Land of the free

Here we sit in the land of the free, but one must wonder what that freedom means. An article in today's Washington Post raises a thorny issue about US foreign policy. While Shrub may be more blatant in the hubris and imperialistic nature of US foreign policy, he did not invent it. In fact, we have been engaged in manipulating the world for our benefit for quite some time. Joshua Phillips article The Case Against the Generals (Washington Post 8/17/03) returns to the issue of the number of war criminals and torturers that now have safe haven in the US. Many are from Latin America, but certainly we have global representation (historically and contemporarily).

Why? One might well ask, but the answer is relatively simple. These war criminals and torturers have worked well for us. Heck we even trained, supported, and engineered many of them to power ... because it suited our interests. If we didn't provide them safe haven from prosecution after they have served us, how likely would new recruits be to step forward?

I imagine that everyone reading this knows how our foreign policy works. We see (repeatedly) the consequences of it . Those (unfortunate) consequences even have a special label -- "blowback." Panama, the Philippines, Columbia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan -- the list is long. "Blowback" is when we "intervene" (frequently covertly) and then down the line what we built turns around and bites us.

Let's take an example of blowback that most folks already know about - Afghanistan. Back in the 1980s and 90s, the then Soviet Union "invaded" Afghanistan. The US supported "freedom fighters" to repel the Soviets. We trained them, armed them, helped them financially, we even recruited for them. These "freedom fighters" from around the world beat the Soviets back. However, they didn't disband and go home after the victory. They became the Al-Qaeda.

We were also big sponsors of education for the children of Afghanistan. With money from USAID we wrote and published textbooks that indoctrinated children to hate and to fight. Textbooks that glorified the mujadeen. So the children grew and fought - and many are fighting still.

Oil interests (and the US) wanted a pipeline to capture the Asian market. the best route for that pipeline was through Afghanistan. The only way that would work was with a strong government, and so we directly and indirectly (through Pakistan) supported the Taliban – supported them despite global concerns about human rights.

Well we all know the "blowback" from this little venture.

We have an even longer history in our own hemisphere with Latin America. We even built a school to provide training in military techniques, intelligence and propaganda, and torture techniques. Originally, the school was in Panama, but then we moved it to the US. It was called the School of the Americas. In 2001 we changed the name (because it had gotten such bad press I imagine) to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. The SOA (now the "Institute" ) is located at Fort Benning, Georgia.

"Over its 56 years, the SOA has trained over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of Assassins." (SOAW)

There have been numerous notorious graduates of SOA (SOAW). And many of the more infamous ones now live here. A good retirement plan for the most successful.

America - the land of the free, the home of the brave. One has to wonder what that freedom means and the cost at which it is purchased. Not just the costs of the lives of our own soldiers, but what about the millions killed "elsewhere"? You know, the ones we now euphemistically call "collateral damage?" You know the ones we sometimes say we are "freeing" or "saving from tyrants" or protecting from "communism?"

Of course, we have a fair number of survivors of our henchmen who come here too. they come to establish new lives. Perhaps some come to escape the horror of their homes or ongoing persecution. I t would be quite a blow to know that the US of the "send us your poor and huddled masses" also opens its arms for war criminals.

Posted by rowan at August 17, 2003 9:54 PM | TrackBack | [eMail this article!] |