Re: The new ambassador to Iraq
Did the BBC mention that he managed Death Squads there; that he was key to supplying Contras? Wasn't he part of Operation Pheonix in Vietnam? He is ideally suited for the job. On Thu, Apr 22, 2004 at 12:07:53AM +0100, Chris Burford wrote: He was reported on the BBC as ambassador to Honduras at the time of the contras but as having been expert at avoiding controversy. In the main he is seen as a part of a shift from the neo-cons in the Pentagon to the influence of the State Department, since he is said to be close to Powell. The BBC also quoted the French ambassador to the UN as welcoming his appointment particularly warmly. I wonder how much all this is true. If so it suggests that Bush is going to try to ride out his defeats in Iraq by switching back to a more multi-laterial imperialist stance. Which of course by no means excludes covering up torture and other civil rights abuses if the US has to finance a repressive puppet regime to keep the lid on Iraq, while attempting to minimise the deaths of US trooops. We may be faced with a propaganda war setting alleged atrocities in Iraq against atrocities in Palestine. Chris Burford London - Original Message - From: k hanly [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 8:25 PM Subject: [PEN-L] The new ambassador to Iraq Web Exclusives Editor Matthew Rothschild comments on the news of the day. April 20, 2004 Negroponte, a Torturer's Friend 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. -- Matthew Rothschild http://www.progressive.org/webex04/wx042004.html -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 530-898-5321 E-Mail michael at ecst.csuchico.edu
The new ambassador to Iraq
Web Exclusives Editor Matthew Rothschild comments on the news of the day. April 20, 2004 Negroponte, a Torturer's Friend 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. -- Matthew Rothschild http://www.progressive.org/webex04/wx042004.html
Re: The new ambassador to Iraq
k hanly wrote: Negroponte, a Torturer's Friend 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. Let's not forget that John Kerry explained his vote for Negroponte's UN Ambassadorship with the following: If there were ever a time for a nonideological, bipartisan foreign policy, this is it. -- The Marxism list: www.marxmail.org
Re: The new ambassador to Iraq
He was reported on the BBC as ambassador to Honduras at the time of the contras but as having been expert at avoiding controversy. In the main he is seen as a part of a shift from the neo-cons in the Pentagon to the influence of the State Department, since he is said to be close to Powell. The BBC also quoted the French ambassador to the UN as welcoming his appointment particularly warmly. I wonder how much all this is true. If so it suggests that Bush is going to try to ride out his defeats in Iraq by switching back to a more multi-laterial imperialist stance. Which of course by no means excludes covering up torture and other civil rights abuses if the US has to finance a repressive puppet regime to keep the lid on Iraq, while attempting to minimise the deaths of US trooops. We may be faced with a propaganda war setting alleged atrocities in Iraq against atrocities in Palestine. Chris Burford London - Original Message - From: k hanly [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2004 8:25 PM Subject: [PEN-L] The new ambassador to Iraq Web Exclusives Editor Matthew Rothschild comments on the news of the day. April 20, 2004 Negroponte, a Torturer's Friend 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. -- Matthew Rothschild http://www.progressive.org/webex04/wx042004.html
