Zimbabwe: 2007 till Mugabe resigns

[Rex Brynen]

You give the State Department/CIA the benefit of the doubt.

I didn't, actually--I merely pointed out what would be evident to anyone who had worked in a foreign ministry, namely that the cable could not be read as reflecting the views of much more than the ambassador of the day.

Indeed, in my experience, cables of that tone often reflect an ambassador's unease that his own views are not universally shared—hence Stan's comment below.

[JMA]

I didn't, actually--I merely pointed out what would be evident to anyone who had worked in a foreign ministry, namely that the cable could not be read as reflecting the views of much more than the ambassador of the day.

Indeed, in my experience, cables of that tone often reflect an ambassador's unease that his own views are not universally shared—hence Stan's comment below.

Well the world is about to see what goes on in the State Department for themselves.

[Stan]

Well the world is about to see what goes on in the State Department for themselves.

JMA,
I wish I could share your enthusiasm and optimism, but my 26 years of being around Embassy and State lead me to believe otherwise.

On the other hand, you may be correct...
There was a time in Zaire when one could read yesterday's message traffic while chomping on a road-side omelet/baguette less than 50 meters from the Embassy (the sandwich was wrapped in multiple pages of cable traffic). It was then I realized why only our office shredder was always broken or dull.

Tom can tell you how fast our burn time was when we were there (not much to read about in our office).

[Tom Odom]

Tom can tell you how fast our burn time was when we were there (not much to read about in our office).

That would be the 5 seconds necessary to smash the hard drive with an axe.

Out of many Stan and I suffered through, my favorite chief of mission pronouncement was on July 16th 1994 regarding the impact of the Rwandan refugee exodus into Zaire:

"This will all be over in two weeks..."

Sixteen years and several million dead later, I still consider it worthy of a Guiness salute

Brilliant!

[davidbfpo]

Refreshed by the ZAPU party conference we have some reporting; from The Daily Telegraph:

Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe has said his party is ready to bury his Western-backed opposition "forever" as there are warnings his forces are fanning out across the country in a bid to intimidate voters ahead of elections.

Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...imidation.html

Or the BBC:

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has told the BBC of his desire to remain in power after his party endorsed him as an election candidate. On Saturday he closed his party's conference, saying that the power sharing deal with the MDC party is now dead.

Link, mainly a film clip:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12028675 and a longer written report:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/8410357.stm

Elsewhere, on the Zimbabwean expatriate / exile websites, there are more chilling reports; such as this:

In the last elections, you voted for the wrong party but today I am happy to see all of you here and I assume that you are here because you support the revolutionary party and what Mudha stands for. "If you disagree with what is being said here, then there is nothing I can do about it and if you don’t vote for us in the next election, this country is huge, we will rule even if you don’t want,” Mnangagwa said.

Mnangagwa, who is feared more than he is respected and was previously tipped to take over the party leadership from President Robert Mugabe, said Zimbabwe belonged to Zanu PF which would not hesitate to bless and reward its own sons who defended the cause of the party.

Link:http://www.zimdiaspora.com/index.php...tips&Itemid=18

Meantime I fear the West will close it's eyes, maybe pray and once more hope SADC (notably President Zuma) can stop such "political campaigning".

[JMA]

Meantime I fear the West will close it's eyes, maybe pray and once more hope SADC (notably President Zuma) can stop such "political campaigning".

Of course they will close their eyes. Mugabe (using diamond money) will buy off the SADC leaders and it will be business as usual.

Three cruise missiles (at a million a pop) is all that it would take.

[jmm99]

this:

from JMA
Three cruise missiles (at a million a pop) is all that it would take.

as evidenced by a number of US cruise missile failures to accomplish decapitations.

A adequately resourced invasion, aimed solely at regime removal (not regime change - that left to chance), would have a better probability of success.

Regards

Mike