Henry Kissinger Dies at 100: Greenlit Invasion and Illegally Provided Weapons to Indonesia

From The Guardian:

Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state under Richard Nixon who became one of the most prominent and controversial figures of US foreign policy in the 20th century, has died. He was 100....

[H]his legacy was also defined by his contempt for human rights and efforts to protect US corporate interests at all costs, with opponents across the world casting him as a war criminal. He supported Indonesia’s military dictator in the invasion of East Timor, backed the invasion of Angola by the apartheid regime in South Africa and worked with the CIA to overthrow the democratically-elected president of Chile. He also authorized wiretaps of reporters and his own staff.

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“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a bit longer.” - Kissinger

From ETAN: About Kissinger: The United States’ most notorious living war criminal

Kissinger geopolitical scheming in the Indonesian archipelago had particularly dire consequences for the peoples there. In 1969, the U.S. conspired with the Indonesian dictator Suharto to facilitate the illegal annexation of West Papua through a transparently bogus propaganda exercise known as the "Act of Free Choice." U.S. behind-the-scenes support at the United Nations for this undemocratic farce was essential to solidifying the Indonesian dictatorship's control of West Papua and the more than four decades of genocidal policies which have decimated the Papuan population.

Under Kissinger's direction, the U.S. gave a greenlight to the 1975 Indonesian invasion of East Timor (now Timor-Leste) which ushered in a 24-year brutal occupation by the Suharto dictatorship. The Indonesian occupation of East Timor and West Papua was enabled by U.S. weapons and training. This illegal flow of weapons contravened congressional intent, yet Kissinger bragged about his ability to continue arms shipments to Suharto (“The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a bit longer.”) These weapons were essential to the Indonesian dictator's consolidation of military control in both East Timor and West Papua, and these occupations cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of Timorese and Papuan civilians. Kissinger’s policy toward West Papua allowed for the U.S.-based multinational corporation Freeport McMoRan to pursue its mining interests in the region, which has resulted in terrible human rights and environmental abuses; Kissinger was rewarded with a seat on the Board of Directors from 1995-2001.

see more here: More on Kissinger, his record and the protests against him 

Human rights violator former Gen. Prabowo is a leading candidate in Indonesia's Presidential election

Former Gen. Prabowo - serial human rights violator - is a leading candidate in Indonesia's Presidential election this coming February.

Read what ETAN and ANTI have to say about his abysmal human rights record.

ANTI: We strongly oppose impunity: We strongly oppose Prabowo Subianto that has been accused of serious crimes returning to power

"The facts show that during the Suharto regime Prabowo Subianto was involved in a series of serious crimes and human rights violations in Timor-Leste such as the massacre that occurred in 1983 in Viqueque which is known as the Kraras incident with 200 victims losing their lives. This town was known as the “town of widows” because many of the husbands of the victims were massacred in this bloody incident."

ETAN Backgrounder on Prabowo

"Former U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Robert Gelbard described Prabowo as 'somebody who is perhaps the greatest violator of human rights in contemporary times among the Indonesian military. His deeds in the late 1990s before democracy took hold, were shocking, even by TNI standards.'"

"Do I have the guts," Prabowo asked, "am I ready to be called a fascist dictator?" By Allan Nairn

Indonesia needs, Prabowo said, "a benign authoritarian regime." He said the many ethnicities and religions precluded democracy.!"... "Do I have the guts," Prabowo asked, "am I ready to be called a fascist dictator?" "[Pakistan's General Pervez] Musharraf had the guts, " Prabowo said.