El Salvador - Robert E White

Pope Francis Just Declared This Murdered Archbishop a Martyr. Reaganites Should Be Embarrassed. By Joel Gillin / February 4, 2015 Pope Francis has declared Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was murdered while celebrating Mass in 1980, a martyr. Like much of what Francis has done and said since ascending the papal throne, the decision could anger American conservatives. After all, a number of prominent Reaganites and religious leaders in the U.S. embraced the man responsible for Romero's death. In 1979, moderate military officers overthrew El Salvador’s strongarm ruler Carlos Humberto Romero. The archbishop was initially supportive of the government before realizing that the military’s abuses and the persecution of the poor would not cease. Seen as a hero within Latin America’s liberation theology movement, which sought to align the Church with the poor and oppressed, Romero grew concerned after reading reports that the U.S. was planning to send support to the Salvadoran military. He wrote a letter to President Jimmy Carter urging him to not intervene, arguing that U.S. aid, “rather than favoring greater justice and peace in El Salvador, will make injustice and repression against the organization of the people, who have been struggling for the respect of their most fundamental rights, even more acute.” Romero was assassinated the following month. One week after his killing, the U.S. approved $5.7 million in emergency military aid, just as El Salvador’s bloody twelve-year civil war was getting underway. The U.S. embassy had evidence that Roberto D’Aubuisson, an anti-Communist former army major whom Reaganites considered a Cold War ally, was behind the killing. The embassy handed this intelligence over the CIA, which kept it buried so that Congress would continue providing military aid to the El Salvadoran and Guatemalan governments. A U.N.-sponsored truth commission found in 1993 that D’Aubuisson “gave the order to assassinate the Archbishop and gave precise instructions to members of his security service, acting as a 'death squad,' to organize and supervise the assassination.” It was eventually revealed by The New York Times that the Reagan administration knew more about the Salvadoran regime’s complicity and participation in atrocities than it had led Congress to believe. Soon after the truth commission published its findings, the Times reported that the “Reagan Administration withheld its own evidence of Mr. D'Aubuisson’s death squad activities from members of Congress who argued that Washington should have no dealings with terrorists.” Suspicion that D'Aubuisson was involved in Romero's death didn't stop U.S. officials and other conservatives from praising him. After D'Aubuisson entered politics in 1982, then-U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Deane R. Hinton called D’Aubuisson a “fine young Democrat,” later declaring him “an intelligent man” and a “dynamic leader.” Senator Jesse Helms was an unabashed supporter, suggesting that D’Aubuission’s credentials as “free enterprise man” who was “deeply religious” were more important than accusations that he murdered civilians. Elliott Abrams, then assistant secretary of state for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, told a congressional committee that the former army major was not an extremist because one would have to be “involved in murder” to earn that designation. Members of the Religious Right also offered their support to D’Aubuisson in the 1980s. Pat Robertson claimed to have gone to dinner with D’Aubuisson, calling him a “very nice fellow.” D’Aubuisson was honored at a 1984 dinner at the Capitol Hill Club by a number of conservative groups, including the Moral Majority, the National Pro-Life Action Committee, and The Washington Times. He was presented a plaque for his “continuing efforts for freedom.” On another visit to Washington, D’Aubuisson was chaperoned around the city by Young Americans for Freedom. One notable voice of dissent during this period was Robert E. White, the U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador from 1980-1981, who passed away last month. While serving as ambassador, he denounced the Salvadoran government and right-wing death squads, famously calling D’Aubuisson a “pathological killer.” White was dismissed from his post, but that didn't quiet him: In 1984, he accused the Reagan administration of attempting to cover up D’Aubuisson’s involvement in Romero’s murder. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120973/pope-francis-declares-oscar-romero-martyr-embarrassing-reaganites COMMENT Religious stuff is a huge turn off for me, but I thought the article was worthwhile checking out for the information. Roberto D’Aubuisson was widely known as "Major Soplete" (i.e., "Major Blowtorch") [Source  S.R. Shearer - here] LOOK-UPS Deane R. Hinton  career diplomat / last post in 1990s / member Council on Foreign Relations & American Academy of Diplomacy. / [Wikipedia] Senator Jesse Helms Southern Baptist WWII recruiter in the United States Navy Reporter The Raleigh Times Senate Foreign Relations Committee from 1995 to 2001 long-time chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he demanded a staunchly anti-communist foreign policy Republican (1970–2008) Democratic (1942–1970) / [Wikipedia] Elliott Abrams Diplomat, lawyer and political scientist who served in foreign policy positions for US Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. ... serving for Reagan, Abrams and retired US Marine Corps officer Oliver North were integral players in the Iran-Contra affair. ... currently a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. His appointment by Bush was controversial due to his conviction in 1991 on two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully withholding information from Congress during the Iran-Contra Affair investigation. Abrams accompanied Condoleezza Rice as a primary adviser on her visits to the Middle East in late July 2006 in the course of discussions relating to the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. [Wikipedia] And this guy's influence has been everywhere: American Committee for Peace in Chechnya: Member NGO Monitor: member of the International Advisory Board American Jewish Committee: Former member, National Advisory Council Center for Security Policy: Former member, National Security Advisory Council Committee for the Free World: Member of 1985 conference on Reagan-Gorbachev summit meeting in Geneva Committee for Peace and Security in the Gulf: Former Member (1998) Committee on U.S. Interests in the Middle East: Former Member Council on Foreign Relations: Member Ethics and Public Policy Center: President, 1996–2002 Heritage Foundation: Alumnus of Heritage Foundation Resource Bank Francisco Marroquin Foundation: Former chairman Hudson Institute: Senior Fellow, 1990–96 Independent Task Force on Colombia: Former member Middle East Forum: Signatory of 2000 report urging military action against Syria Nicaraguan Resistance Foundation: Former chairman Project for the New American Century: Signatory of 1997 Statement of Principles and various other statements U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom: Former member National Endowment for Democracy: Board of Directors [Wikipedia] Religious Right Right wing, conservative political factions. "In the U.S., the Christian right is an informal coalition formed around a core of evangelical Protestants and Catholics. The Christian right draws additional support from politically conservative mainline Protestants, Jews, and Mormons." / [Wikipedia] Pat Robertson Evangelist Republican Media mogul / [Wikipedia] Moral Majority dissolved 1980s - financial difficulties, following Liberty Federation affiliation was political organisation associated with Christian Right (ie Religious Right) / [Wikipedia] National Pro-Life Action Committee oldest and largest anti-abortion & anti-euthanasia organisation in USA / [Wikipedia] The Washington Times News World Communications founded 1976 by Unification Church founder and leader Sun Myung Moon News World's best-known newspaper was the Washington Times, which the company owned from the paper's founding in 1982 until 2010. 02 Nov 2010: Sun Myung Moon and a group of former Times editors purchased the Washington from News World. / [Wikipedia] Young Americans for Freedom ideologically conservative youth activism organization that was founded in 1960 as a coalition between traditional conservatives and libertarians / [Wikipedia] ROBERT EDWARD WHITE Here's the dissenting voice: Robert Edward White, Ambassador (b. 1926 - d. 2015) Source:  "Ambassador Robert E White" by Robert White - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ambassador_Robert_E_White.JPG#mediaviewer/File:Ambassador_Robert_E_White.JPG What an amazing guy.  Really brave. "... once called prominent military figure Roberto D'Aubuisson a "pathological killer". D'Aubuisson was widely suspected of collaboration with death squad killings including the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero. He also accused José Napoleón Duarte, El Salvador's President from 1984 to 1989 of being a CIA asset. He was dismissed by the new Reagan administration in 1981. He wrote of his ouster: In 1981, as the ambassador to El Salvador, I refused a demand by the secretary of state, Alexander M. Haig Jr., that I use official channels to cover up the Salvadoran military's responsibility for the murders of four American churchwomen. I was fired and forced out of the Foreign Service."   [Wikipedia] Robert White 1999: In the name of anticommunism, U.S.-supported armies suppressed democracy, free speech, and human rights in El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. Torture and assassination of democratic leaders, including presidential candidates, journalists, priests and union officials became commonplace.    [Wikipedia] Robert White died on 13 January 2015. Obituaries Robert E. White, Ex-Ambassador to Latin America, Dies at 88 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/18/world/americas/robert-e-white-ex-ambassador-to-latin-america-dies-at-88.html?_r=0 Robert E. White, who criticized policy on El Salvador as U.S. ambassador, dies at 88 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/robert-e-white-who-criticized-policy-on-el-salvador-as-us-ambassador-dies-at-88/2015/01/15/0c504738-9c29-11e4-96cc-e858eba91ced_story.html