Gerald Ford, Unsentimentally

[ ed. This is from the Editor of the Progressive, see also Wedn. Dec. 27 Democracy
Now report, explicitly holding Ford & Kissinger responsible for the killing
of 1/3 of East Timor's population, at
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/27/1638254 ]

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Gerald Ford, Unsentimentally

By Matthew Rothschild
http://www.progressive.org/node/4358
December 27, 2006

Sorry, but I refuse to let my tear ducts open over the
death of Gerald Ford.

There's something profoundly undemocratic and vaguely
medieval about the almost mandatory salutes that we, the
people, are supposed to offer when a former President
dies.

The niceties of custom all too often reinforce the
habits of blind obedience to the unworthy wielders of
power.

Say no ill of the dead, we are told.

Hogwash. Let's look at Gerald Ford's record.

The first thing he did was to pardon Richard Nixon, even
though ten days previously he had said that the special
prosecutor should proceed against "any and all
individuals" and a year before, he averred that "I do
not think the public would stand for it."

The pardon short-circuited the necessary prosecution of
Nixon, which would have served as a salutary check on
future inhabitants of the Oval Office. Instead, the
pardon set a precedent for such flagrant lawbreakers as
we have in the White House today.

If impeachment of Bush and Cheney may be just a remote
possibility, prosecution and incarceration remain
inconceivable. And so Bush and Cheney, thanks to Ford,
can float comfortably above the law.

On domestic policy, Ford was a standard issue
Republican, vetoing social spending bills, cutting food
stamps and housing and education programs, infamously
denying aid to New York City while all the while
boosting Pentagon spending. And, in a move Bush and
Cheney would have applauded, he proposed the nation's
first official secrets act to provide criminal penalties
for the unauthorized disclosure of classified material.

On foreign policy, Ford was damnable.

He fronted for Pinochet in Chile, and kept aid flowing
to that vicious strongman.

And on December 6, 1975, Ford and Henry Kissinger flew
to Jakarta to meet with dictator Suharto and to give him
a green light to invade East Timor.

According to a declassified State Department cable, here
was part of their conversation.

Suharto to Ford and Kissinger: "We want your
understanding if we deem it necessary to take rapid or
drastic action."

Ford: "We will understand and will not press you on the
issue. We understand the problem you have and the
intentions you have."

Kissinger: "We understand your problem and the need to
move quickly, but I am only saying that it would be
better if it were done after we returned."

Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, and
Suharto launched his invasion hours later.

Suharto's invasion and occupation cost the lives of
200,000 Timorese.

But never mind. We're not supposed to remember those
things. Just that Jerry Ford was such a nice guy.