John Negroponte's Intelligence
Earlier today, President George W. Bush named John Negroponte as the first Director of Intelligence for the United States. Just this morning, news outlets were abuzz with talk about the unusually high number of vacant appointee positions in the administration.
Bush's selection of Negroponte mutes much of this criticism but opens up the can of worms that is Negroponte's history.
He first came to public attention as one of the primary characters in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Reagan administration. As ambassador to Honduras, he served as the point-man for efforts to back the Contras in neighboring Nicaragua.
His efforts to overthrow the Sandanista government were only the beginning of his unscrupulous behavior in Latin America.
As ambassador he had extensive dealings with the chief of the Honduran national police force, Gen. Gustavo Alvarez Martinez, who ran the notorious Battalion 316 death squads. According to the Washington Post, Battalion 316 "kidnapped, tortured and murdered" dozens of people while Negroponte was ambassador.
Negroponte ignored the death squads and other gross violations of human rights so Honduras would allow bases for the U.S.-funded Contras.
Although he maintained that he knew nothing about these activities, the abuses were widely chronicled in the press. He "has a reputation for doggedly defending U.S. interests overseas" and "at least as strong a reputation for making sure human rights don't get in the way," wrote The New Republic in 2001.
Under the current Bush administration, Negroponte served as our ambassador to the United Nations during the lead-up to the Iraq war. In this role, he led the chorus of administration officials warning that Iraq possessed WMD.
On January 29th, 2003, he declared "Obviously, as you know, from everything our government has said in the past, we are convinced that Iraq maintains and continues to pursue its WMD program." He then went on the reference the Iraqi uranium fabrication as truth and Colin Powell's infamous pictures of aluminum tubes.
Five months later, Negroponte asserted that he did not have "any doubt that we will be able to establish that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq."
Even after WMD claims had been disproved, he continued to tow the party line that the war was still justified.
He has since served as U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
This kind of "team player" is the last thing that American needs to head our intelligence apparatus. Bush's choice of Negroponte as National Intelligence Director ensures that American officials will continue to operate in an intelligence bubble, only hearing those facts that match the talking points.
Who is this guy?
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