Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal.
The idea that the American government would set up and support teams whose aims are to kidnap and assassinate is repulsive and possibly the most counter-productive move in a "War on Terrorism".
In what way can we retain even a shred of credibility during this struggle if we resort to terrosrism? We cannot simultaneously fight and commit terrorist acts.
I thought that I would have more to say regarding this issue, but I am speechless. The most I can hope for is to see a strong effort made by citizens to pressure our elected officials to combat this initiative at every level.
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