President Richard Nixon viewed Pakistan as a Cold War ally and, therefore, refused to condemn its actions. From the White House tapes: "The President seems to be making sure that the distrusted State Department would not, on its own, condemn Yahya for killing Bengalis."[1] Nixon and China tried to suppress reports of genocide from East Pakistan.[163] Nixon also relied on American disinterest in what was happening in Pakistan, he said "Biafra stirred up a few Catholics. But you know, I think Biafra stirred people up more than Pakistan, because Pakistan they're just a bunch of brown goddamn Moslems."[164]
The US government secretly encouraged the shipment of weapons from Iran, Turkey, and Jordan to Pakistan, and reimbursed those countries for them[165] despite Congressional objections.[91]
A collection of declassified US government documents, mostly consisting of communications between US officials in Washington, D.C. and in embassies and USIS centers in Dhaka and in India, show that US officials knew about these mass killings at the time and, in fact, used the terms "genocide" and "selective genocide," for example, in the "Blood Telegram."[91] They also show that President Nixon, advised by Henry Kissinger, decided to downplay this secret internal advice, because he wanted to protect the interests of Pakistan as he was apprehensive of India's friendship with the USSR, and he was seeking a closer relationship with China, which supported Pakistan.[166]
Today in "American crimes against humanity I just learned about:"
:amerikkka:
Goddammit Jello