Newsweek is floating an ugly Rumsfeld trial balloon. Should we now imitate Reagan’s secret use of death squads in El Salvador?
If we follow the El Salvador model, US special forces would train Iraqi “militia”, then turn them loose against insurgents and Sunni civilians suspected of harboring them.
One obvious problem with this model is that it’s hard to rein in a “militia” once you create them–as witness the Janjaweed militia in the Sudan Darfur conflict.
Worse, the Newsweek trial balloon hints that one of the main features of the Salvador model would be assassinating insurgent leaders. Just how would our hypothetical death squads tell the difference between a “terrorist” leader and a political opponent of the current regime? Political assassination is not a legitimate tool of government policy–I don’t want my own country to start using it.
Please join me in sending email to President Bush to oppose US use of the Salvador option.