Richard Holbrooke - RIP

I knew he was in terrible shape, but this is unexpected.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/11/richard.holbrooke.obit/

yeah heard the news of his surgery on the way into work this morning, news of his death coming home tonight. stunned to say the least; i'm sure he was far too much of a hawk for most ilxors and his history w/ east timor can't be glossed over or spun positively but the man was a giant. his role in ending the war in bosnia cannot be overstated. rip.

Maybe the last of the Henry Stimson-Charles Evans Hughes type diplomat/scholar whose interests intersected (uncomfortably) between finance and diplomacy.

hell has a new guest

As Mr. Holbrooke was sedated for surgery, family members said, his final words were to his Pakistani surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."

jeez

fucking monster

"It's such a precise weapon, the Predator, that if they were aiming at your producers over there,” Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administrations special representative to Afganistan and Pakistan intoned to a skeptical Rachel Maddow on Monday, “you and I could continue our conversation. It’s very very small; does that not appeal to you, that idea?”

http://www.counterpunch.org/ehrenpreis09292010.html

http://www.counterpunch.org/frank01272009.html

Forgot he wrote one of the Pentagon Papers volumes.

In wee morning hours on Friday, January 23, a U.S. spy plane killed at least 15 in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border. It was Barack Obama’s first blood and the U.S.’s first violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty under the new administration.

well, a terrible day for westphalia no doubt, but im not sure this is true. feel like the pakistani govt has signed off on the US drone strikes -- in return for x y and z, sure. any case it's mildly ludicrous to talk about pakistani sovereignty in this context. its elected government barely has that.

sry, that's from norns's link

Dr. Nornius

I will never forget his longwinded speech (1 hour+) at my graduation, but not in a good way.

a faithful servant of the imperial war machine

As Mr. Holbrooke was sedated for surgery, family members said, his final words were to his Pakistani surgeon: "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan."

lol?

hope the doc got right on it

http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/2010/12/post_124.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/holbrooke-last-words-afghanistan-obama_n_796628.html

well that's weird isn't it

Holbrooke's recent passing inspired typical encomiums from standard outlets like The New York Times, who respect war criminals with good table manners. I would say that The Nation's parting kiss to Holbrooke surprised me, but given what Katrina vanden Heuvel has done to that once decent magazine, I merely nodded as Barbara Crossette (a Times vet, natch) applied rouge to Holbrooke's cheeks.

Among several howlers, Crossette's claim that "[w]ithin the UN system, Holbrooke had some achievements that were not often widely recognized. One was ending the pariah status of Israel, a cause of much American criticism," stood out. I'm not sure which planet Crossette is describing here, but her sympathies on this front are open and clear. Yet this is nothing compared to what Crossette omitted: Holbrooke's key role in arming and backing Indonesia's genocidal violence in East Timor. Were Holbrooke a Serbian state functionary, this alone would have landed him in the Hague along with reams of official vilification. But in The Nation -- y'know, the progressive magazine that's on YOUR side? -- Holbrooke is seen as a triumphant, if controversial, American patriot, his greatest crime airbrushed away.

I wonder if when making out his will, Holbrooke considered The Nation. They certainly deserve a cut.

http://dennisperrin.blogspot.com/2010/12/i-for-insanity.html

East Timor was an atrocity that ranks well up on the long list of 20th century atrocities. Complicity in it should be considered as complicity in tyranny, bloodshed, and injustice so rank as to stink to heaven. But in terms of crime, I can't say Holbrooke was a major actor in this crime. He didn't originate the policy of the USA government in blessing this atrocity. Kissinger was the main source of this evil, while Holbrooke was just the helpful functionary who facilitated the policy.

Sure, he didn't refuse the job. It even helped his carreer. That's a huge moral blot. But, if you're going to pour out resentments, there are dozens of worse criminals to focus on, mostly Indonesians, but also several Americans who were more instrumental in this crime than he was.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2012/06/james_mann_s_the_obamians_excerpt_richard_holbrooke_barack_obama_and_hillary_clinton.html