Submitted by Joseph Columbus Smith, Jul 18, 2007 12:08

Carter's Role in Zimbabwe, 11 July article by James Kirchick A salute from me to Prof. Kirchick for his exposure of the the Jimmy Carter-Robert Mugabe nexus that has turned into the nightmare for Zimbabwe so many predicted 28 years ago! I am a former Green Beret officer- Vietnam veteran- and from November 1976-December 1979 had the privilege of commanding African Soldiers in The Rhodesian African Rifles. All soldiers in the Rhodesian forces( most were black) were highly motivated anti-communists more than a decade before the collapse of the Soviet Union. We were vigorously fighting the Soviet backed tribe of Joshua Nkomo and the Chinese backed tribe of Robert Mugabe. Almost immediately after Jimmy Carter came to office there were immediate signs of his efforts to topple the Rhodesian government and install Robert Mugabe, a lifelong Marxist, and by far the most sinister of all possible candidates to take over soon to be Zimbabwe. Most of the white sector of Rhodesia had accepted the concept of majority rule by 1978 but never accepted the notion of dedicated Marxist-Mugabe-as Zimbabwe's leader. But it was specifically Robert Mugabe who Andrew Young wanted and Pres. Carter launched a huge CIA effort inside Rhodesia( under Stansfield Turner ) to effect his installation. I voted for Bishop Abel Muzorewa in that first-wide open-April 1979 election in which Muzorewa garnered 54% of the vote. That election was declared fair and open by international observers to include Bayard Rustin, a US civil rights hero and former advisor to Martin Luther King Jr. But lifelong Marxist Mugabe very publicly boycotted that FIRST full participation election and said he would take Zimbabwe "through the barrel of a gun" and didn't need an election to do it. After hat statement Andrew Young is reported to have taken R. Mugabe "to the woodshed" and pressured him to stand election. So the first election result was snubbed by Carter and a "second" general election organized. There were many reports from the field that Mugabe "won" that April 1980 election just as he has more recent elections-"...through the barrel of a gun." The new Zimbabwe -under Mugabe- was a huge foreign policy victory for Carter who held it aloft as a civil rights triumph in his doomed bid for re-election. The much revered Pres. Carter is never braced on this little hiccup in his foreign policy portfolio so it was a delight to see. Joseph Columbus Smith Portland, Oregon

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