This book is the confession of a man who, back when I was an EHM, was part of a relatively small group. People who play similar roles are more abundant now. They have more euphemistic titles,and they walk the corridors of Monsanto, General Electric, Nike,General Motors, Wal-Mart, and nearly every other major corpora-tion in the world. In a very real sense, Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is their story as well as mine.

In this riveting personal story, John Perkins tells of his own inner journey from willing servant of empire to impassioned advocate for the rights of oppressed people. Covertly recruited by the United States National Security Agency and on the payroll of an international consulting firm, he traveled the world--to Indonesia, Panama, Ecuador, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other strategically important countries. His job was to implement policies that promoted the interests of the U.S. corporatocracy (a coalition of government, banks, and corpora-tions) while professing to alleviate poverty--poli-cies that alienated many nations and ultimately led to September 11 and growing anti-Americanism.

  Perkins' story illuminates just how far he and his colleagues--self-described as economic hit men--were willing to go. He explains, for instance, how he helped to implement a secret scheme that funneled billions of Saudi Arabian petrodollars back into the U.S. economy, and that further cemented the inti-mate relationship between the Islamic fundamen-talist House of Saud and a succession of American administrations. Perkins reveals the hidden mechan-ics of imperial control behind some of the most dra-matic events in recent history, such as the fall of the Shah of Iran, the death of Panamanian president Omar Torrijos, and the U.S. invasions of Panama and Iraq.

  Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, which many people warned Perkins not to write, exposes the little known inner workings of a system that fosters globalization and leads to the impoverish-ment of millions of people across the planet. It is a compelling story that also offers hope and a vision for realizing the American dream of a just and com-passionate world that will bring us greater security.

     Preface ix

     Prologue xvi

PART I: 1963-1971

  1  An Economic Hit Man Is Born 3

  2 "In for Life" 12

  3 Indonesia: Lessons for an EHM 20

  4 Saving a Country from Communism 23

  5 Selling My Soul 28

PART II:1971-1975

  6 My Role as Inquisitor 37

  7 Civilization on Trial 42

  8 Jesus, Seen Differently 47

  9 Opportunity of a Lifetime 52

  10 Panama's President and Hero 58

  11  Pirates in the Canal Zone 63

  12  Soldiers and Prostitutes 67

  13 Conversations with the General 71

  14 Entering a New and Sinister Period in

     Economic History 76

  15 The Saudi Arabian Money-laundering Affair 81

  16 Pimping, and Financing Osama bin Laden 93

PART Ⅲ:1975-1981

  17  Panama Canal Negotiations and Graham Greene 101

  18  Iran's King of Kings 108

  19  Confessions of a Tortured Man 113

  20 The Fall of a King 117

  21  Colombia: Keystone of Latin America 120

  22 American Republic versus Global Empire 124

  23 The Deceptive Resume 131

  24 Ecuador's President Battles Big Oil 141

  25 I Quit 146

PART IV: 1981-PRESENT

  26  Ecuador's Presidential Death 153

  27 Panama: Another Presidential Death 158

  28  My Energy Company, Enron, and George W. Bush 162

  29 I Take a Bribe 167

  30 The United States Invades Panama 173

  31  An EHM Failure in Iraq 182

  32  September 11 and its Aftermath for Me, Personally 189

  33 Venezuela: Saved by Saddam 196

  34 Ecuador Revisited 203

  35  Piercing the Veneer 211

     Epilogue 221

     John Perkins Personal History 226

     Notes 230

     Index   240

     About the Author 248