Could somebody help me with the concept of "death squads?"

[PlanetBev]

What is the difference between that and our actions in Iraq now? We just got through flattening Falluja and killing God knows how many people. What exactly is it that death squaud do, besides killing a lot people?

[BlueEyedSon]

1. LOL, maybe nothing, just time to call a spade a spade!

[Eric J in MN]

2. The difference is killing by dropping bombs vs.

killing unarmed people face-to-face.


When a US plane in Iraq drops a bomb on a house and kills every man, woman, and child inside, the pilot doesn't know that the house didn't contain nothing but armed insurgents.

[Tace]

3. Death Squads Intentionally Kill The Extended Families Of Suspects

And entire villages, also. At least that's my understanding.

[PlanetBev]

6. Swell

It's getting harder and harder to come to terms with the fact that I live in a country whose political system makes me puke.

American no longer represents my values.

[lostnfound]

7. The El Salvador option likely would include more than just killing

In El Salvador, it included beatings, rape, and torture followed by killing.

It targeted (and likely will target) union-organizers, peasants' political movements, other activists, people who spoke out against the powerful.

[enough]

8. Also, the explicit purpose of death squads is to spread terror,

terror horrible enough to make potential opponents shut up and get out of the way. That is why there is so much focus on kidnapping, disappearance and death of family members of suspected opponents.

[gratuitous]

4. Death squads are a little more systematic

Death squads are a little more systematic and intentional in their terroristic activities. But other than that . . .

[genius]

5. Negroponte was involved in both.

So I guess death squads = Negroponte.

[enough]

9. Here is a concise article on US-supported death squads in El Salvador

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/US_ThirdWorld/deathsquads_ElSal.html

Death Squads in El Salvador:

A Pattern of U.S. Complicity

by David Kirsch

Covert Action Quarterly, Summer 1990


snip>

The term "death squad" while appropriately vivid, can be misleading because it obscures their fundamental identity. Evidence shows that "death squads" are primarily military or paramilitary units carrying out political assassinations and intimidation as part of the Salvadoran government's counterinsurgency strategy. Civilian death squads do exist but have often been comprised of off-duty soldiers financed by wealthy Salvadoran businessmen.

It is important to point out that the use of death squads has been a strategy of U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine. For example, the CIA's "Phoenix Program" was responsible for the "neutralization" of over 40,000 Vietnamese suspected of working with the National Liberation Front.

Part of the U.S. counterinsurgency program was run from the Office of Public Safety (OPS). OPS was part of U.S. AID, and worked with the Defense Department and the CIA to modernize and centralize the repressive capabilities of client state police forces, including those in El Salvador. In 1974 Congress ordered the discontinuation of OPS.

In spite of the official suspension of police assistance between 1974 and 1985, CIA and other U.S . officials worked with Salvadoran security forces throughout the restricted period to centralize and modernize surveillance, to continue training, and to fund key players in the death squad network.

more>


After the historical overview, this article also summarizes testimony of several people who confessed to taking part in death squads in El Salvador. Horrible reading, but it certainly does refresh the memory.

[Nitrogenica]

10. The biggest problem with a death squad is that once unleashed

it is difficult to control. They are not allies necessarily, just hired guns. They could turn on us. Supporting them is arguably the same as supporting terrorism.