{"id":32098,"date":"2026-07-18T10:30:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=32098"},"modified":"2026-07-18T10:30:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T10:30:20","slug":"the-united-states-of-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=32098","title":{"rendered":"The United States of Betrayal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-intercept-editors-note__content\">\n<p><span class=\"has-underline\">Donald Trump<\/span> \u2014 America\u2019s self-proclaimed \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/WhiteHouse\/status\/1976081153699508480\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">peace president<\/a>,\u201d head of the world\u2019s newly created\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/02\/trump-board-peace-human-right-abuses\/\">Board of Peace<\/a>, and the recipient of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/06\/trump-fifa-world-cup-red-card-infantino\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">first FIFA Peace Prize<\/a> \u2014 has nonetheless been embroiled in more than <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/30\/trump-secret-wars\/\">20 wars, interventions, and conflicts<\/a>. And more loom on the horizon. Cuba remains on the <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/international\/5964821-cuba-national-security-threat\/\">chopping block<\/a>. He began <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/07\/trump-renews-call-us-take-over-greenland-nato\">threatening<\/a> Greenland, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/14\/trump-greenland-denmark-nato\/\">again<\/a>. And Guatemala agreed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/05\/28\/world\/americas\/guatemala-us-joint-strikes.html\">joint military operations<\/a> with the U.S. against cartels.<\/p>\n<p>People in these countries will have a choice to make: Throw in with the Trump administrationm or resist. In Venezuela, resident quisling Delcy Rodr\u00edguez acts as a puppet of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/11\/us\/politics\/how-marco-rubio-runs-venezuela.html\">Trump\u2019s viceroy<\/a>, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and serves at his pleasure. A U.S.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/americas\/us-turns-up-heat-venezuela-with-threat-indict-new-leader-delcy-rodriguez-2026-03-03\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">criminal indictment<\/a>\u00a0alleging corruption and money laundering charges hangs above her head, and Trump has\u00a0threatened\u00a0to attack again if she does not comply with his whims. If history is any guide, Rodr\u00edguez will be cashiered or worse once she outlives her usefulness.<\/p>\n<p>For centuries, the United States has been double-crossing allies, selling out partners, and sacrificing innocent people without compunction. Recently, Iranian civilians avoided certain slaughter by <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/08\/ceasefire-iran-war-israel-us\/\">ignoring<\/a> Trump\u2019s self-serving lies. Every potential ally, partner, and collaborator from Latin America to Greenland would be wise to follow their lead, assume the worst of America, and learn from the history of U.S. betrayals that has left a trail of suffering from Southeast Asia to the Middle East. <\/p>\n<p><em>\u2014 Nick Turse, editor of TomDispatch<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><em>If you haven\u2019t yet,\u00a0<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/join.theintercept.com\/signup\/tom_dispatch_signup\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>sign up to receive TomDispatch in your inbox here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<h2 id=\"h-trump-adds-to-america-s-lethal-legacy-of-treachery\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Trump Adds to America\u2019s Lethal Legacy of Treachery<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Who can even remember it now? That giddy moment less than five months ago when President Donald Trump called on the Iranian people to <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/01\/05\/iran-protests-israel-netanyahu\/\">rise up and take on the ruling regime<\/a>. \u201cWhen we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. America is backing you with overwhelming strength,\u201d Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/StateDept\/status\/2027758695564615715?lang=en\">promised<\/a> on February 28. \u201cThis is the moment for action. Do not let it pass.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Like a million Trump pledges before it, it was part bluster, part bullshit. Last week, Trump admitted as much, stating he knew the Iranian opposition had no chance against the ruling regime. \u201cNobody is gonna take over. They have no guns, and the other side has machine guns,\u201d he <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/factbase\/trump\/transcript\/donald-trump-remarks-meeting-mark-rutte-nato-ankara-july-8-2026\/\">said<\/a> at the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey. \u201cThey can\u2019t take over because they\u2019re dead.\u201d This was not, however, just a routine Trumpian lie; it was also part of a grand American tradition.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They say baseball is America\u2019s national pastime, but you could make a solid case that it\u2019s actually betrayal.\u00a0Washington loves nothing more than to sell out its friends, betray its partners, leave its allies in a lurch, and call people into the streets and then abandon them to slaughter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In\u00a0an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/national-security\/2026\/02\/28\/trump-iran-war-regime-change-freedom\/?_pml=1\">interview<\/a> with the\u00a0Washington Post on the Iran war\u2019s first day, Trump said that \u201cfreedom for the people\u201d of Iran was the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/02\/28\/us-attack-iran-iraq-war\/\">goal of the conflict<\/a>. It never was. But what would be lost in luring Iranian activists into the streets \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/20\/podcast-war-beirut-lebanon-iran\/\">aside from Iranian lives<\/a>?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This type of lethal double-cross has been America\u2019s stock-in-trade since its infancy \u2014 and has continued across the globe no matter the conflict, era, or president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the American Revolution, most Native peoples viewed America\u2019s colonial rebels with skepticism and attempted to remain neutral or sided with the British. But some placed a bet on the revolutionaries, assuming that they would be rewarded with fair, if not preferential, treatment in the event of a win by the colonies.\u00a0They were, in the end, wrong to assume their allies would act honorably.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Oneida, for example, split from most of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy \u2014 the Mohawk, the Onondaga, and others \u2014 who allied with the British. \u201cThere would have probably been a lot more death for the Continental Army,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/native-nations-fought-in-the-american-revolution-to-protect-their-ancestral-lands-after-the-war-settlers-seized-their-territory-anyway-180988435\/\">according<\/a> to Heather Bruegl, a public historian and citizen of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin who noted that the Oneida altered the tide of the war by breaking the famine at Valley Forge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the Pentagon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/3961343\/deputy-defense-secretary-celebrates-native-american-contributions-to-independen\/\">lauds the <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/News\/News-Stories\/Article\/Article\/3961343\/deputy-defense-secretary-celebrates-native-american-contributions-to-independen\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Oneida Nation<\/a>, noting its \u201csupport for American independence saw the Continental Army through its lowest point in the Revolutionary War\u201d but admitted that while Congress offered thanks, \u201cthat gratitude did not always translate into equitable treatment.\u201d\u00a0This is nothing but a mealy-mouthed reference to the fact that at the end of the Revolutionary War, the Oneida Homelands were estimated at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/district-courts\/FSupp\/520\/1278\/1445925\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">between five<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/oneida-nsn.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/09.10.26-Illegal-Treaties.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">six million acres of land<\/a> but were\u00a0reduced to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mountvernon.org\/library\/digitalhistory\/digital-encyclopedia\/article\/oneida\">just 32 acres<\/a> by the early 1900s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.delawarenation-nsn.gov\/history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Lenape people<\/a>\u00a0also threw in with the American rebels, signing a<a href=\"https:\/\/diplomacy.state.gov\/stories\/treaty-of-fort-pitt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> treaty<\/a>\u00a0that pledged their backing to the nascent United States in exchange for protection and the creation of a 14th state, governed by Native Americans. The agreement fell apart within weeks. As the <a href=\"https:\/\/diplomacy.state.gov\/stories\/treaty-of-fort-pitt\/\">official<\/a> State Department history puts it:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, the Lenape leader White Eyes died. While American officials insisted\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/ohiohistorycentral.org\/w\/Koquethagechton?rec=407\">White Eyes<\/a>\u00a0died from smallpox as the cause, evidence indicated members of the [colonial] militia murdered him, and the circumstances remain unclear to this day. This act showed the Lenape that the Americans did not value nor honor the importance of kinship alliances.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite a failure by the Americans<a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/blogs\/national-museum-american-indian\/2018\/05\/22\/1778-delaware-treaty\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> to protect<\/a>\u00a0Lenape lands, some Lenape warriors nonetheless assisted the Continental Army and a delegation went to the Continental Congress to attempt to repair the pact. But the Americans made no effort to salvage the agreement and said the Lenape had broken the treaty. Worse still, in 1782, Pennsylvania militia <a href=\"https:\/\/calendar.eji.org\/racial-injustice\/mar\/8\">massacred<\/a> a neutral, pacifist Christian Lenape community in Gnadenhutten, bludgeoning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/this-day-in-history\/march-8\/pennsylvania-militiamen-senselessly-murder-patriot-allies\">96 unarmed people<\/a> to death.\u00a0Thirty-nine of those killed, many with a hammer to the back of the head as they prayed for mercy, were children.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"h-deception-and-disloyalty\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Deception and Disloyalty<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, it wasn\u2019t until the 20th century that America hit its stride, selling out allies at an unbelievable clip. Approximately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/features\/macarthur-filipino-veterans-movement\/\">250,000 Filipinos joined the U.S. military<\/a>, for example, and fought for America during World War II. Washington promised them the same health and pension benefits as their American counterparts, a pledge that was even reaffirmed at the close of the war. But then Congress passed and President Harry Truman signed the Rescission Act of 1946 that said that the service of Filipinos \u201cshall not be deemed to be or to have been service in the military or national forces of the United States or any component thereof or any law of the United States conferring rights, privileges or benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Also during World War II, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services, a forerunner of the CIA, armed, trained, and supported a guerrilla force in French colonial Vietnam fighting the Japanese and their French quislings. In 1945, with the Japanese defeated, the top local OSS agent \u2014 the charismatic Ho Chi Minh \u2014 proclaimed Vietnam\u2019s independence, using the words of the U.S. Declaration of Independence as his template. \u201cAll men are created equal,\u201d he told a crowd of half a million Vietnamese in Hanoi. \u201cThe Creator has given us certain inviolable rights: the right to life, the right to be free, and the right to achieve happiness.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ho thought his allies would back him. He was wrong. They instead turned on Ho and his comrades, funded the French reconquest of Vietnam, and spent the better part of the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/17\/spencer-ackerman-lindsey-graham-iran-war\/\">next three decades<\/a> propping up an ever more corrupt and repressive rump state in South Vietnam while advising, arming, training, and funding an allied South Vietnamese military, and fought a long, destructive war against revolutionaries in the South and Ho\u2019s North Vietnam that left millions dead, wounded, or displaced.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eager to turn the conflict over to the Potemkin state they fostered and extricate the U.S., President Richard Nixon pledged to re-enter the war with the \u201cfull force\u201d of American power, to induce the despotic South Vietnamese government to sign a 1973 peace agreement with the North. Two years later, the U.S. ignored this guarantee and abandoned South Vietnam and millions of allies, collaborators, and hangers-on.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">No single moment sums up this betrayal better than an incident <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/films\/lastdays\/\">recounted<\/a> by Stuart Herrington, a counterintelligence officer who spent 30 years in the Army. Herrington made a vow to hundreds of Vietnamese who crowded onto U.S. Embassy grounds in Saigon on the final day of the U.S. evacuation in 1975. \u201cNobody is going to be left behind,\u201d he assured them. One of the 420 Vietnamese who was there remembered his words: \u201cI promise me and my soldiers will be the last ones to leave the embassy.\u201d Herrington promised them that a large helicopter was coming to rescue them and then excused himself to go \u201ctake a leak.\u201d Scurrying off into the shadows, Harrington slipped into the embassy building and onto a helicopter, abandoning those to whom he\u2019d just given his word.<\/p>\n<p><!-- END-BLOCK(cta)[0] --><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A U.S.-backed military regime in neighboring Cambodia also crumbled in 1975 and was abandoned to face the <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2023\/05\/23\/henry-kissinger-cambodia-bombing-survivors\/\">genocide of the Khmer Rouge<\/a>. A proxy army in neighboring Laos was similarly discarded in the 1970s. Decades later, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2007\/12\/17\/world\/asia\/17laos.html\">surviving troops and their families<\/a> were still in hiding and on the run. \u201cWe want America to give us a place to live,\u201d Va Chang, a then-60-year-old veteran found in the jungle in the mid-2000s told a reporter. \u201cIf the Americans don\u2019t want to do that, they should drop a big bomb on us and end our misery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Prior to a 1956 uprising, the CIA air-dropped leaflets into Hungary with messages like \u201cThe regime is weaker than you think.\u201d J\u00e1nos Rainer, director of Hungary\u2019s 1956 Institute Foundation, said, \u201cHungarians clearly got the impression that, in the event of a rebellion, the U.S. would support them effectively.\u201d But the U.S. stood aside as the Soviet Union crushed the uprising, killing and wounding almost 20,000, imprisoning 13,000, and executing 229 others following trials, <a href=\"https:\/\/nsarchive.gwu.edu\/document\/22906-1956-hungarian-revolution-fresh-look\">according to one count<\/a>. The writer Tam\u00e1s Acz\u00e9l, who fled to the U.S. in 1956, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.is\/XOpy0#selection-2665.79-2665.435\">wrote<\/a> that Hungarians had been naive to put their faith in U.S. calls for \u201cliberation\u201d in Eastern Europe, writing: \u201c[W]e learned what we didn\u2019t know \u2014 that the West had written off these countries and only their propaganda machines pretended otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In an even more egregious exercise, the CIA trained and armed Cuban exiles, landing them at the Bay of Pigs in 1961.\u00a0The counterrevolutionaries were promised ample air cover \u2014 \u201cthe sky will be yours\u201d \u2014 and led to believe they would be supported by 15,000 American troops. But the invasion of Cuba went south quickly, President John F. Kennedy canceled a second round of airstrikes, and the exiles ran out of ammunition, were pushed back into the sea, and were abandoned. Grayston Lynch, a CIA operative who participated in the landing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearhistory.com\/articles\/2026\/04\/27\/invasion_and_defeat_at_the_bay_of_pigs_-_copy_1178891.html\">recounted<\/a> that he called two American destroyers on the scene for help but was told by the captain of one: \u201cMy orders are not to become involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"newsletter-embed flex-col items-center print:hidden\" id=\"third-party--article-mid\" data-module=\"InlineNewsletter\" data-module-source=\"web_intercept_20241230_Inline_Signup_Replacement\">\n<div class=\"-mx-5 sm:-mx-10 p-5 sm:px-10 xl:-ml-5 lg:mr-0 xl:px-5 bg-accentLight hidden\" data-name=\"subscribed\">\n<h2 class=\"font-sans font-light uppercase text-[30px] leading-8 text-white tracking-[0.01em] mb-0\">\n      We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. 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Bush called on \u201cthe Iraqi military and Iraqi people to take matters into their own hands, to force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside.\u201d Both Shias in southern Iraq and Kurds in northern Iraq answered the call, expecting U.S. military support.\u00a0It never came, Hussein stayed in power, and some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/blog\/remembering-iraqi-uprising-twenty-five-years-ago\">20,000 Kurds and up to 60,000 Shias<\/a> who rose up were slaughtered by the Iraqi military.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than a decade later, another failed U.S. war in the Middle East fostered the rise of the Islamic State group and the creation of a brutal caliphate across a wide swath of Iraq and Syria. Between 2014 and 2017, Kurdish-led forces dismantled this quasi-state for the U.S. But after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/kurds-vote-in-favor-of-independence-after-disputed-referendum-1506524317?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=AWEtsqeUHBdirku_qBOAud_1xE0zDPOCMxkbm2vZqiUr75GhKLTYNw9Q2jv8b7SPIH4%3D&amp;gaa_ts=69ab296c&amp;gaa_sig=m8Z9kHiu4Yu6C-R81rSyuStG-siEPQjjGwjh2-QDvKqooEYKSG1cFMffzd_jRnC5H_XiiDbhjbB5fDSKY18Pyg%3D%3D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">93 percent<\/a>\u00a0of Iraqi Kurds\u00a0voted for independence in 2017, America was nowhere to be found. Within weeks, Iraqi federal troops and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias launched a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.rudaw.net\/english\/kurdistan\/151020177\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">coordinated offensive<\/a>. The Kurds lost the city of Kirkuk, the Nineveh Plains, and roughly 40 percent of the territory their fighters had held. Washington offered no military response and no assistance \u2014 not even a diplomatic protest to the government in Baghdad. Then\u00a0in 2019, President Donald Trump withdrew U.S. troops from northeastern Syria, opening the door for a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtoninstitute.org\/policy-analysis\/trumps-troop-withdrawal-gives-turkey-access-syria-and-isis-space-rebuild\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Turkish invasion<\/a> of the very land the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces had taken from ISIS at the cost of more than 20,000 lives.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-911-wars\/\"><br \/><span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/><img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=2000 2000w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=300 300w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=768 768w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=540 540w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/911-wars-final-1.jpg?w=1000 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/a><br \/><\/aside>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hundreds of thousands of locals also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2021\/08\/16\/us\/afghanistan-visa-refugees-us.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">served<\/a>\u00a0alongside\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tsosrefugees.org\/stories\/always-be-proud-that-you-are-working\">U.S. troops<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tsosrefugees.org\/stories\/a-forced-journey-alone\">diplomats<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/29\/us\/politics\/afghans-cia-vetting.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">intelligence officers<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2022\/01\/23\/afghanistan-usaid-contractors-staff\/\">contractors<\/a> during the failed Afghan War. Despite 20 years of Americans mouthing the phrase \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/50718\/training_afghans_shohna_ba_shohna_shoulder_to_shoulder\">shohna ba shohna<\/a><\/em>\u201d (\u201cshoulder to shoulder\u201d in Dari), it meant very little. In the chaotic <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/collections\/the-911-wars\/\">2021 U.S. withdrawal<\/a> from Afghanistan, most Afghans who fought on the side of the U.S. and its coalition partners <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/series\/losing-afghanistan\/\">were left behind<\/a> as the Taliban retook the country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But even those who made it out have been abandoned. In April, the Trump administration floated plans to send Afghan allies stranded at Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar to the Democratic Republic of Congo. While that plan was reportedly shelved, rumblings of casting them to the winds elsewhere remain. And in May, the Department of Homeland Security\u00a0formally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uscis.gov\/newsroom\/news-releases\/dhs-terminating-temporary-protected-status-for-afghanistan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ended<\/a>\u00a0Temporary Protected Status for roughly 10,000 Afghans who fled after the Taliban\u2019s return to power.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe made a promise to those who helped America in our time of need, and it\u2019s wrong to turn our backs on them,\u201d Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a combat veteran who fought in Afghanistan, <a href=\"https:\/\/crow.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/crow-leads-call-for-answers-on-trump-plan-to-transfer-afghan-allies\">said<\/a> last month, noting that they will likely face torture, persecution, and even death if they are returned to Afghanistan.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"promote-banner\">\n    <a class=\"promote-banner__link\" href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/tomdispatch\"><br \/><span class=\"promote-banner__image\"><br \/><img width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?fit=300%2C150\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=500 500w, https:\/\/theintercept.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TomDispatch_logo-promo-banner.jpg?w=300 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\"\/>        <\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"promote-banner__text\">\n<p class=\"promote-banner__eyebrow\">\n            Read Our Complete Coverage          <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><br \/><\/aside>\n<h2 id=\"h-won-t-get-fooled-again\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Won\u2019t Get Fooled Again?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The principal proverb of personal responsibility has been kicking around since <a href=\"https:\/\/grammarist.com\/proverb\/fool-me-once-shame-on-you-fool-me-twice-shame-on-me\/\">at least the 1600s<\/a>: \u201cFool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.\u201d\u00a0But what happens if the \u201cyou\u201d \u2014 in this case the United States \u2014 is always the same, and the \u201cme\u201d is always someone or somewhere different?<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The viceroys, envoys, and foot soldiers of American empire talk a good game. And the carrots offered and sticks wielded by the superpower are immense. But the U.S. hasn\u2019t won a significant military conflict since the 1940s and when its wars go south, its proxies and partners \u2014 particularly smaller, weaker nations that it sees as disposable \u2014 are the ones sacrificed. People around the world need to take this long history into account when the United States comes calling with money, weapons, and offers of friendship.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/07\/04\/july-4-america-250-trump\/\">waging a war on history<\/a>, white-washing America\u2019s past to cast the country in a more favorable light. But other nations would do well to study \u2014 really examine \u2014 how America treats its friends. The people of Iran, even dissidents and those with a grudge against the ruling regime, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/04\/08\/ceasefire-iran-war-israel-us\/\">resisted<\/a> the urge to put their faith in the United States earlier this year. But many in Venezuela, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/02\/24\/el-mencho-mexico-fbi-task-force-counter-cartel\/\">Mexico<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/theintercept.com\/2026\/03\/23\/trump-operation-total-extermination-ecuador-colombia-cuba\/\">Ecuador<\/a>, and elsewhere have forged closer ties with the Trump administration. History suggests those taken in by Americans bearing gifts will pay dearly for it. For 250 years, Americans have been double-crossing partners and selling out allies; betrayal \u2014 the past has shown \u2014 is in the nation\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>#United #States #Betrayal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Donald Trump \u2014 America\u2019s self-&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[246],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32098"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/32099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}