by Gary J. Bass
19. NSC Files, Box H-081, WSAG Meetings, Kissinger to Nixon, 26 March 1971; NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Kissinger to Nixon, 26 March 1971.
20. Philip Gourevitch, “Alms Dealers,” The New Yorker, 11 October 2010. FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 28 January 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Kissinger, 12 February 1969. John de St. Jorre, The Nigerian Civil War (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1972). John J. Stremlau, The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War, 1967–1970 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1977), pp. 62–81, 215–52, 255–308, 320–87. George A. Obiozor, The United States and the Nigerian Civil War: An American Dilemma in Africa, 1966–1970 (Lagos: Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, 1993), pp. 14–21. See Samantha Power, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide (New York: Basic Books, 2002), pp. 81–82; Jean Buhler, Tuez-les tous! Guerre de sécession au Biafra (Paris: Flammarion, 1968). White House tapes, Oval Office 784-21, 21 September 1972, 12:25–2:01 p.m. Late in the Biafran crisis, Nixon wrote, “I hope the Biafrans survive!” (FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 15 May 1969). Nixon was fitful in his sympathies for the Biafrans, although far more generous to them than he ever was to the Bengalis. Despite pro-Biafra campaign rhetoric, as president, he saw a Nigerian victory as best for U.S. interests, and sought to avoid political involvement (FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 22 February 1969). In April 1969, Nixon briefly decided it was wrong to support the Nigeria federal government (FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 8 April 1969). But after that, the United States stayed neutral, with William Rogers and Alexander Haig backing Nigeria (FRUS, vol. E-5, Haig to Kissinger, 16 February 1970), and Nixon reluctantly hoping for a Nigerian victory (FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Kissinger, 13 June 1969). Nixon later began an effort to resolve the civil war (FRUS, vol. E-5, Butterfield to Kissinger, 14 July 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 11 August 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 20 September 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Haig to Kissinger, 9 January 1970; FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Kissinger, 10 January 1970), which stalled in the face of State Department obstruction (FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Newsom, 6 October 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Kissinger, 24 October 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Morris to Lake, 7 November 1969; FRUS, vol. E-5, Kissinger to Nixon, 10 December 1969) soon before Nigerian forces conquered Biafra in January 1970.
21. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 27 March 1971, Islamabad 2766. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 27 March 1971, Islamabad 2780. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Van Hollen to Farland, 28 March 1971, State 52028. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Islamabad 2830. MEA, HI/1012/30/71, Chib to Kaul, 4 March 1971. Tillman Durdin, “In Pakistan, United States Is Villain,” New York Times, 26 March 1971. FRUS, WSAG meeting, 26 March 1971, 3:03–3:32 p.m., pp. 23–29.
22. NSC Files, Box H-081, WSAG Meetings, Saunders et al. to Kissinger, 26 March 1971. NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Pavelle to Laird, 26 March 1971. FRUS, WSAG meeting, 26 March 1971, 3:03–3:32 p.m., pp. 23–29.
23. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 27 March 1971, 2:05 p.m.
24. Blood, Cruel Birth, pp. 153, xv.
25. Blood, Cruel Birth, p. 209. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 27 March 1971, Dacca 950.
26. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 28 March 1971, Dacca 960.
27. Blood, Cruel Birth, p. 213.
28. The Genocide Convention defines genocide as killings or persecutions done “with an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.” It would thus cover what Blood called “selective genocide” as genocide.
29. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 28 March 1971, Dacca 959.
30. Ibid.
31. Ibid.
32. Blood interview, 27 June 1989, Foreign Affairs Oral History Collection of the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Library of Congress. There is no extant documentary evidence of the State Department asking Americans in Dacca to stop sheltering Bengalis, as Blood himself admitted, although he insisted that it happened (Blood, Cruel Birth, p. 214). The consul in Karachi did later warn Blood that if reporters spread word about these Americans who had protected Bengalis, Pakistani troops might enter and loot abandoned American homes. (POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Luppi to Blood, 8 April 1971, Karachi 805.)
33. Blood, Cruel Birth, p. 280.
34. Ibid., pp. 215–16.
35. John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History (Oxford: Clarendon, 1997), pp. 268–69. Max Holland, “A Luce Connection,” Journal of Cold War Studies, vol. 1, no. 3 (fall 1999), pp. 139-67. Thomas G. Paterson, “The Historian as Detective,” Diplomatic History, vol. 11, no. 1 (winter 1987), pp. 67–70. Dino A. Brugioni, Eyeball to Eyeball: The Inside Story of the Cuban Missile Crisis (New York: Random House, 1990), pp. 167–72. Kenneth Keating, “My Advance View of the Cuban Crisis,” Look, 3 November 1964. Richard Reeves, President Kennedy: Profile of Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993), p. 370. William V. Shannon, The Heir Apparent: Robert Kennedy and the Struggle for Power (New York: Macmillan, 1967), pp. 31–33. Robert J. Samuelson, “Embittered Incumbent Fights Back,” Harvard Crimson, 30 October 1964. Kenneth B. Keating, Government of the People (Cleveland: World Publishing, 1964).
36. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 27 March 1971, New Delhi 4416. For a view of Keating’s good relationship with Indian officials, see NMML, Kaul Papers, Subject File 19, part I, Keating-Singh meeting, 22 December 1970.
37. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Delhi 4494. For a United Nations official calling the situation a “genocide,” see POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Wolff to Bergstrom, 31 March 1971, Dacca 1002.
38. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 1 April 1971, New Delhi 4743. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 1 April 1971, New Delhi 4750. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 2 April 1971, Islamabad 3069. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 1 April 1971, New Delhi 4743. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Sisco to Keating, 31 March 1971, State 53954. Schanberg confirmed to me that Keating fed him the story. Sydney H. Schanberg, “Heavy Killing Reported,” New York Times, 30 March 1971.
39. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 2 April 1971, New Delhi 4861. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Rogers to Keating, 5 April 1971, State 56694. This cable, drafted by Van Hollen, was approved by Sisco and Rogers. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 3 April 1971, New Delhi 4877; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Sisco to Keating, 3 April 1971, State 56552; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Sisco, 4 April 1971, Calcutta 542. See also POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Keating to Rogers, 16 April 1971, New Delhi 5734; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Johnson to Keating, 16 April 1971; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Irwin to Keating, 15 April 1971, State 63807; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Greene to Rogers, 16 April 1971, London 3434; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Schneider to Keating, 19 April 1971, State 66510; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Farland to Rogers, 20 April 1971, Islamabad 3573.
40. NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. V, Kissinger to Nixon, 27 July 1971. Library of Congress, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Farland interview, 31 January 2000. FRUS, vol. E-7, White House tapes, Oval Office 549-25, 28 July 1971, 4:21 p.m.
41. Blood, Cruel Birth, pp. 41–42. Library of Congress, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Farland interview, 31 January 2000. Library of Congress, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Archer Blood interview, 27 June 1989. Blood, as a consul general, was entitled to send his cables directly to Washington, rather than have his views filtered through the embassy in Islamabad.
42. NSC Files, Box 759, Presidential Correspondence File, Yahya to Nixon, 31 March 1971. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 5 April 1971, New Delhi 4968. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 26 March 1971, Islamabad 2705. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 27
March 1971, Islamabad 2766; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 28 March 1971, Islamabad 2787; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Barrow to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Lahore 505. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 7 April 1971, Islamabad 3180. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Farland to Rogers, 19 April 1971, Islamabad 3523. NMML, Kaul Papers, Subject File 19, part II, Singh briefing in London, n.d. June 1971. MEA, HI/1012/31/71, Bakshi to Acharya, 6 April 1971.
43. FRUS, vol. E-7, Farland to Rogers, 31 March 1971, Islamabad 2954. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 26 March 1971, Islamabad 2754. For risks of unrest in Karachi, see POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 26 March 1971, Islamabad 2732. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Islamabad 2891.
44. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Barrow to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Lahore 521. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Luppi, 29 March 1971, Islamabad 2814. FRUS, vol. E-7, Farland to Rogers, 31 March 1971, Islamabad 2954. Farland later said that he probably would have acted the same way that Blood did if he had been in Dacca (Library of Congress, Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training, Foreign Affairs Oral History Project, Farland interview, 31 January 2000).
45. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Blood, 29 March 1971, Islamabad 2813. FRUS, vol. E-7, Blood to Rogers, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1249.
46. NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Hoskinson to Kissinger, 28 March 1971. See NSC Files, Box H-112, SRG Minutes, SRG meeting, 31 March 1971.
47. FRUS, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 28 March 1971, p. 34.
48. NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 277, Jha to Kaul, 18 April 1971.
49. FRUS, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 29 March 1971, pp. 35–36.
50. FRUS, 40 Committee meeting, 9 April 1971, pp. 63–65. NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 277, Jha to Kaul, 18 April 1971.
51. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Helms to Irwin, 5 April 1971. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Irwin to Helms, 10 April 1971.
52. NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Hoskinson and Kennedy to Kissinger, 30 March 1971.
53. FRUS, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 30 March 1971, p. 37 (punctuation corrected).
54. FRUS, Nixon-Kissinger telcon, 30 March 1971, p. 37. See NSA, Popanak-Kissinger telcon, 30 March 1971, 10:50 a.m.
55. NSC Files, Box H-112, SRG Minutes, SRG meeting, 31 March 1971. The scholar Sarmila Bose claims that this student was not in fact killed, contrary to what Kissinger was told (“Anatomy of Violence,” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 40, no. 41 [8–14 October 2005], p. 4471n16; Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War [New York: Columbia University Press, 2011], p. 60).
CHAPTER 5: THE BLOOD TELEGRAM
1. NMML, Haksar Papers, Subject File 166, Haksar to Gandhi, briefing for opposition leaders, before 7 May 1971.
2. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Gordon to Rogers, 25 March 1971, Calcutta 453. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Van Hollen to Keating, 29 March 1971, State 52767. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Eaves to Farland, 30 March 1971, State 53691.
3. NSC Files, Box H-112, SRG Minutes, SRG meeting, 6 March 1971, 11:40 a.m. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Dacca 979. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 1 April 1971, Dacca 1040; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Bennett, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1064.
4. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Dacca 979. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 1 April 1971, Dacca 1040; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Bennett, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1064. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 31 March 1971, Dacca 1010. N. C. Menon, “Sabres Strafe Natore,” Hindustan Times, 14 April 1971. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Gordon to Rogers, 31 March 1971, Calcutta 513; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Gordon to Rogers, 1 April 1971, Calcutta 519; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Spengler to Farland, 9 April 1971, State 61066. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Blood to Rogers, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1237; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Blood to Rogers, 17 April 1971, Dacca 1365.
5. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Blood to Rogers, 15 April 1971, Dacca 1321. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 1 April 1971, Dacca 1040; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Bennett, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1064. See Steven J. Zaloga, M24 Chaffee Light Tank, 1943–85 (Oxford: Osprey, 2003), pp. 23, 32, 47. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Blood to Rogers, 15 April 1971, Dacca 1321.
6. NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Saunders and Hoskinson, 1 April 1971. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 31 March 1971, New Delhi 4639. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Van Hollen to Farland, 31 March 1971, State 54508; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Smith to Farland, 2 April 1971, State 56469; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 1 April 1971, New Delhi 4756; and POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 2 April 1971, New Delhi 4864.
7. NSA, Nixon-Kissinger-Suharto memcon, 26 May 1970, 10:45 a.m. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Rogers, 9 April 1971, Islamabad 3261.
8. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Dacca 969. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Bush to Blood, 29 March 1971, USUN 804; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Dacca 989; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 30 March 1971, Dacca 987. FRUS, vol. E-7, Blood to Rogers, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1249.
9. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Rogers to Nixon, 3 April 1971. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Spengler to posts, 5 April 1971, State 57352. See NSC Files, Box 138, Kissinger Office Files, Country Files—Middle East, Farland to Sisco, 6 April 1971, Islamabad 3196; NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Farland to Sisco, 6 April 1971, Islamabad 3196; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Smith to Farland, 6 April 1971, State 57970. On April 7, the State Department spokesman announced that the evacuation of Americans was complete, with some five hundred flown out. Benjamin Welles, “U.S. Urges Pakistan Seek Peaceful Accommodation,” New York Times, 8 April 1971, p. A3. Sydney H. Schanberg, “Consul Urges U.S. Start Evacuation in East Pakistan,” New York Times, 31 March 1971, pp. A1–A2. NSC Files, Box 759, Presidential Correspondence File, Nixon to Yahya, 17 April 1971. On the importance of rescuing the Americans, see NSC Files, Box 625, Country Files—Middle East, Pakistan, vol. IV, Kissinger to Nixon, 26 March 1971; NSC Files, Box H-081, WSAG Meetings, Saunders et al. to Kissinger, 26 March 1971; FRUS, WSAG meeting, 26 March 1971, 3:03– 3:32 p.m., pp. 23–29; NSC Files, Box 138, Kissinger Office Files, Country Files—Middle East, Rogers to Blood, 6 April 1971, State 58039; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Rogers to Blood, 6 April 1971, State 58039; and POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Rogers to Nixon, 3 April 1971. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Farland to Blood, 1 April 1971, Islamabad 2969. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 3 April 1971, Dacca 1078. On Americans in Chittagong, see POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Schneider to Farland, 5 April 1971, State 56709.
10. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 27 March 1971, Dacca 953. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 1 April 1971, Dacca 1040; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Bennett, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1064; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 5 April 1971, Dacca 1118; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 6 April 1971, Dacca 1149. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Luppi to Farland, 1 April 1971, Karachi 685. FRUS, vol. E-7, Blood to Rogers, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1249.
11. See Archer K. Blood, The Cruel Birth of Bangladesh: Memoirs of an American Diplomat (Dacca: University Press of Bangladesh, 2002), p. 239.
12. Ibid., p. xvi.
13. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1067. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1052.
14. G. W. Choudhury, The Last Days of United Pakistan (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1974), p. 190. A. A. K. Niazi, The Betrayal of East Pakistan (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 45–46.
15. Government of Pakistan, The Report of the Hamoodur Rehman Commission of Inquiry into the 1971 War (Lahore: Vanguard, 2001), p. 317. On rape in Bangladesh, see Susan Brownmiller, Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1975), pp. 78–86, and Bina D’Costa, Nationbuilding, Gender, and War Crimes in South Asia (New York: Routledge, 2011). See also Elisabeth Jean Wood, “Variatio
n in Sexual Violence During War,” Politics and Society, vol. 34, no. 3 (September 2006), pp. 307–42; Elisabeth Jean Wood, “Armed Groups and Sexual Violence,” Politics and Society, vol. 37, no. 1 (March 2009), pp. 131–61. Report of the Hamoodur Rehman Commission, pp. 509–10 (punctuation corrected).
16. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Dacca 978. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Dacca 973. On the difficulties of documenting genocide, see Samantha Power, “A Problem from Hell”: America and the Age of Genocide (New York: Basic Books, 2002), p. 504. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Bell to Shakespeare, 8 April 1971, Dacca 1183. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1981, Dacca 964. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Dacca 978. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 29 March 1971, Dacca 973.
17. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 31 March 1971, Dacca 1010.
18. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1066. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Bell to Shakespeare, 12 April 1971, Dacca 1271. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1066. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Bell to Shakespeare, 2 April 1971, Dacca 1058.
19. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Bell to Shakespeare, 1 April 1971, Dacca 1037. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Keating to Rogers, 2 April 1971, New Delhi 4864.
20. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 3 April 1971, Dacca 1087. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 3 April 1971, Dacca 1088, and POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 6 April 1971, Dacca 1144. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Rogers, 5 April 1971, Dacca 1128. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Bell to Shakespeare, 5 April 1971, Dacca 1126. POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Blood to Farland, 4 April 1971, Dacca 1107. See POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2530, Gordon to Rogers, 8 April 1971, Calcutta 596; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Bell to Shakespeare, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1236; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Blood to Rogers, 10 April 1971, Dacca 1246; POL 23-9 PAK, Box 2531, Greene to Rogers, London 3222.