Egypt -- a key U.S. ally – has long been the second-largest recipient of U.S. aid, after only Israel. Washington provides $1.3 billion in annual military aid, a sum that amounts to 80 percent of Egypt’s military’s budget. Its secret police are notorious for their brutality during interrogations.
In Uzbekistan, according to a highly critical assessment by the United Nations Committee Against Torture, torture and ill-treatment remain “widespread” and continue to occur with “impunity.” Uzbekistan currently receives well over $100 million in U.S. military aid.
Although there have been prosecutions of Uzbek police for torture -- some 42 cases, according to the ICIJ report -- representatives of human rights groups assert that most of these cases resulted in convictions based on confessions and testimony linked to torture. They contend that the Uzbek government has grown more, rather than less, repressive over time
Since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. on September 11, 2001, Pakistan has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. military aid – reportedly more than $10 billion.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) contends that torture is used extensively by both police and prison officials. It notes that no officials have been punished for engaging in such excesses. HRCP further alleges that instances of illegal detention occur on a relatively regular basis and that most of them go unreported.
Pakistan’s use of U.S. military assistance funds has also been the subject of serious questions raised in Congress and by human rights groups. Tim Rieser, a key adviser to Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy, told the ICJ, “With the possible exception of Iraq reconstruction funds, I've never seen a larger blank check for any country.”
He added, “There is no formal auditing mechanism to verify costs apart from local U.S. embassies and military officials vouching for the accuracy of the submitted bills.” He charged that the former Republican congress "did next to nothing to track what was done with the money."
The ICJ said it “found little evidence that the U.S. government has paid significant attention to improving the accountability and human rights practices of Pakistan’s internal security forces.”
Indonesia – not long ago banned from American help because of its conflict with East Timor -- is now another recipient of substantial U.S. military aid.
To increase the flow of U.S. money, the Indonesian intelligence agency used the charitable foundation of a former Indonesian president to hire lobbyists to pressure Congress on keeping the spigots open.
The ICIJ report says the Indonesian government ran a concerted lobbying effort of Congress after the 9/11 attacks using “high-powered influence peddlers”, including former Republican Senator and 1996 presidential candidate Bob Dole.
The U.S. State Department reported, “Inadequate resources, poor leadership, and limited accountability contributed to serious violations by security forces. Widespread corruption further degraded an already weak regard for rule of law and contributed to impunity.”
Alleged human rights violations included extrajudicial killings, disappearances, torture, harsh prison conditions, arbitrary detentions, a corrupt judicial system, infringements on free speech, peaceful assembly, and freedom of religion, and sexual abuse against women and children.
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