State Terrorism and the United States: Counterinsurgency and the War on Terrorism

by First Last

Overview

This study exposes the support that administrations in Washington have given right-wing dictatorships that committed terrorism especially during the cold war and war on terrorism. It offers a critique of this latter war, and the study's portrayal of the earlier war serves as necessary background for understanding and evaluating the latter war. It rejects the narrow definition of terrorism insisted on by Washington that exempts terrorism committed by governments (state terrorism) from the definition, and for political reasons restricts the term solely to the private terrorism committed by private individuals or non-governmental organizations. Every one of the six truth commission reports used in the study-one each for El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa and two with remarkably similar conclusions for Guatemala-- found that the governments were responsible for the great preponderance of terrorism and other acts of repression that occurred in their respective countries, much more so than the guerrillas. In El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chile the governments were found to be guilty of over 90 percent of the acts of terrorism and other acts of repression. Sponsored by the United Nations, successor governments to those that committed state terrorism, or the Catholic Archdiocese of Guatemala City, each of these reports is based on thousands of interviews mostly with surviving victims or their families and friends. All of the truth commission reports charged that the state terrorists committed unimaginable, unspeakable acts of cruelty and terrorism, what the truth commission for Argentina characterized as an "encyclopedia of horror." Advertised as a defense against communism and sometimes swayed by other motives-- racism in South Africa and Guatemala and anti-Semitism in Argentina-- the basic motive for the state terrorists was discovered to be the preservation of the status quo and the prevention of social change. They hunted down, tortured, terrorized, and murdered peasants, workers, students, teachers, priests, and nuns. The truth commission for Guatemala sponsored by the United Nations found the government of that country guilty of genocide. With some exceptions, a compliant national media engaged in self-censorship, even passing on the government inspired lies that held the guerrillas, not the government, responsible for the bulk of the atrocities. This and other evidence suggest that the so-called war on terrorism is a partial war that fails to target the main perpetrators, the state terrorists. The incomplete definition insisted on by Washington shields it from being accused of being a supporter of terrorism. Washington's support for state terrorist regimes typically has taken the form of training their troops in "counterinsurgency," now "counter-terrorism," and by providing funds and loans, military equipment, and diplomatic backing. The study indicates that Washington helped the Saddam Hussein regime and the apartheid regimes in South Africa successfully develop weapons of mass destruction. Saddam used poison against the Kurds and the Iranians. The racists in Pretoria produced six nuclear weapons, which they destroyed, following a request from Washington, before handing over the government to Nelson Mandela. In order to assure the continuing Kuwaiti financing of Saddam's war of aggression against Iran (1980-1988), the Reagan administration put the American flag on the ships of the sheikdom to protect them from Iran. This administration also became a co-belligerent in Saddam's "oil war," sinking half of the Iranian navy. It is arguable that without this aid Saddam would have been defeated and deposed by Iran in 1988. The support for Saddam by the Reagan administration and by that of the elder Bush in its early years puts in perspective Washington's later moral claims for initiating wars against the dictator. Support for Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war also serves the reader as an introduction to what is to com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780932863393
Publisher:	Clarity Press, Incorporated
Publication date:	02/25/2015
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.54(d)
Lexile:	1390L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

	Introduction	11
	Terrorism Strikes Home	11
	Defining Terrorism: Problems and Perspectives	12
	The Post 9-11 Rush to Pin the Terrorist Label	13
	A Definition of Terrorism	14
	Monitoring Terrorism	15
	The Contents of This Book	16
	The Central Questions of This Research	18
	A "Practical" Reason for Examining the Charge Against Washington	19
	Assigning Guilt for the Support of Terrorism	20
	State Terrorism and Silence: Hamburg	20
Chapter 1	The School of the Americas and Terror in El Salvador	22
	The School of the Americas	22
	El Salvador: The Seminal Revolt and Massacre	26
	Washington Teaches and Underwrites Counterinsurgency	28
	Counterinsurgency Ideology	29
	Counterinsurgency Manuals Prescribe the Use of Terrorism	30
	Counterinsurgency Operationalized in El Salvador	30
	The Un Truth Commission on El Salador	32
	The Reception of the UN Report	32
	The Organization of the Truth Commission	34
	Truth Commission Findings: Government Terrorism and Repression, Not Guerrilla Warfare	35
	Death Squads	36
	The Rape and Killing of Nuns	38
	The Aftermath	40
	Rewards and Punishments	40
	Conclusion	41
Chapter 2	Guatemala: A Country Incommunicado	43
	Why Guatemala?	43
	Assigning Blame for Violence in Guatemala	45
	The Silence of the Terrorized	47
	Counterinsurgency Training	48
	Targeting Women and Children	48
	Training for Terror and Massacres	52
	Learning the Step of Death	53
	The Report of the Archdiocese of Guatemala City	53
	The Charge of Genocide	57
	The Intent to Commit Genocide	58
	The Key Role of the Army and Intelligence Agencies	60
	Washington's Complicity	61
	The Aftermath	63
	A Bishop Is Beaten to Death	63
	An Ongoing Atmosphere of Impunity	64
Chapter 3	Chile: The Forgotten Past is Full of Memory	67
	Why Chile?	67
	Denying Social Change Through Electoral Processes	68
	CIA Efforts to Prevent Allende Taking Office	68
	Making the Chilean Economy "Scream"	69
	Strengthening the Chilean Military	70
	The Coup of September 11, 1973	71
	The Pinochet Regime	71
	The Chilean National Commission on Truth and Reconciliation	72
	The Victims of the Repression	73
	Intelligence Agencies, the Counterinsurgency Doctrine, and Torture	76
	The National Intelligence Directorate (DINA)	76
	Evaluating the Extent of Washington's Complicity	78
	Counterinsurgency Doctrine	79
	CNI, The Successor to DINA	80
	Terror and Torture by the Pinochet Regime	81
	Internal Support for the Dictatorship	83
	Washington's Reaction to State Terrorism in Chile	85
	The Aftermath	90
	The General Visits, Shops, Has an Operation, Is Charged With Murder, Then Returns Home	90
	Conclusion	91
Chapter 4	Argentina's Dirty War	93
	Another Coup Waging Law and Order	93
	Nunca Mas: Report of the Argentine Commission on the Disappeared	94
	Organization of the Commission	94
	Argentinian State Terrorism	96
	The Victims	96
	Class War	98
	The Church	98
	The Systematic Sowing of Terror	99
	How Impunity Functions	99
	The Government Tortures and Disappears Its Victims	100
	Washington's Support for State Terrorism in Argentina	102
	Aid Replacement and Increased Trade	102
	Military Support	103
	Teaching Them "How We Think"	104
	Diplomatic Support	105
	The Aftermath	106
	The Theory of the Two Devils	106
	Some Closing Remarks for the Chapter	107
Chapter 5	South Africa, Apartheid, and Terror	109
	Apartheid	109
	The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report	111
	Introduction	111
	Gross Human Rights Violations: Pretoria and the Inkatha	113
	Gross Human Rights Violations: the ANC and PAC	117
	The Guilt of Civil Society	119
	Applying Terror	120
	Killings	120
	Detention Without Trial	121
	Torture	122
	Washington's Policy Toward South Africa	125
	Introduction	125
	From Truman to Carter	126
	Reagan and Botha: "From Repression to Criminal Activity"	131
	The Impact of Pretoria's Total Strategy on Neighboring Countries	136
	Washington, South Africa and Weapons of Mass Destruction	142
	Chemical and Bacteriological Weapons	142
	Nuclear Weapons	142
	Brief Comments on the Chapter	144
Chapter 6	Indonesia: Three Series of Massacres	145
	The Anti-Communist Massacres: Indonesia	145
	The PKI: An Historic U.S. Obsession	145
	A Political Party Falls Victim to Massacres	148
	Welcoming the Suharto Regime	150
	The First East Timor Massacres	152
	The Santa Cruz Massacre	155
	Some Conclusions	158
	The Second East Timor Massacres	158
	Conclusion	161
Chapter 7	The Root Doctrine and Some Notorious Instances of U.S. Support for Dictators	162
	The Root Doctrine	162
	Nicaragua, The Somozas, and The Sandanistas: From Coolidge to Bush, Sr.	165
	The Congo: From Kennedy to Bush, Sr.	168
	The Khmer Rouge: From Carter to Bush, Sr.	169
	Conclusion	171
Chapter 8	The Roots of the War on Terrorism: Washington's Policies in the Middle East	172
	Washington Installs and Supports the Shah of Iran	172
	Saddam Hussein, 1979-1990: "Our S.O.B."	174
	The First Persian Gulf War	175
	WMD for Use Against Iran and the Kurds	177
	The Second Persian Gulf War: Washington Turns on Saddam	179
	Washington's Complicity in Israeli State Terrorism	181
	The Partition of Palestine	181
	The Ethnic Cleansing of the Palestinians	182
	The Fate of the Palestinians	182
	Violations of the Rights of the Palestinians	183
	The Israeli Nuclear Bomb	185
	Washington's Support for Israel	186
	The "Peace Process"	186
	The Road Map	188
	Conclusion	189
Chapter 9	The War on Terrorism	190
	The Nature of the War on Terrorism	190
	The Bush Administration Projects a Dangerous New World	190
	Upgrading U.S. War-making Capacity	191
	Afghanistan: No end in Sight	193
	The Guantanamo Bay Prisoners: A Public Assault on the Rights of Detainees	197
	Pakistan and Terrorism	198
	Uzbekistan	199
	An Afghan Warlord	199
	The Treatment of Arab and Muslim Immigrants in the U.S.	200
	The Third Persian Gulf War	201
	Congress Approves Preemption, the UN Declines	201
	Protest by the Public and by International Lawyers	202
	International Lawyers	202
	Religious and Ethical Opposition	203
	World Public Opinion and the War	205
	Operation Iraqi Freedom	206
	In Search of Weapons of Mass Destruction	207
	Postwar Plans: Postwar Chaos	208
	Domestic Casualties of War: State and Local Government	211
	Counterterrorism: The Root Doctrine Gets a Face-Lift	212
	Russia and the Chechens	212
	Algeria and the Islamic Salvation Front	213
	Colombia	214
Chapter 10	Conclusions and Recommendations	216
	The Major Findings of the Study	216
	Washington as the Supplier of Arms to the World and Aid to the Violators of Human Rights	219
	Quantifying the Relation of Military Aid to Human Rights Violations	220
	Washington's Policy Toward the International Criminal Court	222
	In Search of an Appropriate Response to Terrorism	225
	Preemption and Counter-Proliferation: The Open Espousal of Aggression	227
	A Truth Commission for Washington	230
	Endnotes	232
	Index	250