History Brief Page: Amnesty International and US-backed torture
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[The 1974 Amnesty International Report on Torture]
located this cancer in the West and most
particularly in the Third World client states of
the West
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In its 1978 Annual Report, AI [Amnesty
International] noted that some '80
percent' of the 'urgent cases'
of torture were coming out of the National
Security States of Latin America
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| (p. 51) |
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Herman, Edward S. "The United States as Torture Central: U.S. sponsors regimes using torture extensively." Z Magazine 17.5 (Woods Hole, MA: Institute for Social and Cultural Communications. May 2004): 51-55.
In 1996, Amnesty International reported:
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Throughout the world, on any given day, a man,
woman or child is likely to be displaced,
tortured, killed or 'disappeared', at
the hands of governments or armed political
groups. More often than not, the United States
shares the blame.
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Blum, William. Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower. (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press. 2000): front matter. Quoting from Washington Office of Amnesty International, Human Rights & US Security Assistance, 1996, p.1.
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| ... a history of torture which is beyond belief. No country in the world has a worse record in human rights than Iran.
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Martin Ennals, Secretary-General of Amnesty International, speaking about Iran, from Baraheni, Reza. "Persia Today: No Magic Carpet Rides." Matchbox (Amnesty International), Fall 1976. Quoted in Chomsky, Noam and Edward S. Herman. The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism. (Boston: South End, 1979) 13.
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| ... Iran, where a brief experiment with democracy and independence was terminated by a CIA-sponsored coup in 1953, leading to the imposition of a regime that became one of the terror centers of the world.
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The Iranian secret police has received generous training and support from the United States, which has deluged its Iranian client with arms, 'priming' it, as a Senate report noted, to serve as the gendarme for U.S. interests throughout the crucial oil-producing regions of the Middle East.
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| (p. 14-15) |
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Chomsky, Noam and Edward S. Herman. The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism. (Boston: South End, 1979).
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'...endless whipping ... beating with fists, feet, and rifle butts... Prisoners ... beaten on all parts of the body, including dead and sexual organs ... bodies of prisoners ... found in the Rio Mapocho ... beyond recognition ... died as a result of the torture ... hands broken and his body badly mutilated ... kicked and beaten in front of other prisoners for approximately 40 hours before he was removed to a special interrogation room where he met his death ...'
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Quote from Amnesty International Report on Torture 206-7 [discussion is of Chile after US-backed coup] in Chomsky, Noam and Edward S. Herman. The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism. (Boston: South End, 1979), 9-10.