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Wed 21 Apr, 2004 04:07 pm
Published on Wednesday, April 21, 2004 by The Progressive
Negroponte, a Torturer's Friend
by Matthew Rothschild
Bush's announcement that he intends to appoint John Negroponte to be the U.S. ambassador to Iraq should appall anyone who respects human rights.
Negroponte, currently U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., was U.S. ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s and was intimately involved with Reagan's dirty war against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua. Reagan waged much of that illegal contra war from Honduras, and Negroponte was his point man.
According to a detailed investigation the Baltimore Sun did in 1995, Negroponte covered up some of the most grotesque human rights abuses imaginable.
The CIA organized, trained, and financed an army unit called Battalion 316, the paper said. Its specialty was torture. And it kidnapped, tortured, and killed hundreds of Hondurans, the Sun reported. It "used shock and suffocation devices in interrogations. Prisoners often were kept naked and, when no longer useful, killed and buried in unmarked graves."
The U.S. embassy in Honduras knew about the human rights abuses but did not want this embarrassing information to become public, the paper said.
"Determined to avoid questions in Congress, U.S. officials in Honduras concealed evidence of human rights abuses," the Sun reported. Negroponte has denied involvement, and prior to his confirmation by the Senate for his U.N. post, he testified, "I do not believe that death squads were operating in Honduras."
But this is what the Baltimore Sun said: "The embassy was aware of numerous kidnappings of leftists." It also said that Negroponte played an active role in whitewashing human rights abuses.
"Specific examples of brutality by the Honduran military typically never appeared in the human rights reports, prepared by the embassy under the direct supervision of Ambassador Negroponte," the paper wrote. " The reports from Honduras were carefully crafted to leave the impression that the Honduran military respected human rights."
So this is the man who is going to show the Iraqis the way toward democracy?
More likely, as the insurgency increases, this will be the man who will oversee and hush up any brutal repression that may ensue.
Copyright 2004 The Progressive
BushCorpse
BushCorpse and the NeoFascists: Read the PNAC site! Do some research on the players in the Bush Crime Family. Most are the very same criminals that perpetuated crimes during the Raygun and Bush 1 Regimes.
A valid place to start your education>
http://www.serendipity.li/cia.html
Yes, it is appalling. Here we go, continuing to prop up men who should instead be shot down. This is the real reason why "they" hate us!
Even BinLaden claimed that his hatred is because of our unquestioned support of Israel, seen as a terrorist state by most other mideast nations.
Could we have/should we have "negotiated with terrorists"? If all they wanted was a fair deal, ummm, yeah. If we gave them that, they wouldn't be terrorists, but would see us as we like to see ourselves: a nation who likes to bring freedom to the oppressed, rather than what we actually sometimes do, which is the opposite.
Shot.
"Yes, it is appalling. Here we go, continuing to prop up men who should instead be shot down..."
I would say they should be shot but since I am against the Death Penalty I will refrain. Long prison terms, yes!
Well, I was speaking figuratively, not literally.
I don't believe in the death penalty either. But I do think it's time we stopped rewarding criminals by setting them up as dictators who will continue to abuse human rights, just because we can boss them around until they won't take it anymore.
perhaps I'm naive, but I believe that people's interests should come before a country's interest.
people around the world suffer because we get some benefit from installing brutal dictators.
Yes...continue sucking up to the terrorists. maybe they won't kill you if they get the chance...oh, wait, they don't care. They will kill you anyway. They don't care if you support them or not.
suzy wrote:Yes, it is appalling. Here we go, continuing to prop up men who should instead be shot down. This is the real reason why "they" hate us!
Even BinLaden claimed that his hatred is because of our unquestioned support of Israel, seen as a terrorist state by most other mideast nations.
Could we have/should we have "negotiated with terrorists"? If all they wanted was a fair deal, ummm, yeah. If we gave them that, they wouldn't be terrorists, but would see us as we like to see ourselves: a nation who likes to bring freedom to the oppressed, rather than what we actually sometimes do, which is the opposite.
So why exactly do you think most middle east countries consider Israel a terrorist state? It wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that they hate Jews, now would it? Give them enough rope, you'll get another Hitler. "They" hate America because they see the US as a decadent, spoiled country, offensive to radical Islamic scripture and thought. Please...don't be fooled. There is no reasoning with extremists of any colour.
Oh, and 'Negroponte' is one unfourtunate surname. So is the decision to pronounce 'Colin' as 'Colon'....what was he thinking?
I know the Bushites get a case of the warm fuzzies when they hear the Bush White House propaganda that their hero is bringing democracy to the people of Iraq.
LOL!!!
But I challenge any of them to explain how it's democracy when the entire 360 proposed member governing body has been chosen by the US military without a single vote being cast by the Iraqi people.
This is democracy, imperial style.
Because until the elections DO happen in January, someone has to make decisions and look out for the welfare of Iraq.
*sigh*
Elections with candidates hand-selected by the US government.
Again, democracy imperial style.
What do you know about the elections?
As far as I know they haven't even been planned out because they do not have a preliminary government to rule until then.
I also know that the UN will be overseeing the elections. That has been discussed with the UN.
The US will no longer be the authority in Iraq if plans go accordingly, so why not take a step back from your lust for hate and take an objective look at what's happening. Quit taking your news from Pistoff's articles and get with the program.
Cav, I submit that Israeli's are extremists as well, and one can certainly call them terrorists , too. Why are you convinced they hate America because of our freedoms, when they have a much better reason than merely "envy"? All of the BinLaden family enjoyed their time and the decadence in America very much.
And why don't we let Israel worry about Israel?
Israel does what Israel wants to do, despite the USA.
McG, I was waiting... I knew one of you would come in and say "Yes...continue sucking up to the terrorists. blah blah blah." How is being fair sucking up? We have never put the needs of these people above the needs of Israel. They're like the red-headed stepchild, and they know it. Israel is the favored child. Of course they're pissed off.
And I don't support them, dummy, and I resent but am not surprised by your remark. You righties take the cake when it comes to name-calling and division. I think you should be ashamed of yourself.
You should also realize that divisive statements like that just show that you're limited in your willingness to engage in rational thought. You don't dare step outside your pre-conceived, party-approved ideas, do you?
I notice you don't have word one to say about the selection of John Negroponte!!!
You just don't even care, do you?
I'm not speaking or thinking as a liberal, but rather as an honest human being trying to consider every argument from a human perspective. And when you look at the facts, they tend to be on my side.
suzy wrote:McG, I was waiting... I knew one of you would come in and say "Yes...continue sucking up to the terrorists. blah blah blah." How is being fair sucking up? We have never put the needs of these people above the needs of Israel. They're like the red-headed stepchild, and they know it. Israel is the favored child. Of course they're pissed off.
Well of course they are a favored nation. They are a democracy struggling in a sea of aggressive opponents who want nothing more than to see all of them dead. The arab nations suppounding Israel have more than enough support from each other and other anti-Israeli regimes that they do not need "equal treatment" from us.
I have yet to hear of a militant Jew blowing up a bus of innocent Palestinians. I have yet to hear of a militant Jew hijacking a plane and making demands or using it as a weapon. I have yet to hear of a militant jew keeping their women suppressed, or degrading other religions or doing any of the other brutal, sadistic things that many fundamentalist Muslims have done and continue to do.
Being fair? They don't deserve it.
suzy wrote:And I don't support them, dummy, and I resent but am not surprised by your remark. You righties take the cake when it comes to name-calling and division. I think you should be ashamed of yourself.
You should also realize that divisive statements like that just show that you're limited in your willingness to engage in rational thought. You don't dare step outside your pre-conceived, party-approved ideas, do you?
Ok, suzy, show me where I have started any "name calling"... The only one acting immature here is you at the moment.
suzy wrote:I notice you don't have word one to say about the selection of John Negroponte!!!
You just don't even care, do you?
I'm not speaking or thinking as a liberal, but rather as an honest human being trying to consider every argument from a human perspective. And when you look at the facts, they tend to be on my side.
I gave the Negroponte article the attention it deserved.
Chalabi and Negroponte: Our gifts to the Iraqis. Every time I think that the liberal media (that one's for you, McG) may be exaggerating Chalabi's role, I hear his name mentioned as having a leadership position in Iraq.
Unbelievable. Why is choosing thugs for important positions a good way to fight terrorism?
Pshaw! "I gave the Negroponte article the attention it deserved." That says it all. You DON'T care. Thus it continues.
Namecalling? "sucking up to terrorists" fits the bill, wouldn't you say? However, I refer to that as divisiveness, but it fits both.
Israel is seen as an occupying force, which is pretty much what they in fact have been over there. They took the land under the impression that, as God's chosen people, it belongs to them. You expected the Arabs to just accept it, but apparently, they wanted to keep their homeland.
They are terrorsists because they won't surrender peacefully, and use whatever weapons they have at their disposal to continue resisting? I would be quite happy if they gave up and let Israel do what it wants, because the USA would certainly be safer, but I can't fault them for continuing to fight, since they believe they must.
I wonder how you would feel if some other supposedly "democratic" country occupied the USA and put your neighhborhood behind a fence, and took away your livelihood. Would you be a terrorist for fighting back, or would you be a "resistor"? And would other like-minded countries back us, or just let us die off?
But why talk about Israel? BinLaden is not Israeli or Palestinian, and BinLaden and his many relatives loved living in and being educated in America. They "hate us" because we keep propping up dictators and terrorists with nary a thought to how it affects their countries. BinLaden wwasn't always a terrorist; he used to be our buddy, just like Negroponte is now.
John D. Negroponte was sworn in as United States Representative to the United Nations on September 18, 2001. Since 1997 Mr. Negroponte had been Executive Vice President for Global Markets of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
From 1960 to 1997, Ambassador Negroponte was a member of the Career Foreign Service. He served at eight different Foreign Service posts in Asia, Europe and Latin America; and he also held important positions at the State Department and the White House.
Among his more recent assignments, Mr. Negroponte was Ambassador to Honduras (1981-85); Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (1985-87); Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs (1987-89); Ambassador to Mexico (1989-93); and Ambassador to the Philippines (1993-96).
Mr. Negroponte is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the American Academy of Diplomacy. He is former chairman of the French-American Foundation.
Ambassador Negroponte is a graduate of Yale University. He and his wife, Diana, have five children.
That's nice, McG. How old are his kids? Any grandhildren?
Just thought I would prove he wasn't Satan.
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