John Negroponte is portrayed in the movie Salvador by Oliver Stone

[Ian David]

At least, I'm pretty sure he is.

In any case, it's an important film that is more relevant now than ever.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091886/


Mon, Apr 19 2004

Negroponte

Bush has appointed John Negroponte to be the new go-to guy in Iraq for the post June 30 period. Matthew Yglesias has pretty much paved the way among left/liberal bloggers in expressing outrage to this appointment. For whatever reason, few of us (including myself) seem capable of getting animated about it.

The point is that Negroponte is a criminal, no two ways about it. He lied to Congress under oath in the 80s when he was involved in Reagan's Central American policy (the same policy that oversaw and tacitly supported the use of death squads and other atrocities in the cause of propping up brutal, dictatorial, but blessedly non-communist regimes). Negroponte was very involved in the arms-for-hostages business with Iran and the so-called "Contras" in Nicaragua. He was pardoned, if I'm not mistaken, by unindicted co-conspirator George Herbert Walker Bush.

I say all of that merely to draw attention to Matt's darkly sick joke. If you don't get the reference in the first line of Matt's post, then you must go immediately and watch Oliver Stone's Salvador right away.

posted by Drew Vogel at 06:45 PM

More:
http://users.erols.com/vogel1/arc20040418.htm

Also:

http://www.fredschoeneman.com/archives/000578.html




You can rent the movie through Netflix (72% Dem)

Netflix, Inc
Rating: Light Blue - 72 %
BuyBlue.org's Position:

Netflix currently has a 72% BuyBlue rating due to political contributions for the 2003-2004 election cycle. Netflix executives contributed to Democratic organizations and candidates John Kerry, Howard Dean, and Barbara Boxer.

http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=8


Salvador


Richard Boyle (James Woods) is a washed-up reporter who heads to civil war-stricken El Salvador for his chance at journalistic fame in Oliver Stone's film. The scrappy Boyle convinces disc jockey pal Dr. Rock (James Belushi) to join him as he digs for the perfect war story, but Boyle digs too deep. Realizing the danger he faces is more than he can handle, Boyle decides to flee with his Salvadoran girlfriend before the country is torn apart.
Starring: James Woods, James Belushi ...
Director: Oliver Stone
Genre: Drama
Format: Widescreen ...
Language: English
Subtitles: French ...
Awards: Academy Award Nominee ...
Rated RRestricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=60010850&trkid=181026

I'll re-post this in another thread.

Or you can rent it from Hollywood Video or Movie Gallery:
Rating: White - 50 %
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=182

Or buy it at

Blue-Friendly Alternative Companies:

Powell's Books, Inc. 100%
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=42

Barnes & Noble, Inc. 100%
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=43

Don'tget it from Blockbuster:
Blockbuster 40 %
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=76

And don't get it from Amazon.com:
Amazon.com, Inc. 41%
http://www.buyblue.org/detail.php?corpId=34

[punpirate]

1. Umm, don't think so...

The ambassador in country at the time was Robert White, whom Reagan got rid of because of his record of trying to improve human rights in his countries of post.

The Thomas Kelly in the movie more or less fairly represents White's disgust with the Reagan people supporting the party of the death squads, something of which Negroponte never would have complained.

White, as in the movie, was yanked from his post by Alexander Haig not long after Reagan was inaugurated. When White appeared before Congress and testified that the right-wing government of D'Aubuisson had been behind the death squads, he was forced to retire five months later.

That's definitely not Negroponte in any way, shape or form.

[Ian David]

2. Thanks for the clarification. So it got worse after Negroponte took over?

[punpirate]

3. Negroponte wasn't ambassador to...

... El Salvador. Rather, he was appointed ambassador to Honduras by Reagan in 1981 and served in that capacity until 1985.

White, Carter's ambassador to El Salvador, was replaced by Reagan appointee Deane Hinton in 1981, who served until 1985, and was replaced by Edwin Corr.

Most all of Reagan's Latin American ambassadors had a primary goal--to support rightist authoritarian governments while describing those efforts as promoting democracy--the Reaganites assumed that any political movement leaning leftward or taking human rights as a major plank in their platform was essentially communist-inspired and therefore had to be suppressed.

In some ways, it did get worse, simply because the Reagan administration put their weight behind local governments which were the primary human rights abusers.