[1072] in peace2
Terrorist Fallout: Negroponte's Confirmation (fwd)
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Felix F AuYeung)
Tue Oct 2 18:40:17 2001
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2001 17:48:53 -0400
Message-ID: <20011002.183937.-201241.1.FelixAuYeung@juno.com>
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From: Felix F AuYeung <felixauyeung@juno.com>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 17:32:32 -0400
To: Cuba Work Group of CUSLAR <cuslar-l@cornell.edu>,
Subject: Terrorist Fallout: Negroponte's Confirmation
In case no one has been paying attention, Bush and Congress have been
capitalizing on the sudden shift to the right of the country's political
climate. Among other frightening acts of Congress, John Negroponte has
just been confirmed as the US ambassador to the UN by the Senate.
As the US ambassador to Honduras during the 80's, Negroponte became
intimately involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. During his tenure, US
military aid to Honduras grew from $3.9 million to $77.4 million. Most of
this money was used to support the Contras who later violently overthrew
the popularly-elected socialist Sandinista government in neighboring
Nicaragua. Negroponte has consistently denied the well-documented
existence of death squads and gross human rights violations. He ordered
his staff to remove all mention of torture and executions from human
rights reports on Honduras. Despite the thousands of civilians and
dissidents who were murdered and tortured during the 80's in Central
America, Negroponte maintains that it was politically necessary to
support dictatorships.
Negroponte's confirmation was originally opposed by so many senators (the
majority Democrats) that his confirmation seemed unlikely. But as the
NYTimes points out "thanks to the climate of solidarity in Washington"
since the terrorist attacks last week, Negroponte was unanimously
confirmed. That means that not one senator was concerned that a man who
covered up some of the worst human rights atrocities ever committed and
who repeatedly lied to the press and Congress is now in control of our
representation in the UN.
What further acts of terror will our leaders engage in in our names? The
time to activate for a just and peaceful world is now!!
Contact CUSLAR for more info. cuslar@cornell.edu, 255-7293
*****
U.S. Ambassador to Build Coalition
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 19, 2001
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The new U.S. ambassador to the United Nations
presented his credentials Wednesday and declared that his top mission in
the coming weeks will be to build an international coalition against
terrorism.
Veteran diplomat John Negroponte, whose nomination had been stalled for
months before last week's terrorist attacks spurred quick Senate
approval, handed over his letter of appointment to Secretary-General Kofi
Annan and agreed with the U.N. chief that he had arrived at a "very
criticial time.''
"A lot is happening here and we're going to have a lot to do together,''
Annan said during the brief ceremony in his 38th-floor office. "You come
at a time when the international community is thinking of putting
together a coalition to fight terrorism.''
Negroponte said the United States is "extremely grateful'' to the
Security Council and the General Assembly for quickly condemning the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.
President Bush and his administration are "working hard to form this
international coalition against terrorism'' and Negroponte said he looked
forward to working with Annan and other U.N. ambassadors.
The United States has been without an ambassador to the United Nations
since the Clinton administration's envoy, Richard Holbrooke, stepped down
in January.
Negroponte's nomination had languished since March because of questions
about allegations that he was lax in reporting human rights abuses in
Honduras, where he served as U.S. ambassador from 1981-1985.
Last week, following the terrorist attacks, the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and the full Senate quickly approved his appointment. He was
sworn in on Tuesday.
"I think it's about time,'' Annan said.
"Yes, indeed,'' Negroponte replied with a laugh.
Born in Britain of American parents of Greek extraction, Negroponte is
fluent in Greek, French, Spanish and Vietnamese. During a 37-year career
in the U.S. Foreign Service, the 62-year-old diplomat also served as
ambassador to Mexico and the Philippines. He was a protege of former U.S.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and also held a high post at the
National Security Council in the Reagan administration under current
Secretary of State Colin Powell.
In one of his first acts of business, Negroponte accepted a check from
media mogul Ted Turner for over $31 million, which he pledged last
December to clinch a deal on overhauling U.N. financing that reduced the
share that the United States pays to the world body.
Turner's one-time gift will cover the shortfall the U.S. cut creates in
the main U.N. budget in 2001.
"The cash is in the bank,'' Turner said, and it will be released as soon
as Congress releases $582 million owed to the United Nations.
Congress is expected to release the $582 million later this week or early
next week, said former U.S. Senator Tim Worth, who heads the United
Nations Foundation. But he stressed that there are still hold-ups in
paying U.S. peacekeeping arrears.
*****************************
Marcie Ley
CUSLAR (Committee on US-Latin American Relations)
316 Anabel Taylor Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607)-255-7293
________________________________________________________________
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