"Eastern Congo’s perpetual burden—proxy wars fought over the region’s rich natural resources—lurks in the forest nearby. I’ve covered this region for the past few years and am reminded of the fragility of this “civilization.” In late 2008 and early 2009, I watched as war raged through the region, displacing hundreds of thousands, and killing and traumatizing thousands more. Just months ago, armed militias massacred civilians here. In the last FDLR massacre, a pregnant woman was butchered—her belly sliced open...."

"The PlayStation War The morning brings sun and market day in Kibua. The village center fills with people and the sounds of commerce. Women meet and gossip; Congolese national army soldiers mingle through the crowd and flirt with the girls. MONUC peacekeepers watch over the bustle and Major Panwar tells me, “Since we’ve been here, over the last six months or so, the local population has increased to approximately 6,000 on the weekends and the local economy has quadrupled. During our first foot patrols, we met a few..."

"Major US and European corporations collaborated intimately with Latin American military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s, fingering militant workers for arrest, torture and often death, according to an article that appeared this week in the Brazilian daily O Globo. Based on newly released secret police documents as well as the work of Brazilian historians, the article, written by Brazilian journalist Jose Casado, establishes that auto companies, including General Motors, Chrysler and Volkswagen, the Fireston..."

"CSIS agents wrote to and travelled secretly to Egypt to interrogate a jailed Toronto man and “likely contributed indirectly” to his torture ordeal there, new information revealed Tuesday. The damning details were contained in a supplemental report released by former Supreme Court justice Frank Iacobucci after federal objections to disclosures about Ahmad Elmaati’s fate were “resolved” in court. The government fought for more than a year over whether their release would harm national security. The report shows..."

"Since the beginning of the civil war in Bosnia in 1991, there have been news reports of the atrocities committed in that troubled region. There have even been reports that the Bosnian Serbs have executed thousands of Muslims and buried them in mass graves. Many Americans would be astonished that the same atrocities were committed by the U.S. military in Panama in 1990, according to an award winning documentary on the Panama invasion. In early July, 1996, the U.N. sent earth-moving equipment to uncover mass g..."

"Last July I visited the Pueblo of El Mozote in the highlands of El Salvador. Our guide, Serafin Gomez — a former guerilla with the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front — points to the church across the square. “That’s where they took the children. They cut off some of their limbs and tortured them. The babies were caught on soldier’s bayonets.”..."

"With Operation Just Cause, (President Bush) restored democracy to Panama by capturing and bringing to justice dictator Manuel Noriega for international drug trafficking." -- from a Bush-Quayle campaign '92 pamphlet. More than three years have passed since the United States sent the Marines to "liberate" Panama. The national media heralded the event as embodying our "good neighbor policy" towards Latin America, and Bush's popularity soared as he demonstrated his toughness in international affairs. However, the..."