NEW YORK — Developing countries are routinely blamed for using brutal techniques on prisoners. The same condemnation should be extended to industrialized countries that not only used these techniques themselves but also exported them to other countries.
France is a case in point. There is ample evidence of the widespread use of torture and assassination of political opponents during that country's occupation of Algeria. Less well-known is the fact that French military officers trained the Argentine military in the psychological and physical torture of political prisoners in Argentina.
A French judge, Roger Le Loire, when investigating the disappearance of French citizens in Argentina during the last military regime, interrogated Gen. Paul Aussaresses about his knowledge of torture techniques provided by his soldiers to the Argentine military. Aussaresses' testimony helped draw a picture of the French military's role in teaching torture to their Argentine colleagues. Aussaresses defended his use of torture during the Algerian War in the book "The Battle of the Casbah," and argued for torture in the fight against al-Qaida.