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It's a fact that Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and PW Botha all called him a terrorist. Is a bit like being called a wanker by Onan. edit - pekk, it won't

It's a fact that Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher and PW Botha all called him a terrorist. Is a bit like being called a wanker by Onan. edit - pekk, it won't let me reply at the moment, but in answer to your comment, Thatcher was no idiot by any stretch of the imagination, but she did send the SAS to train Pol-Pot led forces, while Reagan put up the money, so I think she definitely had more than a little blood on her hands. - http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137397 http://www.newstatesman.com/node/137397

SideburnsOfDoom 13y ago
In hindsight, yes.
pekk 13y ago
Margaret Thatcher (to pick one) was a terrible idiot, but not a terrorist.
- jessedhillon 13y ago
  Terrorism is a term used to describe almost exclusively violence conducted at the intersection of non-state endorsement and non-Western. A definition of terrorism which is derived from the impact and motivations of the violence would be impossible: state-sanctioned and non-sanctioned violence are separated by very blurry lines in those dimensions. Therefore to say Margeret Thatcher is not a terrorist is like saying "blue things are not yellow." Duh. The term exists specifically to describe violence conducted by people who are not Thatchers.
  - darkr 13y ago
    > Therefore to say Margeret Thatcher is not a terrorist is like saying "blue things are not yellow." Duh. The term exists specifically to describe violence conducted by people who are not Thatchers. Unless you're Mark Thatcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher#2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_d.27.C3.A9tat_attempt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher#2004_Equatorial_G...
patrickaljord 13y ago
Margaret Thatcher's rule started in May 1979, the genocide in Cambodia ended in 1979, the Khmer Rouge were defeated in January 1979 by the Vietnamese army. Blaming the genocide on Thatcher is one of the most ridiculous and intellectually dishonest anti-Thatcher argument I've read yet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher Also, if you're going to judge statesmen by the regimes they supported, then you should know that Mandela was a big supporter of Cuba's Castro, Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi and North Korea. Does that make Mandela a horrible man or statesman? Probably not, you'd be hard put to find a single statesman in history who never supported at least one evil regime.
- moocowduckquack 13y ago
  I didn't say that Thatcher was responsible for Cambodia's Year Zero. As you rightly say, she gave Pol-Pot support after Year Zero. At least the folk who gave him support before that have the excuse that they didn't know how he was going to turn out.
  - patrickaljord 13y ago
    Year Zero corresponds to 1975, starts of the genocide, saying that she helped Pol Pot after Year Zero is disingenuous. She went into power in May 1979, when the genocide was over and the Khmer Rouge overthrown. So she had nothing to do with the killings. Also, the newstatesmen is highly leftist and the article very messy. I couldn't find any other source verifying all of these claims or to what extend did she personally help anything.
    - moocowduckquack 13y ago
      Also, the newstatesmen is highly leftist and the article very messy. I couldn't find any other source from that article - Until 1989, the British role in Cambodia remained secret. The first reports appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, written by Simon O'Dwyer-Russell, a diplomatic and defence correspondent with close professional and family contacts with the SAS. He revealed that the SAS was training the Pol Pot-led force. Soon afterwards, Jane's Defence Weekly reported that the British training for the "non-communist" members of the "coalition" had been going on "at secret bases in Thailand for more than four years". The instructors were from the SAS, "all serving military personnel, all veterans of the Falklands conflict, led by a captain". Or is The Telegraph and Jane's Defence Weekly still too left wing for you?

SideburnsOfDoom 13y ago

In hindsight, yes.

pekk 13y ago

Margaret Thatcher (to pick one) was a terrible idiot, but not a terrorist.

jessedhillon 13y ago
Terrorism is a term used to describe almost exclusively violence conducted at the intersection of non-state endorsement and non-Western. A definition of terrorism which is derived from the impact and motivations of the violence would be impossible: state-sanctioned and non-sanctioned violence are separated by very blurry lines in those dimensions. Therefore to say Margeret Thatcher is not a terrorist is like saying "blue things are not yellow." Duh. The term exists specifically to describe violence conducted by people who are not Thatchers.
- darkr 13y ago
  > Therefore to say Margeret Thatcher is not a terrorist is like saying "blue things are not yellow." Duh. The term exists specifically to describe violence conducted by people who are not Thatchers. Unless you're Mark Thatcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher#2004_Equatorial_Guinea_coup_d.27.C3.A9tat_attempt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Thatcher#2004_Equatorial_G...

patrickaljord 13y ago

Margaret Thatcher's rule started in May 1979, the genocide in Cambodia ended in 1979, the Khmer Rouge were defeated in January 1979 by the Vietnamese army. Blaming the genocide on Thatcher is one of the most ridiculous and intellectually dishonest anti-Thatcher argument I've read yet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge_rule_of_Cambodia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Thatcher Also, if you're going to judge statesmen by the regimes they supported, then you should know that Mandela was a big supporter of Cuba's Castro, Saddam Hussein, Qaddafi and North Korea. Does that make Mandela a horrible man or statesman? Probably not, you'd be hard put to find a single statesman in history who never supported at least one evil regime.

moocowduckquack 13y ago
I didn't say that Thatcher was responsible for Cambodia's Year Zero. As you rightly say, she gave Pol-Pot support after Year Zero. At least the folk who gave him support before that have the excuse that they didn't know how he was going to turn out.
- patrickaljord 13y ago
  Year Zero corresponds to 1975, starts of the genocide, saying that she helped Pol Pot after Year Zero is disingenuous. She went into power in May 1979, when the genocide was over and the Khmer Rouge overthrown. So she had nothing to do with the killings. Also, the newstatesmen is highly leftist and the article very messy. I couldn't find any other source verifying all of these claims or to what extend did she personally help anything.
  - moocowduckquack 13y ago
    Also, the newstatesmen is highly leftist and the article very messy. I couldn't find any other source from that article - Until 1989, the British role in Cambodia remained secret. The first reports appeared in the Sunday Telegraph, written by Simon O'Dwyer-Russell, a diplomatic and defence correspondent with close professional and family contacts with the SAS. He revealed that the SAS was training the Pol Pot-led force. Soon afterwards, Jane's Defence Weekly reported that the British training for the "non-communist" members of the "coalition" had been going on "at secret bases in Thailand for more than four years". The instructors were from the SAS, "all serving military personnel, all veterans of the Falklands conflict, led by a captain". Or is The Telegraph and Jane's Defence Weekly still too left wing for you?