The extent of the torture

It was hard to see the photos of the torture in Iraq because I too was tortured. I saw myself naked with my feet fastened together and my hands tied behind my back. I saw my own head covered with a cloth bag. I remembered my feelings - the humiliation, pain....
-- Hector Mondragon

Sojo has been campaigning gainst the School of the Americas for a while now. This article by one of the victims hits on the bigger picture. The US seeks to control its environment (which is pretty much everywhere but specifically the America's and the Middle East for oil reasons) and as it is strongly opposed by its citizens when it tries to do this by direct intervention as in Vietnam and Korea it does it by using whole states for it's purposes. Thus Israel and a number of Latin American states as well as Iraq in the past have all been armed and trained by the US and then waged wars advantageous to US interests. The School of the Americas is one of the training camps involved and it is on US soil. Hector's extended article notes that the officer who ordered his torture was trained in this camp. He argues that Abu Ghraib was not an isolated case but standard operating practice among US-controlled mercenary states.


Since 1823 the US has had a policy called the Monroe Doctrine which states that European powers were not to interfere in the Americas and implied that the US would be the controlling power in that region. As a result states such as Cuba and Venezuela that defy US control are isolated, economically disadvantaged and covertly attacked by US interests. Hence the long-standing embargo against the tiny island state of Cuba and the ongoing tussles in Venezuela if you've been following that.

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