19/05/2013 | Offnews.

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Remembering what gave rise to Argentina's mini-Nuremberg trials

Martin Edwin Andersen As the Washington Post special correspondent who covered the 1985 "miniNuremberg" trials against General orge !idela and other senior militar" dirt" warriors# and who then went on to brea$ the stor" in 198% about &ecretar" o' &tate (enr" )issinger giving the murderous and anti-semitic generals a "green light" 'or the so-called *io de la Plata "dirt" war#+ , suggest the 'ollowing readingsFor an inside look at what really happened during the so-called "dirty war," including the Argentine army's use of the head of the Montonero guerrillasMario Firmenichas a counter-intelligence agent, see: http: goo!gl "pE#l"! For a look at the fateful end of remaining respect for human rights within the Argentine military shortly after the $%&' coup, see: http: goo!gl e'('")! And to understand the role played *y conser+ati+e ,epu*lican Am*assador ,o*ert -! (ill in unsuccessfully raising the human rights *anner *efore the -arter presidency, see my .ossier &ecreto- Argentina/s .esaparecidos and the 0"th o' the ".irt" War#" and -hristopher (itchens. seminal first-person account in !anit" 1air: http: goo!gl g)p/0$! Finally, the fa*led ,o*ert 1! 2cherrer, the heroic F34 legal attach5 stationed in 3uenos Aires during those years, monitored the +iolence of the supposed dirty "war" for the 6!2! em*assy! 4n one letter he wrote to me, 2cherrer flatly stated: 7A considera*le portion of the murders, kidnappings and e8tortions attri*uted to the guerrillas were caused *y other elements! 9 :errorism in Argentina was serious and deadly *ut its scope was e8aggerated! 9 ;it was< a con+enient +ehicle for irresponsi*le elements of the military and their ci+ilian counterparts to seek retaliation against real or imagined wrongs!= >>> ?ot to *e forgotten is the real role played *y the corrupt @irchners' "efficacious colla*orator," (oracio 0er*itsky, a purported clean-go+ernment and human rights acti+ist still trotted out *y the 1ashington Aost, :he ?ew Bork :imes and other media for comment on stories that e+en e8tend *eyond Argentina! 4n "Aope Francis and some still dirty secrets from Argentina.s so-called dirty 'war'C 1hen the accuser should stand among the accused" Dhttp: goo!gl uEuF+FG 4 lay out the full story a*out this former senior Montonero guerrilla's colla*oration with high-ranking Argentine Air Force leaders during the height of the death sHuad murders of those who were once 0er*itsky's re+olutionary colleagues! As the cele*rated Argentine Iournalist and grossly-mistreated military Iunta prisioner Jaco*o :imerman would later comment to me, how was it that his former employee 0er*itsky, well known as a former Montonero intelligence official, was allowed to li+e undistur*ed in 3uenos Aires during the worst of the military
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repressionK :o which 4 would add: (ow was it that 0er*itsky could *e mentioned, *y name, in a *ook read *y the same +icious military he opposed in armed struggle, and not *e *otheredK My first *ook--.ossier &ecreto, called a 7tour de force= in a full-page re+iew in the 2unday New 2or$ 3imes--helps put many of these enduring myths to *ed! For as Aresident John F! @ennedy once said: ""For the great enemy of the truth is +ery often not the lie--deli*erate, contri+ed and dishonest--*ut the myth--persistent, persuasi+e, and unrealistic! ":oo often we hold fast to the clich5s of our fore*ears! 1e su*Iect all facts to a prefa*ricated set of interpretations! 1e enIoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought!" >>> 4 knew -arlos Menem +ery well, ha+ing accompanied 2enator @ennedy to his La ,ioIa pro+ince to honor the martyred 3ishop EnriHue Angelleli, who the military murdered in $%&'! Later Menem promised me three high-paying Dand little workG Io*s--one when he was still go+ernor of La ,ioIa, the other two when he was already president! 4 knew only later that, at least in the second offer, he wanted me to help "e8plain" the necessity of pardon to li*eral Memocrats like 2enator Edward @ennedy and others in 1ashington, M!-! and, they suspected, in editorial *oard rooms in the most prestigious newspapers and magaEines! At the same time, howe+er, Menem's key aide, Al*erto @ohan, +ery close to the 1ashington intelligence esta*lishment as well as international arms traffickers, admitted to me that Menem was also going to pardon supposed Montonero guerrilla leader Firmenich! :his despite the fact that he knew that Firmenich was really an Argentine army intelligence dou*le agentand that in fact there was no "*alance" in Menem's mo+e *ecause all those to *e pardoned worked for the military, some in uniform, others posed in pro+ocati+e workers' khaki! http: www!offnews!info +erArticulo!phpKcontenido4MNF""OF