President Gerald Ford Dies at 93; Supported Indonesian Invasion of East Timor that Killed 1/3 of Pop

[Say_What]

Before 'muriKans begin to believe the *decent man* propaganda that MSM is cranking out about Ford, declassified docs tell a different story.

From Democracy Now:

President Gerald Ford Dies at 93; Supported Indonesian Invasion of East Timor that Killed 1/3 of Population

AMY GOODMAN: An excerpt of the documentary Massacre: The Story of East Timor which I produced with journalist Alan Nairn who’ll be joining us in a minute. But first to talk more about President Ford's legacy and his role in East Timor, we are joined by Brad Simpson. Brad Simpson works for the National Security Archives and is a Professor at the University of Maryland. Brad, welcome to Democracy Now!.

BRAD SIMPSON: Thank you, very much, for having me on.

AMY GOODMAN: Brad, you recently got documents declassified about President Ford and his role in 1975, in meeting with the long reigning dictator of Indonesia, Suharto. Can you explain what you learned?

BRAD SIMPSON: Yes. Gerald Ford actually met twice with Suharto, first in July of 1975 when Suharto came to the United States. And later in December of 1975, of course, on the eve of his invasion of East Timor. And we now know that for more than a year Indonesia had been planning its armed takeover of East Timor, and the United States had of course been aware of Indonesian military plans. In July of 1975, the National Security Council first informed Henry Kissinger and Gerald Ford of Indonesia’s plans to take over East Timor by force. And Suharto of course raised this with Gerald Ford in July when he met with Gerald Ford at Camp David on a trip to the United States. And then in December of 1975 on a trip through Southeast Asia, Gerald Ford met again with Suharto on the eve of the invasion, more than two weeks after the National Security Council, CIA, other intelligence agencies had concluded that an Indonesian invasion was eminent. And that the only thing delaying the invasion was the fear that US disapproval might lead to a cut-off of weapons and military supplies to the regime.

AMY GOODMAN: How knowledgeable was President Ford at the time of the situation?

BRAD SIMPSON: Well, Ford was very much aware. He was receiving hourly briefings, as was Henry Kissinger, as his plane lifted off from Indonesia, as the invasion indeed commenced. And immediately afterwards Gerald Ford flew to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, or to Guam—excuse me, where he gave a speech saying that never again should the United States allow another nation to strike in the middle of the night, to attack another defenseless nation. This was on Pearl Harbor Day, of course. Realizing full well that another day of infamy was unfolding in Dili, East Timor. As thousands of Indonesian paratroopers, trained by the United States, using US supplied weapons, indeed jumping from United States supplied airplanes, were descending upon the capital city of Dili and massacring literally thousands of people in the hours and days after December 7, 1975.

AMY GOODMAN: Brad, how difficult was it to get this declassified? The memos that you got? And how long were these memos about Ford and Kissinger's meeting with the long reigning Suharto? How long were they kept classified?

BRAD SIMPSON: Well, they are kept classified until the fall of 2002. We now know, actually, that a Congressman from Minnesota, Donald Fraser, had actually attempted to declassify the memo, the so-called Smoking Gun Memo, the transcript of General Suharto’s conversation with Gerald Ford, in December of 1975. Congressman Fraser actually tried to declassify this in document in 1978 during the Suharto adm--or during the Carter years and Carter's National Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, realizing full well the explosive nature of this cable would show that the United States had been an accomplice in an international act of aggression, recommended that the State Department refuse to declassify the memo, a mere three years after the invasion.

And it took another 25 years after this episode before the cables were finally declassified and of course much more has come out. And I think it's incontrovertible that the United States played the crucial role in enabling the Indonesian invasion of East Timor. And I think it's wrong to say that Gerald Ford was completely unconcerned with the aftermath of the invasion. We now know that just a few days after the invasion Gerald Ford sent a telegram to the State Department asking that an emergency diplomatic cable be sent to General Suharto, in response to his recent visit. And inside the cable, which was sent by diplomatic pouch from the US Embassy, was a set of golf balls from Gerald Ford.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254

[GreenTea]

1. Ford: Just another REPUBLICAN "Oatmeal Man"!

So here are 10 points to help survive the treacle-y gush we will have to endure.

(Of course anchors of political talk shows who wish to appear as something a little more than enablers for discredited Republicans - might also care to browse these notes and use them to temper the self-serving dissembling of their guests.)

1) Gerald Ford became Vice-President because the elected Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew - a REPUBLICAN - was revealed to be an unmitigated criminal. A man who had received inappropriate financial benefits from his political position. A heinous, hateful figure who mocked decent patriotic Americans for their opposition to an illegal war. (Hmmm.... that sounds vaguely familiar.)

2) Gerald Ford then became President because the elected President Richard M. Nixon - a REPUBLICAN - was revealed to be an unmitigated criminal. A man who trashed the American constitution and treated the citizenry with utter contempt. A heinous, hateful figure who mocked decent patriotic Americans for their opposition to an illegal war. (Hmmm.... that also sounds vaguely familiar.)

3) Gerald Ford's decision to pardon Richard Nixon (without securing a written confession) was a dreadful and egregious mistake. The intention may have been to heal the nation - and granting the pardon was his way of doing so. But without making it conditional on securing a confession - he allowed Nixon and his apologists to spend the last 32 years rewriting history. Promoting the lie that it was all just a political coup by those pesky liberals...

(Just as I finished writing the above paragraph, Pat Buchanan appeared on my TV screen whoring that same hoary old fairy-tale about how his traitor boss (Nixon) was hounded from office by sore-loser Democrats bitter at the 49-state landslide of 1972. It is THAT pernicious Big Lie - endlessly repeated - that Ford's unconditional pardon permitted. An unequivocal confession by Nixon - with no ifs and buts - might have nailed this entire business forever. And likely inhibited the Reagan-Bush excesses of Iran-Contra and the foul deeds of the present Bush-Cheney regime.)

4) The Republicans who now defend Ford's decision to pardon Nixon - all bleat the party line that Nixon had suffered enough and that endless trials and legal proceedings would continue to divide the country. The pardon was a way for the nation to "move on". A trial would be a needless distraction and would perpetuate the divide in the nation.

Yet those are the exact same Republicans who refused to allow Bill Clinton to "move on" with a censure. Bill Clinton - whose only "crime" had been getting caught in a technical fib about a personal indiscretion and who apologized repeatedly for it - was hounded and persecuted by these self-same Republicans who wanted their 200 pounds of flesh in a legal trial in the Senate. But the pardon for Nixon - who never even conceded guilt - let alone apologized - was and is considered to have been a healing gesture.

Nixon who repeatedly did to the entire nation what Bill Clinton didn't even do once to one woman...

5) Gerald Ford was considered such a decent man that the saintly Ronald Reagan and his conservative acolytes fought a vigorous battle in 1976 to unseat him and deprive him of the Republican Party nomination. (Where was that 11th Commandment then?)

6) Gerald Ford held political positions of decency and moderation that would have him hounded from the present-day Republican Party, If Gerald Ford was running for the Republican Party Presidential nomination in 2008 on the political philosophy and positions he believed in - he wouldn't stand a chance. The Republicans eulogizing him this week detest his every position and revile his beliefs.

7) Even decent men begat indecent seedlings. And two of the most prominent individuals who used Ford's presidency to advance themselves politically turned out to be the exact opposite of their boss and benefactor. Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Two opportunists who will wrap themselves in Ford's reputation for decency in the next few days - hoping it will cleanse their severely tarnished images - but who are not worthy to even pronounce his name.

8) Gerald Ford disagreed with the Republican attempts to impeach and remove Bill Clinton from office - and had the courage to publicly oppose the Senate trial. Calling instead for a bipartisan resolution of censure by the Senate. Not that the Republicans who are eulogizing him this week paid any attention to his pleas. They treated him and his entreaties with contempt.

9) Gerald Ford conducted the very opposite of an Imperial Presidency. Unlike Richard Nixon (1969-1974) and unlike George W. Bush (2001-200?) he didn't become seduced by the arrogance of power. While they eulogize him in public - as a public relations exercise - behind closed doors, the supporters of Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush have utter contempt for Gerald Ford. They regard him as a weak, vacillating President who was not a true conservative believer.

10) Gerald Ford saw the writing on the wall with Vietnam. He eventually took the decision to concede defeat and bring American troops home. The retarded, Rambo-brained neo-cons who promulgated the Iraq war always look back on the defeat of Vietnam as a grave political mistake. A lack of will. And for that those neo-cons still blame Ford.

So - when you hear Republicans (and idiot DEMOCRATS) eulogize Gerald Ford this week - just remember the above 10 points.. A little food for thought... A little gum for chewing...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com:80/martin-lewis/10-antidotes-to-gerald-fo_b_37258.html

[laststeamtrain]

2. East Timor Action Network link: has a Ford/Kissinger page.

http://www.etan.org/

[Say_What]

3. Declassified docs at that site too...

Thanks for posting.


http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB174/press.htm

and the US Friendly Dictators site has this clip about Suharto:

GENERAL SUHARTO
President of Indonesia

Indonesia is a totalitarian state and its uncontested ruler for over 20 years, General Suharto, is one of the most brutal dictators in history. After a CIA organized coup brought him to power in 1965, Suharto, who had already collaborated with Dutch colonialists and Japanese occupiers, decided to purge every last "Communist subversive from Indonesian soil". General Nasution, a former close associate of Suharto, called for the extermination of three million Indonesian communist party members.

CIA point man Colonel Sarwo Eddie personally supervised the murderous purge. Paratroopers would arrive in a region with a list of "subversives" and provide it to local vigilante groups. Using machetes and other crude weapons, the vigilantes would hack the alleged subversives to death. Entire populations of towns and villages were herded to central locations and massacred. Children would be asked to identify "communists" who would then be executed on the spot. In addition to the half million people who were killed outright after the coup, another 750,000 were arrested and tortured. Ultimately, one million people died in one of the most savage mass slaughters of modem political history.

Ironically, the New York Times reported in December 1965, two months after the purge began, that "from an American viewpoint" Suharto's new government in Indonesia "represents a positive achievement." Apparently so, for the U.S. continues to this day to train and arm the Indonesian military with the latest high-tech equipment.

http://home.iprimus.com.au/korob/fdtcards/Asia-Pacific.html

[gula]

4. I read about this in my local paper

the day after he died. Have been trying to find it elsewhere without success. Thnaks forposting this.