There's lots of discussion resulting from a Newsweek article about the "Salvadoran option," which refers to the still-secret US support of death squads in El Salvador when the Reagan administration was losing the war down there in the 80's. As someone on Daily Kos pointed out, does this mean that the US support for the death squads in El Salvador is confirmed? Because if so, then I think we need some trials. Newsweek says that the Pentagon is discussing similar operations in Iraq "to create a fear of aiding the insurgency." Way to win hearts and minds, huh? Did Bush et al know that they would unite the muslim world, but that it would be against us, not with us?
Billmon at Whiskey Bar hadn't posted since the election; today he posted a list of choice quotes from a variety of people about El Salvador, so we can remember what it was like then. One of them follows - read the rest and you'll see why Billmon's last post, from November 3rd, fits so well with this one.
One [Salvadoran] death squad member, when asked about the types of tortures used, replied: "Uh, well, the same things you did in Vietnam. We learned from you. We learned from you the means, like blowtorches in the armpits, shots in the balls.
Whiskey Bar: Four More Fears, November 3, 2004.
This may be the year when we finally come face to face with ourselves; finally just lay back and say it -- that we are really just a nation of 220 million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns, and no qualms at all about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable.
Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail
November 1972
