-----Original Message----- From: Lee Markland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Saturday, December 05, 1998 1:15 AM Subject: [prj] ForeignCorrespondent NO WAY TO TREAT A "HERO" > Foreign Correspondent > > Inside Track On World News > By International Syndicated Columnist & Broadcaster > Eric Margolis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > >NO WAY TO TREAT A "HERO" >By Eric Margolis >December 3, 1998 > >NEW YORK - Last Monday evening, press mogul Conrad Black gave the mother >of all parties, a gala chock-ablock with ex-prime ministers, media >bigwigs, literati, luminati, very important people, and your columnist. > >At one fascinating juncture, I found myself deep in conversation over the >arrest of Chile's Gen. Pinochet with Margaret Thatcher, Henry Kissinger, >and Lord Carrington, the former British Foreign Secretary. > >Britain's detention of the retired Chilean strongman, who was travelling >on a diplomatic passport, was outrageous, disgraceful, an injustice, and a >very dangerous precedent, we all agreed. Baroness Thatcher was >particularly bitter - and with good reason. > >Britain's Home Secretary, Jack Straw, could have rejected the Spanish >request for extradition out of hand - before it became a "cause celebre" >for the international left. Instead, Tony Blair's socialist government, >that has been moving sharply to the right, decided to go ahead with this >show trial in order to play to Britain's disgruntled left, which accuses >Blair of being a traitorous closet conservative. > >Talk about stunning ingratitude. Gen. Pinochet's security forces are >accused of killing some 3,000 Marxists during Chile's dirty civil war in >the early 1970's. But soon after, Pinochet saved many thousands of British >lives in the Falklands War between Great Britain and Argentina. Britain >owes Pinochet an enormous debt of thanks. > >The British invasion force seeking to retake the remote Falklands came >under intense air attack by the Argentine Air Force and Navy, which >inflicted heavy losses on the British fleet using deadly Exocet missiles. >It seemed only a matter of time before the two vital British carriers were >sunk, or put out of action, depriving the invasion fleet of vital air >cover, thus exposing it to total destruction by Argentine warplanes. > >Gen. Pinochet saved Britain from imminent disaster. The full story has >never been publicly revealed. Pinochet secretly allowed Britain's Special >Air Service units to be flown into Chile, and operate from Punta Arenas. >The elite SAS teams infiltrated Argentina, and assaulted Argentine air >bases, destroying scores of attack aircraft on the ground. The commando >raids by SAS saved the British Fleet just as the invasion appeared doomed, >turning the tide against the Argentines. Without Pinochet, Britain would >have lost the Falklands War and suffered a bloody, humiliating defeat. > >Public anger in Argentina over the Falklands debacle provoked the fall of >the military junta in Buenos Aires. The generals who ruled Argentina were >guilty of vicious repression and human rights violations that made Chile's >war against its own Marxist revolutionaries appear a minor skirmish. But >you will never hear leftists acknowledge Pinochet's role in ridding >Argentina of its military junta. > >Britain now shows its gratitude to the former Chilean leader and wartime >ally by allowing him to be arrested on spurious charges when he is old and >ill. I say shame on the Blair government, which dishonors Britain and all >the soldiers, sailors, and pilots who fought in the Falklands. > >Shame, too, on Europe's hypocritical left, that now bays for the blood of >Great Satan Pinochet. The same Spanish court that charged Pinochet, >refused a similar charge against Fidel Castro, who was being grandly >received in Spain at the very same time. The numbers of Cubans executed, >tortured, and imprisoned by Castro's regime make charges against Pinochet >look trivial. Thanks to Pinochet, Chile is a thriving democracy today; >Cuban remains a totalitarian Stalinist state. > >Kurdish Marxist chief, Abdullah Ocalan, whose PKK bands slaughtered more >than 30,000 civilians in Turkey, has taken refuge in Italy. Turkey's >demands Ocalan be extradited have been refused by Italy's new >communist-led government - on "humanitarian" grounds. > >Clearly, if Pinochet had been named "Che" Pinochet, and he had overthrown >a right-wing government instead of a Marxist regime, he would today be >feted across socialist Europe as a hero and champion of human rights. > >Copyright Margolis, December 1998 >*************************************************************************** * >**** >*************************************************************************** * >**** > >--------------------------------------------------------------- > To receive Foreign Correspondent via email send a note > to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message > in the body: > subscribe foreignc > To get off the list, send to the same address but write: > unsubscribe foreignc > WWW: www.bigeye.com/foreignc.htm > For Syndication Information please contact: > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > FAX: (416) 960-4803 > Smail: > Eric Margolis > c/o Editorial Department > The Toronto Sun > 333 King St. East > Toronto Ontario Canada > M5A 3X5 >--------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >Please Patronize PRJ's Advertisers: http://home.msen.com/~daugh/store.htm Many Pay Even If You Just Look and Don't Buy! << END >
