Pentagon's Legacy of Training Latin American Soldiers in Torture Techniques Haunts Probe Into Iraqi Prisoner Abuse Scandal

Interview with Eric LeCompte, organizing coordinator, School of the Americas Watch, conducted by Scott Harris

While Congress viewed thousands of photographs of U.S. military personnel abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi detainees in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison, the nation was horrified by the video taped beheading of American businessman Nicholas Berg. Confirming the fears of violent repercussions resulting from the torture allegations in Iraq and beyond, the masked insurgents in the video tape stated they had executed Berg in retaliation for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Thus far, the Pentagon has filed criminal charges against seven U.S. soldiers for their alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners. Public court martials were convened in Iraq on May 19.

Although Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld denied in public testimony before Congress that the Pentagon had authorized the abusive interrogation techniques employed at Abu Ghraib prison, a recent article by investigative reporter Seymour Hersh in the New Yorker magazine claims that Secretary Rumsfeld had authorized a secret operation that "encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in Iraq."

While the White House and Pentagon maintain that the abuse of prisoners in Iraq is an aberration, the history of the U.S. Army's training School for Latin American soldiers tells a different story. The School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has for over a decade trained thousands of soldiers and officers from nations across Latin America in torture techniques and psychological warfare. Between the Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Eric LeCompte, organizing coordinator with the group School of the Americas Watch, who looks into the connections between the alleged abuse of Iraqi detainees in U.S. custody and the Pentagon training of Latin American soldiers who have been complicit in widespread human rights abuses and atrocities.

Call School of the Americas Watch (202) 234-3440 or visit their website at www.soaw.org

Related links:



"US forces were taught torture techniques," by Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian U.K, May 14, 2004

"Army training memo reveals neglect for human-rights law," by Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily.com, May 12, 2004

"Chain Of Command: How the Defense Dept. Mishandled The Abu Ghraib Disaster," by Seymour Hersh, The New Yorker, May 17, 2004

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