To: Thomas M. who wrote (26784 ) 5/8/2004 10:35:32 AM From: X Y Zebra Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 93284 indeed...iacenter.org Career diplomat John Negroponte has been nominated by President Bush to be U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. He would head the largest U.S. embassy after what is now admitted to be "limited sovereignty" is turned over to Iraq on June 30. Negroponte's record makes him uniquely unqualified for this important posting. * Negroponte was political officer at the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam from 1964-1968, the height of the war, and during a period of extrajudicial executions and gross human rights abuses, including massacres by the infamous "Tiger Force" of the Army's 101st Airborne Division. * Negroponte was ambassador to Honduras from 1981-1985 during which he oversaw a ten-fold increase in staff and an embassy that housed one of the largest CIA deployments in all of Latin America. He lied to Congress about his knowledge of the infamous Battalion 316 death squad, and managed illegal aid to the Contras fighting the Nicaraguan government in direct contravention of Congress' ban. ---- * John Negroponte worked closely with General Alvarez, Chief of the Armed Forces in Honduras, to enable the training of Honduran soldiers in psychological warfare, sabotage, and many types of human rights violations, including torture and kidnapping. Honduran and Salvadoran military were sent to the School of the Americas to receive training in counter-insurgency directed against people of their own country. The CIA created the infamous Honduran Intelligence Battalion 3-16 that was responsible for the murder of many Sandinistas. General Luis Alonso Discua Elvir, a graduate of the School of the Americas, was a founder and commander of Battalion 3-16. In 1982, the U.S. negotiated access to airfields in Honduras and established a regional military training center for Central American forces, principally directed at improving fighting forces of the Salvadoran military. In 1994, the Honduran Rights Commission outlined the torture and disappearance of at least 184 political opponents. and more... ____________________ oh yes... neo-conservatives are really nice people fer sure... *not*