Kissinger hindered US effort to end mass killings in Argentina, according to files

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Former secretary of state Henry Kissinger jeopardized US efforts to stop mass killings by Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship by congratulating the country’s military leaders for “wiping out” terrorism, according to a large trove of newly declassified state department files.

The documents, which were released on Monday night, show how Kissinger’s close relationship to Argentina’s military rulers hindered Jimmy Carter’s carrot-and-stick attempts to influence the regime during his 1977-81 presidency.

Carter officials were infuriated by Kissinger’s attendance at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina as the personal guest of dictator Jorge Videla, the general who oversaw the forced disappearance of up to 30,000 opponents of the military regime.

At the time, Kissinger was no longer in office after Carter defeated Gerald Ford in the 1977 presidential election, but the documents reveal that US diplomats feared his praise for Argentina’s crackdown would encourage further bloodshed.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/09/henry-kissinger-mass-killings-argentina-declassified-files

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Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Tuesday 9 August 2016 19.05 BST

Posted to LBN by request

[Moliere]

1. Another (war) criminal who's walking free

[forest444]

2. While this declassification was a welcome step, it excluded most key info - namely CIA files.

When one peruses through the files, almost all of them are Carter Administration memos which have already been published in one form or another years ago (hardly coincidence, since Jimmy Carter is probably our most transparent and accessible former president as far as his presidential files).

I should add that many of the "1,087 pages" of documents are attachments to memos that repeat themselves numerous times; one such 10-page attachment (the "1980-81 action plan&quot appears over a dozen times - as does a September 1980 update regarding the prospects for reform during the transition between Gen. Jorge Videla and his more moderate successor, Gen. Roberto Viola.

Between those two attachments alone, they account for over a quarter of the "1,087 pages."

There was nothing new or surprising, really. But I suspect there would have been if all the CIA files on the Argentine dictatorship had been declassified instead.

Nevertheless, thank you for posting this Eugene. It certainly helps paint a more complete picture of Monsieur Kissinger - and a repulsive picture it is.

[billhicks76]

3. He's Evil Incarnate

I wouldnt be surprised if he was deep into the occult. The world will be better off without him...Cheney's pick to run the 9-11 investigation.

[geek tragedy]

4. Lock him up. nt

[GummyBearz]

5. And then there is this

Thanks for spreading the good word in order to help our nominee get elected.

[Judi Lynn]

6. It wouldn't seem legal for a former Sec. of State to be conducting his own private foreign policy.

Clearly this is NOT something the Carter administration would have wanted.

It truly reinforces the idea there is a shadow government which stays in place regardless of whether a Democrat has been elected to serve as the President, bringing his own values, and standards to his own foreign policy.

Kissinger should have been held accountable for this so long ago. Kissinger undoubtedly continued to play his secret game with fascists governments, authorizing himself as US spokesman long after he should have completely left office.

What he had already done with Nixon, and Chile, and all those other enormous catastrophes was so reprehensible we never really knew much about it until long after it happened, as they did, using Nixon's words, "make sure our hand doesn't show."