Later On

The US has long supported some very bad people in power. Indeed, the US supplies them arms and training to keep them in power, despite their horrendous human rights record. (I wonder whether the worsening human rights record of the US is an effect of the association.) Moreover, the CIA trains their torturers—the CIA even wrote a manual on how to torture for some of our Latin American dictators. Death squads? Fine, we’ll support them. So long as they don’t try to help their people, because that would be socialist/communist/leftist and the US will march in and, if necessary, overthrow the legitimate government so we can get a dictator back in power who will prey on the people, not help them. (Example: Chile.)

So, naturally, the US’s first inclination is throw support to the dictators whose people are rising up after decades of abuse. But it looks as though those dictators may fall—that happens fairly often when governments go much too far—and I doubt that the governments that come to power will have friendly feelings toward the US.

Here’s an interesting site that’s worth exploring: Collateral Damage: Human Rights and US Military Aid After 9/11. Their blurb:

After more than a year of reporting and research, combing through thousands of foreign lobbying records and haggling with government officials over Freedom of Information Act requests, we have published one of the most comprehensive resources on U.S. military aid and assistance in the post-9/11 era. “Collateral Damage” couples the reporting of 10 of the world’s leading investigative journalists on four continents with a powerful database combining U.S. military assistance, foreign lobbying expenditures, and human rights abuses into a single, easily accessible toolkit.

Collateral Damage
U.S. hands out vast sums of money to combat terrorism while ignoring human rights records; lobbying key to funding flows

WASHINGTON, May 22, 2007 — Five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the influence of foreign lobbying on the U.S. government, as well as a shortsighted emphasis on counterterrorism objectives over broader human rights concerns, have generated staggering costs to the U.S. and its allies in money spent and political capital burned. >>

Much more at the link, including an interactive map. And here’s a menu:

Overview

• Key Findings
• Post-9/11 Renditions
• Torture in the Post-9/11 Era

Stories by Region

Africa

• Djibouti
• Kenya
• Ethiopia

Europe

• Romania
• Italy
• Poland
• Pan European

Middle East

• Israel
• Jordan
• Turkey

Asia

• Thailand
• Philippines
• Pakistan
• Uzbekistan
• Indonesia

South America

• Colombia 

  Browse U.S. Military Aid Database
  By Country By Region By Aid Program

  Browse Influence Database
  By Country

  Browse Human Rights Database
  By Country

Citizen’s Guide to U.S. Military Aid Document Warehouse Team Project Funding Podcast