Reagan's Dark Global Legacy

[struggle4progress]

<snip>
As we consider additional tributes to Mr. Reagan, let us recall some of the creative honors dreamed up by our international friends so that they'd never forget the man and his values.
<snip>
Angola. "The Gipper Stump." This polished-oak peg leg features a heart-felt message from the Cold War commander-in-chief, who worked with the South African apartheid state to keep Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA terrorists armed and dangerous, thus keeping the Angolan market for artificial limbs - not to mention graveyards - booming. "Thanks for taking one for the Gipper," the inscription reads. "My best to you and any remaining appendages. ­Love, Ronnie." o Argentina. "The Reagan Islands." Technically, the former Falkland/Malvinas Islands are no longer the property of Argentina, but Argentinians voted for the new name to honor Ronnie's role in the restoration of civilian rule in their country. His enthusiastic support for the torture-prone, anti-Semitic generals - magical men who had the ability to make dissidents and their relatives "disappear" - persuaded the high command that Reagan would take their side if they seized the disputed islands. They were wrong, and Margaret Thatcher's counterattack so devastated and humiliated the generals that they handed the government back to civilians.
<snip>
El Salvador. "The Reagan Missionary Position." No, not a sexual position for raping American churchwomen (for that would be in poor taste), but a position as in a stand. The Reagan Missionary Position, formulated by high officials Al Haig and Jeane Kirkpatrick, is that the three nuns and one layworker were pro-Marxist "political activists" and thus hardly innocent. Besides, their deaths were accidents, not planned executions. Haig explained that the churchwomen ran or were perceived to have run a "roadblock" and may have gotten caught in a guerrilla-National Guard "exchange of fire." Were they also raped in the crossfire? The Reagan Missionary Position's lips say no, but his eyes say yes.
<snip>
Nicaragua. "The Reagan Wall." Modeled after the U.S. memorial to Americans who died in Vietnam, the Reagan Wall lists the names of the thousands of civilians murdered by "the moral equivalent of the Founding Fathers" (Ronnie's pet name for the contras). An asterisk denotes a sadistic murder -- e.g., a parent mutilated in front of his or her children. Two asterisks denote a sadistic murder derisively dismissed by a Reagan henchman -- an Elliott Abrams, Colin Powell, Ollie North or George Shultz.
<snip>
South Africa. "The Reagan White House." Not a replica of the Pennsylvania Avenue edifice but a Johannesburg mansion that harkens back to a simpler time when whiteness reigned supreme in Pretoria, to the delight of President Reagan. Pay the admission price of ten rand and hassle the black servants, demand to see their pass books, and interrogate the Nelson Mandela look-alike in the basement cell. Rail against "Soviet sponsorship" of the African National Congress and denounce it as "terrorist" -- just as the Reagan administration did. Conspire with the South African defense minister and the ghost of CIA director William Casey on how best to maintain illegal control of Namibia and destabilize Angola and Mozambique. Sure, those destabilizations led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs!

http://www.counterpunch.org/hans06072004.html

[nofurylike]

1. thank you. n/t