Mission
The Salvador Option is a public investigation into US support for paramilitary death squads and other forms of state terrorism overseas.Categories
- Analysis (4)
- Asia (3)
- Books (11)
- Central America (5)
- Documents (12)
- General (8)
- Middle East (3)
- North America (1)
- Organizations (9)
- Personalities (2)
- South America (9)
Archives
© Alain Keler / Corbis Sygma)
- Algerian War
- Central America
- CIA
- Cold War
- Colombia
- Counterinsurgency
- Death Squads
- Drug Cartels
- El Salvador
- France
- Guatemala
- Human Rights Violations
- Intelligence
- Interrogation
- Los Pepes
- Medellin Cartel
- Media
- Operation Condor
- OSS
- Pablo Escobar
- Peru
- Philippines
- Phoenix Program
- Police Brutality
- Police Training
- South America
- Soviet Union
- State Terror
- Torture
- United States
- US Army
- US Army Special Forces
- US State Department
- Vietnam
- Website
Blogroll
- Antiwar.com
- Borderland Beat
- Consortium News
- Counterpunch
- Crimes of War Project
- Cryptome
- Democracy Now!
- Memoria y Justicia
- National Security Archive
- Project Disappeared
- Project on Extrajudicial Executions
- Target EJK
- The Salvador Option: Iraq War Logs
- The Salvador Option: Selected Cables
- Third World Traveler
- Upside Down World
- Wikileaks
Sections
Twitter Feed
Tweets by Salvador_Option
Tag Archives: Cold War
1960 CIA Report on Brainwashing and State Terror in the Soviet Union
This is a 1960 CIA report on the philosophy and methodology of interrogation in the Soviet Union. It was written for FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in response to growing concerns in the United States that the KGB and other … Continue reading
Posted in Documents, General
Tagged CIA, Cold War, Intelligence, Interrogation, Soviet Union, State Terror, Torture
Leave a comment
Book Note: A Question of Torture, by Alfred McCoy
A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation from the Cold War to the War on Terror, by Alfred McCoy. New York: Henry Holt and Co., 2006. A Question of Torture is a detailed account of the origin and development of CIA … Continue reading
Posted in Books, General, Organizations
Tagged CIA, Cold War, Counterinsurgency, Police Training, Torture
Leave a comment
Reflection Four: US Counterinsurgency Doctrine in the Cold War: Part I
One of the salient characteristics of the Cold War was the willingness of both sides to employ the most unscrupulous methods in pursuit of victory. In the United States, the architects of US foreign policy saw the conflict as a … Continue reading
2007 CIA Historical Essay on the Phoenix Program in Vietnam
This is a declassified CIA historical essay on the Phoenix Program written by a retired Marine officer who was attached to the program from 1969 to 1970. The essay provides important background information on the scope and nature of Phoenix … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Documents
Tagged CIA, Cold War, Counterinsurgency, Phoenix Program, Vietnam
Leave a comment
Book Note: Edward Lansdale’s Cold War, by Jonathan Nashel
Edward Lansdale’s Cold War, by Jonathan Nashel. Amherst, MA: Univ. of Massachusetts Press, 2005. Edward Lansdale was a former advertising executive who served as a US Air Force intelligence officer in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in Asia during … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Books, Personalities
Tagged CIA, Cold War, Counterinsurgency, OSS, Philippines, Vietnam
Leave a comment
Book Note: The Art of Political Murder, by Francisco Goldman
The Art of Political Murder: Who Killed the Bishop? by Francisco Goldman. New York: Grove Press, 2007. The Art of Political Murder is a haunting investigation into the 1998 murder of Roman Catholic bishop Juan Gerardi, a prominent Guatemalan human … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Central America
Tagged Central America, Cold War, Death Squads, Guatemala
Leave a comment
Reflection Two: The US State Department and the Media
It is disturbing to note that the two institutions best equipped to expose US involvement in state terror overseas instead have played a crucial role in covering it up. While there have been occasions when aggressive diplomacy and determined investigative … Continue reading
Posted in Analysis, General, Organizations
Tagged Cold War, Media, US State Department
Leave a comment
Book Note: The Massacre at El Mozote, by Mark Danner
The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War, by Mark Danner. New York: Vintage Books 1994. In The Massacre at El Mozote, Mark Danner tells the story of one of the most horrific episodes of the Salvadoran … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Central America
Tagged Central America, Cold War, El Salvador, US State Department
Leave a comment
1980 US Embassy Report on Political Conflict in El Salvador
This is a very frank and detailed US State Department assessment of the political, social, and economic conflicts that precipitated the bloody Salvadoran Civil War of the 1980s. The report addresses the drastic inequality created by the nation’s feudal economic … Continue reading
Posted in Central America, Documents
Tagged Central America, Cold War, Death Squads, El Salvador, US State Department
Leave a comment
Book Note: The Central American Crisis Reader, Ed. by Robert S. Leiken and Barry M. Rubin
The Central American Crisis Reader, Ed. by Robert S. Leiken and Barry Rubin. New York: Summit Books, 1987. The Central American Crisis Reader is probably the best reference source for background information on the US government’s involvement in Central America … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Central America, General
Tagged Central America, CIA, Cold War, US State Department
Leave a comment
The Salvador Option 