VIRTUAL TRUTH COMMISSION

Virtual Truth Commission

United States Institute of Peace site, with notation of the official Truth Commissions in Bolivia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, South Africa.

Afghanistan

Links to sites detailing US involvement in Afghanistan. afghan01.htm

Angola

History of U. S. Military Interventions: ANGOLA/1976-92/Command operation/CIA assists South African- backed rebels. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Argentina

History of U. S. Military Interventions: ARGENTINA/1890/Troops/Buenos Aires interests protected. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Argentina

In 1947, Evita Peron, acting as her husband's emissary, travelled to Europe to arrange for fleeing Nazis to find safe passage to Argentina. Assisting this project -- called first "Die Spinne" or The Spider, and later, ODESSA, was Juan Peron's chief of internal ssecurity, Rodolfo Freude, whose father Ludwig was managind director of the Banco Aleman Transatlantico in Buenos Aires, and acted as trustee for hundreds of millions of Reichmsmarks sent to Argentina by Hitler's top aides. A top secret May 1947 State Department report also termed the Vatican "the largest single organization involved in the illegal movement of emigrants." Additional evidence contained in postwar diplomatic correspondence between Switzerland and Argentina reveal that Heinrich Rothmund, head of the Swiss Federal Police, and PaulSchaufelberger, former Swiss intelligence officer, participated in the activities of the illegal Argentine emigration service in Bern. Among those who came to South America were:

Joseph Mengele, Auschwitz doctor
Adolf Eichmann, Holocaust architect
Carlos Fuldner
Erich Priebke, SS officer accused of a mass execution of Italian civilians
Ante Pavelic, Croat Ustashi leader
Joseph Schwamberger, concentration camp commander
Dr. Carl Vaernet, a physician who castrated homosexuals at Buchenwald
Klaus Barbie, the Gestapo's Butcher of Lyon
Argentina's military was a direct beneficiary of these Nazis. South America's first combat jet, the "Pulque", was built with engineers and test pilots from Germany. Of greater significance, the "Nazis in Argentina kept Hitler's torch burning, won new converts in the region's militaries, and passed on the advanced science of torture and 'death squad' operations... Hundred of left-wing Peronist students and unionists were among the victims of the neo-fascist Argentine junta that launched the Dirty War in 1976." When the junta started its 'war without borders' against the left elsewhere in Argentina, it used Nazis as stormtroopers, including Klaus Barbie, who in 1980 helped organize a brutal putsch against the democratically elected government in Bolivia, bankrolled by an international coalition of neo-fascists as well as drug lords. A key supporting role was played by the World Anti-Clommunist League, led by World War II fascist war criminal Ryoichi Sasakawa of Japan and the Rev. Sun Myong Moon. On July 17, 1980, Barbie, his neo-fascists and rightist officers from the Bolivian army outsted the center-left government, Barbie's team hunted down and slaughtered government officials and labor leaders, while Argentine specialists flew in to demonstrate the latest torture techniques. In the 1980's, the Argentine military extended its operations to Central America where it collaborated with Ronald Reagan's CIA in organizing paramilitary forces, such as the Nicaraguqn contras and Honduran 'death squads.' Georg Hodel, "Evita, Swiss and the Nazi's", The Consortium for Independent Journalism , Jan 7, 1999

Bolivia

Bolivia's "cocaine coup" government of 1980-82 was the first in line filling the contra drug pipeline. But other contra-connected drug operations soon followed, including the Medellin cartel, the Panamanian government, the Honduran military and Miami-based anti-Castro Cubans. The contra-connected cocaine also moved through transshipment points in Costa Rica and El Salvador. [For details, see Robert Parry's Lost History; Cocaine Politics by Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall; or Gary Webb's forthcoming book, Dark Alliance.] Robert Parry, "Contra-Cocaine: Evidence of Premeditation" , The Consortium for Independent JournalismVolume 3, No 11 (Issue 63) - June 1, 1998.

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Bolivia

CIA sponsors "Anti-Terrorism" Unit in Bolivia. Source: Weekly News Update on the Americas, Issue #439, June 28, 1998, Nicaraguan Solidarity Network of Greater New York, 339 Lafayette St., New York, New York 10012, (212) 674-9499. E-mail to wnu@igc.apc.org

The Bolivian government, with help from the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has intensified repression against campesino coca growers (cocaleros) in the Chapare region of Bolivia. Five cocaleros were arrested and several police agents were injured in new clashes in the area of Isiboro-Secure National Park during the week of June 22, according to cocalero leader and national legislative deputy Evo Morales Ayma. Morales said it was impossible to get precise information about how many campesinos and police agents were injured in the clashes, because of the distance and the strict police and military control over the area. [La Estrella del Oriente (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) 6/24/98] Cocalero union leaders and the parliament's Human Rights Commission say that 12 coca growers and two police agents have been killed in clashes in recent months. [New York Times 6/27/98; Los Tiempos (Cochabamba) 6/24/98] One police agent was killed on May 29 as cocalero families staged actions to block highways. [Agencia Informativa Pulsar 6/1/98]
The Bolivian government's move toward confrontation and away from the previous strategy of compensating growers for voluntarily eradicating coca has been heavily promoted by the US government. A June 27 article in the New York Times notes that "State Department officials, tired of subsidizing coca growers, pushed hard for the policy change." The US now seems to be pushing hard for an all out strategy of repression: the article points out that unnamed US officials "note that although cultivating new coca fields has been illegal since 1988, only a handful of the 40,000 coca growers in the country have been arrested."
"But US officials also see reasons for optimism," reports the article. Officials note that "a Bolivian anti-terrorism unit, trained and financed by the CIA, began operating in the Chapare recently and is making an impact." "The unit has captured a list of terrorist leaders and a code book for terrorist operations belonging to one of the six coca unions that are planting illegal crops in a national park, according to Bolivian Army and State Department officials." [NYT 6/27/98]
On June 22 Government Minister Guido Nayar Parada denied that there are foreign pressures or interests of any other kind in the government's anti-drug plan, dubbed "Plan Dignidad." [LT 6/23/98 from ABI] "We know that the application of Plan Dignidad only obeys political interests and interests of submission to the United States," said Evo Morales. [LEdO 6/24/98]
The crackdown comes as new laws take effect that reduce and will eventually eliminate the financial compensation growers receive for voluntarily eradicating coca crops. According to the plan, on July 1 compensation to individuals for voluntary eradication of illegal coca will drop from $1,650 to $850 per hectare eliminated, and compensation to the community will be instituted at $1,700 per hectare. On Oct. 1, all individual compensation ends, and community compensation is instituted at $2,500 per hectare. On Jan. 1 of next year, community compensation drops to $2,000 per hectare; on Oct. 1, 1999, it drops to $1,500; on July 1, 2000, it drops to $1,000; and on Apr. 1, 2001, it drops to $500. As of Jan. 1, 2002, all compensation is eliminated. [El Deber (Santa Cruz, Bolivia) 6/21/98 from ANF]
Nayar said on June 23 that Plan Dignidad and Law 1008--which imposes harsh penalties for involvement in all levels of the coca cultivation, production and transportation processes--are subjects which are non-negotiable with the Bolivian Workers Central (COB). The COB has been seeking a dialogue with the government on a number of demands, including compensation for cocaleros and the demilitarization of the Chapare. [LT 6/24/98 from ABI] On June 24 the COB sent a letter to Lopez, asking the government to bring peace to the Chapare by respecting human rights; developing consensus actions regarding coca leaf; discussing real alternative production plans; and granting fair compensation to the campesinos. [El Deber 6/25/98 from EFE] In the letter, the COB insists that it has always taken dialogue seriously, but warns that "the government's delay practices make the dialogue sterile and used for the purpose of distraction, while the offensives against workers continue..." [LEdO 6/25/98]
The letter proposes the creation of a high-level commission with decision-making power which would include the COB, the Only Union Federation of Bolivian Campesino Workers (CSUTCB), the Federation of the Tropics and other sectors. COB leader Milton Gomez told Spanish news service EFE that the COB wants the government to stop violating union and labor rights, suspend the privatization of the National Health Fund, and halt the liquidation of assets of the Social Security Complementary Funds. [El Deber 6/25/98 from EFE] Gomez noted that a truce called by the COB to allow the government time to renew talks and resolve pending demands expires on June 28. [LT 6/27/98]

History of U. S. Military Interventions: BOLIVIA/1987/Troops/Army assists raids on cocaine region. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Bosnia

History of U. S. Military Interventions: BOSNIA/1993-?/Jets, bombing/No-fly zone patrolled in civil war; downed jets, bombed Serbs. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Brazil

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Brazil

Burma (Myanmar)

Burmese leadership (SLORC) a "narco-dictatorship" because of support for heroin growing and processing at the highest levels of government. Burma supplies more than 50% of the world's supply of heroin. In 1993 U Saw Lu of the Wa ethnic group made a proposal to US DEA Agent Richard Horn a proposal outlining specific steps for opium eradication. Former CIA chief of station Arthur Brown 'destroyed this project in one swift move' by turning the document over to Burmese intelligence, which threatened to torture Lu. In September 1993, Horn was forced out of Burma by the State Department under pressure from the CIA. Dennis Bernstein and Leslie Kean, People of the Opiate: Burma's dictatorship of drugs. From The Nation, December 2, 1996.

In Doe v. Unocal Corp, 1997, Unocal Corp. and Total S. A. were held liable under the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 for actions of the Burmese government -- a program of violence, torture, rape, forced relocation and forced labor against Burmese farmers living on the route of a pipeline being built as part of a Unocal-Total project -- because the government's actions were on behalf of Unocal and Unocal knew of the human rights abuses. The Burmese plaintiffs successfully sued for the right to trial in U. S. courts. Joseph D. Pizzurro and Nancy E. Delaney, "Litigation: New Peril for Companies Doing Business Overseas" -- Alien Tort Claims Act Interpreted Broadly. New York Law Journal, November 24, 1997. Case also reported by Jed Greer, "U.S. Petroleum Giant To Stande Trial for Burma Atrocities", The Ecologist, January/February 1998

Cambodia

History of U. S. Military Interventions:
CAMBODIA/l969-75/Bombing, troops, naval/Up to 2 million killed in decade of bombing, starvation, and political chaos.
CAMBODIA/1975/Troops, bombing/Gas captured ship, 28 die in copter crash. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

U. S. and British support for Khmer Rouge. In January, 2000, Ta Mok, perhaps most violent of Khmer Rouge commanders and currently imprisoned in Cambodia, states that if he is brought to trial, his testimony will not spare Western leaders who supported the Khmer Rouge. "The most damaging element, for Britain at least, of Ta Mok's court appearance will be new evidence about how British troops and diplomats helped the Khmer Rouge in their fight for power. Contacted in his prison cell through an intermediary last week, he confirmed to The Observer that the extent to which London and Washington helped the Khmer Rouge in their fight to control Cambodia would be revealed during his trial. The evidence will contradict statements made by Margaret Thatcher's Government - which authorised the operation at the time. Ta Mok's lawyer, Benson Samay, said the court would hear details of how, between 1985 and 1989, the Special Air Service (SAS) ran a series of training camps for Khmer Rouge allies in Thailand close to the Cambodian border and created a 'sabotage battalion' of 250 experts in explosives and ambushes. Intelligence experts in Singapore also ran training courses, Samay said. To allow Ministers to deny helping the Khmer Rouge, the SAS was ordered to train only soldiers loyal to the ousted Prince Norodom Sihanouk, and the liberal democrat former Prime Minister, Son Sann, who were fighting alongside Pol Pot's Communists. However, Samay said the court would be told the Khmer Rouge benefited substantially from the British operation. 'All these groups were fighting together - but the Khmer Rouge were in charge. They profited from any help to the others. If they had won the war outright, then Pol Pot would have been back in charge,' Samay said....In a classic piece of Cold War realpolitik, Britain - prompted by the Americans - appears to have given military assistance to the Khmer Rouge-led coalition, despite knowing of Pol Pot's atrocities, in an attempt to limit the power of the Soviet-backed Vietnamese. 'Thatcher, Reagan, Kissinger - they should all be on trial along with Ta Mok,' Samay said last week. ....The psychological scars of genocide and war are obvious everywhere. The smallest incident can provoke extreme violence. The crime columns in the press are almost grotesque: three men blow themselves, and a caf, to bits playing Russian roulette with an anti-tank mine; a man is murdered in a row over whether the millennium bug is a hoax; a syphilitic farmer kills five children and drinks their blood in the hope of being cured; a chess game ends with one dead, two badly injured. Arguments over land regularly lead to murder. Source: Jason Burke, "UK/US Role in Supporting Pol Pot To Be Exposed", The Guardian/The Observer (UK),Sunday, January 9, 2000. Chile

China

History of U. S. Military Interventions: CHINA/1894-95/Naval, troops/Marines land in Sino-Japanese War. CHINA/1898-1900/Troops/Boxer Rebellion fought by foreign armies. CHINA/1911-41/Naval, troops/Continuous occupation with flare- ups. CHINA/1922-27/Naval, troops/Deployment during nationalist revolt. CHINA/1928-34/Troops/Marines stationed throughout the country. CHINA/1958/Nuclear threat/China told not to move on Taiwan isles. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Colombia

Croatia

During the Bosnian conflict, atrocities and other human rights violations were committed by all sides, including Croatia, which is now (1999) coming under scrutiny, as reported by Tomas Valasek, Research Analyst at the Center for Defense Information, in an article, Croatia Under Fire (August 6, 1999). How does the U. S. fit? "The Krajina investigation could have embarrassing consequence for the United States. By 1995, when "Operation Storm" took place, Croatia had become a U.S. ally in an attempt to push back the Bosnian Serb troops. A U.S. mercenary group, Military Professional Resources, Inc., trained the Croats and may have even taken part in planning the operation. The International War Crimes Tribunal has asked the Pentagon for full cooperation with the investigation. "

With respect to activities like MPRI in Croatia, Ken Silverstein, writing in Privatizing War: How affairs of state are outsourced to corporations beyond public control, comments, "With little public knowledge or debate, the government has been dispatching private companies -- most of them with tight links to the Pentagon and staffed by retired armed forces personnel -- to provide military and police training to America's foreign allies. The government has also vastly expanded the use of private firms to support its own overseas military operations, including top-secret antidrug actions in Latin America, intelligence gathering and military assistance programs for U.S. clients...."Training a military is a lot more than teaching guys how to shoot guns straight," says a State Department official, who spoke on condition that he not be identified. "The companies offer instruction in how to run a military in a democracy, subordination to civilian control and respect for human rights." That explanation sounds suspiciously similar to the Pentagon's rationale for the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Georgia, where thousands of Latin American soldiers were supposedly trained to respect human rights only to launch vigorous careers as war criminals once they returned home. An alternative explanation is that the use of private military contractors allows the United States to pursue its geopolitical interests without deploying its own army, this being especially useful in cases where training is provided to regimes with ghastly records on human rights. "It's foreign policy by proxy," says Dan Nelson, formerly a top foreign policy adviser to Representative Richard Gephardt and now a professor at Old Dominion University. "Corporate entities are used to perform tasks that the government, for budgetary reasons or political sensitivities, cannot carry out."

Cuba

In the past year, American soil has been used for staging commando raids reminiscent of an earlier era of assassination plots against Fidel Castro and sabotage against Cuba's economy... In spring and summer 1997, a dozen or so bombs rocked Cuban hotels and restaurants. Last fall, an alleged Castro assassination plot failed when a yacht carrying the would-be attackers nearly sank off Puerto Rico..... After the Sept. 4 bombings, Cuban police broke the case. They arrested Raul Ernesto Cruz Leon, a member of a Salvadoran stolen car ring who admitted his role in the terror campaign. Since then, the mastermind has been identified as CIA-trained Cuban exile Luis Posada Carriles, with money for the operation traced to Miami and New Jersey. Jerry Meldon & Robert Parry, "Uncle Sam's Favorite Terrorists", June 24, 1998 The Consortium for Independent Journalism

History of U. S. Military Interventions: CUBA/1898-i902(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, U.S. still holds Navy base at Guantanamo. CUBA/1906-09/Troops/Marines land in democratic election. CUBA/1912/Troops/U.S. interests protected in Havana. CUBA/1917-33/Troops/Military occupation, economic protectorate. CUBA/1961/Command operation/CIA-directed exile invasion fails. CUBA/1962/Nuclear threat, naval/Blockade during missile crisis; near-war with Soviet Union. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Dominican Republic

History of U. S. Military Interventions: DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1903-04/Troops/U.S. interests protected in Revolution. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1914/Naval/Fight with rebels over Santo Domingo. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1916-24/Troops/8-year Marine occupation. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/1965-66/Troops, bombing/ Marines land during election campaign. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Ecuador

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Ecuador

Egypt

History of U. S. Military Interventions: EGYPT/1956/Nuclear threat/Soviets told to keep out of Suez crisis. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

El Salvador

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): El Salvador

History of U. S. Military Interventions: EL SALVADOR/1932/Naval/Warships sent during Faribundo Marti revolt. EL SALVADOR/1981-92/Command operation, troops/ Advisors, overflights aid anti-rebel war, soldiers briefly involved in hostage clash; long-term result: 75,000 murdered and destruction of popular movement. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Germany

History of U. S. Military Interventions: WORLD WAR I/1917-18/Naval, troops/Ships sunk, fought Germany for 1-1/2 years. WORLD WAR II/1941-45/Naval,troops, bombing, nuclear/Hawaii bombed, fought Japan, Italy and Germany for 3 years; 1st nuclear war. GERMANY/1948/Nuclear threat/Atomic-capable bombers guard Berlin Airlift. GERMANY/1961/Nuclear threat/Alert during Berlin Wall crisis. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Greece

History of U. S. Military Interventions: GREECE/1947-49/Command operation/U.S. directs extreme-right in civil war. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Grenada

History of U. S. Military Interventions: GRENADA/1983-84/Troops, bombing/Invasion four years after revolution. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Guam

History of U. S. Military Interventions: GUAM/1898(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, still use as base. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Haiti

Honduras

Indonesia

Iran

History of U. S. Military Interventions: IRAN/1946/Nuclear threat/Soviet troops told to leave north (Iranian Azerbaijan). IRAN/1953/Command operation/CIA overthrows democracy, installs Shah. IRAN/1980/Troops, nuclear threat, aborted bombing/Raid to rescue Embassy hostages; 8 troops die in copter-plane crash. Soviets warned not to get involved in revolution. IRAN/1987-88/Naval, bombing/US intervenes on side of Iraq in war. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Iraq

Korea

History of U. S. Military Interventions:
KOREA/1894-96/Troops/Marines kept in Seoul during war.
KOREA/1904-05/Troops/Marines land in Russo-Japanese War.
KOREA/1951-53(-?)/Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats/U.S.& South Korea fight China & North Korea to stalemate; A-bomb threat in 1950, and against China in 1953; four million Koreans killed; still have bases.
S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Massacre at No Gun Ri

Kuwait

History of U. S. Military Interventions: KUWAIT/1991/Naval, bombing, troops/Kuwait royal family returned to throne. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Laos

History of U. S. Military Interventions: LAOS/1961/Command operation/Military buildup during guerrilla war. LAOS/1971-73/Command operation, bombing/U.S. directs South Vietnamese invasion; "carpet-bombs" countryside. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Lebanon

History of U. S. Military Interventions: LEBANON/1958/Troops, naval/Marine occupation against rebels. LEBANON/1982-84/Naval, bombing, troops/Marines expel PLO and back Phalangists, Navy bombs and shells Muslim positions. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Mexico including Chiapas

Nicaraqua

Nicaragua: ADL: Gerard, Death Squads & the US

The SOA had trained 4000 Nicaraguans during the Somoza regime--essentially trained Somoza's National Guard death squads, which then became the backbone of the leadership for the Contras... Tom Johnson, Interview with Carol Richardson

CIA and drugs in Nicaragua, September 4-10, 1996. Protected by CIA connections, the ring funneled millions in profits from drug and weapon sales into an army of right-wing Nicaraguan rebels run by the Central Intelligence Agency. True, a presidential advisory panel recently admitted that hired CIA agents in Guatemala had been involved in widespread torture and murder.

History of U. S. Military Interventions: NICARAGUA/1894/Troops/Month-long occupation of Bluefields. NICARAGUA/1896/Troops/Marines land in port of Corinto. NICARAGUA/1898/Troops/Marines land at port of San Juan del Sur. NICARAGUA/1899/Troops/Marines land at port of Bluefields. NICARAGUA/1907/Troops/"Dollar Diplomacy" protectorate set up. NICARAGUA/1910/Troops/Marines land in Bluefields and Corinto. NICARAGUA/1912-33/Troops, bombing/20-year occupation, fought guerrillas. NICARAGUA/1981-90/Command operation, naval/CIA directs exile (Contra) invasions, plants harbor mines against revolution; result: 50,000 murdered. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Nigeria

Efforts to have multi-national oil companies, among other corporations operating in Nigeria has also met with limited success at best. While meetings have occurred with Shell, Shell USA and Mobil Shell USA [See Multinationals has maintained its defense that it is not involved and has no influence on Shell Nigeria. At the same time Shell has begun making preparations to return to business in Ogoniland. Amniesty International: Nigeria -- Year of Shame

Oman

History of U. S. Military Interventions: OMAN/1970/Command operation/U.S. directs Iranian marine invasion. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Panama

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Panama

History of U. S. Military Interventions: PANAMA/1895/Naval, troops/Marines land in Colombian province. PANAMA/1901-03/Naval, troops/Broke off from Colombia, annexed Canal Zone. PANAMA/1908/Troops/Marines intervene in election contest. PANAMA/1912/Troops/Marines land during heated election. PANAMA/1918-20/Troops/"Police duty" during unrest after elections. PANAMA/1925/Troops/Marines suppress general strike. PANAMA/1958/Troops/Flag protests erupt into conftontation. PANAMA/1964/Troops/Panamanians shot for urging canal's return. PANAMA/1989-?/Troops, bombing/Nationalist government ousted by 27,000 soldiers, leaders arrested, 2000+ killed. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Paraguay

"The archives here [in Paraquay] show that a United States military official, Col. Robert Thierry, apparently helped draw up the apparatus of the police state as he trained police officers for the Technical Section soon after General Stroessner seized power here in 1954. A relative, Margaret Van Skike, located in Galveston, Tex., said that Colonel Thierry died several years ago." NY Times August 11, 1999 "CONDOR Archives Unearthed in Paraguay Expose U.S. Allies' Abuses"

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Paraquay

Peru

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Peru

U. S. Opens New Training School in Peru. On June 26, the US and Peru inaugurated a "School for River Operations" at the Iquitos Naval Base, located about 100 miles from the Colombian border, in the northeastern Peruvian department of Loreto, in the Amazon river basin. The school will train an elite Peruvian commando unit to cut off shipments of raw cocaine moving from Peru to Colombia along the Amazon and its tributaries. The US-funded project will cost $60 million over the next five years. Drug traffickers in Peru began using Amazon jungle rivers to smuggle raw cocaine in 1996, a year after Peru began shooting down suspicious aircraft in drug-growing regions. With the help of US radar bases in the jungle, Peruvian air force jets have shot or forced down more than 30 planes in the past three years, according to US government figures. [AP 7/26/98] The Iquitos school, built by the US military's special operations forces, is the largest riverine interdiction center in the hemisphere. US trainers at the site are also training land units in basic infantry skills and in how to carry out land operations. [Washington Post 7/13/98] Source: Weekly News Update on the Americas, Issue #445, August 9, 1998 Site 1 or Site 2 , a publication of the Nicaragua Solidarity Network of NY* 339 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10012 * 212-674-9499 fax: 212-674-9139 or email wnu@igc.apc.org

On March 10, 2000, US Undersecretary of State Thomas R. Pickering ordered the release of retired Peru Army Intelligence Service Major Ricardo Anderson Kohatsu, "one of Peru's most notorious alleged torturers" after he had been detained by the FBI. U. S. law enforcement officials had already arranged for victim Leonor La Rosa to testify. La Rosa had served with Anderson in army intelligence. In 1997 she was suspected of leaking a government plan to silence opposition journalists. "La Rosa told television journalists she was taken to army detention cells and tortured with electric shocks, raped, and beaten. Spinal cord injuries left her in a wheelchair." Her colleageue Mariela Lucy Barreto's headless and handless corpse was found in a ditch. La Rosa identified four intelligence agents, including Anderson, directly responsible for her torture. Anderson was released on the basis that he had a "G-2 visa" issued to foreingers with business before "international organizations" Karen De Young and Lorraine Adams, "U. S. Frees Accused Torturer",. Washington Post, March 11, 2000, p. A1.

Philippines.

Counterinsurgency strategies were back in vogue after World War II as many subjugated people demanded independence from colonial rule and Washington worried about the expansion of communism. In the 1950s, the Huk rebellion against U.S. dominance made the Philippines again the laboratory, with Bell's earlier lessons clearly remembered. "The campaign against the Huk movement in the Philippines ... greatly resembled the American campaign of almost 50 years earlier," historian Gates observed. "The American approach to the problem of pacification had been a studied one." But the war against the Huks had some new wrinkles, particularly the modern concept of psychological warfare or psy-war. Under the pioneering strategies of the CIA's Maj. Gen. Edward G. Lansdale, psy-war was a new spin to the old game of breaking the will of a target population. The idea was to analyze the psychological weaknesses of a people and develop "themes" that could induce actions favorable to those carrying out the operation. Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas", June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism

The Huk rebellion also saw the refinement of free-fire zones, a technique used effectively by Bell's forces a half-century earlier. In the 1950s, special squadrons were assigned to do the dirty work. "The special tactic of these squadrons was to cordon off areas; anyone they caught inside the cordon was considered an enemy," explained one pro-U.S. Filipino colonel. "Almost daily you could find bodies floating in the river, many of them victims of [Major Napoleon] Valeriano's Nenita Unit. [See Benedict J. Kerkvliet, The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines.]Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas", June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism

History of U. S. Military Interventions: PHILIPPINES/1898-1910(-?)/Naval, troops/Seized from Spain, killed 600,000 Filipinos. PHILIPPINES/1948-54/Command operation/CIA directs war against Huk Rebellion. PHILIPPINES/1989/Jets/Air cover provided for government against coup. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Puerto Rico

Russia

History of U. S. Military Interventions: RUSSIA/1918-22/Naval, troops/Five landings to fight Bolsheviks. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Samoa

History of U. S. Military Interventions: SAMOA/1899/Troops/Battle over succession to throne. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Saudi Arabia

History of U. S. Military Interventions: SAUDI ARABIA/1990-91/Troops, jets/Iraq countered after invading Kuwait. 540,000 troops also stationed in Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Israel. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Somalia

History of U. S. Military Interventions: SOMALIA/1992-94/Troops, naval, bombing/U.S.-led United Nations occupation during civil war; raids against one Mogadishu faction. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Turkey

History of U. S. Military Interventions: TURKEY/l922/Troops/Fought nationalists in Smyma (Izmir). S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

United States

Uruguay

Venezuela

School of the Americas Graduates (Notorious): Venezuela

Vietnam/Indochina

In Indochina, McCoy a handful of CIA agents relied on tribal leaders to motivate their troops and Lao generals to protect their cover.

The successful suppression of the Huks led the war's architects to share their lessons elsewhere in Asia and beyond. Valeriano went on to co-author an important American textbook on counter- insurgency and to serve as part of the American pacification effort in Vietnam with Lansdale. Following the Philippine model, Vietnamese were crowded into "strategic hamlets"; "free-fire zones" were declared; and the Phoenix program eliminated thousands of suspected Viet Cong cadre. Peter Dale Scott, "Two Indonesias, Two Americas", June 9, 1998, The Consortium for Independent Journalism

History of U. S. Military Interventions: VIETNAM/1954/Nuclear threat/Bombs offered to French to use against siege. VIETNAM/1960-75/Troops, naval, bombing, nuclear threats/ Fought South Vietnam revolt & North Vietnam; five million killed in longest U.S. war; atomic bomb threats in 1968 and 1969. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

Yugoslavia

History of U. S. Military Interventions: YUGOSLAVIA/1946/Nuclear threat/Response to shooting-down of U.S. plane. YUGOSLAVIA/1992-94/Naval/NATO blockade of Serbia and Montenegro. S. Brian Willson, "Who are the Real Terrorists?", citing several sources including William Blum, Killing Hope: U. S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Monroe, Maine: common Courage Press, 1995

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