NP? "he was our warlord"

[Doug Millison]

"If we want to fathom how countries like Saudi Arabia or Pakistan could
possibly support terrorists, we might peek into a mirror. Jonas Savimbi,
the Angolan rebel who was killed 10 days ago, murdered and tortured
countless civilians over the years; the Angolan civil war that he sustained
may be responsible for more than 500,000 deaths since 1975. But he was our
warlord, not the other side's, and so we were as blind to his brutality as
the Saudis and Pakistanis are to the sins of their terrorists.  [...] It is
embarrassing to look back to see how we hailed Mr. Savimbi during the cold
war. Jeane Kirkpatrick toasted him as "one of the few authentic heroes of
our time." President Reagan described him as Angola's Abraham Lincoln.

Oh?

Mr. Savimbi personally beat to death a rival's wife and children. He also
shelled civilians, sowed land mines and then bombed a Red Cross- run
factory making artificial legs for victims of mines.

"We have to call him Africa's classical terrorist," said Makau Mutua, a
professor of law and Africa specialist. "In the history of the continent, I
think he's unique because of the degree of suffering he caused without
showing any remorse."   [...]"


continues at http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/05/opinion/05KRIS.html