Prisoner abuse in Iraq just tip of the iceberg

" "We see a consistent pattern of the Pentagon claiming to work for democracy," says Father Roy Bourgeois, founder of SOA Watch, "while in their prisons and training centers, reports of torture and human rights abuses continue to surface."
More than 64,000 Latin American soldiers have been trained in combat skills and psychological warfare at the School of the Americas. Graduates are consistently involved in human rights abuses and atrocities.
In 1996, the Pentagon, under intense public pressure, released the classified training manuals used at the School of the Americas. The Washington Post, in a story headlined "U.S. Instructed Latins in Executions, Torture," reported on Sept. 21, 1996, that the manuals promoted executions, torture, blackmail and other forms of coercion.
The manuals recommended the imprisonment of family members of those who support "union organizing or recruiting," those who distribute "propaganda in favor of the interest of workers," those who "sympathize with demonstrations or strikes," and those who make "accusations that the government has failed to meet the basic needs of the people." The training manuals are available on the SOA Watch Web site, www.soaw.com.
"Why the great surprise over Abu Ghraib?" asked Jennifer Harbury, a human rights lawyer whose husband, Efrain Bamaca Velasquez, was tortured for two years and then was either dismembered or thrown from a helicopter by Guatemalan military officials receiving generous CIA payments. "This has been standard operating procedure for years." "