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As Ambassador to Honduras in the 1980s, John D. Poindexter functioned like a CIA station chief, deeply invoved in death squad activities. He was Washington's go-to man on running the Contra War against Nicaragua. The Contras operated like organized criminals by killing civilian supporters of the Nicaraguan government to sow the dread of terror. The Contras terror campaign against civilians made it very undesirable to support the Nicaraguan Government. Poindexter led the charge from Washington.



Negroponte also had operational involvement with the notorious Hoduran Batallion 316. In 1995, the Baltimore Sun wrote, "Newly declassified documents and other sources show that the CIA and the U.S. Embassy knew of numerous crimes, including murder and torture, committed by Battalion 316, yet continued to collaborate closely with its leaders." Actually, it is well established that leaders of Batallion 316 were trained in the School of the Americas (SOA) in Ft. Bragg In describing the wide swath of civilians caught up in the Batallion 316 net, the Sun article states, "No one was safe." Negroponte oversaw the preparation of human rights reports required by Congress, and covered up the truth.
www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-negroponte1a.story

Some people shuddered when they heard that John D. Negroponte was going to become the Amassador to Iraq. Death Squads work. The Contras won their war in Nicaragua. Similar tactics could be predicted in Iraq. No one is safe.

For example, we are told in the mainstream media that the manager of a large state-owned cooking oil plant was shot to death on his way to work. Press reports speculated that the manager was murdered because he was in favor of privatizing the plant. But, the alternative press has the opinion of the plant's security guard. He was convinced that he was killed because he opposed the privatization plan. “He would never have sold the factories like the Americans want. That’s why they killed him.”
www.informationclearinghouse

So, who do you believe? People start dropping like flies, and the flies start dropping in on dead bodies that display signs of torture. With this potential in mind, it is tempting to read between the lines when hearing the following AP report of February 20, 2005: "Six charred bodies were discovered several days ago floating in the Tigris River in Suwayrah, about 25 miles south of the capital, hospital officials said. The six men were each found handcuffed and shot in the head, chest and back. Their identities were not known."

Another collective shuddered rippled through the progressive community when we all heard last week that John D. Negroponte had been nominated to be the Country's first Director of National Intelligence (DIN). With Poindexter in charge of a world of increased secrecy, and surveillance, no one is safe. Those familiar with John book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" or the US's diry wars in Central America, will wonder if we are headed toward the death squad abyss.
www.democracynow.org/
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AP's Jack Stokes and the Salvador Option in Iraq