World's
Most Dangerous Leaders
These
four pose the greatest threat to America
Illustrated by Roberto Parada
Four figures who threaten America's security.
From left, Kim Jong-il,
Bashar al-Assad, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
and Hugo Chávez.
By
Dale
Van Atta
Hugo
Chávez
Any
roll call of the world's despots is depressingly long. But
only a handful of leaders threaten the security of countries
well beyond their borders. Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez,
is the latest ruler to emerge from this pack. Rabidly anti-American,
Chávez is intent on stirring up trouble -- and he's
getting the help of some menacing thugs he counts as friends.
Last September, Americans got a surreal introduction to Hugo
Chávez. In an address before the UN General Assembly
in New York, Venezuela's president launched into a tirade against
the previous day's speaker, George W. Bush.
" Yesterday," he
intoned, "the devil came here. Right here." He made
the sign of the cross, then added, "And it smells of sulfur
still today." Many of the diplomats laughed and applauded.
Chávez went on to charge that the United States "doesn't
want peace" and denounced its "system of exploitation,
of pillage, of hegemony through war."
His
rant made headlines, but it was hardly news to those who
have
followed Chávez through the years. In other venues,
he's referred to Bush as a drunkard and a terrorist, and not
long ago derided Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as an
illiterate and sexually frustrated woman.
While
Chávez's rhetoric is often odious and his behavior
clownish, we can't afford to ignore him. Secretary Rice says
Chávez is "one of the most dangerous men in the
world." His goals are a direct challenge to the United
States and its allies: to forge alliances with America's foes,
including the world's most unsavory regimes and terrorist groups;
to undermine U.S influence by leading an anti-American coalition
of countries; to spread oil wealth throughout the region to
buy support and promote leftist governments; and to build an
outsize military, supposedly to resist an American invasion. "He
has this tremendous drive for power, and he's looking to oppose
the U.S. agenda in Latin America and throughout the world," says
Michael Shifter, vice president of the nonpartisan organization
Inter-American Dialogue.
Chávez was elected Venezuela's president in December
1998 -- after failing to topple the government six years earlier.
In short order, he eliminated the Venezuelan Senate and stacked
the Supreme Court with loyal "Chávistas." Last
winter, after reelection to another six-year term, he declared
he would rule by decree for 18 months, not subject to the approval
of legislators in the National Assembly. "This is what
dictators do," says Roger Noriega, former Assistant Secretary
of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs. "They systematically
consolidate power."
And
wielding that power, Chávez is proving more and
more of a menace to the world, especially the United States.
Oil is his chief weapon. Fourteen percent of America's imported
oil comes from Venezuela, which sits atop the most massive
oil fields outside the Middle East. If that supply were cut
off, as Chávez has often threatened, the U.S. economy
would suffer a blow as America scrambled to make up for the
loss of about one and a half million barrels of oil a day.
Major
Threat to America
Most analysts believe Chávez can't afford to take this step in the short
term because Venezuela sells over 50 percent of its oil to the United States.
But Chávez is trying to shake that dependency by planning a pipeline
to the Pacific coast and increasing sales to China and India.
Meanwhile,
soaring gas prices have fattened Venezuela's coffers, and
Chávez is using this wealth to make friends with America's
enemies. In a deal with Castro, Chávez has arranged
for Cuba to get some 90,000 discounted barrels of oil a day
in exchange for as many as 20,000 Cuban health workers. With
guidance from Castro's intelligence service, Chávez
last year promoted the successful presidential candidacies
of Sandinista Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and Evo Morales
in Bolivia, both of whom are Socialists often hostile to
U.S. interests. Elsewhere in Latin America and the Caribbean,
he spreads discounted oil and cash around to assist his bid
to break the continent free from American influence.
"We
will never know the full extent of his influence because
he's got bagmen who are able to deliver vast sums of money
to people he thinks are potential allies," says Roger
Noriega.
Chávez
has courted Syria's leader, Bashar al-Assad, and openly praises
Hamas -- the Syrian-backed Islamist group that has engaged
in terror strikes against Israel. The Anti-Defamation League
sees growing anti-Semitism in Venezuelan society, promoted
by inflammatory rhetoric from Chávez. During Israel's
recent war with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Chávez charged
the Israelis with "committing genocide" and said
they "criticize Hitler but have done something far worse."
Chávez
has also been cultivating a relationship with the regime
of North Korea's Communist dictator, Kim Jong-il. In 2005,
a North Korean military delegation reportedly met with officials
in Caracas to discuss selling intermediate-range ballistic
missiles to Venezuela. Its Nodong 1 model would be capable
of hitting Puerto Rico.
Most
worrisome to American officials is the deepening relationship
between Chávez and Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Iranian factories are popping up in Venezuela, and there
is now a direct flight between Teheran and Caracas. On a
state visit to Teheran last year, Chávez declared
his support for the Iranian nuclear program and said Venezuela
would stand by Iran anytime and under any condition. Ahmadinejad
has gone to Caracas twice in the last year and a half, and
even received from Chávez the Libertador Medal, the
highest honor bestowed by Venezuela on visiting dignitaries.
Chávez has also publicly praised Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed
terror organization with a global reach.
Keeping
Chávez in check will be no easy matter. The United
States would like to rally opposition to Chávez in
the region, but his populism has widespread appeal. A greater
possibility is that Chávez will undermine his legitimacy
as a democratically elected leader by seizing more and more
power.
The
United States does have one strong lever: Over time, it could
shrink Chávez's petroleum revenues by ending America's
dependence on Venezuelan oil. This would be especially devastating
for Chávez, since he relies on vast oil profits to
pay for his popular social programs and investments. Disappoint
the masses, and he could be in trouble.
For
now, though, Chávez is firmly in charge -- and that
portends plenty of trouble. "For Chávez, Latin
America is too small a region," says Michael Shifter
of Inter-American Dialogue. "He needs a bigger stage,
and he wants to be a global player. He's going to be a major
threat to America."
Kim
Jong-il, North Korea
Vitals:
65
years old.
North
Korea's "Dear Leader" since 1997.
Portly
and very short, with platform shoes and a bouffant hairdo
to add height.
-
A reclusive with a history of hedonistic indulgences, including
forcibly recruiting women to serve in private "pleasure
brigades."
-
According to former CIA psychologist Jerrold Post, a "malignant
narcissist" who "can't
really empathize with the pain and suffering of others." Seemingly indifferent
to three million deaths from starvation during a decade-long (and ongoing)
famine, caused largely by his disastrous control of North Korea's economy.
Rap Sheet:
-
Has turned North Korea into the third-largest exporter of
opium
and heroin and a major methamphetamine trafficker.
-
Promotes big-time counterfeiting business, including a flood
of bogus
$100 bills (in collusion with Iran) so expertly produced
that the U.S. Treasury
had to change its design.
-
A major exporter of ballistic missiles and their technology,
particularly to Iran.
-
Has a reported store of chemical and biological weapons.
-
Believed to have enough reprocessed plutonium for perhaps
a half-dozen
nuclear weapons.
Future Threat:
-
Developing an intercontinental missile capable of reaching
the western
United States.
-
Might assist Iran and other nations hostile to the United
States
in their quest for nuclear technology.
-
Could transfer nuclear technology, for much-needed cash,
to terror
groups like Hezbollah and Al Qaeda.
-
Has weapons of mass destruction available to use against
the
30,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
-
Probably least predictable ruler if he feels threatened.
Bashar
al-Assad, Syria
Vitals:
41 years old.
Syria's president since 2000. Death of older brother -- who was intended
heir to their father, Hafez al-Assad -- opened the door to the post.
- London-trained ophthalmologist who'd shown little interest in politics
or military.
- Initially allowed more press freedom and released some political prisoners,
a period known as Damascus Spring.
- Pressed by father's intimate allies, clamped down on dissent to protect
Assad family dominance.
Rap Sheet:
- Has actively assisted Islamic jihadists traveling through Syria into Iraq
to fight American soldiers. David Schenker, an Arab specialist who worked
for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, estimates that 90 percent of
the
suicide bombers who have killed Americans and Iraqis managed to enter Iraq
via Syria.
- Closest ally in region is Iran, which shares the Shi'ite religious base
with his family's Alawite sect, a minority population within Shi'ism.
- Enamored of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah and provides his terror
organization with sophisticated Syrian arms, including antitank weapons
and antipersonnel rockets that have killed dozens of Israelis.
- Believed by Western intelligence to possess nerve gas, and is developing
biological weapons.
Future Threat:
- If Iran were to unleash Hezbollah against American interests, U.S. troops
would face terrorists armed with Syrian weapons.
- Likely to keep ignoring warnings
of the international community and continue to sponsor international terrorism
and develop WMDs.
- According to Peter Brookes, a former CIA operative now with the Heritage
Foundation, Syria's leadership "seems to be racing the mullahs of Iran
to succeed Saddam Hussein's Iraq as the Middle East's most vile regime."
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran
Vitals:
50 years old.
Holds PhD in engineering and traffic transportation planning.
- Member of student-run Islamic Students Association, which planned seizure
of U.S. embassy in Teheran in 1979.
- Joined the Revolutionary Guard during Iran-Iraq War in mid-1980s, and
later the Guards-spawned Qods Force, formed to spread -- by force, if necessary
-- Ayatollah Khomeini's vision of a new Islamic world.
- Entered politics in the early 1990s, first as a town mayor, then as a
provincial governor.
- Elected mayor of Teheran in 2003, gaining followers as a populist railing
against government corruption. Became Iran's president in 2005 with support
of conservative
clerics.
Rap Sheet:
- Almost certainly took part in planning of U.S. embassy seizure in 1979.
Five former American hostages claim he was one of their captors.
- Suspected
by Austrian government of participating in 1989 assassination of a Kurdish
dissident in Vienna.
- Has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and has labeled
the Holocaust "a myth."
- Supports Palestinian and Shi'ite terrorist groups, including Hezbollah.
- Has infiltrated several thousand Iranian soldiers and political operatives
into Iraq, where they reportedly have safe houses and arms caches.
- Defies United Nations by continuing a program to enrich uranium and, potentially,
build nuclear weapons.
Future Threat:
- A nuclear Iran could be emboldened to step up terrorism, including
turning Hezbollah loose on American targets worldwide.
- Could threaten to block flow of Persian Gulf oil through the Strait of
Hormuz, affecting 20 percent of the world's supply.
- Could sabotage U.S. efforts in Iraq through influence on Iraq's Shi'ite
leaders.
- Could encourage strikes on American forces by Iraqi Shi'ite groups supplied
by Iran.
- Could welcome conflict as part of belief that apocalyptic war will precede
the return of the Shi'ite messiah, known as the Mahdi.
Dale
Van Atta is
an investigative reporter whose work has often
taken him to the Middle East to probe
the terrorists' murky underworld. Petroleumworld
not necessarily share these views.
