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My personal comments will be added later....there is no hurry.
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Maggie!..Guid cheerio the nou!
By George Galloway MP at information clearing House.
- The old saying that one shouldn’t speak ill of the recently dead cannot possibly apply to controversial figures in public life. It certainly didn’t apply to President Hugo Chavez who predeceased Margaret Thatcher amidst a blizzard of abuse.
The main reason it must not preclude entering the lists amidst a wave of hagiographic sycophantic tosh of the kind that has engulfed Britain these last hours is that otherwise the hagiographers will have the field to themselves.
Every controversial divisive deadly thing that Thatcher did will be placed in soft focus, bathed in a rose-coloured light, and provide a first draft of history that will be, simply, wrong.
As is now well-known, I refused to do that today on the demise of a wicked woman who tore apart what remained good about my country, and set an agenda which has been followed, more or less, by all of her successors. I certainly wasn’t prepared to leave the obituaries to those who profited from her rule or those who have aped her ever since.
So here is my own memory of Thatcher and what she did in her time on this earth.
On one of my first political demonstrations – against the Conservative government of Edward Heath (1970-74) the slogan of the day was “Margaret Thatcher- Milk snatcher”. It was the first but not the last time I spat out her name in distaste.
Before Thatcher, every primary school pupil received 1/3 of a pint of milk every morning. For some it was the difference between breakfast and no breakfast. I was sometimes one of those. I grew up in a brief period of social democracy in Britain, being dosed by the state with free cod-liver oil, orange juice and malt to build up my strength. Having been born in a slum tenement into a one-room attic in an Irish immigrant area, I needed all of that and more. And like millions I got it, until Thatcher took it away.
She became the Conservative leader after Heath’s two electoral defeats in 1974 and his subsequent resignation.
She was a new type of Tory leader, entirely lacking in anything resembling “noblesse oblige”. She was nasty, brutish and short of the class previously thought obligatory in Britain amongst leaders of the ruling elite. She was vulgar, money-worshipping, and blasphemous. She believed the important part of the Biblical story of the “Good Samaritan” was not that he refused to pass by the suffering on the other side of the road but that he had “loadsamoney”.
In the infamous sermon on the Mound in Edinburgh addressing the Church of Scotland she opined that there was “no such thing as society”…”only individuals”
As the Labour leader Neil Kinnock, in one of his better efforts, retorted: “No such thing as society? Only individuals? No such thing as honouring other people’s parents? No such thing as cherishing other people’s children? No such thing as us and always? Just ME and NOW? ME and NOW?”
She was the living embodiment of Marx’s prediction that under capitalism “all that is solid will melt into air… all that is sacred will be profaned”
Upon her election as prime minister (with just 40% of the vote, her position ensured by the treacherous defection from the Labour cause of the rats now squirming on the Liberal-Democrat ship) she set about “transforming” Britain allright. She privatised Britain’s key industries, enriching her friends, and robbing the public of their birthright. When she took over “Financial Services” represented 3% of the British economy; when she left office it was 40%.
She destroyed the coal industry, the steel, car, bus and motor-cycle manufacturing, truck and bus-making, ship-building and print-industry, the railway workshops… she destroyed more than a third of Britain’s manufacturing capacity, significantly more than Hitler’s Luftwaffe ever achieved.
She did this not just because she prefered the spivs and gamblers in the city -they were her kind of people. But because above all, she hated trades unionism, and was determined to destroy it.
I was a leading member of the Scottish Labour Party at the time she came into office, and a full-time Labour organiser. Scotland was to become an industrial wasteland in the first years of her rule.
I was also, from 1973, a member of the then Transport and General Workers Union, one of her key targets – especially our Docks section.
Importantly, for me, I was an honorary member of the National Union of Mineworkers too.
In all of these capacities I was a front-line short-sword fighter in the rearguard action against Thatcherism.
I fought her at Bathgate, at Linwood, when she was sacking the automotive industry. I fought her at Wapping – every Saturday night when she destroyed the Print workers on behalf of her friend, the organised crime firm owner, Rupert Murdoch. I fought every day of the Miners strike when she destroyed the Miners Union and the communities they represented. I fought her at Timex in Dundee at Massey Ferguson in Kilmarnock, and at the aluminium smelter in Invergordon.
I fought against her poll tax – imposed first in Scotland – as a refusenik of the most iniquitous tax in Britain since mediaeval times, the tax which ended in flames – literally – whilst I was on the platform at Trafalgar Square. And which finally produced her political demise.
And I toured – as a political activist – the desolation in Britain’s post-industrial distressed areas which she left behind. The City of London – deregulated by her – boomed whilst the coalfields and steel areas sank into penury. I saw the rusted factories the flooded mines the idle shipyards and the devilish results of millions of newly and enforced idle hands.
I faced her in parliament from 1987 as well, on these and other issues.
You see it wasn’t just Britain that Thatcher made bleed.
Her withdrawal of political status from Irish republican prisoners and her brutal, securocratic, militarisation of the situation in the north led to much additional suffering in Ireland.
State collusion in the murder of Catholics became endemic during her rule. And ten young men were starved to death for the restoration of political status, before our eyes in her dungeons. She finally died on the anniversary of their leader, Bobby Sands, being elected to parliament as he lay on his death-bed.
During the Falklands War, she sent hundreds of young Argentinian conscripts to a watery grave when she shot the Argentine warship the Belgrano in the back – as it was speeding away from the conflict. She mercilessly exploited the sacrifice of them, and our own soldiers sailors and airmen, to save her own political skin. A lot of brave men had to leave their guts on Goose Green to keep Thatcher in power.
She pushed her alter ego – the semi-imbecilic US president Ronald Reagan – into Cold War fanaticism and burgeoning expenditure on more and more terrifying weapons – many of them stationed on our soil.
She pushed his successor George Bush Sen into the first Iraq War.
I was there, I saw her lips move, when she described Nelson Mandela as a “common terrorist”.
She continued to recognise the genocidal and deposed Pol Pot regime in Cambodia – insisting that Pol Pot was the real and recognised leader of the Cambodians, even as they counted his victims in millions.
And she was the author of the policy of military, political, diplomatic and media support of the Afghan obscurantists who became the Taliban and Al Qaeda. She even produced them on the platform of the Tory Party conference, hailing them as “freedom-fighters”.
I was one of the last men standing in parliament opposing this immoral policy of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”.
On the eve of the triumph of these “freedom Fighters” I told Thatcher to her face; “You have opened the gates for the barbarians….and a long dark night will now descend upon the people of Afghanistan”. I never said a truer word.
I hated Margaret Thatcher for what seems like all my life. I hated her more than I hated anyone – until the mass murderer Tony Blair came along.
It would have been utter hypocrisy for me to have remained silent about her crimes today whilst the political class – including New Labour – poured honeyed words, lies actually, over her blood-spattered record.
____________________________________
Margaret Thatcher’s Criminal Legacy
-
Hours after the death of former British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher, the history books are being re-written
and the beatification of the Iron Lady is well underway.
Current
British premier David Cameron praised Lady Thatcher for having
“saved Britain” and for making the has-been colonial power
“great again”.
Tributes poured forth from French and German leaders, Francoise Hollande and Angela Merkel, while US President Barack Obama said America had lost a “special friend”.
Former American secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev also lamented the loss of “an historic world figure”. Polish ex-president Lech Walesa hailed Margaret Thatcher for having brought down the Soviet Union and Communism.
Such fulsome praise may be expected coming from so many war criminals. But it is instructive of how history is written by the victors and criminals in high office. Obama, Cameron, Hollande and Merkel should all be arraigned and prosecuted for war crimes in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia and Mali, among other places. Kissinger has long evaded justice for over four decades for his role in the US genocide in Southeast Asia during the so-called Vietnam War in which over three million people were obliterated in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The British state is to give Thatcher, who died this week aged 87, a full military-honours funeral. The praise, eulogies, wreaths and ceremonies are all self-indictments of association with one of the most ruthless and criminal political figures in modern times.
So, here is a people’s history of Thatcher’s legacy.
She will be remembered for colluding with the most reactionary elements of Rupert Murdoch’s squalid media empire to launch a war over the Malvinas Islands in 1982, a war that caused hundreds of lives and involved the gratuitous sinking of an Argentine warship, the Belgrano, by a British submarine.
By declaring war, rather than conducting political negotiations with Argentina over Britain’s ongoing colonial possession of the Malvinas, Thatcher salvaged her waning public support in Britain, and the bloodletting helped catapult her into a second term of office in Downing Street. Her political “greatness” that so many Western leaders now eulogize was therefore paid in part by the lives of Argentine and British soldiers, and by bequeathing an ongoing source of conflict in the South Atlantic.
It wasn’t just foreigners that Thatcher declared war on. Armed with her snake-oil economic policies of privatisation, deregulation, unleashing finance capitalism, pump-priming the rich with tax awards subsidised by the ordinary working population, Thatcher declared war on the British people themselves. She famously proclaimed that “there was no such thing as society” and went on to oversee an explosion in the gap between rich and poor and the demolition of social conditions in Britain. That legacy has been amplified by both successive Conservative and Labour governments and is central to today’s social meltdown in Britain - more than two decades after Thatcher resigned. Laughably, David Cameron, a protégé of Thatcher, claims that she “saved” Britain. The truth is Thatcher accelerated the sinking of British capitalism and society at large. What she ordered for the Belgrano has in a very real way come to be realised for British society at large.
During her second term of office in the mid-1980s, the Iron Lady declared war on the “enemy within”. She was referring to Britain’s strongly unionised coal-mining industry. Imagine declaring war on your own population. That is a measure of her pathological intolerance towards others who did not happen to share her obnoxious ideological views - ideological views that have since become exposed as intellectually and morally bankrupt.
For over a year around 1984, her Orwellian mindset and policies starved mining communities in the North of England into submission. Her use of paramilitary police violence also broke the resolve and legitimate rights of these communities. Miners’ leader Arthur Scargill would later be vindicated in the eyes of ordinary people, if not in the eyes of the mainstream media. Britain’s coalmines were systematically shut down, thousands of workers would be made unemployed, and entire communities were thrown on the social scrap heap. All this violence and misery was the price for Thatcher’s ideological war against working people and their political rights.
The class war that Thatcher unleashed in Britain is still raging. The rich have become richer, the poor decidedly more numerous and poorer. The decimation of workers’ rights and the unfettered power given to finance capital were hallmarks of Thatcher’s legacy and are to this day hallmarks of Britain’s current social decay. But that destructive legacy goes well beyond Britain. The rightwing nihilistic capitalism that Thatcher gave vent to was and became a zeitgeist for North America, Europe and globally. The economic malaise that is currently plaguing the world can be traced directly to such ideologues as Margaret Thatcher and former US President Ronald Reagan.
A final word on Thatcher’s real legacy, as opposed to the fakery from fellow war criminals, is her role in Ireland’s conflict. Her epitaph of “Iron Lady” is often said with admiration or even sneaking regard for her supposed virtues of determination and strength. In truth, her “iron” character was simply malevolent, as can be seen from her policies towards the Irish struggle for independence from Britain. In 1981, 10 Irish republican prisoners, led by a young Belfast man by the name of Bobby Sands, died from hunger strikes. The men died after more than 50 days of refusing prison food because they were demanding to be treated as political prisoners, not as criminals. Thatcher refused to yield to their demands, denouncing them as criminals and callously claiming that they “took their own lives”. No matter that Bobby Sands had been elected by tens of thousands of Irish voters to the British House of Parliament during his hunger strike. He was merely a criminal who deserved to die, according to the cold, unfeeling Thatcher.
As a result of Thatcher’s intransigence to negotiate Irish rights, the violence in the North of Ireland would escalate over the next decade, claiming thousands of lives. As with Las Malvinas dispute with Argentina, Thatcher deliberately took the military option and, with that, countless lives, rather than engage in reasoned, mutual dialogue. Her arrogance and obduracy blinded her to any other possibility.
As the violence gyrated in Ireland, Thatcher would also embrace the criminal policy of colluding with pro-British death squads. Armed,funded and directed by British intelligence, these death squads would in subsequent years kill hundreds of innocent people - with the knowledge and tacit approval of Lady Thatcher. It was a policy of British state terrorism in action, sanctioned by Thatcher. One of those victims was Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane, who was murdered in February 1989. He was shot 12 times in the head in front of his wife and children by a British death squad, after the killers smashed their way into the Finucane home on a Sunday afternoon.
Thus whether in her dealings with Las Malvinas row with Argentina, the British working people or Irish republicans, Margaret Thatcher was an intolerant militarist who always resorted to demagoguery, violence and starvation to get her political way. She was a criminal fascist who is
Tributes poured forth from French and German leaders, Francoise Hollande and Angela Merkel, while US President Barack Obama said America had lost a “special friend”.
Former American secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev also lamented the loss of “an historic world figure”. Polish ex-president Lech Walesa hailed Margaret Thatcher for having brought down the Soviet Union and Communism.
Such fulsome praise may be expected coming from so many war criminals. But it is instructive of how history is written by the victors and criminals in high office. Obama, Cameron, Hollande and Merkel should all be arraigned and prosecuted for war crimes in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, Somalia and Mali, among other places. Kissinger has long evaded justice for over four decades for his role in the US genocide in Southeast Asia during the so-called Vietnam War in which over three million people were obliterated in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
The British state is to give Thatcher, who died this week aged 87, a full military-honours funeral. The praise, eulogies, wreaths and ceremonies are all self-indictments of association with one of the most ruthless and criminal political figures in modern times.
So, here is a people’s history of Thatcher’s legacy.
She will be remembered for colluding with the most reactionary elements of Rupert Murdoch’s squalid media empire to launch a war over the Malvinas Islands in 1982, a war that caused hundreds of lives and involved the gratuitous sinking of an Argentine warship, the Belgrano, by a British submarine.
By declaring war, rather than conducting political negotiations with Argentina over Britain’s ongoing colonial possession of the Malvinas, Thatcher salvaged her waning public support in Britain, and the bloodletting helped catapult her into a second term of office in Downing Street. Her political “greatness” that so many Western leaders now eulogize was therefore paid in part by the lives of Argentine and British soldiers, and by bequeathing an ongoing source of conflict in the South Atlantic.
It wasn’t just foreigners that Thatcher declared war on. Armed with her snake-oil economic policies of privatisation, deregulation, unleashing finance capitalism, pump-priming the rich with tax awards subsidised by the ordinary working population, Thatcher declared war on the British people themselves. She famously proclaimed that “there was no such thing as society” and went on to oversee an explosion in the gap between rich and poor and the demolition of social conditions in Britain. That legacy has been amplified by both successive Conservative and Labour governments and is central to today’s social meltdown in Britain - more than two decades after Thatcher resigned. Laughably, David Cameron, a protégé of Thatcher, claims that she “saved” Britain. The truth is Thatcher accelerated the sinking of British capitalism and society at large. What she ordered for the Belgrano has in a very real way come to be realised for British society at large.
During her second term of office in the mid-1980s, the Iron Lady declared war on the “enemy within”. She was referring to Britain’s strongly unionised coal-mining industry. Imagine declaring war on your own population. That is a measure of her pathological intolerance towards others who did not happen to share her obnoxious ideological views - ideological views that have since become exposed as intellectually and morally bankrupt.
For over a year around 1984, her Orwellian mindset and policies starved mining communities in the North of England into submission. Her use of paramilitary police violence also broke the resolve and legitimate rights of these communities. Miners’ leader Arthur Scargill would later be vindicated in the eyes of ordinary people, if not in the eyes of the mainstream media. Britain’s coalmines were systematically shut down, thousands of workers would be made unemployed, and entire communities were thrown on the social scrap heap. All this violence and misery was the price for Thatcher’s ideological war against working people and their political rights.
The class war that Thatcher unleashed in Britain is still raging. The rich have become richer, the poor decidedly more numerous and poorer. The decimation of workers’ rights and the unfettered power given to finance capital were hallmarks of Thatcher’s legacy and are to this day hallmarks of Britain’s current social decay. But that destructive legacy goes well beyond Britain. The rightwing nihilistic capitalism that Thatcher gave vent to was and became a zeitgeist for North America, Europe and globally. The economic malaise that is currently plaguing the world can be traced directly to such ideologues as Margaret Thatcher and former US President Ronald Reagan.
A final word on Thatcher’s real legacy, as opposed to the fakery from fellow war criminals, is her role in Ireland’s conflict. Her epitaph of “Iron Lady” is often said with admiration or even sneaking regard for her supposed virtues of determination and strength. In truth, her “iron” character was simply malevolent, as can be seen from her policies towards the Irish struggle for independence from Britain. In 1981, 10 Irish republican prisoners, led by a young Belfast man by the name of Bobby Sands, died from hunger strikes. The men died after more than 50 days of refusing prison food because they were demanding to be treated as political prisoners, not as criminals. Thatcher refused to yield to their demands, denouncing them as criminals and callously claiming that they “took their own lives”. No matter that Bobby Sands had been elected by tens of thousands of Irish voters to the British House of Parliament during his hunger strike. He was merely a criminal who deserved to die, according to the cold, unfeeling Thatcher.
As a result of Thatcher’s intransigence to negotiate Irish rights, the violence in the North of Ireland would escalate over the next decade, claiming thousands of lives. As with Las Malvinas dispute with Argentina, Thatcher deliberately took the military option and, with that, countless lives, rather than engage in reasoned, mutual dialogue. Her arrogance and obduracy blinded her to any other possibility.
As the violence gyrated in Ireland, Thatcher would also embrace the criminal policy of colluding with pro-British death squads. Armed,funded and directed by British intelligence, these death squads would in subsequent years kill hundreds of innocent people - with the knowledge and tacit approval of Lady Thatcher. It was a policy of British state terrorism in action, sanctioned by Thatcher. One of those victims was Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane, who was murdered in February 1989. He was shot 12 times in the head in front of his wife and children by a British death squad, after the killers smashed their way into the Finucane home on a Sunday afternoon.
Thus whether in her dealings with Las Malvinas row with Argentina, the British working people or Irish republicans, Margaret Thatcher was an intolerant militarist who always resorted to demagoguery, violence and starvation to get her political way. She was a criminal fascist who is
now proclaimed to be a national hero.
____________________________
Margaret Thatcher died Monday, April 8, 2013, at the age of 87. Predictably, there is no dearth of hagiographic profiles of the former British Prime Minister in the mainstream press and scathing vitriol elsewhere. But while The Economist hails Thatcher for her "willingness to stand up to tyranny" and Barack Obama calls her "one of the great champions of freedom and liberty," it should be remembered that, throughout her career, Thatcher was a staunch supporter of many of the world's most brutal regimes, propping up and arming war criminals and dictators in service to Western imperialism, anti-Communism and neoliberal hegemony.
Throughout the 1980s, Thatcher's government backed Iraq during its war against Iran, funneling weapons and equipment to Saddam Hussein in contravention of both international law and British policy, all the way up until Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. She even sent Christmas cards to both Saddam and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 1981.
During her first trip to Israel in 1965, less than two decades after the Nakba and while Palestinians still lived under martial law, Thatcher spoke highly of Israelis for "their sense of purpose and complete dedication, their pioneer spirit, and their realism." She later advocated that Palestinian self-determination be realized within the context of "some kind of federation with Jordan," which she deemed "the best and most acceptable solution."
In 1986, Thatcher said of Golda Meir, who not only denied the Palestinian right of return but also the existence of Palestinians in general, "I greatly admired her. I greatly admired her as a war leader. I greatly admired her tremendous courage. I greatly admired her as a pioneer. I greatly admired her as a great human being, warm, thoughtful, kind, for all her fellow citizens and for human kind in the world as a whole."
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here's a review of some of her other pals...
In April 1978, prior to her ascension to Prime Minister, Thatcher visited the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran where she praised him as "one of the world's most far-sighted statesmen, whose experience is unrivaled."
Despite the popular protests against the Shah occurring across Iran with increasing frequency, Thatcher said of her host, "No other world leader has given his country more dynamic leadership. He is leading Iran through a twentieth century renaissance." Exactly one month before her visit, street protests in over 55 Iranian cities resulted in the killing of more than 100 civilians, when police opened fire on the crowds.
Iran "holds a key strategic position in the defence of the Western World," Thatcher continued, "Her strength and resolve are vital to our future." She added, "Iran has been the West's most resolute and stalwart ally in this crucial region."
Upon his overthrow the following February, the Shah expressed his desire to seek asylum in England at his lavish country estate in Surrey. While the British government at the time wound up secretly helping the Shah make his way from Morocco to the Bahamas, it rejected his request to enter the UK.
Thatcher, who became Prime Minister soon thereafter, respected the decision of her predecessor for political reasons, but was "deeply unhappy" that Britain could not offer sanctuary to Pahlavi, whom she called a "firm and helpful friend."
A longtime supporter of the Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, Thatcher once received a memo from the UK Foreign Office referring to Mubarak as "no intellectual but...always friendly and cheerful," noting that while "apt to express simplistic views, he has become an experienced and accomplished political operator." The brief continued, "His affable exterior evidently conceals a degree of ruthlessness since it seems likely that he has conducted some successful political infighting to maintain his position" having "succeeded in ousting or at least surviving all other prominent figures in the government or armed forces."
"Nevertheless his reputation is free of any taint of corruption or malpractice and he is not thought to have made many enemies," the memo said of Mubarak, adding that he was "eager to improve relations with the Royal Air Force and to buy British [military] equipment."
Thatcher was only too happy to oblige.
Over the years of her leadership, Thatcher routinely commended Mubarak for his "courage" and "strength." In 1985, at a banquet in Cairo, she said she "admire[d] particularly, Mr. President, the leadership which you personally...have shown." Five years later, while hosting Mubarak and his wife at No. 10 Downing Street, Thatcher declared, "You are among our very favourite visitors because we all know you as particularly good and close friends of this country, as we are of Egypt," and once again
expressed her admiration for the Egyptian president, this time for his "incredible energy."
"You are as full of beans as ever," she said. Unfortunately for the Egyptian people over the next 11 years, thanks largely to American and British largesse, she was right.
Thatcher was a steadfast defender of Augusto Pinochet, whose unspeakably brutal dictatorship of torture and repression terrorized Chile from 1973 to 1990. She visited Pinochet in 1999 during his house arrest in England, saying that her country "owed" him "a great debt" of gratitude for his help during the 1982 Falklands War.
Without any sense of irony, Thatcher added, "I'm also very much aware that it is you who brought democracy to Chile."
Never one to mention his appalling human rights record, Thatcher expressed her "outrage at the callous and unjust treatment" of Pinochet during a speech that October at the Conservative Party Conference, called him "this country's only political prisoner," and hailed him as Britain's "staunch, true friend in our time of need" and "who stopped the communists taking Chile."
The next year, upon his release and return to Chile, for which she fought tirelessly, Thatcher sent Pinochet a silver Armada dish as a gift, condemned his detention in England as "a great injustice" and wished the deposed dictator and his family "all good wishes for a peaceful and secure future."
When Pinochet died six years later, Thatcher said she was "deeply saddened" by his passing.
Subsequently, Robin Harris, a former official in Thatcher's administration, wrote in The Telegraph that Thatcher "took a positive view of Pinochet's 17 years in power" and "would not have spoken up for him if she had believed him a monster. She could not judge the merits of every allegation. But, clearly, the legal case against him was weak and the motivation of those involved suspect."
Harris similarly praised Pinochet for "[leaving] behind a stable democracy," concluding that "Margaret Thatcher has nothing to be ashamed of in defending Augusto Pinochet, when others refused to do so" and that Pinochet "was lucky to find such a champion."
The Al Yamamah arms deal, signed a year and a half earlier, was "the biggest export transaction in British history, estimated by a British Aerospace executive in 2005 to be worth £83 billion in past and future sales to Saudi Arabia of military hardware including aircraft ranging from Tornado fighters and Hawk trainer jets to Eurofighter Typhoons," in addition to a wide range of arms, naval vessels, radar, spare parts, and a pilot-training program.
The deal was largely the result of Thatcher's own lobbying initiative on behalf of the British defense industry and weapons manufacturers and, ever since its signing, allegations of corruption, fraud and bribery have abounded.
In 1993, in a speech to a Chatham House Conference on Saudi Arabia after leaving office, Thatcher maintained that "[o]ne of Al Yamamah's achievements has been the training and equipping of the Royal Saudi Air Force by Britain. Both training and aircraft were put to the test of wartime combat far sooner than anyone expected. As we now know, both the aircraft and their RSAF pilots performed superbly in Operation Desert Storm." She continued, "The Al Yamamah programme has continued steadily since the conflict. When this year's new order of a further 48 Tornado aircraft for the RSAF has been executed it will be safe to say that
Saudi Arabia will have one of the strongest and most effective Air Forces in the world."
Beyond this, Thatcher described the kingdom as "a peace loving nation" and a "modern miracle," touting its "domestic achievements" and the "stable framework" and "solid rock of a well established and respected monarchy." Thatcher called herself "a great admirer of Saudi Arabia and the leadership of King Fahd," which she declared was "a strong force for moderation and stability."
"We are strong partners in trade and defence. We share great strategic interests," she said.
Regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights record, Thatcher was silent. "I have no intention of meddling in that country's internal affairs," she insisted. "It is one of my firmest beliefs that although there are certain basic standards and goals we should expect from every member of the international community, the precise pace and approach must reflect different societies' cultural, social, economic and historical backgrounds. And Saudi Arabia, in particular, is a complex society which Westerners do not often fully comprehend."
Again, without even the slightest hint of irony, Thatcher - in the very same speech - noted, "It is the surest signal to other dictators that the West lacks the resolve to defend justice. We have yet to see its full consequences — our lack of effective action will return to haunt us." She was talking about Bosnia.
While Thatcher maintained throughout her political career that she "loathe[d] apartheid and everything connected with it," she referred to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, as "a typical terrorist organization" and refused, alongside Ronald Reagan, to back sanctions against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. "In my view, isolation will lead only to an increasingly negative and intransigent attitude in the part of white South African," she said in December 1977.
In 1984, Thatcher invited South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha to visit London, the first such visit in 23 years, sparking understandable outrage in the anti-Apartheid movement. The next year, the Associated Press reported
that she "rejected demands by the opposition Labor Party that she meet
with Oliver Tambo, leader of the African National Congress guerrilla
movement, who is visiting Britain...on grounds he espouses violence."
"I do not accept that apartheid is the root of violence... nor do most other people," Thatcher insisted and, during a speech before Parliament, stated that Botha's "South African government has taken more steps to start dismantling apartheid than any of their predecessors."
"I can see little point in sanctions creating more unemployment in this country only to create more unemployment in South Africa...It seems to me a ridiculous policy that would not work,'' she added.
Five years later, during the last gasps of Apartheid, Thatcher was still opposing sanctions. In 2006, Tory leader (and now British Prime Minister) David Cameron apologized for Thatcher's actions.
In response to her death today, Oliver Tambo's son Dali told the press, "My gut reaction now is what it was at the time when she said my father was the leader of a terrorist organisation. I don't think she ever got it that every day she opposed sanctions, more people were dying, and that the best thing for the assets she wanted to protect was democracy," adding, "It's a shame that we could never call her one of the champions of the liberation struggle. Normally we say that when one of us goes, the ANC ancestors will meet them at the pearly gates and give them a standing ovation. I think it's quite likely that when Margaret Thatcher reaches the pearly gates, the ANC will boycott the occasion."
After deposing Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and imposing martial law, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq retained power in Pakistan for a decade. Supported by the United Kingdom, United States and Saudi Arabia, as well as cultivating ties with both Israel and India, Zia-ul-Haq served as an anti-Communist bulwark against Soviet expansion after the occupation of Afghanistan, he presided over Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons and promoted the spread of Islamist militancy.
TIME's Ishaan Tharoor writes, "Lost in a Cold War fog," Thatcher supported Zia-ul-Haq's "military government...helping prop up a South Asian generalissimo now seen as one of the chief architects of the Islamist radicalization of his country," and adds, "under his watch, the Afghan mujahedin bloomed and the seeds of a new era of terrorist militancy were planted." His rule was consistently consolidated and dissent silenced through torture and public executions.
During a visit to Pakistan in 1981, Thatcher hailed the dictator's "courage and skill" and said she and other Western states "admire and support" his commitment to affirm "the right of the Afghan people to choose their own form of government in peace." Clearly, since Pakistan wasn't occupied by Soviets, Thatcher didn't care much for the Pakistani peoples' own rights to self-determination.
She pledged that Britain and Pakistan would "maintain a close and friendly relationship," with her government "giving Pakistan practical support, and toasted the "health and happiness of His Excellency."
Six years later, soon after the general had lifted martial law and granted himself even more presidential powers, Thatcher hosted him in London. She hailed "with great pleasure" the "remarkable strides" Pakistan had made under his rule, praised his "generosity" with regard to Afghan refugees, and wished Zia "every success in your great endeavors."
"I believe that your courage, your strength and your persistence will have their reward and your example will be a lesson to the world," Thatcher said. "[W]e are your friends and you are our friends." She raised a glass to his health and "to the success of democracy in Pakistan and to the continuing and abiding friendship between our two countries."
The very next year, Zia dissolved Pakistan's National Assembly and dismissed his appointed Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo for signing the Geneva Accords and not sufficiently supporting his continued Islamization projects.
She told the press, "Trade brings us together and identifies our interests, and I am sure that trade between Indonesia and Britain will increase as a result of the very friendly and warm atmosphere created by my visit here. We are clearly the best of friends and there is no sounder basis on which to construct future collaboration."
"A Foreign Office speciality was smearing witnesses to the bombing of
East Timorese villages by British-supplied Hawk aircraft - until Robin
Cook was forced to admit it was true. Almost a billion pounds in export
credit guarantees financed the sale of the Hawks, paid for by the
British taxpayer while the arms industry reaped the profit," Pilger
adds.
With this kind of record, it is clear that Thatcher's constantly pledged support for "freedom and democracy" was really a violent, imperial campaign waged for free markets and domination.
____________________________
The Ironic Lady: Margaret Thatcher, Supposed Champion of Freedom and Democracy, and Her Dictator Friends
Nima Shirazi at Wide Asleep in America.
Margaret Thatcher died Monday, April 8, 2013, at the age of 87. Predictably, there is no dearth of hagiographic profiles of the former British Prime Minister in the mainstream press and scathing vitriol elsewhere. But while The Economist hails Thatcher for her "willingness to stand up to tyranny" and Barack Obama calls her "one of the great champions of freedom and liberty," it should be remembered that, throughout her career, Thatcher was a staunch supporter of many of the world's most brutal regimes, propping up and arming war criminals and dictators in service to Western imperialism, anti-Communism and neoliberal hegemony.
Throughout the 1980s, Thatcher's government backed Iraq during its war against Iran, funneling weapons and equipment to Saddam Hussein in contravention of both international law and British policy, all the way up until Saddam's invasion of Kuwait. She even sent Christmas cards to both Saddam and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi in 1981.
During her first trip to Israel in 1965, less than two decades after the Nakba and while Palestinians still lived under martial law, Thatcher spoke highly of Israelis for "their sense of purpose and complete dedication, their pioneer spirit, and their realism." She later advocated that Palestinian self-determination be realized within the context of "some kind of federation with Jordan," which she deemed "the best and most acceptable solution."
In 1986, Thatcher said of Golda Meir, who not only denied the Palestinian right of return but also the existence of Palestinians in general, "I greatly admired her. I greatly admired her as a war leader. I greatly admired her tremendous courage. I greatly admired her as a pioneer. I greatly admired her as a great human being, warm, thoughtful, kind, for all her fellow citizens and for human kind in the world as a whole."
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Here's a review of some of her other pals...
The Shah of Iran and Margaret Thatcher, 1978
In April 1978, prior to her ascension to Prime Minister, Thatcher visited the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in Tehran where she praised him as "one of the world's most far-sighted statesmen, whose experience is unrivaled."
Despite the popular protests against the Shah occurring across Iran with increasing frequency, Thatcher said of her host, "No other world leader has given his country more dynamic leadership. He is leading Iran through a twentieth century renaissance." Exactly one month before her visit, street protests in over 55 Iranian cities resulted in the killing of more than 100 civilians, when police opened fire on the crowds.
Iran "holds a key strategic position in the defence of the Western World," Thatcher continued, "Her strength and resolve are vital to our future." She added, "Iran has been the West's most resolute and stalwart ally in this crucial region."
Upon his overthrow the following February, the Shah expressed his desire to seek asylum in England at his lavish country estate in Surrey. While the British government at the time wound up secretly helping the Shah make his way from Morocco to the Bahamas, it rejected his request to enter the UK.
Thatcher, who became Prime Minister soon thereafter, respected the decision of her predecessor for political reasons, but was "deeply unhappy" that Britain could not offer sanctuary to Pahlavi, whom she called a "firm and helpful friend."
Thatcher and Hosni Mubarak, 1981
A longtime supporter of the Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, Thatcher once received a memo from the UK Foreign Office referring to Mubarak as "no intellectual but...always friendly and cheerful," noting that while "apt to express simplistic views, he has become an experienced and accomplished political operator." The brief continued, "His affable exterior evidently conceals a degree of ruthlessness since it seems likely that he has conducted some successful political infighting to maintain his position" having "succeeded in ousting or at least surviving all other prominent figures in the government or armed forces."
"Nevertheless his reputation is free of any taint of corruption or malpractice and he is not thought to have made many enemies," the memo said of Mubarak, adding that he was "eager to improve relations with the Royal Air Force and to buy British [military] equipment."
Thatcher was only too happy to oblige.
Over the years of her leadership, Thatcher routinely commended Mubarak for his "courage" and "strength." In 1985, at a banquet in Cairo, she said she "admire[d] particularly, Mr. President, the leadership which you personally...have shown." Five years later, while hosting Mubarak and his wife at No. 10 Downing Street, Thatcher declared, "You are among our very favourite visitors because we all know you as particularly good and close friends of this country, as we are of Egypt," and once again
expressed her admiration for the Egyptian president, this time for his "incredible energy."
"You are as full of beans as ever," she said. Unfortunately for the Egyptian people over the next 11 years, thanks largely to American and British largesse, she was right.
Thatcher and Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet
Thatcher was a steadfast defender of Augusto Pinochet, whose unspeakably brutal dictatorship of torture and repression terrorized Chile from 1973 to 1990. She visited Pinochet in 1999 during his house arrest in England, saying that her country "owed" him "a great debt" of gratitude for his help during the 1982 Falklands War.
Without any sense of irony, Thatcher added, "I'm also very much aware that it is you who brought democracy to Chile."
Never one to mention his appalling human rights record, Thatcher expressed her "outrage at the callous and unjust treatment" of Pinochet during a speech that October at the Conservative Party Conference, called him "this country's only political prisoner," and hailed him as Britain's "staunch, true friend in our time of need" and "who stopped the communists taking Chile."
The next year, upon his release and return to Chile, for which she fought tirelessly, Thatcher sent Pinochet a silver Armada dish as a gift, condemned his detention in England as "a great injustice" and wished the deposed dictator and his family "all good wishes for a peaceful and secure future."
When Pinochet died six years later, Thatcher said she was "deeply saddened" by his passing.
Subsequently, Robin Harris, a former official in Thatcher's administration, wrote in The Telegraph that Thatcher "took a positive view of Pinochet's 17 years in power" and "would not have spoken up for him if she had believed him a monster. She could not judge the merits of every allegation. But, clearly, the legal case against him was weak and the motivation of those involved suspect."
Harris similarly praised Pinochet for "[leaving] behind a stable democracy," concluding that "Margaret Thatcher has nothing to be ashamed of in defending Augusto Pinochet, when others refused to do so" and that Pinochet "was lucky to find such a champion."
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Thatcher, March 25, 1987
(Corbis)
In March 1987, King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, visited Thatcher. Beforehand, Thatcher said in
an interview, "Relations between Saudi Arabia and Britain are
excellent. We have common interests in peace and stability in the Middle
East. The Al Yamamah Project for the sale of Tornado and other aircraft
to Saudi Arabia has done much to focus Saudi attention on Britain and
British attention on Saudi Arabia."
The Al Yamamah arms deal, signed a year and a half earlier, was "the biggest export transaction in British history, estimated by a British Aerospace executive in 2005 to be worth £83 billion in past and future sales to Saudi Arabia of military hardware including aircraft ranging from Tornado fighters and Hawk trainer jets to Eurofighter Typhoons," in addition to a wide range of arms, naval vessels, radar, spare parts, and a pilot-training program.
 |
| Thatcher with King Khalid of Saudi Arabia, 1981 |
In 1993, in a speech to a Chatham House Conference on Saudi Arabia after leaving office, Thatcher maintained that "[o]ne of Al Yamamah's achievements has been the training and equipping of the Royal Saudi Air Force by Britain. Both training and aircraft were put to the test of wartime combat far sooner than anyone expected. As we now know, both the aircraft and their RSAF pilots performed superbly in Operation Desert Storm." She continued, "The Al Yamamah programme has continued steadily since the conflict. When this year's new order of a further 48 Tornado aircraft for the RSAF has been executed it will be safe to say that
Saudi Arabia will have one of the strongest and most effective Air Forces in the world."
Beyond this, Thatcher described the kingdom as "a peace loving nation" and a "modern miracle," touting its "domestic achievements" and the "stable framework" and "solid rock of a well established and respected monarchy." Thatcher called herself "a great admirer of Saudi Arabia and the leadership of King Fahd," which she declared was "a strong force for moderation and stability."
"We are strong partners in trade and defence. We share great strategic interests," she said.
Regarding Saudi Arabia's human rights record, Thatcher was silent. "I have no intention of meddling in that country's internal affairs," she insisted. "It is one of my firmest beliefs that although there are certain basic standards and goals we should expect from every member of the international community, the precise pace and approach must reflect different societies' cultural, social, economic and historical backgrounds. And Saudi Arabia, in particular, is a complex society which Westerners do not often fully comprehend."
Again, without even the slightest hint of irony, Thatcher - in the very same speech - noted, "It is the surest signal to other dictators that the West lacks the resolve to defend justice. We have yet to see its full consequences — our lack of effective action will return to haunt us." She was talking about Bosnia.
P.W. Botha and Thatcher, 1984
While Thatcher maintained throughout her political career that she "loathe[d] apartheid and everything connected with it," she referred to Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, as "a typical terrorist organization" and refused, alongside Ronald Reagan, to back sanctions against the Apartheid regime in South Africa. "In my view, isolation will lead only to an increasingly negative and intransigent attitude in the part of white South African," she said in December 1977.
In 1984, Thatcher invited South African Prime Minister P.W. Botha to visit London, the first such visit in 23 years, sparking understandable outrage in the anti-Apartheid movement. The next year, the Associated Press reported
that she "rejected demands by the opposition Labor Party that she meet
with Oliver Tambo, leader of the African National Congress guerrilla
movement, who is visiting Britain...on grounds he espouses violence."
"I do not accept that apartheid is the root of violence... nor do most other people," Thatcher insisted and, during a speech before Parliament, stated that Botha's "South African government has taken more steps to start dismantling apartheid than any of their predecessors."
"I can see little point in sanctions creating more unemployment in this country only to create more unemployment in South Africa...It seems to me a ridiculous policy that would not work,'' she added.
Five years later, during the last gasps of Apartheid, Thatcher was still opposing sanctions. In 2006, Tory leader (and now British Prime Minister) David Cameron apologized for Thatcher's actions.
In response to her death today, Oliver Tambo's son Dali told the press, "My gut reaction now is what it was at the time when she said my father was the leader of a terrorist organisation. I don't think she ever got it that every day she opposed sanctions, more people were dying, and that the best thing for the assets she wanted to protect was democracy," adding, "It's a shame that we could never call her one of the champions of the liberation struggle. Normally we say that when one of us goes, the ANC ancestors will meet them at the pearly gates and give them a standing ovation. I think it's quite likely that when Margaret Thatcher reaches the pearly gates, the ANC will boycott the occasion."
Thatcher and Zia-Ul-Haq, 1981
After deposing Pakistani Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and imposing martial law, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq retained power in Pakistan for a decade. Supported by the United Kingdom, United States and Saudi Arabia, as well as cultivating ties with both Israel and India, Zia-ul-Haq served as an anti-Communist bulwark against Soviet expansion after the occupation of Afghanistan, he presided over Pakistan's acquisition of nuclear weapons and promoted the spread of Islamist militancy.
TIME's Ishaan Tharoor writes, "Lost in a Cold War fog," Thatcher supported Zia-ul-Haq's "military government...helping prop up a South Asian generalissimo now seen as one of the chief architects of the Islamist radicalization of his country," and adds, "under his watch, the Afghan mujahedin bloomed and the seeds of a new era of terrorist militancy were planted." His rule was consistently consolidated and dissent silenced through torture and public executions.
During a visit to Pakistan in 1981, Thatcher hailed the dictator's "courage and skill" and said she and other Western states "admire and support" his commitment to affirm "the right of the Afghan people to choose their own form of government in peace." Clearly, since Pakistan wasn't occupied by Soviets, Thatcher didn't care much for the Pakistani peoples' own rights to self-determination.
She pledged that Britain and Pakistan would "maintain a close and friendly relationship," with her government "giving Pakistan practical support, and toasted the "health and happiness of His Excellency."
Six years later, soon after the general had lifted martial law and granted himself even more presidential powers, Thatcher hosted him in London. She hailed "with great pleasure" the "remarkable strides" Pakistan had made under his rule, praised his "generosity" with regard to Afghan refugees, and wished Zia "every success in your great endeavors."
"I believe that your courage, your strength and your persistence will have their reward and your example will be a lesson to the world," Thatcher said. "[W]e are your friends and you are our friends." She raised a glass to his health and "to the success of democracy in Pakistan and to the continuing and abiding friendship between our two countries."
The very next year, Zia dissolved Pakistan's National Assembly and dismissed his appointed Prime Minister Muhammad Khan Junejo for signing the Geneva Accords and not sufficiently supporting his continued Islamization projects.
Thatcher and Suharto, 1985
In the midst of the bloody Indonesian occupation of East Timor, Thatcher visited genocidal Indonesian dictator General Suharto, praised
Indonesia's "agricultural and industrial development" and, although
East Timorese had been killed, starved, disappeared and herded into
"resettlement camps" as part of Suharto's "encirclement and
annihilation" campaign, dismissed allegations of human rights abuses,
explaining that East Timor was none of Britain's business and that
Suharto himself has "assured me that the International Red Cross not
only had access to East Timor, but was very welcome there."
She told the press, "Trade brings us together and identifies our interests, and I am sure that trade between Indonesia and Britain will increase as a result of the very friendly and warm atmosphere created by my visit here. We are clearly the best of friends and there is no sounder basis on which to construct future collaboration."
In 2008, veteran journalist John Pilger recalled
that Thatcher referred to Suharto as, "One of our very best and most
valuable friends," and how, "[f]or three decades the south-east Asian
department of the Foreign Office worked tirelessly to minimise the
crimes of Suharto's gestapo, known as Kopassus, who gunned down people
with British-supplied Heckler & Koch machine guns from
British-supplied Tactica 'riot control' vehicles."
With this kind of record, it is clear that Thatcher's constantly pledged support for "freedom and democracy" was really a violent, imperial campaign waged for free markets and domination.
_______________________________________
British FO had concerns over Thatcher’s Jewish links
and information clearing house.British foreign office officials attempted to encourage Margaret Thatcher to break her strong ties with the Jewish community in the years running up to her election as prime minister, according to documents released this week.
Thatcher achieved the top position in British politics in 1979 after she led the Conservative party to win that year’s general election.
She had maintained close relations with the UK Jewish community, including membership of the Conservative Friends of Israel.
Thatcher’s constituency of Finchley has always included a large and supportive Jewish community.
However, newly released government archive documents, show that her closeness with British Jews was not seen by the foreign office to be totally positive after she became leader of the-then opposition Conservative party, a position which thrust her into world prominence.
Carrington’s concern
Manuscripts released by the government to the National Archives in Kew, West London reveal details of conversations in 1975 between Lord Carrington, the shadow foreign secretary and the British ambassador to Jordan.
The files include comments on the meeting by Michael Tait, an official at the British embassy in Jordan.
In them it is illustrated how the British embassy saw it “in the national interest” for Thatcher to sever links with the Jewish community for fear of upsetting the Arabs.
Tait said that the ambassador believed that Thatcher’s Jewish communal connections “would inevitably do much harm in the Arab world” and “should if at all practicable be severed.”
In the stunning documents, Tait continued: “Carrington agreed that Mrs Thatcher might most painlessly and with some justification get herself off the hook by resigning from all constituency obligations of this sort on the grounds of the rather wider obligations she has now to assume.
Prisoner of the Zionists
The foreign office also, apparently, took issue with the group of “pro-Israeli MPs”.
Tait wrote: “Such a stratagem might resolve the problem in Finchley but if Mrs Thatcher is indeed a prime mover in a wider parliamentary grouping of pro-Israeli MPs, then the difficulty would be trickier to bypass.”
He continued: “While we as government and not opposition officials may have no particular brief on Mrs Thatcher’s behalf, it is presumably in the national interest to do what we can to counter Arab fears and suspicions that the leader of HM opposition is already a prisoner of the Zionists.”
Mr Tait added in a handwritten postscript: “Why don’t you advise her to swap Finchley for Westminster? Christopher [Tugendhat, Tory MP for Westminster] might prefer such a change.”
________________________________________
THATCHER - GAY ICON AND FRIEND OF ISRAEL by aangirfan
Thatcher, the first British prime minister to visit Israel. “She was beautiful, gay, very kind and thoughtful,” Denis Thatcher said in an interview. www.timesofisrael.com
Margaret Thatcher, née Roberts, while in her final year at Somerville College, Oxford, studied under the supervision of Dorothy Hodgkin.
Thatcher installed a portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin in Downing Street.
Dorothy married Thomas Lionel Hodgkin, a one-time member of the Communist Party.
"Because of her political activity and her husband's association with the Communist Party, she was banned from entering the US in 1953."
Dorothy Hodgkin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Margaret Thatcher, née Roberts, while in her final year at Somerville College, Oxford, studied under the supervision of Dorothy Hodgkin.
Thatcher installed a portrait of Dorothy Hodgkin in Downing Street.
Dorothy married Thomas Lionel Hodgkin, a one-time member of the Communist Party.
"Because of her political activity and her husband's association with the Communist Party, she was banned from entering the US in 1953."
Dorothy Hodgkin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thatcher 1994, with Skye McAlpine
Margaret Thatcher was elected as MP for Finchley, in London.
She regarded Finchley's Jewish residents as "her people" and became a founding member of the Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley as well as a member of the Conservative Friends of Israel.[33]
Skye McAlpine.
Alistair McAlpine, Lord McAlpine, was the Tory Party Treasurer while Thatcher was prime Minister.
Senior Tory 'wrongly linked' to child abuse - Telegraph.co.uk. 'Mistaken identity' led to top Tory abuse claim - The Guardian
Lord McAlpine
When
a young girl wrote to Margaret Thatcher to say that her parents were
divorcing, Margaret Thatcher offered to meet the girl herself.
In the letter, written on 1 July 1981, Mrs Thatcher invited the girl to London to meet her and to see Parliament.
The girl’s identity is not revealed and it is not known whether she accepted Mrs Thatcher’s offer.
Read more: Margaret-Thatchers-touching-letter-offering-personal-meeting-girl-hit-parents-divorce.
Sir Jimmy Savile, close friend of Margaret Thatcher.
Lord McAlpine
In the letter, written on 1 July 1981, Mrs Thatcher invited the girl to London to meet her and to see Parliament.
The girl’s identity is not revealed and it is not known whether she accepted Mrs Thatcher’s offer.
Read more: Margaret-Thatchers-touching-letter-offering-personal-meeting-girl-hit-parents-divorce.
Sir Jimmy Savile, close friend of Margaret Thatcher.
Sir Jimmy Savile told Esquire magazine: "I am the eminence grise: the
grey, shadowy figure in the background. The thing about me is I get
things done and I work under cover."
Savile says he spent "11 consecutive Christmases ... with the Thatchers."
Savile says he spent "11 consecutive Christmases ... with the Thatchers."
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
There were many gay people in Thatcher's cabinet.
"She appointed gay ministers including the tragic Earl of Avon (son of ex-Prime Minister Anthony Eden) who was one of the earliest victims of Aids."
New Statesman - Thatcher the GAY icon
Lord Victor Rothschild
Margaret Thatcher had many Jewish links.
"She appointed gay ministers including the tragic Earl of Avon (son of ex-Prime Minister Anthony Eden) who was one of the earliest victims of Aids."
New Statesman - Thatcher the GAY icon
Lord Victor Rothschild
Margaret Thatcher had many Jewish links.
Margaret Thatcher appointed Victor Rothschild as her unofficial security adviser.
In 1994, Roland Perry, in his book The Fifth Man, claimed that Victor Rothschild may have helped Israel to gain important nuclear secrets.
http://users.cyberone.com.au/myers/perry.html
Lord Victor Rothschild is reported to have been the chief figure in the 'Cambridge' Soviet spy ring, which included Blunt, Burgess and Philby.
Lord Victor Rothschild is reported to have been the chief figure in the 'Cambridge' Soviet spy ring, which included Blunt, Burgess and Philby.
Rifkind.
Jonathan Freedland, on 31 10 2003, wrote in The Guardian:
Margaret Thatcher had a Cabinet "which included no fewer than five Jews:
Lord (David) Young,
Malcolm Rifkind,
Leon Brittan,
Nigel Lawson
And Keith Joseph.
"More old Estonians than old Etonians," joked the aged Harold Macmillan.
Guardian Unlimited The Guardian Profile: Michael Howard
From Jewish tribal review: "As half of 1% of the British population, Jews in the Margaret Thatcher era held 5 of 20 cabinet positions.
Leon Brittan (right). aangirfan: TOP PEOPLE SMEARED
From Jewish tribal review: "As half of 1% of the British population, Jews in the Margaret Thatcher era held 5 of 20 cabinet positions.
"I was born to a Lithuanian father and am of Jewish descent," noted Minister David Young.
"My only brother, Stewart, is chairman of the BBC. My father used to say, 'One son deputy chairman of the government, another chairman of the BBC -- that's not bad for immigrants."
http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/27govt2.htm
The UK's Foreign Office was concerned at Thatcher's Jewish links
"Foreign Office officials were so concerned about Margaret Thatcher's pro-Israeli sympathies when she became Tory leader they wanted her to break off links with local Jewish groups, according to newly-released official papers.
"Files released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, under the 30 year rule reveal that diplomats feared she would be seen by Arab countries as a 'prisoner of the Zionists'.
"One official even suggested that she should give up her Finchley parliamentary seat in north London - with its large Jewish community - for somewhere more palatable to Arab opinion.
"My only brother, Stewart, is chairman of the BBC. My father used to say, 'One son deputy chairman of the government, another chairman of the BBC -- that's not bad for immigrants."
http://www.jewishtribalreview.org/27govt2.htm
Claire McAlpine. Claire McAlpine was 15 when she died. She left behind a diary naming many famous people who had abused her. Jimmy Savile was interviewed by a newspaper about the death of Claire McAlpine.
The UK's Foreign Office was concerned at Thatcher's Jewish links
"Foreign Office officials were so concerned about Margaret Thatcher's pro-Israeli sympathies when she became Tory leader they wanted her to break off links with local Jewish groups, according to newly-released official papers.
"Files released to the National Archives in Kew, west London, under the 30 year rule reveal that diplomats feared she would be seen by Arab countries as a 'prisoner of the Zionists'.
"One official even suggested that she should give up her Finchley parliamentary seat in north London - with its large Jewish community - for somewhere more palatable to Arab opinion.
Margaret Thatcher with Yitzhak Shamir in Jerusalem in 1986. (photo credit: Yossi Zamir/Flash90)
The issue of Thatcher's membership of groups such as the Anglo-Israel
Friendship League of Finchley and Conservative Friends of Israel was
raised during a visit by shadow foreign secretary Lord Carrington to
Jordan in 1975.
Mark Thatcher.
In 1998 South African authorities investigated a firm owned by Mark Thatcher for allegedly running loan shark operations.
In 1998 South African authorities investigated a firm owned by Mark Thatcher for allegedly running loan shark operations.
The company offered unofficial small loans to hundreds of police officers, military personnel and civil servants.
People in London celebrate the death of Margaret Thatcher. Photograph: Danny E. Martindale/Getty Images
"Her legacy is of public division, private selfishness and a cult of greed."
"As Germany and other northern nations have shown, economic dynamism has been possible without the squandering of social cohesion that Mrs Thatcher promoted."
Margaret Thatcher: the lady and the land she leaves behind
Thatcher believed in "a strong state, marked by everything from the abolition of local government autonomy to the enhancement of police powers... and increased defence spending."
"As Germany and other northern nations have shown, economic dynamism has been possible without the squandering of social cohesion that Mrs Thatcher promoted."
Margaret Thatcher: the lady and the land she leaves behind
In Glasgow, celebrations of Margaret Thatcher's death. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
During Thatcher's time as prime
Minister, "Britain for the first time since the beginning of the
industrial revolution imported more manufactured goods than it exported,
a situation that has never been reversed."[18]
The disastrous Margaret Thatcher:
1. Increased public spending.
2. Signed the Single European Act.
3. Replaced vast number of good Grammar Schools with horrid Comprehensive Schools.
Michael Potillo in - FT.com
1. Increased public spending.
2. Signed the Single European Act.
3. Replaced vast number of good Grammar Schools with horrid Comprehensive Schools.
Michael Potillo in - FT.com
Mark Thatcher. (http://www.smh.com.au/storyrhs)
The Guardian, (http://politics.guardian.l) tells us about Thatcher and BAE.
After Margaret Thatcher signed the al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, her son Mark Thatcher "was alleged, based on transcripts of telephone conversations between Saudi princes and agents, to have enjoyed £12m in commissions."
The Guardian, (http://politics.guardian.l) tells us about Thatcher and BAE.
After Margaret Thatcher signed the al-Yamamah arms deal with Saudi Arabia, her son Mark Thatcher "was alleged, based on transcripts of telephone conversations between Saudi princes and agents, to have enjoyed £12m in commissions."
Peter Morrison with Thatcher
(right). Bryn Estyn children's home (left). Allegedly, the UK security
services used Bryn Estyn as a boy brothel.
Peter Morrison, reportedly a child abuser, became Margaret Thatcher's Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Member of parliament Edwina Currie wrote in her diaries:
"'One appointment in the recent reshuffle has attracted a lot of gossip and could be very dangerous: Peter Morrison has become the PM’s PPS[Parliamentary Private Secretary].
"'Now he’s what they call a 'noted pederast', with a liking for young boys.
"'One appointment in the recent reshuffle has attracted a lot of gossip and could be very dangerous: Peter Morrison has become the PM’s PPS[Parliamentary Private Secretary].
"'Now he’s what they call a 'noted pederast', with a liking for young boys.
Cabinet
He admitted as
much to Norman Tebbit when he became deputy chairman of the party but
added 'However, I’m very discreet' - and he must be! She [Thatcher]
either knows and is taking a chance, or doesn’t; either way, it’s a
really dumb move.
"'[Conservative MP] Teresa Gorman told me this evening (in a taxi coming back from a drinks party at the BBC) that she inherited Morrison's (woman) agent, who claimed to have been offered money to keep quiet about his activities. It scares me as all the press know, and as we get closer to the election someone is going to make trouble, very close to her indeed.'"
"'[Conservative MP] Teresa Gorman told me this evening (in a taxi coming back from a drinks party at the BBC) that she inherited Morrison's (woman) agent, who claimed to have been offered money to keep quiet about his activities. It scares me as all the press know, and as we get closer to the election someone is going to make trouble, very close to her indeed.'"
Margaret as a child
"We need some serious answers to serious questions about why Tebbit, Margaret Thatcher and her other key aides and ministers like Willie Whitelaw, Leon Brittan and Lord McAlpine did not expose this well-known paedophile to police and public instead of giving him jobs in the party and government and allowing him to be right in there among Thatcher's inner circle for 15 years."
"We need some serious answers to serious questions about why Tebbit, Margaret Thatcher and her other key aides and ministers like Willie Whitelaw, Leon Brittan and Lord McAlpine did not expose this well-known paedophile to police and public instead of giving him jobs in the party and government and allowing him to be right in there among Thatcher's inner circle for 15 years."
Margaret Thatcher's father was a leading member of Rotary.
"Through Rotary, her family received an Austrian Jewish girl called Edith into their home after the Anschluss in 1938."
www.telegraph.co.uk
Funeral of Margaret's husband Dennis.
_______________________________________
Child abuse, arms deals, murders, deep state, cyprus - Aangirfan
_______________________
Australian Foreign Minister recalls Thatcher’s racist comments on immigration
By Presstv.com
Former
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher has made "unabashedly racist"
remarks about Asian migration to Australia, Australia's Foreign Minister
Bob Carr says.
Carr recalled Thatcher warning him against immigrants taking over Sydney, saying that Australia could end up like Fiji “where the Indian migrants have taken over”.
(Indians were in her time, and are the most successful immigrant community in the UK, achieving high success in EDUCATION, BUSINESS and PUBLIC LIFE, and contributing to the UK's CULTURE....Shes's talking through her backside clearly, if she is talking about a specific ethnic group to another state.
.
Immigrants don't just walk into a sovereign, modern, ultra sensitive ISLAND police state without the approval of the STATE itself FIRST...from the PM down, to the Home Office, FO etc.
Immigrants don't just walk into a sovereign, modern, ultra sensitive ISLAND police state without the approval of the STATE itself FIRST...from the PM down, to the Home Office, FO etc.
.
The British STATE is no helpless fly on the wall.......having busied itself around the world for the last 400 years.
.
The British STATE is no helpless fly on the wall.......having busied itself around the world for the last 400 years.
.
In the case of the JEWSA the Jewish elite who opened the floods gates of open immigration along the Mexican border since 1965, because they feel it is to the advantage of the tribe to do so against their psychological enemy against whom they have an inferiority complex, and harbor millennial old grudges...the North Europeans who created modern America.
.Saddam used his political enemies for his extensive CIA supplied lab experiments, and also the Kurds...Halabja 1988 (Indo-European, non-Arabs)
“She warned Australia, talking to me with Helena [his wife, who is of Malaysian origin] standing not far away against Asian immigration, saying that if we allowed too much of it we'd see the natives of the land, the European settlers, overtaken by migrants,” Carr told ABC television.
Former premier of New South Wales said he found her remarks “unabashedly racist”, adding that he was “so astonished” he couldn’t think of an appropriate reply.
Carr said Thatcher’s “evil nature of the communist totalitarianism” was the reason her party removed her in the early 90’s.
Former British Prime Minister died on Monday at the age of 87 after suffering from a series of strokes.
In a show of the depth of public hatred against the former Conservative leader, hundreds of protesters gathered in Brixton, London and Glasgow to hold “Thatcher death parties” while similar parties were also planned in Liverpool, Newcastle and Manchester.
