SkipCaptcha, Automoderated users, edit
703
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 108:
Line 108: − + + + + + + + + + + + +
→Africa
The Democrats in Congress cut off aid to UNITA under President Ford, just as they abandoned South Vietnam and Cambodia to murderous Communist bloodbath. "''A great nation cannot escape its responsibilities,''" Ford admonished them. Emboldened, Cuba would soon militarily intervene on behalf of the Communist dictatorship in [[Ethiopia]], which killed 1.25 million people through massacre and forced starvation.<ref>Washington Post, March 18, 1978; New York Times, December 14, 1994.</ref>
The Democrats in Congress cut off aid to UNITA under President Ford, just as they abandoned South Vietnam and Cambodia to murderous Communist bloodbath. "''A great nation cannot escape its responsibilities,''" Ford admonished them. Emboldened, Cuba would soon militarily intervene on behalf of the Communist dictatorship in [[Ethiopia]], which killed 1.25 million people through massacre and forced starvation.<ref>Washington Post, March 18, 1978; New York Times, December 14, 1994.</ref>
The Nixon White House staunchly opposed the maniacal tyrant [[Idi Amin]] of [[Uganda]], who slaughtered 100-500,000 innocent people and ethnically cleansed<ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/7/newsid_2492000/2492333.stm</ref> Uganda of all Asians. The US urged Americans to evacuate the country, and began developing contingency plans to combat the regime's threatening posture in 1972.<ref>http://www.paperlessarchives.com/idi_amin.html</ref> Ambassador Thomas P. Melady described the Amin regime as "racist, erratic, brutal, inept, bellicose, irrational, ridiculous, militaristic, and, above all, xenophobic."<ref>http://www.paperlessarchives.com/idi_amin.html</ref> The British, fearful of a massacre, sought American help in preparing the logistics for an evacuation of the 7,000 British subjects in the country, should it prove neccessary.<ref>http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906445-3,00.html</ref> Kissinger and Nixon agreed. Most of Amin's support came from the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Libya]].
On September 24, 1972, they had the following conversation:
: '''Nixon''': Isn’t a person a person, goddamnit? You know, they talk about Vietnam, ‘these people far away that we don’t know,’ and you remember Chamberlain talking about the Czechs, that they’re far away and we don’t know them very well? Well, goddamnit, people are people! … I’m getting tired of this business of letting these Africans beat a hundred thousand people to death and do nothing about it.
: '''Kissinger''': And all these bleeding hearts in this country who say we like to kill yellow people…
: '''Nixon''': That’s right!
: '''Kissinger''': There haven’t been as many killed [by the US military] in eight years of the war than were killed in three months in Burundi.
: '''Nixon''': …They’re talking about how many we have bombed in the North. And I told your staff to get the figures for me: How many South Vietnamese or anti-Communist North Vietnamese have been killed by the North Vietnamese government? Civilians! How many? It’s ''unbelievable''! Nobody gives a damn! … We need a new African policy. We shouldn’t have 42 ambassadors to these goddamn countries. Looking at Uganda, ''of course'' we have to help those 7,000 people!<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kph0lygo40</ref>
Amin was deposed by the armed forces of [[Tanzania]] on April 11, 1979.
===Losing power===
===Losing power===
Despite his real accomplishments, however, Kissinger's tenure was marked by much controversy. Revelations of his knowledge of Nixon's secret bombings in [[Cambodia]] in 1969 and the U.S. ground invasion of Cambodia in 1970 stirred particularly strong hatreds on the left, as did later discoveries that he had authorized wiretaps aimed at stopping leaks of classified information.
Despite his real accomplishments, however, Kissinger's tenure was marked by much controversy. Revelations of his knowledge of Nixon's secret bombings in [[Cambodia]] in 1969 and the U.S. ground invasion of Cambodia in 1970 stirred particularly strong hatreds on the left, as did later discoveries that he had authorized wiretaps aimed at stopping leaks of classified information.