[lbo-talk] Rhythm of U.S. Politics and the taks of Leftists , was. . .less than meets the eye

[Gar Lipow]

On Tue, Nov 9, 2010 at 10:58 AM, Dennis Claxton <ddclaxton at earthlink.net> wrote:
> At 10:43 AM 11/9/2010, Gar Lipow wrote:
>
>
>> I also seem to remember that some this aid under Carter was funneled
>> to the Contras, and that aid to the Contras did not start under
>> Reagan. It was a long time ago, so can someone confirm this, or tell
>> I'm remembering incorrectly?
>
>
> Here's Alexander Cockburn with a summary. Details are in his book Whiteout
> (with Jeffrey St. Clair);
>
> http://www.counterpunch.org/cockburn1012.html
>
>
> [...]
>
>
> Now they've given Jimmy Carter the Nobel Peace prize. Who knows? The DC
> Sniper may have first started to cook back in Carter time, when Jimmy said
> America would not stand idly by while Nicaragua tried to set forth on a
> different path after they threw out Anastasio Somoza.
>
> Carter told the Sandinistas they had to retain the National Guard, which had
> been Somoza's elite band of US-trained psychopathic killers. The Sandinistas
> said No. So Carter ordered the CIA to bring up the officers and torturers
> running the Argentinian death squads to train up a force of Nicaraguan
> exiles in Honduras, and launch them on terror missions across the border.
> They called them the Contras.
>
> Carter was a busy man. Not just content with forming the Contras, he
> harkened to the pain of South Korea, where workers and peasants were
> demonstrating. His envoy, Richard Holbrooke advised the South Korean
> military to hit back hard, and they did, killing around 3,000, the most
> horrible massacre since the Korean war. And yes, Carter started the covert
> CIA operation in Afghanistan, rallying the mujiddeen to fight the Soviets.
> Soon the CIA would bring Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan to lend a Saudi
> presence and Saudi cash.
>
> Now he's a peace prize winner. He's been campaigning for it for years. He's
> a white male American with the blood of thousands on his hands. So how could
> he miss, unless the Peace Prize Committee had decided to abbreviate the
> whole process and give it to George Bush. Maybe next year, though Ariel
> Sharon is the next in line.
>
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>

Thanks Dennis. I always remember Carter as the President under which
the Democrats moved far far right from where they had been. Arguments
can be made for  Truman, Kennedy and Johnson, but Carter felt to me
like something  fundamental had changed. He was the first austerity
Democratic President, the first Democratic President to push the line
that ordinary people had it too good and needed to start sacrificing.
He moved the Overton Window far to the right, and paved the way for
Reagan. Of course I was not alive during the Truman era, so compared
to Roosevelt, maybe lefties felt the same about him.

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