Let’s say you’re the
president of the United States and you decide to stage an official excursion to
Argentina, the first bilateral visit by an American head of state in nearly two
decades. Do you:
A) time your trip to exactly
coincide with the 40th anniversary of a right-wing coup staged by a military
junta that went on to forcibly disappear tens of thousands of people in said
country, with the encouragement of none other than the United States?
or
B) visit some other
time?
If you’re Barack Obama, you apparently
go with the first option. When it is then suggested to you by concerned
observers that your itinerary may be lacking in the sensitivity department, you
decide to spend merely the eve of the coup anniversary in Buenos Aires and then
the actual anniversary, March 24, playing golf in southern Argentina. This, of course, also comes off as one hell
of a sensitive arrangement.
Last Thursday, less than a
week before Obama’s scheduled descent upon the Argentine nation, U.S. National
Security Advisor Susan Rice announced
that the president would use his visit to pledge a “comprehensive effort”
toward declassifying additional Defense Department and intelligence records
pertaining to the period of the military dictatorship.
But while Team Obama will
undoubtedly milk this promise for all the brownie points it can, those of us
with more than a feigned interest in human rights may be forgiven for not
jumping for joy. For one thing, “declassification” does not literally translate
as such in the American lexicon, as there are inevitably items deemed in need
of redaction and other truth-obscuring measures.
For another, as historian Greg Grandin notes in his recent book on Henry Kissinger, the notorious former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor “himself has noted that the sheer volume of foreign policy paperwork makes it impossible to determine ‘which documents were produced to provide an alibi and which genuinely guided decisions.’” READ MORE AT TeleSUR ENGLISH.
For another, as historian Greg Grandin notes in his recent book on Henry Kissinger, the notorious former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor “himself has noted that the sheer volume of foreign policy paperwork makes it impossible to determine ‘which documents were produced to provide an alibi and which genuinely guided decisions.’” READ MORE AT TeleSUR ENGLISH.
Let’s say you’re the president of the United States and you decide to stage an official excursion to Argentina, the first bilateral visit by an American head of state in nearly two decades. Do you: A) time your trip to exactly coincide with the 40th anniversary of a right-wing coup staged by a military junta that went on to forcibly disappear tens of thousands of people in said country, with the encouragement of none other than the United States? or B) visit some other time? If you’re Barack Obama, you apparently go with the first option. When it is then suggested to you by concerned observers that your itinerary may be lacking in the sensitivity department, you decide to spend merely the eve of the coup anniversary in Buenos Aires and then the actual anniversary, March 24, playing golf in southern Argentina. This, of course, also comes off as one hell of a sensitive arrangement. Last Thursday, less than a week before Obama’s scheduled descent upon the Argentine nation, U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice announced that the president would use his visit to pledge a “comprehensive effort” toward declassifying additional Defense Department and intelligence records pertaining to the period of the military dictatorship. This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Dirty-Golf-Barack-Obama-Does-Argentina-20160321-0026.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english
Let’s say you’re the president of the United States and you decide to stage an official excursion to Argentina, the first bilateral visit by an American head of state in nearly two decades. Do you: A) time your trip to exactly coincide with the 40th anniversary of a right-wing coup staged by a military junta that went on to forcibly disappear tens of thousands of people in said country, with the encouragement of none other than the United States? or B) visit some other time? If you’re Barack Obama, you apparently go with the first option. When it is then suggested to you by concerned observers that your itinerary may be lacking in the sensitivity department, you decide to spend merely the eve of the coup anniversary in Buenos Aires and then the actual anniversary, March 24, playing golf in southern Argentina. This, of course, also comes off as one hell of a sensitive arrangement. Last Thursday, less than a week before Obama’s scheduled descent upon the Argentine nation, U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice announced that the president would use his visit to pledge a “comprehensive effort” toward declassifying additional Defense Department and intelligence records pertaining to the period of the military dictatorship. This content was originally published by teleSUR at the following address: "http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Dirty-Golf-Barack-Obama-Does-Argentina-20160321-0026.html". If you intend to use it, please cite the source and provide a link to the original article. www.teleSURtv.net/english