Truth Revealed
With continuing reports of atrocities and murders in El Salvador, the U.S. Congress no longer accepted the State Department’s assurance that things were getting better. Speaker of the House Tom Foley created a special task force to monitor El Salvador’s investigation of the murders. Congressman Joe Moakley of Massachusetts was selected to head up the investigation. During his research and visits to El Salvador, Congressman Moakley encountered a massive cover-up, deep problems with the Salvadoran armed forces, conspiracy and lies, which led him to challenge U.S. policy. He discovered that from a very high level, the armed forces of El Salvador had been responsible for the murders of the Jesuits. His investigation also led to the conclusion that certain levels of the U.S. government had known about the situation long before the task force was created.

El Salvador: Civil War

Not long after the 1980 assassination of Archbishop Romero, peaceful rallies turned violent as police opened fire on the crowds. News footage of unarmed demonstrators being gunned down on the steps of the National Cathedral turned the eyes of the world to El Salvador, a tiny country in conflict.

The desire to prevent the kind of leftist takeover seen in Cuba and Nicaragua motivated the United States to get involved. Human rights – a cornerstone of President Carter’s foreign policy – also propelled the U.S. to action. Not only the general level of violence, but also the murders of American citizens affected U.S. relations with El Salvador. In December 1980, four American churchwomen were raped and murdered. The U.S. responded by cutting off aid to El Salvador, but only very briefly, pending an investigation. Then, in 1981, two American land reform advisers were gunned down in the Sheraton Hotel in San Salvador. The U.S. Congress subsequently decided to disburse aid only as improvements in the Salvadoran human rights situation became evident.

Guerillas Unite
Simultaneously, the opposition strategy of the Salvadoran left was coalescing. In 1981, leftist parties organized with guerrilla groups to coordinate their efforts against the government, uniting to form the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (Frente Farabundo Marti de Liberacion or FMLN). Their counter offensive began in January 1981. Though the FMLN offensive failed on several fronts, they retained certain military strongholds and helped to focus international attention on El Salvador. In August 1981, France and Mexico formally recognized the FMLN as a “representative political force” and called for a negotiated settlement between the warring factions.

The 1980 election of Ronald Reagan as President of the United States changed American policy in El Salvador dramatically. The new U.S. administration worried about Communist expansion in Central America and viewed the El Salvador military government as a potential barrier against Communism. The Reagan administration substantially increased both military and economic aid to El Salvador. …more

REFILE-Bahrain race shows flip side of sponsorship
By Keith Weir – 23 April, 2012

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) – Sponsors ploughing money into Formula One have been left squirming after the motor sport’s rulers ignored human rights concerns and staged a race in Bahrain watched by hundreds of millions around the globe.

Blue chip companies whose names adorn the high-speed cars distanced themselves from the event, saying they did not entertain clients at the Bahrain International Circuit and that the decision to race on Sunday was not theirs.

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone put a positive spin on a race that drew widespread condemnation from abroad and became a focal point for anti-government protests on the Gulf island.

“You know what they say – there is no such thing as bad publicity,” said Ecclestone, the sport’s 81-year-old ringmaster who has expanded it from its European base to more lucrative but politically-charged venues in faster growing economies.

Not everyone takes such a sanguine view.

A group of British politicians warned sponsors they risked harming their brands by association with the race, held against a backdrop of protests aimed at the ruling Al Khalifa family.

“Based on what we have seen in the past, it is going to do damage to their reputations,” said Chris Avery, board chair of Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.

“It’s hard to put a monetary value on that. Each of them has to decide whether this association with Formula One is worth the damage it is doing,” added Avery, whose organisation encourages companies to respect human rights. …more

editor: This Al Jazeera story demonstrates not only the incredible ignorance of the “journalist” sent to cover Bahrain, but it is a indictment of Al Jazeera betrayal of ethics in journalism. So goes the moral stain of throwing in with New York liberals owned by the DNC(Democratic National Committee). Al Jazeera as of late, since they jumped into the pool of these Western Media liberals, has engaged in what seems to be a convolution of the story of Bahrain. Here the journalist on assignment implies there is some question if the volatile political situation in Bahrain was made for show or if it even existed at all prior to the F1.

Al Jazeera’s lapse of integrity is either editorial cowardice or at best, gross incompetence of it’s editorial staff. It is absolutely dumbfounding that Al Jazeera’s report would even to begin to spin doubt on the intensity of the ceaseless conflict, regime murders, torture and gassing of innocents as they lay sleeping in their villages. Al Jazerra once reported such things and was instrumental in bringing the crisis in Bahrain to the world last February and March. No suddenly it has amnesia? Clearly they have turned away from effective journalism or have lapsed into an editorial disarray that has robbed them of integrity or the are complicit with the Western Media objective of the DNC and Obama administration. Phlipn.

Please stop in again. I’m setting up the technical structure for the column and I am working on my first article. I will give you a better introduction to who I am and by request, share some of my experience and understanding of how US Congress can be effectively moved to action and help change US policy. This post is up on 4/24 and I’m hoping to get something written in the next few days.