After more than a year of reporting and research, combing through thousands of foreign
lobbying records and haggling with government officials over Freedom of Information
Act requests, we have published one of the most comprehensive resources on U.S.
military aid and assistance in the post-9/11 era. "Collateral Damage" couples the
reporting of 10 of the world's leading investigative journalists on four continents
with a powerful database combining U.S. military assistance, foreign lobbying expenditures,
and human rights abuses into a single, easily accessible toolkit.
Collateral Damage
U.S. hands out vast sums of money to combat terrorism while ignoring human rights
records; lobbying key to funding flows
WASHINGTON, May 22, 2007 — Five years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, the
influence of foreign lobbying on the U.S. government, as well as a shortsighted
emphasis on counterterrorism objectives over broader human rights concerns, have
generated staggering costs to the U.S. and its allies in money spent and political
capital burned.
>>
Top 10 U.S. Military Aid Recipients
Three Years After 9/11
| Israel | $9,094,874,000 |
| Egypt | $6,025,456,540 |
| Pakistan | $4,682,808,397 |
| Jordan | $2,670,414,688 |
| Afghanistan | $2,663,783,836 |
| Colombia | $2,048,565,665 |
| Turkey* | $1,324,923,070 |
| Peru | $445,825,971 |
| Bolivia | $320,682,000 |
| Poland | $313,136,119 |
|
* The $1 billion grant made to Turkey through the Economic Support Fund for fiscal
year 2003 was rescinded in 2005.
|
WASHINGTON, June 7, 2007 — What do "narcoterrorism" in Colombia and Islamist terrorism in the Middle East have in common? Very little, except that since the al Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, countries that vow to help the United States fight either one find it easier to attract large amounts of U.S. military training and aid. >>
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 — A long string of human rights abuses had put Indonesia in a deep hole with the United States, but then the September 11 terrorists struck. Suddenly the hole got shallower. >>
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 — The runaway winner of the post-9/11 race for new U.S. military aid dollars is Pakistan, but where did the money go? Human rights activists, critics of the Pakistani government and members of Congress all want to know, but most of the money — totaling in the billions — came through a Defense Department program subject to virtually no congressional oversight. >>
WASHINGTON, May 31, 2007 — A huge post-9/11 increase in U.S. military aid to the Philippines has helped counterterrorism efforts, but critics say there have been major downsides for a nation that's routinely criticized for human rights abuses. Among the accusations is that the strengthened Philippine military persecuted and killed scores of political activists. >>
BANGKOK, Thailand, May 31, 2007 — It was only two months before the 2003 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in Bangkok — President Bush would be attending — and Thai soldiers and police had the building surrounded. Their mission: to nab one of the world's most wanted terror suspects, the man thought to be one of the masterminds behind the spectacular nightclub bombings in Bali that had killed more than 200 people a year earlier. >>