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http://snipurl.com/cwuz Veteran of dirty wars wins lead US spy role Written off by many after his role in Central America, John Negroponte's revived career hits a new high Duncan Campbell Friday February 18, 2005 The Guardian John Negroponte's nomination by President Bush yesterday to be his chief of intelligence represents the pinnacle of rehabilitation for a man who, for many people, will always be associated with US involvement in the "dirty wars" in Central America in the 1980s. While Mr Bush has restored to office other figures from that period of American history, none has been promoted to the same extent as the former ambassador to Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines, the UN and Iraq. Mr Negroponte, 65, was born in London, the son of a Greek shipping magnate who emigrated to New York during the second world war. After Harvard law school, he began a diplomatic career that has spanned more than four decades and taken in some of the most challenging posts on three continents. He has described his time as a political officer in Vietnam during the war in the 60s as a "career-defining experience". He only left the diplomatic service for a three-year stint with the New York publishers McGraw Hill, a "sabbatical" which ended when he became the US ambassador to the UN in 2001. To his admirers, he is a powerful, experienced, charismatic figure of patrician bearing who has earned the trust of successive American administrations, whether they were led by Presidents Reagan, Bush senior or Clinton. He is often described as "the diplomats' diplomat" and credited with a steely determination in negotiations in eight foreign postings. With his wife, Diana, he adopted five children in Honduras. To his detractors, he is tainted by his time between 1981 and 1985 in Honduras, a country that was being used as a launchpad for the illegal US-backed war waged by the contras against the leftist Sandinista government in Nicaragua. The Honduran military was accused of taking part in torture and extra-judicial killings. Had Mr Negroponte reported this to the US Congress, military aid to the country could have been suspended and their cooperation in the war on the Sandinistas might thus have ended. The Baltimore Sun re-investigated the US actions there in 1995. One former Honduran congressman, Efrain Diaz, told the paper that the attitude of Mr Negroponte and other US officials at the time was "one of tolerance and silence". "They needed Honduras to loan its territory more than they were concerned about innocent people being killed." For their cooperation with the US, the Honduran government had its military aid increased from $4m to $77m a year. Reed Brody of Human Rights Watch has accused Mr Negroponte of "looking the other way when serious atrocities were committed". Last year, Mrs Negroponte told the Washington Post that the Honduras accusations made in the media were "old hat" and added: "I want to say to those people: Haven't you moved on?" Mr Negroponte's career has moved certainly on. When he was appointed by Mr Bush to be ambassador to the UN in the summer of 2001, he was subjected to lengthy questioning about how much he knew of the atrocities being committed during his time in Honduras, but the senate debate on the issue was cut short by September 11. Mr Negroponte's appointment was speedily confirmed in the haste to fill the post. Politically, he is seen as a conservative, although he is not regarded as being as far to the right as the hawkish neo-cons in the Bush administration. He was regarded as being closer ideologically to the former secretary of state Colin Powell, and was even spoken of in some circles as a potential successor to the post now held by Condoleezza Rice. Last year he was given the difficult task of being the US ambassador to Iraq, which made him the head of the biggest diplomatic staff in the world, some 900 people. It was a role that came to fruition with the recent elections, which he has made clear he regards as a major success. In an opinion article which appeared in the Guardian this month, co-authored by George Casey, the commander of multinational forces in Iraq, Mr Negroponte wrote: "Although the heroic vote for freedom here in Iraq was humbling, it did not surprise us. Since the transition to Iraqi sovereignty seven months ago, we have seen daily manifestations of Iraqi courage and determination. Once again, as in South Africa, El Salvador and Ukraine, democracy proved stronger than fear." He praised "the journalists who chronicled this victory of ballots over bullets" and noted the "Herculean and indispensable efforts of American servicemen and women." Now the man whose diplomatic career many had regarded as finished five years ago is about to become one of the most powerful figures in the United States. _____________________________ Note: This message comes from the peace-justice-news e-mail mailing list of articles and commentaries about peace and social justice issues, activism, etc. If you do not regularly receive mailings from this list or have received this message as a forward from someone else and would like to be added to the list, send a blank e-mail with the subject "subscribe" to [EMAIL PROTECTED] or you can visit: http://lists.enabled.com/mailman/listinfo/peace-justice-news Go to that same web address to view the list's archives or to unsubscribe. E-mail accounts that become full, inactive or out of order for more than a few days will be deleted from this list. FAIR USE NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. 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