The President had barely introduced his new National Intelligence Director, John Negroponte and pundits and politicians were already taking him to task for picking the wrong person. We shall be hearing a lot through the confirmation process about how this man chose to ignore a massacre which occurred during the Reagan administration and their fight against guerrillas in El Salvador. This massacre took place in January of 1982 when the Reaganites were fighting desperately to destroy the communists in El Salvador and Nicaragua. They tapped danced around the massacre, which was reported in the New York Times and Washington Post, but did not really get enough coverage to bring it to the attention of the majority of Americans, and by July of that year it was pretty much just another tragic footnote in the war against the communists in Central America.
There were 143 bodies in the sacristy of the Mozote church investigated by the Salvadoran Truth Commission, and of those bodies 136 were deemed to be children or adolescents, with the average age being 6 years old. Now this is a horrific tragedy and it should not be forgotten, but it is extremely annoying when the only atrocities reported are those done by U.S. troops or by people we support. I know that it is a matter of your perception as to how things look and how they happen, but surely the communist guerrillas must have been guilty of some killing or why would there be any need to fight them. They could all just go skipping hand in hand to a wonderful future.
I did not like the Reagan administration in hardly any area, and I always thought things could have been done differently or better, but this man does not deserve to be denied this position because of this tragedy which it would seem everyone, even many of the liberals in Congress and in the media chose to ignore. Does this indicate that perhaps it was because there is some racism at work even in the liberal media, who while trying to change people’s views, also needs to keep their ratings and their jobs and Latin American people are not that important to most Americans.
Anyway, the hearings should be interesting if the recent ones for Rice and Gonzales are any indication of the vigor with which the Democrats will attack any Bush nominee that he sends before them.
Let the games begin. We must remember that no matter what this may be the most important new position created, as it will finally give the President what they have all said they need. Concise intelligence, not sugar coated be each agency to make themselves look better, but a compilation that should be unvarnished and totally accurate.
Good luck to Negroponte and to us all!
Daniel Carvel Kepler
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1 comment:
wow, i'm utterly amazed at how a little knowledge can be a bad thing.
good 'ol negroponte and what was going on was not an isolated incident neighbor. the man and the administration he was serving were not only turning a blind eye, they were involved. and not in a single horrific act. the paramilitary death squads killed in the thousands. trained, armed and funded by the u.s. anyone who spoke out against this neocapitalist facism was fair game and guilt by association was part of the stutus quo killings.
as for wondering what motive the government of honduras and their sponsers up north could have, isn't it always the same? money and the power that goes with it. fighting communism in the americas was and is a crock, a sales pitch, a front. and if you don't believe me about how sadistic john and company are and were, go visit central america. talk to the victims there, people like you and i. i know, because i am one of them.
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