Sunday, March 29, 2015

US soldiers raped and sexually assaulted dozens of Colombian children between 2003 and 2007, filmed the attacks to distribute as pornography, and face no charges due to treaty granting immunity.

Colombian children
Courtesy of WSWS:  

US soldiers and military contractors were responsible for the rape and sexual abuse of scores of Colombian children, but faced no legal repercussions because of a treaty between Washington and Bogota granting them full immunity. 

A fresh revelation of these appalling crimes came as a byproduct of ongoing peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC (Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia) guerrilla movement taking place in Havana, Cuba. 

Last month, a Historical Commission on the Armed Conflict and its Victims in Colombia, formed jointly by the Colombian government and the FARC, presented an 800-page report documenting the causes and consequences of the decades of civil war that have claimed millions of victims in terms of dead, wounded, abused and displaced. The commission was composed of leading Colombian academics and intellectuals acceptable to both parties. 

A section prepared by Renan Vega Cantor, a professor of history at the National Pedagogical University of Bogota, dealt with the role played by the US military. The Pentagon has sent advisers and contractors to the country as part of Plan Colombia, which has included $6 billion in mostly military aid directed at combatting both drug trafficking and the anti-government guerrilla movements. 

The report cites 54 cases of rape and sexual abuse of minors, some as young as 12. “In one of the best known cases, in Melgar and in Giradot [both are to the southwest of the capital of Bogota, with a major Colombian air base that housed US “advisers” located in Melgar], 53 minors were abused sexually by mercenaries, who also filmed it and sold the tapes as pornography,” the report states. The young girls were subsequently threatened with death, and they and their families had to leave the area.

This post is the result of a late night message from my daughter demanding that I write something about this and let people know what we have done. 

She was of course quite horrified and wanted to know how we could not only allow this to happen, but also protect those who committed these atrocities.

My response is of course to refer to the Ted Cruz post from earlier today.

After all how can Americans be held accountable when they are clearly agents of the "American civil religion" whose every action is divinely inspired?

This is the result when you see the military, and military contractors, through rose colored glasses and believe that their every action overseas "protects us over here."

How dare we even think of prosecuting them for helping to keep us free by spreading American exceptionalism to every corner of the planet?

For those who want to learn more about this you can read here, here, and here as well.

17 comments:

  1. Anonymous2:40 PM

    Please forgive me......I'm not at all surprised......

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  2. Anonymous2:56 PM

    Sure, raping children is almost never a good thing, but let's try to remember all of the evil drugs that they stopped from....

    Fuck.

    Never mind.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are just following the teachings of the catholic church.

      Delete
  3. Anonymous2:58 PM

    No words....

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  4. Why don't people around the world understand that we're just trying to help them? No one ever thanks us...

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  5. Military, war, murder, rape, profit = America. We are no better than any other war mongering country before us and it disgusts me.

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  6. Anonymous3:21 PM

    Remember, The Screechy Wretch(tm) urges everyone to just shut up and support the troops!

    And mercenaries, also too.

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  7. It is shocking, but also one of the reasons people in many countries want our bases gone. I am so disgusted on many levels.

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  8. Anonymous3:49 PM

    The inexcusable will cite doubtful credibility of FARC and the news sources....

    Come on now this is 'Murica get over it!

    There is no wrong that will ever be acknowledged by our Regressive Party...

    The rest of us will just have to live with being a conquered nation under occupation when they are finally convicted of their war crimes...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous4:09 PM

    Supporting the troops blindly is not right. We need to bring back the draft so there is more oversight. It will make it harder for wars and incursions to be prosecuted in this manner. The volunteer and mercenary army is not right.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous4:31 AM

      Drafted soldiers in Nam did the same thing, and then torched the villages to destroy the evidence. Our military is brainwashing kids into believing that Americans are 'good' and the nations we are invading are full of 'evil' people. You have to dehumanize people you intend to kill. Look at how the right talks about immigrants and Muslims. For people who supposedly believe in God, they sure are evil...if you believe in God, He created everyone. And as Palin is fond of saying "God doesn't make mistakes." PEOPLE make lots of them, including demonizing other people so when you kill them you can live with yourself. That is what the military is about. Not God. Not protection. Killing. Kind of like all those RW militias in and out of the woods...they hate everyone not like them, and will not hesitate to 'protect' their status by shooting us.

      Delete
  10. SallyinMI4:10 PM

    This is exactly why Iraq kicked us out and refused to offer US soldiers immunity from criminal acts. And gee, guess whose watch this was on? George and Condi.

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  11. Anonymous4:59 PM

    I wonder how many rapes Dakota Meyer committed.

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  12. Anonymous6:23 PM

    We're so gross! I'm travelling abroad shortly and will do what I always do when asked where I am from, reply with "Vancouver, BC". Only those who need to see my passport know the truth. Thanks but no thanks, I'll not admit to being american.

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  13. I didn't like reading this, but I know it is important. Thank you for this important story.

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  14. Anonymous3:41 PM

    Provide facts i.e. videos and dna something a prosecutor can take to the military other wise its just b.s. and if you're an American and are not proud of that, than you are not doing anything to make this country great and I invite you to leave.

    ReplyDelete

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