We who form part of SEMILLAS are committed to commenting on and raising awareness of social justice issues in our local and global communities. We are strongly influenced by the mission and work of Maryknoll, the U.S. Catholic Mission Society. Some of us are formally linked to Maryknoll through its Affiliates program. We welcome anyone to join our Weblog community who has an interest in planting a few seeds of social justice. We hope you will enjoy our blog - we appreciate any comments.

Monday, January 10, 2005

The "Salvador Option" in Iraq

One of our Semillas members has uncovered a worrisome story that indicates that the U.S. Government (and particularly the Department of Defense) is pondering the creation and support of Iraqi "Death Squads" much like the Reagan Administration did in El Salvador in the 1980s. These paramilitary units would be used to "crush" the Rebels. We know what happened in El Salvador ... a protracted, violent, and bloody civil war in which the U.S. paid mere lip service to democracy while the forces of repression went to work with impunity. This is a frightening story, and if it is true, the sham of Bush's Iraq policy is exposed. Thanks to my Semillas colleague for alerting us to this story.

UPDATE: 1/1/05 12:44pm: The original Newsweek story on this development, on which the above article is based and to which it links, can be found here.