US Counter-Terror: 'Meeting Terror with Terror' in South Vietnam and Latin America

U.S. counter-terror began with the CIA's Phoenix program in South Vietnam and was later exported to Latin America. "Counter-terror" meant countering alleged guerrilla-terror with state-terror as a means of controlling the population, i.e. 'meeting terror with terror'.

Michael McClintock is a senior staff member of Amnesty International's Research Division, and has spent many years on this investigation:

 

I don't think that any of this is a secret. You have to be very ignorant or naive to believe that any country's involvement abroad is done for noble reasons.
The president of the US does what is best for the US first, just like the chancellor of Germany does what is best for Germany first.
It would be quite naive to believe that Obama thinks what would be good for the people of Syria or the Ukraine. He thinks of what would be best image wise for the US so other countries buy US-products. If he didn't think that way he'd be useless as the president. Obviously he gives a more noble cause to the press. Same is true for any leader.

 

Running a system of terror in the "backyard" was not what was best for the American people. That is who the government is supposed to be working for, not the central banks and multinationals.

 

General Robert Porter, Commander in Chief of United States Southern Command summarized the purpose of the system of terror in Congress in 1968: