Dubbed ‘The School of Dictators’ by human rights activists, the US Army School of the Americas, now known as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, has produced some of the world’s most notorious torturers, drug traffickers and war criminals. The spectre of their crimes still haunts much of Latin America—from Argentina to El Salvador.

In El Salvador, the human rights abuses were beyond the pale–from the public assassination of bishop Óscar Romero to the raping and killing of four American nuns. 

Some of the school’s well known graduates include Jorge Videla, military dictator of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, who caused the deaths of at least 9,000 people and disappearances of an estimated 30,000 others. Another star pupil of the school was CIA agent, Vladimiro Montesinos, who went on to become Peru’s counterintelligence head. Montesino directed an anti-communist death squad called the Colina Group which committed numerous horrifying massacres of peasant farmers, trade unionists and alleged leftists.

The brutal crimes being committed in our names and with our tax dollars led a man named Father Roy Bourgeois to form The School of the Americas Watch, an organization dedicated to closing down the school.

Join Abby Martin in this edition of The Empire Files as she uncovers how the US funded right wing death squads and intentionally uprooted democracy across Latin America.

The US School That Trains Dictators & Death Squads

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As Palestine makes its way into the headlines again, it’s necessary to examine not only the history of the near 70 year occupation, but the media’s culpability in pushing a devotedly pro-Israel/anti-Palestinian narrative.

During the most recent assault against the besieged Gaza Strip, even the most progressive news outlets attempted to present “both sides” of what was transpiring, as though it was anything less than a horrific attack against an occupied people who continue to struggle for their survival.

The disingenuous mainstream rhetoric writes off Palestinians as being brutal savages or human shields. The human shield myth is especially pervasive throughout the Empire’s historical revisionism, despite there being usually no evidence to back it up. In this episode, Dan Cohen, an independent journalist who lived in Gaza throughout the last weeks of the war, speaks about the terrifying moments he was made to be a human shield, not by Palestinians – but by Israeli forces.

Dan Cohen and Rania Khalek, associate editor at Electronic Intifada, join Abby Martin as she investigates the US media’s pro-Israel narrative and deep-rooted propaganda inside the settler colonial state.

The Distortion & Death Behind Israel/Palestine Coverage

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Image by flickr user Jordi Bernabeu Farrus

World renowned linguist and philosopher, Noam Chomsky, joins Abby Martin to discuss the so-called War on Terror, the warped political spectrum in the United States, and how power functions in the Empire.

Chomsky argues that both the Democratic and Republican party have shifted to the right, with Republicans going “off the spectrum”, dedicating themselves to the interests of the extremely wealthy and powerful, and today’s Democrats becoming what used to be called moderate Republicans.

Delving into libertarianism and the role of predatory capitalism, Chomsky discusses the institution of neoliberal policies, which have pushed for things like major financial institution bailouts, and government subsidies to energy corporations. The contention that markets provide choices is farcical, argues Chomsky, as the market focuses you on individual consumption of consumer goods. “New libertarians”, according to Chomsky, are deeply confused as to the meaning and history behind classical libertarianism, and what they propose would lead to society collapsing,

Describing the Iraq war as of one of the last century’s greatest atrocities, Chomsky asks what right the United States has in bombing or invading a country, for whatever reason. While there is a lot of criticism in regards to the US killing civilians inside Kunduz hospital, “what about killing [Taliban members]”, asks Chomsky. “What right do we have to kill somebody in some other country?”

Abby Martin once again takes up beyond the headlines and brings us to the very heart of the issues in this episode of The Empire Files.

Noam Chomsky & Abby Martin: The Empire’s Election Extravaganza

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