by ALEXANDER COCKBURN
Both Iran and Nicaragua were, Kirkpatrick equably conceded, “led by men who had not been selected by free elections, … who sometimes invoked martial law to arrest, imprison, exile, and occasionally, it was alleged [sic], torture their opponents.”
Now for the other shoe. But “they were positively friendly to the US, sending their sons and others to be educated in our universities, voting with us in the United Nations, and regularly supporting American interests and positions even when these entailed personal and political cost. The embassies of both governments were… frequented by powerful Americans. And the shah and Somoza themselves were both welcome in Washington, and had many American friends.” Then, “viewing international developments in terms of… a contemporary version of the same idea of progress that has traumatized western imaginations since the Enlightenment”, the Carter administration made a fatal mistake: it encouraged regime change.” (Thanks to Serge Halimi, director of Le Monde Diplomatique for reminding us of Kirkpatrick’s insights, in the current edition of LMD.)
Attack the Enlightenment, legitimate torture… Kirkpatrick was on her way. She became a big star and Reagan made her his ambassador to the UN.
So the Empire fostered its cordon sanitaire of “authoritarian regimes”, stretching from fanatic sons of Islam (Ul-Haq in Pakistan, the Saudi Kingdom), to Hussein in Iraq, Mubarak in Egypt, on through the Maghreb.
Counterpunch for more