Posted on 8-12-2003
Kissinger
Approved Argentinian 'Dirty War'
By Duncan Campbell , The Guardian UK,,6 December 2003
- Declassified US files expose 1970s backing for junta
Henry Kissinger gave his approval to the
"dirty war" in Argentina in the 1970s in which up to 30,000
people were killed, according to newly declassified US state department
documents.
Mr Kissinger, who was America's secretary of
state, is shown to have urged the Argentinian military regime to act
before the US Congress resumed session, and told it that Washington would
not cause it "unnecessary difficulties".
The revelations are likely to further damage Mr
Kissinger's reputation. He has already been implicated in war crimes
committed during his term in office, notably in connection with the 1973
Chilean coup.
The material, obtained by the Washington-based
National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act, consists
of two memorandums of conversations that took place in October 1976 with
the visiting Argentinian foreign minister, Admiral César Augusto
Guzzetti. At the time the US Congress, concerned about allegations of
widespread human rights abuses, was poised to approve sanctions against
the military regime.
According to a verbatim transcript of a meeting
on October 7 1976, Mr Kissinger reassured the foreign minister that he
had US backing in whatever he did.
"Look, our basic attitude is that we would
like you to succeed," Mr Kissinger is reported as saying. "I
have an old-fashioned view that friends ought to be supported. What is
not understood in the United States is that you have a civil war. We read
about human rights problems, but not the context.
"The quicker you succeed the better ... The
human rights problem is a growing one ... We want a stable situation. We
won't cause you unnecessary difficulties. If you can finish before
Congress gets back, the better. Whatever freedoms you could restore would
help."
One day earlier, October 6 1976, Adml Guzzetti
was told by a senior state department official, Charles Robinson, that
"it is possible to understand the requirement to be tough". Mr
Robinson is also reported as saying that "the problem is that the
United States is an idealistic and moral country and its citizens have
great difficulty in comprehending the kinds of problems faced by
Argentina today".
"There is a tendency to apply our moral
standards abroad and Argentina must understand the reaction of Congress
with regard to loans and military assistance. The American people, right
or wrong, have the perception that today there exists in Argentina a
pattern of gross violations of human rights."
The US ambassador to Argentina, Robert Hill, had
been putting pressure on the regime to stop human rights abuses. But
after Adml Guzzetti returned from Washington, Mr Hill wrote from Buenos
Aires to complain that the Argentinian foreign minister had not heard the
same message from Mr Kissinger.
Adml Guzzetti had told the ambassador that Mr
Kissinger had merely urged Argentina to "be careful", and had
said that if the terrorist problem could be resolved by December or
January, "serious problems could be avoided in the US". Mr Hill
wrote at the time: "Guzzetti went to US fully expecting to hear
strong, firm, direct warnings on his government's human rights practices.
He has returned in a state of jubilation, convinced that there is no real
problem with the USG [government] over that issue."
The then US assistant secretary of state for
inter-American affairs, Harry Shlaudeman, who attended both the Kissinger
and the Robinson meetings with Adml Guzzetti, replied to Mr Hill:
"As in other circumstances you have undoubtedly encountered in your
diplomatic career, Guzzetti heard only what he wanted to hear. He was
told in detail how strongly opinion in this country has reacted against
reports of abuses by the security forces in Argentina and the nature of
the threat this poses to Argentine interests."
However, as the newly released documents make
clear, Adml Guzzetti was correct to believe that the regime had, in
effect, been given carte blanche by the US government to continue its
activities.
In a previously released cable, Mr Hill reported
how his human rights concerns were dismissed by the Argentinian
president, Jorge Videla: "[The] president said he had been gratified
when Guzzetti reported to him that secretary of state Kissinger
understood their problem and had said he hoped they could get terrorism
under control as quickly as possible.
"Videla said he had the impression senior
officers of the USG [government] understood situation his government
faces, but junior bureaucrats do not. I assured him this was not the
case. We all hope Argentina can get terrorism under control quickly - but
to do so in such a way as to do minimum damage to its image and to its
relations with other governments. If security forces continue to kill
people to tune of brass band, I concluded, this will not be
possible."
The revelations, which were also announced at a
conference in Argentina yesterday, confirm suspicions at the time that
the regime would not have continued to carry out atrocities unless it had
the tacit approval of the US, on which it was dependent for financial and
military aid.
The junta, which ruled Argentina from 1976 to
1983, fell after the military's defeat in the Falklands war. During its
period in power an estimated 30,000 people may have been arrested,
tortured and killed. Many bodies have never been found.
An investigation into those crimes has begun in
Argentina.
Mr Kissinger has been asked by the Chilean
authorities to give evidence in connection with human rights abuses
during the 1973 Chilean coup and the support he gave to the former
dictator, General Augusto Pinochet. He is likely to be asked to do the
same in Argentina.
He reportedly does not travel abroad without
consulting his lawyers about the possibility of his arrest
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