Now, I wasn't in Iran or in Guatemala or several other places back in the 1950s/1960s/1970s. But I followed as much of the news--and from varied sources--as the average fella could.
Sometimes we have to wait years or decades later for documents to be declassiefied, for principals to write their memoris, etc., in order to get a better sense of the truth.
We were in a conflict for survival. Trying not to have Russian as our Official Language. Stalin's and Krushchev's folks were not Nice People; nor were Mao's or Ho's or Kim's.
On during the night of November 16, 1989, a squad of 26 soldiers of the El Salvadoran army stormed the rectory at the University of Central America (UCA) and proceeded to murder in cold blood six Salvadoran Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her teenage daughter. Of the 27 soldiers cited for that massacre by a 1993 UN Truth Commission, 19 were SOA graduates.
The victims weren't Stalin's people, Ho's people, etc. Communists? Actually they were Catholics. This atrocity was committed by a death squad that was armed and trained by the US government. I have a real problem with US tax dollars sponsoring terrorism, especially against my fellow Catholics.
At least now I understand the motivation behind the "United States is responsible for all the worlds ills" mantra
No one is claiming that the US "is responsible for all the world's ills."
He's a clue I'll sell at discount: up until quite recently, almost all countries in latin america repressed their own populaitons.
May I suggest that you read the history of that region and see how many of those repressive dictatorships were installed with the help and encouragement of the USG?
There's the overthrow of democracy in Guatemala in 1954. See
The CIA in Guatemala by Richard Zimmerman. (University of Texas Press: 1983). See also
Secret History: The Cia's Classified Account of Its Operations in Guatemala, 1952-1954 and
Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala by Kinzer and Schlesinger.
As for US teaching torture, see
Hidden Terrors by A. J. Langguth about the CIA's Office of Public Safety program.
In Brazil in 1964, the CIA carried out a putch against the elected government of Joao Goulart in 1964. Do your research and you will see similar involvement by the USG throughout Latin America.
merely a fading authoritarianism (Pinochet's Chile)?
In Chile the USG terminated a long tradition of constitutional democratic ruel in 1973. See
The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability by Peter Kornbluh.
Did you know that in Chile, sexualized torture of female prisoners was routine. The DINA (secret police) would even train their dogs to rape female political prisoners. If you want to whitewash such as regime as "fading authoritarianism," then so right ahead. The facts are there for anyone unafraid of where they lead. Apologists for the US government may not like it, but the truth is the truth.
In such an environment, the US did not have the luxury of staying home and refusing to work with our corrupt neighbors to the south, especialy when the issue at stake was one of the existence of our nation and the West.
The US had the option of simply not overthrowing elected governments, not installing dictatorships, not training, supplying and directing death squads, not sponsoring terrorism.
CARRY'IN, I don't argue as to ultimate responsibility at the high levels of government, but do you really think that the word of what was going on in the various coutnries like Guatemala ever got to a higher level of responsibility than, say, Colonel, at the time such things were happening? Remember all the bits and pieces about "deniability"?
Come on, Art, stop kidding yourself. We have the notes from meetings where Kissinger, Nixon, Haldeman, and Helms sat around the table and planned these things. We have declassified National Security Action Memoranda. We have declassified cable traffic. There's quite a bit that is now part of the public domain. America is still a free (or semi-free) country, and any literate person can take the time to find out the essential truths, even if some of the most damning details (such as the precise relationship between CIA and DINA) remain classified for reasons of state.