site which it named the “Pacific Proving Ground.” It carried out its first test by exploding a nuclear bomb over Bikini Atoll in 1946.
The International Disarmament Institute reported that from 1946-1996, 318 nuclear devices were detonated in the Pacific region by the US, UK & France, and according to New Zealand President Hilda Heine, biological weapons were tested as well.
Some islands were evacuated prior to testing and were obliterated. But other tests were carried out on inhabited islands and people were exposed to huge amounts of nuclear fallout and suffered acute radiation illness including nausea, vomiting, burns, hair loss, hypothyroidism, and miscarriages. Some were guinea pigs in a secret medical experiment to study the effects of radiation on human beings. Today, 60 years after nuclear testing, entire islands remain uninhabitable and many islanders still suffer their aftereffects, in some instances with thyroid cancer rates 200 percent above the national baseline
A 1999 survey by Pace U. found that of 2,500 men who participated in UK nuclear tests, two-thirds of respondents who had died had cancers. Data on the 5,000 children and grandchildren of 1,000 such veterans found elevated rates of health problems consistent with multigenerational effects of radiation exposure, including a rate of spina bifida at five times the UK average.47
_______________
FOOTNOTES:
1. https://www.icanw.org/hiroshima_and_nagasaki_bombings; https://www.britannica.com/place/Hiroshima-Japan; https://www.britannica.com/place/Nagasaki-Japan [back]
2. https://www.britannica.com/event/Korean-War [back]
3. https://www.civil-war.net/how-many-vietnamese-died-during-the-vietnam-war/ [back]
4. https://jacobin.com/2015/04/dominican-republic-occupation-united-states-1965/; http://isreview.org/issue/70/under-eagle [back]
5. https://www.history.com/articles/laos-most-bombed-country-vietnam-war [back]
6. “Bombs Over Cambodia,” Yale University, The Walrus, October, 2006 [back]
7. “North Vietnam, 1972: The Christmas bombing of Hanoi,” Rebecca Kesby, BBC World Service, December 24, 2012, bbc.com; The Vietnam War, a film by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, Part 9 "A Disrespectful Loyalty" (May 1970-March 1973) [back]
8. Cole, Ronald (1997). “Operation Urgent Fury: The Planning and Execution of Joint Operations in Grenada” [back]
9. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4812&context=noticen#:~:text=US%20overkill%20and%20military,clear%20violation%20of%20the%201949 [back]
10. Source to come. [back]
11. https://costsofwar.watson.brown.edu/sites/default/files/papers/Costs-of-War_Direct-War-Deaths_9-1-21.pdf [back]
12. https://www.codepink.org/the_iraq_death_toll_15_years_after_the_us_invasion [back]
13. https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/blog/2020-09-04/ten-years-investigating-us-covert-warfare [back]
14. https://worldbeyondwar.org/how-many-millions-killed [back]
15. https://www.en-hrana.org/twelve-days-under-fire-a-comprehensive-report-on-the-iran-israel-war/ [back]
16. William Blum, Killing Hope – U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II(Common Courage 1995), pp. 21-23; Alpha History, “The Chinese Civil War,” 2018. [back]
17. https://www.britannica.com/event/Greek-Civil-War] [back]
18. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/31/690363402/how-the-cia-overthrew-irans-democracy-in-four-days [back]
19. https://www.ft.com/content/e7112d1f-2458-4a0a-a75b-702dc098b0d3; “The Lumumba Plot — the truth behind the killing of an African icon,” FINANCIAL TIMES [back]
20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion [back]
21. https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-01/brazils-dictatorship-repression-torture-slaughter-of-indigenous-people-and-censorship.html [back]
22. American Crime Case #100: "1965 Massacre in Indonesia," revcom.us, May 2, 2016. [back]
23. https://revcom.us/en/a/514/american-crime-57-the-1973-cia-coup-in-chile-en.html; https://www.wgbh.org/news/2023-09-10/the-u-s-set-the-stage-for-a-coup-in-chile-it-had-unintended-consequences-at-home [back]
24. https://revcom.us/en/a/580/american-crime-case-number-28-civil-war-in-angola-en.html; https://web.archive.org/web/20201025025640/http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/Angola.pdf [back]
25. https://www.scribd.com/document/676341438/The-Mozambican-Civil-War-1977-1992 [back]
26. https://rwi.wwu.edu/genocide-indonesia; Case #20: The U.S.-Enabled Genocide in East Timor, 1975‑1998 [back]
27. Source to come. [back]
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