Obama to Unseal Files on Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’

[noretreatnosurrender]

Source: New York Times

WASHINGTON — President Obama is moving to declassify American military, intelligence and law enforcement records that could reveal what the United States government knew about Argentina’s brutal “dirty war” of the 1970s and ’80s, a senior adviser said on Thursday, hoping to pierce the shroud of secrecy that has surrounded a painful chapter in that country’s history.

Susan E. Rice, Mr. Obama’s national security adviser, said that the president would use a visit to Argentina on Wednesday and Thursday, which coincides with the 40th anniversary of the 1976 coup that began the war, to honor the victims and formally begin the declassification process.

“On this anniversary and beyond, we’re determined to do our part as Argentina continues to heal and move forward as one nation,” Ms. Rice said during a speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington.

Human rights activists have long pressed for access to more classified United States records about the war, which lasted from 1976 to 1983, a period when the Argentine government and military carried out vicious crackdowns against dissidents and abducted thousands of people, including babies taken from parents who were detained.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/18/world/americas/obama-to-unseal-files-on-argentinas-dirty-war.html?smid=tw-share

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WOW!

Thank you Mr. President!

I can hardly wait to read these files.

In 2002, under pressure from human rights groups, the United States government released 4,700 partly declassified State Department documents on Argentina from the period. Documents released in response to a separate freedom of information request by the National Security Archive revealed the extent to which top American officials had been aware of the Argentine government’s brutal tactics. Among them was an account of a conversation in 1976 between Henry A. Kissinger, then the secretary of state, and César Augusto Guzzetti, the Argentine foreign minister, in which Mr. Kissinger appears to condone the military’s crackdown.

“If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly,” Mr. Kissinger told Mr. Guzzetti, according to the declassified account.

[dflprincess]

1. Maybe it will help make it clear

why many of us don't think snuggling up to Kissinger is a good thing.

[noretreatnosurrender]

2. Kissinger - Grrrrrrrr

Maybe the President was ticked off about the anonymous sourced story in the NYT that said he endorsed Hillary and decided to make this announcement this week instead of later.. Probably not but I'd sure like to think so.

Kissinger is certainly radioactive to this voter.

[elljay]

3. Who would have guessed

that Kissinger was involved?

[flamingdem]

4. I think Obama has learned a great deal about

Latin America and is doing the right thing where he can.

Too bad he didn't know before the Honduran coup, he never would have allowed the right wing in the USA to control what happened there. At least I want to believe that is the case.

[hopemountain]

5. and, he has support from the dems and many citizens to

do so.

[JDPriestly]

7. Yes. Obama is showing courage here.

It will not be helpful to Hillary, but the truth should come out.

Kissinger is Hillary's friend and she is proud of that fact.

Kissinger should not be allowed to enter the annals of history without facing the public reaction to at least some of the truth about his career and life.

[malletgirl02]

14. I agree Obama is showing courage.

I think however, Bernie Sanders calling out Kissinger on national TV a the PBS debate, may had buffeted his courage. I think knowing another national politician was on his side helped.

[L. Coyote]

12. Deja DU: George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists

Here is a compilation thread with 167 posts on this topic.

George Bush Sr. May Face Charges: Conspiring to Kidnap and Murder Political Activists

L. Coyote Dec-12-07 07:40 PM - Original message

This Junta Day, 2007, news is a positive step towards justice.
Latin Americans are reacting to organized political murder of liberals and social activists.

==================
Plan Condor: Crimes Without Borders in Latin America
Marie Trigona - 12 Dec 2007 - http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/1042/1 /


Former military dictator Jorge Rafael Videla and 16 other military leaders in Argentina will be prosecuted on charges of conspiring to kidnap and kill political activists in a scheme known as Plan Condor, developed by Henry Kissinger and George Bush Sr., head of the CIA at the time. Dictators in Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina killed opponents in the 1970s and 80s under the plan, also known as Operation Condor. The United States and Latin American military governments developed Operation Condor as a a transnational, state-sponsored terrorist coalition among the militaries of South America. In Argentina alone some 30,000 people were disappeared as result, leaving loved ones to seek justice decades later.

Coordinating Terror with U.S. support

Plan Condor began with the U.S. supported military coup against Chile's democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende. Allende's government was targeted as a threat to U.S. strategic policy in Latin America early on. White House tapes reveal that on Sept. 14, 1970, then-President Richard Nixon ordered measures to force the Chilean economy into bankruptcy. "The U.S. will not accept a Marxist government just because of the irresponsibility of the Chilean people," declared Henry Kissinger, Nixon´s secretary of State.

Declassified U.S. Department of State documents have provided evidence to Plan Condor's broad scope. The Operation was an ambitious and successful plan to coordinate repression internationally. FBI special agent intelligence liason to the Southern Cone countries Robert Scherrer (now deceased) sent the letter to the U.S. embassy in Argentina on September 28, 1976: "'Operation Condor' is the code name for the collection, exchange and storage of intelligence data concerning so-called 'leftists,' communists and Marxists, which was recently established between cooperating intelligence services in South America in order to eliminate Marxist terrorist activities in the area."

The memo also specified Argentina's enthusiasm over the plan. "Members of 'Operation Condor' showing the most enthusiasm to date have been Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. The latter three countries have engaged in joint operations, primarily in Argentina, against the terrorist target." Operation Condor has been difficult to investigate, due to the selectivity of victims and lack of official declassified documents from the CIA and Department of State. Many of the documents that have been released have been heavily censored. However, following an extensive investigation by Argentine courts beginning in 1999 and the decade long work of human rights groups to collect forensic evidence, 17 military leaders will be put on trial for their participation in the illegal persecution of social activists.

............

[JDPriestly]

6. Kissinger is, please not, Hillary's friend and adviser. And she is proud of it.

Maybe this information will help Hillary's campaign. sarcasm.

[billhicks76]

8. Oh Hillary

[Major Hogwash]

9. Unusual timing.

Why now?

[malletgirl02]

15. Bernie Sanders repudiating Kissinger.

I think Bernie Sanders repudiating Kissinger on national TV was part of it. Sanders brought Kissinger criticism away from the fringe to the mainstream.

[Major Hogwash]

18. To be honest, I'm surprised that he isn't in prison by now.

[burrowowl]

10. About time!

When is Kissinger going to be put on trial!

[L. Coyote]

13. When Bush and Reagan are.

They guys he worked for need to go on trial too.

[L. Coyote]

11. Remember when you could read about this on DU here:

Deja DU: Kissinger's extradition to Uruguay sought over Operation Condor
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2781263

Before those pages were somehow lost to us.

[Babel_17]

19. I DU searched what you bolded and there a few links that mention it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x499468 is one.

Thanks for mentioning it.

[noretreatnosurrender]

16. Pinochet/Chile Next

I hope once these documents are released he will then release the classified documents about Pinochet and Chile next.

[Grins]

17. Sunlight. The best disinfectant. (N/M)

[Babel_17]

20. "Perhaps I can be of assistance. I am Dr. Henry Killinger."

"And this ((waving his murder bag)) is my Resume."