Alterman on Negroponte: Death Squad Cover-Up

[Avalux]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3449870/

Back in January 1982, the Reagan administration was desperate to cover-up evidence of a horrific massacre undertaken by U.S. supported military forces in El Salvador, in the village of El Mozote in the province of Morazan, whom the U.S. was funding and training. The massacre was reported in The New York Times and The Washington Post by Raymond Bonner, and Alma Guillermoprieto, respectively, along with Susan Meiselas. As the reports appeared on the eve of Congressional hearings on funding for the Salvadoran killers, administration officials, like Elliott Abrams, sought to discredit the reports with McCarthyite accusations, and were supported by their allies in the conservative punditocracy—which, was just a fraction of its current size and scope. They succeeded and the funding went through, in part due to the cooperation of then-Ambassador to Honduras, John Negroponte.

In the fall of 1992, investigators for the postwar Salvadoran Truth Commission spent more than thirty-five days digging through the burial sites filled with decomposed bodies, bones, skulls, and bullet cartridges. They identified more than five hundred human remains in El Mozote and its surrounding villages.85 Of the 143 human remains discovered in the sacristy of the Mozote church, 136 were judged to be children or adolescents, of whom the average age was six. Of the remaining seven adults, six were women, one in the third trimester of pregnancy.86 When all the forensics had been uncovered, the commission revealed at least twentyfour people had participated in the shooting and that every cartridge but one had come from a U.S.-manufactured and -supplied M-16 rifle.Of these, “had discernible head-stamps, identifying the ammunition as having been manufactured for the United States Government at Lake City, Missouri.”87 No one has ever been officially charged or tried for any crimes associated with the actions taken in El Mozote, which were deemed by Danner to be “the largest massacre in modern Latin American history.” Negroponte never said a thing in public.

more.....

[livvy]

1. The nitwit sure knows how to pick them, doesn't he?

Has he appointed anyone that does not have a history of, illegal activities, torture and human rights violations in their background?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Negroponte

<snip> He is a controversial figure because of his involvement in covert funding of the Contras in Nicaragua (see Iran-Contra Affair) and his covering up of human rights abuses carried out by CIA-trained operatives in Honduras in the 1980s.
<snip> Negroponte supervised the construction of the El Aguacate air base where Nicaraguan Contras were trained by the US, and which critics say was used as a secret detention and torture center during the 1980s. In August 2001, excavations at the base discovered 185 corpses, including two Americans, who are thought to have been killed and buried at the site.
Records also show that a special intelligence unit (commonly referred to as a "death squad") of the Honduran armed forces, Battalion 3-16, trained by the CIA and Argentine military, kidnapped, tortured and killed hundreds of people, including US missionaries. Critics charge that Negroponte knew about these human rights violations and yet continued to collaborate with the Honduran military while lying to Congress.
<snip> In early 1984, two American mercenaries, Thomas Posey and Dana Parker, contacted Negroponte, stating they wanted to supply arms to the Contras after the U.S. Congress had banned further military aid. Documents show that Negroponte brought the two together with a contact in the Honduran armed forces. The operation was exposed nine months later, at which point the Reagan administration denied any US involvement, despite Negroponte's participation in the scheme. Other documents uncovered a plan of Negroponte and then-Vice President George H. W. Bush to funnel Contra aid money through the Honduran government. <snip>

Negroponte National Intelligence Director Nominee
On February 17, 2005, President George W. Bush named Negroponte as the first Director of National Intelligence, a position created due to recommendations made by the 9/11 Commission completed late in 2004. As with many presidential appointments, Negroponte must be confirmed by the Senate.<end>

There are more links at the end of the article.

[Maat]

2. Our new intelligence chief or grand-poobah or whatever.

Wow, things are looking up (sarcasm off).

[giant_robot]

3. When exactly did I wake up in a banana republic? n/t

[Avalux]

5. It didn't just happen, sadly

been going on for a long time right under our noses. Too late? Maybe.

[Rick Myers]

4. Up next for Bush-Cheney...

They dig up and reanimate Eichmann for FCC Chair and Mengle for HHS Secretary... :grr:

[G_j]

6. I'm nominating information threads on Negroponte

educate!

[enough]

7. Hands dripping with the blood of innocents.

A perfect minion for Bishco.

[Just Me]

8. That about taps the most corrupt, greedy, blood-thirsty administration,...

,...EVER!!!

I guess the whole damned country simply has to HIT BOTTOM before they face reality and learn, once and for all, NEVER TO ALLOW scum like these to take the reins of power over this nation.

As for the Coporate Media, it is a COMPLETE FAILURE!!! They should burn in hell for allowing this tyranny to overtake our country without revealing the facts to the American people!!!

[Cocoa]

9. this can't be right

on TV, they're saying Negroponte is PERFECT. One correspondent said she couldn't find ANYONE who had ANYTHING bad to say about Negroponte.