Urge senators to oppose Negroponte as intelligence chief

President Bush has nominated John D. Negroponte to the new post of national intelligence chief. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Negroponte will assume the new position created by the intelligence reorganization legislation. As intelligence chief, he will wield enormous power, and will be President Bush's closest advisor on intelligence issues.

Mr. Negroponte was notorious throughout the 1980s for his support for the Honduran death squads when he served as ambassador in that country. Although he was fully aware of the ongoing abduction, torture and murder of countless civilians, he consistently failed to advise Congress of the growing problem, and retained close personal relationships with the responsible military leaders.

Mr. Negroponte was sent to Iraq last year to serve as ambassador, but has failed to take any proper stance on the ongoing U.S.-sanctioned torture of detainees there.

Take action now!

Calls to the United States Senate are urgently needed. If Mr. Negroponte is confirmed for this position, the use of torture and terror by our intelligence services will be given free rein.

Please call and/or e-mail your senators at once and strongly oppose the nomination of John Negroponte. The congressional switchboard number is 202.224.3121. You can also send an immediate message via e-mail through our online Legislative Action Center.

Message

  • I strongly oppose the nomination of John Negroponte as the new intelligence chief.

  • Mr. Negroponte served as ambassador to Honduras during the contra war period in the 1980s. During that time period, he consistently concealed information from the United States Congress about the ongoing death squad activities being carried out by the Honduran military against local civilians.

  • Instead of taking action to prevent the torture and terror and to curb military abuses, Mr. Negroponte maintained close personal friendships with the responsible military leaders. These included General Gustavo Alvarez, who organized the infamous military Battalion 316 death squad and openly admired the Argentine “dirty war” methods.

  • As Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Negroponte has done nothing to curb U.S. abuses or to assist the people of Iraq.

  • United States citizens will not tolerate having another high-level national position filled by an official who has openly supported torture.

Mr. Negroponte began his diplomatic career in Vietnam, and was later sent by President Reagan to serve as ambassador in Honduras. At the time, Honduras was cooperating with the United States in carrying out the contra activities against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua.

General Gustavo Alvarez was rising to power in Honduras and openly praising the death squad methods used by the Argentine military during the notorious “dirty war” there. Worse yet, under his leadership, death squad activities were spreading throughout Honduras. Between 1981 and 1984 more than 138 civilians were "disappeared" and tortured to death, and many more terrorized or killed.

When U.S. Ambassador Jack Binns urged that military aid be cut in response to the growing wave of terror, he was replaced by Mr. Negroponte. During Mr. Negroponte's time as ambassador, many cases arose implicating U.S. agents in torture and disappearance, including the murder of U.S. priest Father James Francis Carney.

During Mr. Negroponte's service as ambassador to Honduras, the embassy's report to Congress on the human rights situation always omitted the obvious and systematic. As the 1983 report stated, "There are no political prisoners in Honduras. Individuals are not prosecuted for their political beliefs but rather for criminal acts."

Posted Feb. 18, 2005