God's Assassins

Book excerpt: In the words of both the perpetrators of terrorism and their victims, God's Assassins explores what happens when a state turns on its citizens. Between 1976 and 1983 an estimated 30,000 Argentines "disappeared" under the military junta. Most were imprisoned and tortured before being murdered by the military. Patricia Marchak interviewed many who were involved in the horror including military personnel who justified the torture and killings, Roman Catholic clergy who encouraged the state to "save" the country from liberation theology, citizens who refused to believe that their government could commit such atrocities, and survivors whose tragic personal experiences attest that a state can indeed terrify and kill its own people.