WASHINGTON, D.C. May 30, 2007 — U.S. efforts to combat terrorism in the post-9/11 era have been marred by adoption of controversial anti-terrorism tactics from countries with documented human rights violations, according to a series of investigations by the Center for Public Integrity's International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Tactics such as abductions and "targeted killings" have attracted the ire of some of the most committed U.S. allies as U.S. military aid continues to flow despite the criticisms.

The Center’s “Collateral Damage” investigation found that countries such as Israel, Jordan and Turkey, all among the top 10 U.S. military aid recipients in the three years after September 11, 2001, also have been accused of serious cases of human rights violations and employing questionable methods in support of U.S. anti-terrorism policies. The growing closeness between U.S intelligence agencies and their counterparts in Israel and Jordan raises questions of just how far Washington will go in adopting similar techniques.

Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. military assistance since the 1940s, has received more than $9 billion in the three years since the terrorist attacks, and has spent more than $30 million to influence American public opinion and Congress in that same period. The U.S. has turned to Israel for advice on urban combat and is increasingly employing the controversial Israeli method of “targeting killings” of terrorist suspects.

During those same three years directly after 9/11, Jordan received $2.7 billion in U.S. military aid, a 170 percent increase from the three years prior to the attacks. Jordan now ranks as the fourth-largest recipient overall of U.S. military aid, and like Israel, has been criticized by human rights advocates for allegedly torturing suspected terrorists.

On May 31 and June 5, the Center will release additional stories examining U.S. post-9/11 military aid in Asia and Latin America. The “Collateral Damage” series, initially released May 22, includes 20 original investigative pieces from 10 of the world’s leading investigative journalists on four continents. Databases detailing U.S. military aid, foreign influence spending and human rights violations by country accompany the reporting.

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