Ford was dung. All the boo hoo I've been hearing about him is sickening. He never did a worthwhile thing in his life. Just another wad of fascist dung...
Squeeky fucked up big time.

The history of Indonesia and East Timor is not widely known here in the US. Indeed, the history of the US is not very well known and rarely reported by the Corpulent Media. Very briefly, the first President of Indonesia following their independence ruled for 20 years and in 1965 was overthrown in an "anti-communist" military coup in which a half million or so were killed. Suharto became a close friend to and dependent on US imperialism.

In 1975 Ford and Kissinger gave their approval for Suharto to invade and take over the neighboring country of East Timor, and assured him that the arms supply from the US would continue. Somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 were killed (the 100,000 figure is from a tally of recorded killings) -- a fifth to a third of the population. Independence was nominally restored 1n 1999, but East Timor remains destabilized. http://tinyurl.com/y6lkso [Open in new window]
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Ford and Kissinger took great pains to assure Suharto that they would not oppose the invasion. Ford was unambiguous: “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have.” Kissinger did indeed stress that “the use of US-made arms could create problems,” but then added that, “It depends on how we construe it; whether it is in self defense or is a foreign operation.” Thus, Kissinger’s concern was not about whether U.S. arms would be used offensively—and hence illegally—but whether the act would actually be interpreted as such—a process he clearly intended to manipulate.(26) In any case, Kissinger added: “It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly.”

Indeed, timing and damage control were very important to the Americans, as Kissinger told Suharto: “We would be able to influence the reaction in America if whatever happens happens after we return. . . If you have made plans, we will do our best to keep everyone quiet until the President returns home.” Kissinger also asked Suharto if he anticipated a “long guerrilla war,” apparently aware that a quick military success would be easier to spin than a long campaign. Suharto acknowledged that there "will probably be a small guerrilla war" but he was cagey enough not to predict its duration.
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