Civilians increasingly targeted by Colombian military

The Washington Post ran a story today alleging the Colombian military has been killing civilians and planting weapons on the bodies in order to make them look like guerrillas killed in combat. A recent letter to Secretary of State Rice signed by several U.S. senators warned of this disturbing trend. The military has reportedly taken up the dirty work formerly carried out by paramilitaries, who have demobilized under Uribe’s Justice and Peace Law. Death squad/paramilitary-based counter-terror against civilians has been practiced in Colombia and many other countries around the world since the 1960’s and comes right out of cold-war era U.S. Army counter-insurgency field manuals.