Mark Danner, an editor for the New York Times magazine, recounts in The Massacre at El Mozote a horrific crime against humanity committed by a branch of the Salvadorian army. He gives multiple points of views and cites numerous eye witnesses to try and piece together something that has been tucked away by the government at the time. In December, of 1981, news reports were leaked to major newspapers in the united states about an atrocity committed and a total massacre of a hamlet in El Salvador, known as El Mozote, or the Thicket. At first, the account was of over a thousand civilians, women men and children with no guerrilla affiliation were massacred. Danner pieces together the testimonies of the survivors, and interviews with officers in the Salvadorian army.
El Mozote was not affiliated with the guerrilla uprising at the time. It was a town that was seen as a last resort for fleeing civilians. There was supposed to be safe harbor there, as the rebels and army would be doing their fighting in the woods, away from civilians. On December 8th, peasants were straggling one by one into El Mozote, and were stretching the limits of the small town (Danner 34). Even the town mayor was under the impression that the citizens of El Mozote would be given clemency. They were instructed to keep off of the streets, to stay inside to avoid the fighting. Marcos Diaz, the mayor, recounts his seeming betrayal, “Wait!, he pleaded, They promised me nothing would happen to the people here. The officers told me so” (Donner 64). he was correct, the citizens of El Mozote were supposed to have clemency, they were not to be harmed.
A supposed “elite, American trained” arm of the Salvadorian army, Atlacatl were acting on their own. They had basic training from the Americans, but their extensive training came at the hands of Monterrosa (Donner 50). These seemingly advanced troops were anything but. They “shot animals and smeared the blood all over their faces, they slit open the animal's bellies and drank the blood”(Donner 50). So, a renegade unit led by a renegade general were supposed to show mercy to a guerrilla infested hamlet? The answer would become obvious.
An important source of information during this ot...
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...fact, occur.
I believe that Donner does an excellent job in presenting the facts as plainly as possible. He cites a number of sources from a first hand account of the facts by Rufina Amaya, to a number of documents presented by both the Salvadorian government and the American government. He has a collection of front page stories from major newspapers such as the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Also are the interviews with Domingo Monterrosa and soldiers that were part of Atlacatl. Based on such a wide variety of published sources, i think that Donner did an excellent job at presenting the information so that the reader could decide as to what really happened on that December in northern El Salvador.
Before reading this, I, like I am sure so many others, had no idea of the magnitude of injustices that can occur during these conflicts. Also, this was not very long ago, nor far away, and it speaks volumes of the differences in government ideology and politics. El Salvador is an extreme case of how a government will treat its citizens. Massacre at El Mozote truly was an eye-opener and I doubt I will soon forget it.
During the author’s life in New York and Oberlin College, he understood that people who have not experienced being in a war do not understand what the chaos of a war does to a human being. And once the western media started sensationalizing the violence in Sierra Leone without any human context, people started relating Sierra Leone to civil war, madness and amputations only as that was all that was spoken about. So he wrote this book out o...
In the novel All The Shah’s Men we are introduced to Iran, and the many struggles and hardships associated with the history of this troubled country. The Iranian coup is discussed in depth throughout the novel, and whether the Untied States made the right decision to enter into Iran and provide assistance with the British. If I were to travel back to 1952 and take a position in the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) for the sole purpose of examining the American Foreign Intelligence, I would have to conclude that the United States should have examined their options more thoroughly, and decided not to intervene with Iran and Mossadegh. I have taken this position after great analysis, which is something that Eisenhower and his staff never did. By discussing the history of Iran, the Anglo-Iranian oil company, and Document NSC-68 I will try to prove once and for all that going through with the coup in Iran was a terrible mistake made by the United States.
The Civil War in El Salvador lasted from 1980 to 1992, and the El SAlvadoran government was doing their best to minimize the threat of their opposition. Their main opposition, The Frente Farabundo Marti Para La Liberacion Nacional; otherwise known as the FMLN, was a guerrilla group that was organized to fight the corruption in the country. 175). One of the main goals of the organization was to create a new society that is not degrading its citizens and promotes equality. Throughout El Salvador’s history, one organization to the next would run the country through repressive actions and social injustice. One of the main reasons that the FMLN fought the acting government were due to these social restraints on the lower- class citizens in El Salvador.
A true war story blurs the line between fact and fiction, where it is neither true nor false at the same time. What is true and what is not depends on how much you believe it to be. In the chapter “How to Tell a True War Story” from the novel “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien, the author provides various definitions to how the validity of a war story can be judged. The entire chapter is a collection of definitions that describe the various truths to what a true war story is. Unlike O’Brien, who is a novelist and storyteller, David Finkel, the author of “The Good Soldiers”, is a journalist whose job is to report the facts. Yet in the selection that we read, chapter nine, Finkel uses the convention of storytelling, which relies heavily on the stories the combat troops tell each other or him personally. Finkel attempts to give an unbiased view of the Iraq war through the stories of the soldiers but in doing so, Finkel forfeits the use of his own experiences and his own opinions. From O’Brien’s views on what a true war story is combined with my own definitions, I believe that Finkel provides a certain truth to his war stories but not the entire truth.
It seems as if Hawthorne wrote this scene for the purposes of exhibiting the harshness of Puritan society, and to allow the reader some insight into Hester's thoughts. Hawthorne places the focus onto Hester at this moment. The reader observes her before the full effect of the scarlet letter has had a chance to take hold of her. The reader is also able to see the cruel and judgmental behavior of the crowd through their language, such as when they call her a hussy. "This women has brought shame upon us all, and ought to die. Is there not law for it?"
According to the Death Penalty Center “cases without the death penalty cost $740,000, while cases where the death penalty is sought cost $1.26 million”. This is a lot of money to execute someone. Our government could use that money to fund different projects and help better our communities by building research centers or more libraries. Also, as the Law Dictionary states, “the average cost of housing an inmate in the U.S is $31,286 in 2012”. This is not a lot of money considering that it cost “$1.26 million” just to execute someone. Our government could save a lot of money by sentencing prisoners to life in prison without parole. The government can use this money to offer more public transportation. According to Prison Policy Initiative, “the amount that California could save $90 million per year by abolishing capital punishment”. California could use this money to fund their criminal enforcement task force to protect citizens and keep the state safer. Taxpayers shouldn’t pay an increasing amount of tax to execute someone when they should be lawfully punished in a cheaper and moral
Prosecuting a death penalty case is extremely expensive for a state and drains money that could be used for education and social programs. Capital punishment costs more than sentencing a prisoner to life without parole. The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty cost North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution, over the costs of sentencing murderers to life imprisonment. The United states economy is far from adequate and I believe these wasted dollars should be refocused towards unemployment and
According to deathpenatlyinfo.org, currently there are 32 states with the death penalty and 18 states without the death penalty. Society has always punished people that do unlawful actions. Being that murder is the most is in highest interest of preventing, the strongest punishment available, the death penalty, is used. People may think when states sentence murderers to death that it would prevent future murderers from doing the same actions seeing that they will receive the same punishment. Deathpenaltycurriculum.org reports, “Moreover, even if some studies regarding deterrence are inconclusive, that is only because the death penalty is rarely used and takes years before an execution is actually carried out”. Not only that but some states that don’t have the death penalty have lower crimes rates than those that do. In my opinion the death penalty should be abolished due to many purposeful reasons including: financial costs, the process slowing down the court system, life in prison being far more effective, possibility of convicting and killing an innocent person, and violating “cruel and unusual” punishment clause.
First the death penalty is against people human right of the constitution. To me I feel that the death penalty strips people of their eighth amendment right. This amendment protects people from excessive fine and cruel punishment (Marshfield, 2016). It is crazy to think that the pilgrims fled the oppression of England, set up rights for their people, and America goes and sets up the death penalty. If we keep it up like this, before you know it we as the citizens are going to be forced to house soldiers or we
One of the most repetitive and controversial topics discussed in the criminal justice system, is the death penalty. Capital punishment has been a part of our nation’s history since the creation of our constitution. In fact, as of January 1st, 2016, 2,943 inmates were awaiting their fate on death row (Death Penalty Information Center). Throughout my life, I have always been a strong advocate for the death penalty. During the majority of my undergraduate degree, I was a fierce supporter of capital punishment when discussing the topic in classes. However, throughout many criminal justice courses, I found myself in the minority, regarding the abolishment of the death penalty. While debating this topic, I would always find myself sympathetic to the victims and their families, as one should be, wanting those who were responsible for heinous crimes to
Death is an unusually severe punishment, unusual in its pain, in its finality, and in its enormity. The fatal constitutional infirmity in the punishment of death is that it treats 'members of the human race as non humans, as objects to be toyed with and discarded . It is thus inconsistent with the fundamental premise of the Clause that even the vilest criminal remains a human being possessed of common human dignity. As such it is a penalty that 'subjects the individual to a fate forbidden by the principle of civilized treatment guaranteed by the [Clause]. Therefore, death is today a cruel and unusual punishment prohibited by the Clause. The ethical question here is, “Is the death penalty violating our very own amendments?”
The death penalty has been a strong controversial argument since it first got ratified into the law. It gives the power of taking an individual’s life into the hands of those around them. The peers around him may only need to state one effortless word that can sentence the person to incarceration leading to their inevitable execution that. The death penalty has inflicted a new type of concern in the minds of many Americans, in which many are not entirely sure such punishments are necessary anymore, not only through opinions but also through substantial facts that support the abolishing of such an inhumane punishment which has proven to have become less beneficial than anything else.
Homework is something that every student is faced with and has had to do from generation to generation but that should change. Today’s students are more busy than ever. School, work, jobs it is becoming too much . Innovative schools have discovered that many students benefit from no homework or a limited amount of homework. Homework teaches responsibility and balance. At the same there needs to be time for rest and reciprocation which is also important for a healthy balance. Homework is effective and daunting it should be adjusted to students grades k-12 everyday lives, it helps students to balance in school and out of school tasks.
Capital punishment can be a difficult topic to approach because people tend to have extreme views on it. The death penalty is a benefit to society; it deters potential criminals as well as serves as retribution to criminals, and is in no way immoral. In general, the anti death penalty arguments often do not hold up when examined more thoughtfully. It is important that the nation is united on this issue, rather than having the it divided. The death penalty can be an incredibly advantageous apparatus in sentencing criminals that have committed some of the worst crimes known to society. It is crucial that we begin to pass legislation making capital punishment legal throughout the United States so that justice can be served properly.
“The FBI has found that the states with the death penalty have the highest murder rates” (Bedau). Although the death penalty hasn’t been proven to deter crimes, it is still taken as an option to lower the crime rates. Other countries like Japan, India, Thailand, and a lot of the Caribbean islands, such as Barbados, do not have very much commitment to the death penalty as a crime deterrent. The death penalty is very costly for just one execution. To send someone to death row in Florida, the state with the most people on death row, it would cost around 3.2 million dollars all together (Bedau 16). For someone to be in a state prison annually, it would cost around 16 thousand dollars (Hood 84). It is cheaper to punish someone with life in jail rather than putting criminals to