“Just as It Did in Southeast Asia”

Following the series of successful elections – and in particular the ascension of José Napoleón Duarte to the presidency – U.S. policy toward El Salvador became less controversial back in Washington. But in the mid-1980s, a disagreement broke out as to whether American aid and training were making the war worse. This referred to the so-called air war that critics alleged the Salvadoran Air Force was waging against civilians in FMLN-controlled areas. One critic received international attention when he described the air war as “indiscriminate attacks” on “defenseless civilians,” a war being waged by the Salvadoran military against villages “suspected of being sympathetic” to the guerrillas. “Just as it did in Southeast Asia, terror from the air has created vast numbers of refugees in El Salvador.”

The air war quickly turned from a military tactic to a political controversy. Solidarity groups opposed to the U.S.-backed Duarte government and their allies on Capitol Hill were focusing on the issue. Here is how one critic described the scorched-earth strategy in a letter to the New York Times: