Suharto’s dead, NYT: “nothing to see here”

Democracy Now dedicated a full hour today to the recent death of former Indonesian dictator Suharto who, with full American and British military support, was responsible for an estimated 200,000 East Timorese deaths in the worst instance of genocide, relative to population, since the Holocaust.  Further, 300,000 to 1 million Indonesians were killed, under Suharto, with the help of the CIA in their putative fight against communism. Suharto privatized industry and handed over Indonesia’s natural resources to transnational corporations.  He, the U.S., and Britain benefited while Indonesians suffered and died. Unlike Saddam Hussein in his 1990 invasion of Kuwait, Suharto put money into elite western pockets  rather than raid those pockets. (see here)
Meanwhile, I checked the “liberal” New York Times to see how they had treated Suharto’s death.  I couldn’t find anything on the front page so I did a search.  “Suharto is Mourned in Indonesia” popped up.  21 eulogizing paragraphs plus one  paragraph sandwiched in the middle acknowledging that “he ruled Indonesia by force and fear, and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.” No mention of U.S. involvement in those deaths of course.  Cause that’s not relevant.   Some highlights: “the sky over the mountain opened in a powerful thunderstorm — weeping for the death of a fallen leader, in the belief of Javanese mystics”; his daughter apologized for her father being such a ruthless dickhead, then spoke directly to him: “Only God can repay you for your goodness. Farewell, Father. We send our prayers.”

Another NYT article titled “Suharto Dies at 86; Indonesian Dictator Brought Order and Bloodshed”, by Seth Mydans, offered some hope of less misleading coverage.
But alas, the same story. “…good fortune came to him. Just as the United States was becoming embroiled in Vietnam, he stood as a bulwark against Communism in Asia. The United States rewarded him with a foreign aid program that eventually amounted to more than $4 billion a year. In addition, a consortium of Western countries and Japan established an aid program that in 1994 alone totaled almost $5 billion.” What a fucking hero.  Standing so bravely against democratic movements connected to the Soviet Union only in the minds of the most twisted CIA operatives.  Oh, and democratic movements that were in other countries.  He invaded a democratic country newly freed from Western imperialism.  “Bulwark” is defined, according to dictionary.com, as “protection against external danger, injury, or annoyance.” Goddamn peaceful democrats, so annoyingly living in their country next to a murderous dictator.

Mydans covers a lot of Suharto’s abuses but doesn’t come close to criticism of U.S. support.  Suharto’s a bad guy, the U.S. needed a bulwark, next question please.