Frederick H. Frederick Henry Gareau Książki

Gareau examines a harrowing array of human rights abuses by US-supported actors.

This study reveals the backing that U.S. administrations provided to right-wing dictatorships engaged in terrorism, particularly during the Cold War and the war on terrorism. It critiques the latter conflict, using the earlier period as essential context for understanding it. The study challenges Washington's narrow definition of terrorism, which excludes state terrorism from consideration, focusing only on acts by private individuals or non-governmental organizations. Six truth commission reports from countries like El Salvador, Chile, Argentina, and South Africa show that governments were responsible for the majority of terrorism and repression, often over 90 percent in cases like El Salvador and Guatemala. These reports, based on extensive interviews with victims, document horrific acts of cruelty committed by state actors. The motivations behind these actions often included the preservation of the status quo and resistance to social change, with the Guatemalan government even found guilty of genocide. A compliant media often perpetuated government narratives, misplacing blame on guerrillas. The study argues that the war on terrorism is incomplete, failing to address state terrorists, while Washington's support for such regimes included military training and funding. Notably, the U.S. aided Saddam Hussein and apartheid South Africa in developing weapons of mass destruction, complicating later moral claims against these dict