Newly unearthed memo says Henry Kissinger gave the "green light" for Argentina's dirty war

Subject: Re: Newly unearthed memo says Henry Kissinger gave the "green
light" for Argentina's dirty war


When we wonder why so many people around the world hate or fear us, we only
need to say, "Henry Kissinger"
Not that he is alone on the world's most hated list, but he is right up
there.
Has anyone ever asked just how we can tell a Terrorist before he/she
performs an act of Terror? We know because we have such great examples to
learn from.
If we were really the peace loving people we pretend to be, Henry Kissinger,
the darling of the Empire, would be serving life in prison.

Carl Jarvis


----- Original Message -----
From: "S. Kashdan" <skashdan@scn.org>
To: "Blind Democracy List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 19, 2014 8:08 AM
Subject: Newly unearthed memo says Henry Kissinger gave the "green light"
for Argentina's dirty war


Newly unearthed memo says Henry Kissinger gave the "green light" for
Argentina's dirty war



More evidence emerges the former secretary of state secretly approved a
government killing spree that resulted in about 30,000 dead.



By David Corn



Tuesday, January 14, 2014 12:23 PM GMT



http://www.motherjones.com/print/243121



Only a few months ago, Henry Kissinger was dancing with Stephen Colbert [1]
in a funny bit on the latter's Comedy Central show. But for years, the
former secretary of state has sidestepped judgment for his complicity in
horrific human rights abuses abroad, and a new memo has emerged that
provides clear evidence that in 1976 Kissinger gave Argentina's neo-fascist
military junta the "green light" for the dirty war it was conducting against
civilian and militant leftists that resulted in the disappearance--that is,
deaths--of an estimated 30,000 people.



In April 1977, Patt Derian, a onetime civil rights activist whom President
Jimmy Carter had recently appointed assistant secretary of state for human
rights, met with the US ambassador in Buenos Aires, Robert Hill. A memo [2]
recording that conversation has been unearthed by Martin Edwin Andersen, who
in 1987 first reported that Kissinger had told the Argentine generals to
proceed with their terror campaign against leftists (whom the junta
routinely referred to as "terrorists"). The memo notes that Hill told Derian
about a meeting Kissinger held with Argentine Foreign Minister Cesar Augusto
Guzzetti the previous June. What the two men discussed was revealed in 2004
when the National Security Archive obtained and released [3] the secret
memorandum of conversation for that get-together. Guzzetti, according to
that document, told Kissinger, "our main problem in Argentina is terrorism."
Kissinger replied, "If there are things that have to be done, you should do
them quickly. But you must get back quickly to normal procedures." In other
words, go ahead with your killing crusade against the leftists.



The new document shows that Kissinger was even more explicit in encouraging
the Argentine junta. The memo recounts Hill describing the
Kissinger-Guzzetti discussion this way:



The Argentines were very worried that Kissinger would lecture to them on
human rights. Guzzetti and Kissinger had a very long breakfast but the
Secretary did not raise the subject. Finally Guzzetti did. Kissinger asked
how long will it take you (the Argentines) to clean up the problem. Guzzetti
replied that it would be done by the end of the year. Kissinger approved.



In other words, Ambassador Hill explained, Kissinger gave the Argentines the
green light.



That's a damning statement: a US ambassador saying a secretary of state had
egged on a repressive regime that was engaged in a killing spree.



In August 1976, according to the new memo, Hill discussed "the matter
personally with Kissinger, on the way back to Washington from a Bohemian
Grove [4] meeting in San Francisco." Kissinger, Hill told Derian, confirmed
the Guzzetti conversation and informed Hill that he wanted Argentina "to
finish its terrorist problem before year end." Kissinger was concerned about
new human rights laws passed by the Congress requiring the White House to
certify a government was not violating human rights before providing US aid.
He was hoping the Argentine generals could wrap up their murderous
eradication of the left before the law took effect.



Hill indicated to Derian, according to the new memo, that he believed that
Kissinger's message to Guzzetti had prompted the Argentine junta to
intensify its dirty war. When he returned to Buenos Aires, the memo notes,
Hill "saw that the terrorist death toll had climbed steeply." And the memo
reports, "Ambassador Hill said he would tell all of this to the Congress if
he were put on the stand under oath. 'I'm not going to lie,' the Ambassador
declared."



Hill, who died in 1978, never did testify that Kissinger had urged on the
Argentine generals, and the Carter administration reversed policy and made
human rights a priority in its relations with Argentina and other nations.
As for Kissinger, he skated--and he has been skating ever since, dodging
responsibility for dirty deeds in Chile [5], Bangladesh, [6] East Timor [7],
Cambodia, [8] and elsewhere. Kissinger watchers have known for years that he
at least implicitly (though privately) endorsed the Argentine dirty war, but
this new memo makes clear he was an enabler for an endeavor that entailed
the torture, disappearance, and murder of tens of thousands of people. Next
time you see him dancing on television, don't laugh.



Source URL:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2014/01/new-memo-kissinger-gave-green-light-argentina-dirty-war



Links:



[1]
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2013/08/stephen-colbert-henry-kissinger-daft-punk-video



[2]
http://www.scribd.com/doc/192087462/Patricia-Patt-Derian-Robert-C-Hill-et-al-and-the-Argentine-dirty-war-Draft-MemCon



[3] http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB133/



[4]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/bohemian-grove-where-the-rich-and-powerful-go-to-misbehave/2011/06/15/AGPV1sVH_blog.html



[5] http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB255/



[6]
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/12/jon-huntsman-glosses-over-genocide-bangladesh-pakistan



[7] http://www.yale.edu/gsp/east_timor/



[8] http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/cambodia/tl02.html







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