Left and Wrong

"So," my drinking partner asked after a few beers, "you're a liberal then?"

"Yeah," I answered, "I guess so. But on occasion I have been accused of being a little to the right of Attila the Hun."

Such is the paradox of political opinions. I am sort of confused over my position on the death penalty, for example, but I would volunteer my services as fire-starter-in- chief if they ever made burning at the stake the penalty for composing computer viruses.

Some of my views are off-the-wall right wing, so why do I call myself a liberal? Margaret Thatcher. I call myself a liberal because I wouldn't want to be associated with a political movement that reveres this war criminal, profiteer and overall nasty piece of work.

The 'Iron Lady' is the yardstick for the best and the very worst in politicians - from the left and right. But this lady has gone so far to the right she is off the scale - and she's in the news this week after making statements concerning the sort of company she entertains at her swanky Belgravia home. If Thatcher had been around in 1938 she wouldn't have appeased Hitler, she'd have sold him Spitfires.

The best. Well, she took a Britain that was in severe decline and turned it around. We Brits owe Thatcher a debt of thanks for the vibrant economy we now enjoy - or until the Asian economic meltdown - enjoyed. She took Britain from being the poor cousin of the then E.C. to a leading member of the European Union. Nowadays when the Bulldog barks, people sit up and take notice.

The worst. The methods she employed to achieve this. Okay, let me explain. The end doesn't always justify the means. I subscribe to the accepted view that policies that are in the best interests of the majority should take precedent over the concerns of the minority. This was Thatcher doctrine. But where I would take time to figure out how I could help those disadvantaged by populist policies - Thatcher didn't. She'll argue the point, but the rich and middle class got richer and more middle class-ish, while the poor got poorer and the disadvantaged got more disadvantaged.

She was, is, a war criminal. I suppose that's why she has so much in common with murdering S-O-B's like General Pinochet and General Suharto. Thatcher has a thing for generals. Take the General Belgrano for example. On 26 April 1982 the former USS Phoenix was outside and steaming away from the 200-mile exclusion zone imposed by London around the Falklands. Sailing in international waters the Belgrano was in no position to pose any threat whatsoever to the British task force steaming south to liberate the islands after the Argentinian invasion. Well, perhaps if a long range reconnaisance plane got too close, the Belgrano's skipper might have been tempted to use his British Sea-Cat missiles to shoot the snooper down. Unlikely.

It was a time crucial moment. Efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the Falkland crisis were starting to show promise - and that would have been a disaster for Thatcher. She wanted her war and she was going to get it. She ordered the nuclear powered hunter-killer submarine HMS Conqueror to 'do the business' on the Pearl Harbor veteran. Two 'fish' sent the Belgrano to the bottom of the South Atlantic with the loss of 368 lives. There was no turning back. Thatcher had her war.

A personal anecdote. Back in the mid-80's when I was working for a newspaper in London, I struck up a friendship with a former Conqueror crewman who was working as a security guard at our office. He told me that contrary to 'official' assertions - morale on the submarine was dismal. Apparently the Belgrano wasn't taking any serious anti-submarine measures and was unaware that the Conqueror was positioning for a shot. The Belgrano skipper, mistakenly as it turned out, assumed he could stand-down from action-stations because he was in international waters and was not taking a threatening posture.

As a footnote to history, the sinking of the Belgrano marked the first time a warship was sunk by a nuclear powered submarine. But when one thinks about it, it isn't much to be proud of. According to my friend, very few members of the crew celebrated the sinking when they got home.

The Thatcher that ordered Belgrano's destruction is the same Thatcher who in 1988 said: "There are probably two parts to the Khmer Rouge: those who supported Pol Pot and then there is a much, much more reasonable group with the Khmer Rouge." The 'Iron Lady' was trying to cover her wrinkled ass just in-case the facts of her collusion to support the KR came to light - which they eventually did.

At the time the British were working very closely with the United States in Thailand (secretly - of course) to supply arms and other logistical support to the coalition of forces fighting the Vietnamese-backed government of Hun Sen. The genocidal Khmer Rouge were the backbone and heart of this resistance. Despite international embargoes on supplying lethal aid to the KR - they got most of what was being given away. And Thatcher and Presidents Reagan and Bush knew it.

But as the Iraqis are fond of saying: "My enemy's enemy is my friend." Thatcher had some strange friends. In this particular case Thatcher considered her friend's enemy to be her enemy. The 'enemy' was Hanoi, and the victims were the Cambodian people. Tough on them, huh? Who cares? They're just like millions of semi-literate brown skinned natives around Asia who make less than a dollar-a-day making 150-buck sports shoes and they don't vote in U.S. or British elections. Thatcher certainly didn't give two hoots. She was just concerned about her 'special relationship' with GOP Presidents.

But then, being two-faced isn't exclusive to Republicans. All U.S. leaders since 1975 have pandered to the genocidal government in Jakarta. The strategic value of Indonesia was probably why Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger gave the 'big wink' to Suharto - triggering the slaughter in East Timor. Perhaps Thatcher didn't want to muddy the pond by crying over human rights in East Timor - so she went along with her Washington buddies and cultivated a friendship with Suharto and his coterie of corrupt thugs. And like everything else she did, Thatcher did it enthusiastically.

The 'Iron Lady' became the first foreign recipient of the annual award from the war-weapons backed Association of Indonesian Engineers. The citation praised Thatcher for 'enhancing a decade of UK-Indonesian co-operation in technology." Standing proud in front of Indonesia's captains of the military production industry she said: "I am proud to be one of you." Yeah, right. Enthusiastic, that's Thatcher.

Y'know, let's clear something up here. I don't have a problem with Presidents and Prime Ministers selling weapons to dictators and genocidal maniacs - if the pay-off is keeping one's own electorate in jobs. Hey, a politician is elected to take care of domestic business first. Right? But what really 'frosts my ass' is when those same politicians try to cultivate a 'caring' image while actually cozying up to some of the World's nastiest S-O-B's and then even try to defend them when they are eventually busted for their crimes.

Tea and biscuits with Pinochet? Shame on you Thatcher. Shame on you. Britain would've won the Falklands War without him. But then, maybe Denis wasn't 'doing the business' with you and Pinochet had an extensive selection of cigars. Who knows. Your relationship with him couldn't possibly be more sordid.

--Chris Gelken