• thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    96
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    7 months ago

    I remember when Carter was president. I always respected him. In the early 2000s i remember getting so much shit for defending him. I’m proud to be an American when I think of him and his legacy. He is a good man and I hope that he will be remembered in a positive way. He was truly wronged by the Republicans and the Iran Contra shit will forever be a shadow over the good that Carter tried to create in the middle East.

    I imagine if the dirty tricks Reagan pulled or like if Gore wasn’t cheated or even Hillary got 4 years, the world would be a much better place than it is.

        • Deceptichum
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          34
          ·
          7 months ago

          No.

          Fact is Carter’s administration sold those weapons. It wasn’t a secret what Indonesia was looking to use them for.

            • Deceptichum
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              7
              arrow-down
              27
              ·
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              The basics that

              A) Carter sold weapons to Indonesia
              B ) It’s the Cold War
              C ) To empower brutal murdering authoritarians like Suharto

              Just as whenever America armed some authie in South America or anywhere else in the world, we know what it was going to be used for.

              But please share your “basic”.

              • thisbenzingring@lemmy.sdf.org
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                37
                arrow-down
                1
                ·
                7 months ago

                The fact that I provided you the information, spelled out and you continue to spout idiotic nonsense is just amazing.

                First thing

                The Indonesian invasion of East Timor, known in Indonesia as Operation Lotus began on 7 December 1975

                James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981.

                Facts.

                The Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor documented a minimum estimate of 102,000 conflict-related deaths in East Timor throughout the entire period from 1974 to 1999, including 18,600 violent killings and 84,200 deaths from disease and starvation; Indonesian forces and their auxiliaries combined were responsible for 70% of the killings.

                During the first months of the occupation, the Indonesian military faced heavy insurgency resistance in the mountainous interior of the island, but from 1977 to 1978, the military procured new advanced weaponry from the United States, and other countries, to destroy Fretilin’s framework.

                In an interview on 5 April 1977 with the Sydney Morning Herald, Indonesian Foreign Minister Adam Malik said the number of dead was “50,000 people or perhaps 80,000”.

                The UN’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor (CAVR) estimated the number of deaths during the occupation from famine and violence to be between 90,800 and 202,600 including between 17,600 and 19,600 violent deaths or disappearances, out of a 1999 population of approximately 823,386.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesian_invasion_of_East_Timor#US_involvement

                For US President Gerald Ford and his administration, East Timor was a place of little significance, overshadowed by US–Indonesian relations. The fall of Saigon in mid-1975 had been a devastating setback for the United States, leaving Indonesia as the most important ally in the region. Ford consequently reasoned that the US national interest had to be on the side of Indonesia.[84] As Ford later stated: “in the scope of things, Indonesia wasn’t too much on my radar”, and “We needed allies after Vietnam”.

                Let’s not forget Harry Kissinger

                As early as December 1974—a year before the invasion—the Indonesian defense attaché in Washington sounded out US views about an Indonesian takeover of East Timor.[86] The Americans were tight-lipped, and in March 1975 Secretary of State Henry Kissinger approved a “policy of silence” vis-à-vis Indonesia, a policy that had been recommended by the Ambassador to Indonesia, David Newsom.[87] The administration worried about the potential impact on US–Indonesian relations in the event that a forced incorporation of East Timor was met with a major Congressional reaction.[87] On 8 October 1975, Assistant Secretary of State Philip Habib told meeting participants that “It looks like the Indonesians have begun the attack on Timor.” Kissinger’s response to Habib was, “I’m assuming you’re really going to keep your mouth shut on this subject.”[

                So let’s go back to the original argument here. That Carter sold a bunch of weapons and caused all the deaths.

                Clearly that’s not what happened.

      • Xhieron@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        7 months ago

        I hope you never find yourself standing in judgment for the worst thing you ever did.

        • Deceptichum
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          48
          ·
          7 months ago

          Sure?

          Was that meant to be like a bad thing?

          The worst I’ve ever done is so minor compared to this.