Creative Associates International (CAI): It’s Not Exactly the CIA, But Close Enough — Alan MacLeod

An ordinary person arriving at Creative Associates’ website — festooned as it is with images of smiling African children, Asian kids being taught how to read and happy Latino farmers harvesting their fields — would likely conclude that the outfit is some sort of progressive non-profit charity tirelessly working to empower vulnerable people around the world.

Yet subjecting the organization to a little more scrutiny, some red flags immediately begin to emerge. First is the indecipherable word-salad it uses when describing what it actually is in its “Us At A Glance” section. “Creative Associates International provides outstanding, on-the-ground development services and forges partnerships to deliver sustainable solutions to global challenges,” it says, as if this is any sort of answer to the question “Who are you?” Continuing, it boasts that “Creative is recognized for its ability to quickly adapt and excel in conflict and post-conflict environments” (emphasis added) — a statement that sounds worryingly like one private mercenary armies use to advertise their services.

In today’s world, the United States government does not use only overtly violent methods (wars, invasions, coups, training of domestic death squads, etc.) to achieve regime change; it also uses so-called “soft power” techniques — the training of leaders, education, economic coercion, etc. — to maintain a hegemonic grip on the world. And Creative Associates International is a crucial part of that system....

Hoh was keen to stress that many people working at the lower levels of programs like these were well intentioned, but that as one went higher up the commitment to the benefit of others waned significantly. “Groups like CAI would do the [genuine] work but they would also be a front. It is a way for the CIA and other security services to get people into countries,” he said. In 2009, it was reported that Creative Associates’ headquarters in Peshawar, Pakistan, was being used as a front for Blackwater to stage military operations along the Afghan/Pakistan border....

Internationalist 360º
Creative Associates International (CAI): It’s Not Exactly the CIA, But Close Enough

Alan MacLeod

Originally at MintPress News