Reaganites Should Be Embarrassed

When discussing US policy towards El Salvador during the Cold War, it is often important to break down the actions/motivations/intentions of the US Embassy staff and ambassador, CIA personnel and station chief, and Defense attaches operating in El Salvador. They were not always on the same page and often competed against each other to gain the ears of officials in Washington. 

In Washington, we often have to sort through what was going on in the executive and the legislative branches, Republican and Democratic parties. We also have to look at what was going on in the State Department, USAID, and Defense Department. And we have to understand how they all cooperated with each other and, perhaps more frequently, how they operated against each other. Then there's trying to figure out what they said publicly versus what they thought and did privately. It's really not that simple.

However, when it comes to Roberto D'Aubuisson, some people just flat out embarrassed themselves, the US government, and the US people. 

Joel Gillon has a good one in The New Republic with Pope Francis Just Declared This Murdered Archbishop a Martyr. Reaganites Should Be Embarrassed.

After D'Aubuisson entered politics in 1982, then-U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador Deane R. Hinton called D’Aubuisson a “fine young Democrat,” later declaring him “an intelligent man” and a “dynamic leader.” Senator Jesse Helms was an unabashed supporter, suggesting that D’Aubuission’s credentials as “free enterprise man” who was “deeply religious” were more important than accusations that he murdered civilians. Elliott Abrams, then assistant secretary of state for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, told a congressional committee that the former army major was not an extremist because one would have to be “involved in murder” to earn that designation.

Members of the Religious Right also offered their support to D’Aubuisson in the 1980s. Pat Robertson claimed to have gone to dinner with D’Aubuisson, calling him a “very nice fellow.” D’Aubuisson was honored at a 1984 dinner at the Capitol Hill Club by a number of conservative groups, including the Moral Majority, the National Pro-Life Action Committee, and The Washington Times. He was presented a plaque for his “continuing efforts for freedom.” On another visit to Washington, D’Aubuisson was chaperoned around the city by Young Americans for Freedom.

They should but I wouldn't hold my breath. 

And while what Ambassador Hinton said was horrifying, he left office one year later because he criticized right-wing death squads in El Salvador. Here is the New York Times in 1983 

The Administration official said Mr. Hinton was being replaced because he had grown weary of the job, one of the most grueling State Department diplomatic posts.

Mr. Hinton has been at the center of disputes in his last two years in San Salvador. He himself was Mr. Reagan's choice to replace Robert E. White as Ambassador. The Administration felt Mr. White was too sympathetic to the idea of negotiating with the insurgents in El Salvador; Mr. Hinton has on occasion criticized the Salvadoran Government for its human rights record.

Some officials have said recently that Mr. Hinton had also been ineffective in presenting the Administration's case on television. Others said he had embarrassed the White House by saying right-wing ''death squads'' were as much a threat to the Salvadoran Government as leftist insurgents.

An Administration official praised Mr. Hinton today for having done a good job under fire. He said Mr. Hinton wanted to leave his post soon and settle down. ''Deane is tired,'' the official said. ''He wants out.''

From what I remember, part of Ambassador Hinton's being tired was tied directly to death threats on his life from Roberto D'Aubuisson. Pulling out a single quote from the Ambassador, even several, does not tell the entire story.

However, at the end of the day, our relationship with Blowtorch Bob was clearly one of the darkest stains on our involvement in El Salvador.