Thatcher and Pinochet
As reprehensible as her actions toward her own people were, her foreign policy was nearly as brutal and senseless. Thatcher supported murderous regimes and the suppression of civil rights the world over. She was close, personal friends with Augusto Pinochet, one of South America’s most infamous dictators and mass-murderers, and often spoke highly of him. Her administration aided and trained death squads for Pol Pot and his genocidal Khmer Rouge party, who were responsible for the Cambodian Holocaust. Thatcher also went out of her way to denounce Nelson Mandela and called the African National Congress a terrorist organization.
Of course, Thatcher pretended to dislike apartheid, even condemning it on the international stage – but she steadfastly refused to do anything to help place pressure on South Africa to end the discriminatory policy. Thatcher’s open distain for Nelson Mandela and his freedom mandate can partly be explained by her loyalty to South African trade. You see, South Africa was the UK’s largest trading partner. Since the Baroness was always more interested in money and power than people and liberty, the choice to condemn Africans under the Botha government to be denied fundamental rights enjoyed by British citizens is an obvious no-brainer.
In the end I am reminded of Baroness Thatcher’s most famous catch phrase: “there is no alternative.” This sentiment, meant to validate her draconian attitude towards the well-being of the citizens she represented and the scores of other people around the globe, is a good way to address her legacy. Given the tremendous weight of history, it is starkly clear that Baroness Thatcher’s ignoble rule was so fraught with failure and corruption that there is no alternative but to rank her among the worst elected rulers in recent history. She was, at best, a misguided free-market zealot and, at worst, a war criminal. It is our responsibility as citizens of the free world to not tolerate the elevation of the Iron Lady to sainthood by the yellow press. The endless parade of adoration of Thatcher upon her passing must not go unchecked; otherwise we will see another white-washing of history not unlike the conservative Orwellian rewrite of Ronald Reagan’s ruinous assault on the United States.
3 Comments
WOW! I think the most important part of your op-ed piece Ms. Raed is in the final paragraph when you say ” It is our responsibility as citizens of the free world to not tolerate the elevation of the Iron Lady to sainthood by the yellow press” Obviously you don’t feel any responsibility to honesty when you put your poison pen to paper. Responsibility of yellow press goes both ways Ms. Raed.
Was Ms Thatcher without her faults? Of course she wasn’t, who among us is. But she was hardly the tyrant you describe her as. To her credit ( and I suspect you would agree had her political background been aligned with the Labour party ) she was a self made individual. Starting out as a housewife running for local office and rising on her own to leader of Great Britain. A tremendous accomplishment wouldn’t you say?When she became Prime Minister strikes by Unions (and I’m NOT anti union having been a member of one for over 30 yrs) were widespread and frequent occurrence disrupting peoples daily life. Inflation was sky high as were taxes. She also played a very important part, as did Reagan, in the melt down of what was the Soviet Union ( Former Soviet leader Gorbachev admitted this in interviews )
People can argue back and forth endlessly, agreeing or disagreeing on her policies, and as I admitted earlier she was certainly not without faults. But Margret Thatcher was certainly not anything like you describe in this piece of fiction you wrote Ms. Raed.
What a despicable attack against a moral leader who rose from humble roots, and who just died! As Tony said here, she wasn’t without fault, but she wasn’t a tyrant as described here by a seemingly “crazy lady”.
[The American Cultural (Political) War continues.] [ Conservatism vs Liberalism ]
[Responsibility v Do Anything If It Feels God] [Republican v Democrat]
[Spirituality v Secularism] [Search for Truth v Search for Self]
[ Deism v Moral Depravity ] [ Good v Evil ]
– Mr. Carl Segvich (Republican Committeeman – Chicago)
Another screed from Lucy Raed. She can’t find enough hateful things to say about our own people so she has to cross the Atlantic and spread the hate to the best prime minister of the UK since Winston Churchill (of course she would probably prefer the ultra left-wing fraudster Ward Churchill to Winston). She has no credibility and has as much love for facts as Dracula does for holy water. It’s a waste of time to challenge her on anything since the extreme left is a religion for her just as the followers of commie preacher Jim Jones followed him to the point of suicide. Just pray for her.