It is not an option

When I first heard about the Newsweek article The Salvadoran Option, I thought the Administration had taken leave of its senses and had finally figured out a way to get rid of the surpluse "Vote or Die," merchandise.

The crux of the plan is this:

Shahwani also said that the U.S. occupation has failed to crack the problem of broad support for the insurgency. The insurgents, he said, "are mostly in the Sunni areas where the population there, almost 200,000, is sympathetic to them." He said most Iraqi people do not actively support the insurgents or provide them with material or logistical help, but at the same time they won’t turn them in. One military source involved in the Pentagon debate agrees that this is the crux of the problem, and he suggests that new offensive operations are needed that would create a fear of aiding the insurgency. "The Sunni population is paying no price for the support it is giving to the terrorists," he said. "From their point of view, it is cost-free. We have to change that equation."(Emphasis added)

So we have to make the Sunni population pay for not supporting our liberation of them. Notwithstanding the proponents of such an idea are officials appointed by the US occupation forces. Can you say puppet government? Just like Central Amercan under Reagan. Hey, maybe they can sell off the bumper crop of opium in Afghanistan to pay for this exercise of democracy building. You know, kill two birds and all...

Of all the post about this Billmon does it best. He's opened the bar today and is handing out doubly strong shots like this:

One [Salvadoran] death squad member, when asked about the types of tortures used, replied: "Uh, well, the same things you did in Vietnam. We learned from you. We learned from you the means, like blowtorches in the armpits, shots in the balls. But for the "toughest ones" — that is, those who resist these other tortures — "we have to pop their eyes out with a spoon. You have to film it to believe it, but boy, they sure sing."

Sometimes I don't think we even understand what the High Moral Ground means.