The American weapons industry is over the crest of another roller-coaster ride of federal funding, after an eight-year climb to unprecedented spending for war in peacetime. Though the Presidential candidates have made little commotion about what happens next, the issue of money for the military
On Dec. 9, 1985 an Argentine Federal Appeals Court sentenced five retired generals and admirals to prison terms for human rights abuses committed during the so-called “Dirty War.” It was a landmark ruling, the first time any civilian administration in Latin America had held its
On Nov. 2, 1981, Gen. Leopoldo Galtieri offered a toast to the power brokers of the newly arrived Reagan Administration, gathered at the Argentine Embassy in Washington for a gala luncheon. It was an auspicious occasion. After four years of unpleasant and often bitter exchanges
To outsiders, the military juntas that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983 presented an image of austere, almost frightening efficiency and unity of purpose. The “Process of National Reorganization,” as the juntas called themselves, sought to impose and maintain order where there had been none.
The Argentine armed forces’ so-called “Dirty War” began as a carefully crafted strategy for the military annihilation of several thousand leftist guerrillas. The original goal was achieved in approximately 18 months, an astonishing success for a nation that had endured years of uninterrupted terrorism and
