In Bed With Argentina's Generals

I see that one of Argentina's imprisoned 'Dirty War' (1976-84) generals, Jorge Videla, has just been sentenced to a further 50 years in prison for stealing the babies of female prisoners who were then tortured and executed. A charming gent, the old Jorge.

And quite talented too. Did you know, for example, that he speaks fluent Israeli?

No?

Well here's the proof:

"The women giving birth, who I respect as mothers, were militants who were active in the machinery of terror,' the former dictator said in his closing remarks. 'Many used their unborn children as human shields.'" (Robbery of infants: Videla sentenced to 50 years in prison, Buenos Aires Herald, 5/7/12)

So where did Videla learn to throw around such quintessentially Israeli words as terrorists and human shields?

Why, from the masters of course:

"President Isabel Peron was overthrown by the Argentine military in March 1976. Thus began 8 years of military rule, during which the relations between Israel and Argentina were cordial and intimate. The first junta, in control to 1981, was headed by General Jorge Rafael Videla, and included also Admiral Emilio Massera and Brigadier General Orlando Agosti. Lieutenant General Roberto Eduardo Viola succeeded Videla in April 1981 as Argentina's president, and ruled with the help of Admiral Armando Lambruschini and General Omar Graffigna. The third and last junta was made up of General Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri, Admiral Jorge Isaac Anaya, and Brigadier General Basilio Lami Dozo. The last junta had to relinquish power after a long series of economic and military fiascos, and Argentina was returned to civilian rule.

"Generals Viola, Videla, Valin, and Galtieri became gracious hosts to Israeli military and civilian leaders, and their names grew familiar to their Israeli counterparts during the years of military rule. Israeli generals Peled and Lahav and Reshef and Rahav, names as interchangeable and forgettable as their Latin American colleagues', had many good meetings with the Argentines. They were liked and admired; they enjoyed the friendly times. There were 'three countries that enjoyed a special sympathy in Argentine military circles: the United States, South Africa, and Israel' (Yediot Aharanot, 1983a, p. 7).

"Argentina has been one of Israel's major arms customers, especially since President Carter suspended US military aid in 1977 (a move partly reversed by by President Reagan in July 1981). The script is familiar to us from Nicaragua, Guatemala, and other places: Israel filled the demand. It sold Argentina nearly a hundred jet fighters - mostly improved versions of the French Mirage, plus 24 US A-4 Skyhawks - and Shafir missiles to arm them. The navy received 4 Dabur-class patrol boats and 50 Gabriel missiles. Spare parts, ammunition, and small arms were also sold in large quantities.

"Israel's supplying arms to Argentina during the Falklands-Malvinas War of 1982 brought much comment and understandable British concern, but it merely reflected a long-standing relationship (Taubman, 1982). Judging by reports of arms delivered, Israel played a role in helping the Argentine armed forces to replace armaments and aircraft lost during the war, with Nesher planes, Mirage planes, Gabriel missiles, spare parts, and ammunition (Schumacher, 1982). Supplies also came from South Africa (Dabat & Lorenzano, 1984) and numerous other countries, including Libya.

"Although many Israeli leaders visited Argentina during the years of the generals, former military leaders drew the most attention. General Mordecai Gur followed up his visit to Chile in 1978 with one to Argentina, and was warmly received by General Alfredo Ciola, Argentine chief-of-staff, and other generals. The former chief-of-staff (1964-1968) and prime minister (1974-1977) Yitzhak Rabin visited Argentina in August 1980, and lectured at the Argentine Armed Forces National College. Lately it has come out that after the Malvinas War of 1982, when the military regime was on its last legs, its Israeli friends came up with a grand rescue plan, designed to make Argentina into a 'South Atlantic power,' and to save the generals' future (Shipler, 1986)." (The Israeli Connection: Whom Israel Arms & Why, Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, 1987, pp 101-103)

Imad Mughniyah: Allegation as Fact

Senior Hezbollah military leader, Imad Mughniyah, was killed in Damascus on 12/2/08 when his vehicle exploded. A persistent Israeli/US charge for many years has been that Iran/Hezbollah were behind the bombing of a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires in 1994, and that Mughniyah had "orchestrated" the attack.

Contrast the different approaches to the allegation by Fairfax and Murdoch:

Fairfax: "Israel blames him for bomb attacks against its embassy and a community centre in Argentina in 1992 and 1994." Israel braces for retaliation after Hezbollah chief killed, Ed O'Loughlin, SMH, 15/2/08

Murdoch: "Mughnieh had been a high profile Israeli target since he led two attacks on Israeli interests in Argentina in 1992 and 1993." Divided Beirut turns out to mark death of slain leaders, Martin Chulov, The Australian, 15/2/08; "In 1993, Mughnieh orchestrated the attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and a later bombing of a Jewish centre in the Argentinian city." Slain terrorist stayed in shadows, Martin Chulov, The Australian, 16/2/08

O'Loughlin merely reports the allegation. Chulov reports the allegation as fact.

[Notice too the discrepancy between O'Loughlin and Chulov when it comes to dates. Predictably, Chulov's dates are wrong. The bombing took place, not in 1993, but 1994. In addition, he gets the year of the earlier bombing of Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires right (1992) in his first report, but wrong (1993) in his second. Where pro-Israel propaganda trumps factual reporting, however, as it generally does in the Murdoch press, screwing up dates is a mere bagatelle.]

The allegation will, of course, continue to be presented as fact in the Murdoch press and myriad other pro-Israel propaganda outlets, especially on the internet. For what it's worth, however, anyone interested in the truth should consult Gareth Porter's 18/1/08 investigation for the The Nation, Bush's Iran/Argentina Terror Frame-Up. Porter's is a model of investigative journalism. The entire article can be accessed at:- http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080204/porter

Here is Porter's introduction to whet your appetite:-

"Although nukes and Iraq have been the main focus of the Bush Administration's pressure campaign against Iran, US officials also seek to tar Iran as the world's leading sponsor of terrorism. And Team Bush's latest tactic is to play up a 13-year-old accusation that Iran was responsible for the notorious Buenos Aires bombing that destroyed the city's Jewish Community Center, known as AMIA, killing 86 and injuring 300, in 1994. Unnamed senior Administration officials told the Wall Street Journal January 15 that the bombing in Argentina 'serves as a model for how Tehran has used its overseas embassies and relationship with foreign militant groups, in particular, Hezbollah, to strike at its enemies'.

"This propaganda campaign depends heavily on a decision last November by the General Assembly of Interpol, which voted to put 5 former Iranian officials and a Hezbollah leader [Imad Mughniyeh] on the international police organization's 'red list' for allegedly having planned the July 1994 bombing. But the WSJ reports that it was pressure from the Bush Administration, along with Israeli and Argentine diplomats that secured the Interpol vote. In fact, the Bush Administration's manipulation of the Argentine bombing case is perfectly in line with its long practice of using distorting and manufactured evidence to build a case against its geopolitical enemies.

"After spending several months interviewing officials at the US Embassy in Buenos Aires familiar with the Argentine investigation, the head of the FBI team that assisted it and the most knowledgeable independent Argentine investigator of the case, I found that no real evidence has ever been found to implicate Iran in the bombing. Based on these interviews and the documentary record of the investigation, it is impossible to avoid the conclusion that the case against Iran over the AMIA bombing has been driven from the beginning by US enmity toward Iran, not by a desire to find the real perpetrators."

Now, Mughniyeh might not have had anything to do with the AMIA bombing, but did you know about his "alleged role as the terrorist 'mastermind' behind the planning for Hezbollah's July 2006 war with Israel..?" (Chulov again, 16/2/08) No? Neither did I!

Let us deal with this (unsourced, of course) sweeping allegation that Mughniyeh had planned a war against Israel in 2006: Hezbollah had planned to abduct Israeli soldiers - but for a prisoner exchange, not a war. In fact, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, is on record as saying that "We had not forseen, not even to one-hundredth, that the hostage taking would lead to a war of that scope...it was not possible that a reaction to a hostage taking reaches such proportions." [Quoted in The 33-Day War by Achcar & Warschawski, p 33] Tragically, it seems Nasrallah wasn't aware of Moshe Dayan's dictum: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother." No, the planning for a war with Hezbollah was actually the other way around. In the words of Ron Pundak, Director-General of the Peres Center for Peace: "Hezbollah gave them a wonderful option to do something the army was already prepared to do, with a well-constructed operational plan on the shelf." (Achcar & Warschawski, p 35)