"Most studies of human rights violations approach cases at the national level and offer little insight into how U.S. military aid is territorialized. . . . By tracking the career trajectories of Colombian officers, Lindsay-Poland directs our attention to a shared war, and to a common counterinsurgent expertise, developed between the United States and Colombia over the course of 50 years." - Emma Shaw Crane (NACLA)
For more than fifty years, the United States supported the Colombian military in a war that cost over 200,000 lives. During a single period of heightened U.S. assistance known as Plan Colombia, the Colombian military killed more than 5,000 civilians. In Plan Colombia John Lindsay-Poland narrates a 2005 massacre in the San JosÉ de ApartadÓ Peace Community and the subsequent investigation, official cover-up, and response from the international community. He examines how the multibillion-dollar U.S. military aid and official indifference contributed to the Colombian military's atrocities. Drawing on his human rights activism and interviews with military officers, community members, and human rights defenders, Lindsay-Poland describes grassroots initiatives in Colombia and the United States that resisted militarized policy and created alternatives to war. Although they had few resources, these initiatives offered models for constructing just and peaceful relationships between the United States and other nations. Yet, despite the civilian death toll and documented atrocities, Washington, DC, considered Plan Colombia's counterinsurgency campaign to be so successful that it became the dominant blueprint for U.S. military intervention around the world.
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List of Abbreviations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Prologue 1
Introduction: Challenging American Exceptionalism 7
1. The Longest War: U.S. Military Influence in Colombia, 1952-1995 26
2. War on the Frontier 38
3. How Plan Colombia Was Sold 51
4. "We Want a Witness": Accompaniment in San JosÉ de ApartadÓ 64
5. Mapping Our War: Where Did U.S. Aid in Colombia Go? 83
6. Killing the Future 101
7. Projects of Life 123
8. Massacre Aftermath and Cover-Up 140
9. Widespread and Systematic: The Dynamics of "Legalized" Murder 151
10. The United States Effect: Impacts on "False Positive" Killings 164
11. Investigation of the Massacre 183
12. An Encounter with Power 198
13. Judicial Warfare 210
14. U.S. Policy Lessons 220
Conclusion: The Arc of Impunity 226
Notes 233
Bibliography 273
Index 281
Acknowledgments xiii
Prologue 1
Introduction: Challenging American Exceptionalism 7
1. The Longest War: U.S. Military Influence in Colombia, 1952-1995 26
2. War on the Frontier 38
3. How Plan Colombia Was Sold 51
4. "We Want a Witness": Accompaniment in San JosÉ de ApartadÓ 64
5. Mapping Our War: Where Did U.S. Aid in Colombia Go? 83
6. Killing the Future 101
7. Projects of Life 123
8. Massacre Aftermath and Cover-Up 140
9. Widespread and Systematic: The Dynamics of "Legalized" Murder 151
10. The United States Effect: Impacts on "False Positive" Killings 164
11. Investigation of the Massacre 183
12. An Encounter with Power 198
13. Judicial Warfare 210
14. U.S. Policy Lessons 220
Conclusion: The Arc of Impunity 226
Notes 233
Bibliography 273
Index 281
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781478001539
Publisert
2018-11-09
Utgiver
Duke University Press
Vekt
431 gr
Høyde
229 mm
Bredde
152 mm
Aldersnivå
P, 06
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Heftet
Antall sider
312
Forfatter