US Secretary of State Antony Blinken drew sharp criticism on Twitter this Saturday after he described Madeleine Albright, his predecessor who served in the Bill Clinton administration, as his “role model” and a “woman of courage” - despite her history of justifying the death of half a million Iraqi children under US sanctions.
“During her diplomatic career as US Ambassador to the UN & the first female Secretary of State, her tenacity & effectiveness left the U.S. stronger & more respected globally,” Blinken wrote, while tagging Albright along with the #WomenOfCourage hashtag in a purported reference to US Secretary of State's annual award for remarkable female activists.
One of my #WomenOfCourage is @Madeleine Albright. During her diplomatic career as U.S. Ambassador to the UN & the first female Secretary of State, her tenacity & effectiveness left the U.S. stronger & more respected globally. She’s a role model for me & so many of our diplomats.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 27, 2021
Blinken’s pick left many social media users appalled. Some of them rushed to recall Albright’s infamous ‘60 Minutes’ interview to Lesley Stahl, which aired on CBS, during which the then-US ambassador to UN defended the agency’s sanctions against Iraq.
When Stahl asked the official during the 1996 broadcast whether the death of half a million Iraqi children was “worth” imposing the sanctions, Albright replied firmly: "We think the price is worth it".
Albright, yourself, and your predecessor Pompeo all prove that the US only chooses literal psychopaths to head the State Department. This is because the State Department is America's other war department. https://t.co/tG6nkF27Zq
— Caitlin Johnstone ⏳ (@caitoz) March 27, 2021
Well, I believe you're serious. A great choice as a role model! 👍👍https://t.co/6DwvFVX96k
— Global Witness ♏⚠ (@FakeWelt) March 27, 2021
So proud to have a woman justifying mass murder!
— Jenny Kastner (@Drivenbitch) March 27, 2021
Neoliberal imperialism. It’s like the slow-boiling lobster. People don’t realize it until it’s too late.
A true role model: pic.twitter.com/98DmcYs7Uh
— Mats ☮ Nilsson (@mazzenilsson) March 27, 2021
The interview subsequently landed Stahl an Emmy award but left Albright with many enemies, who called her a “war criminal” and “mass murderer”.
When your role model is mass murderer!
— Spinooza 🇮🇷 (@Spinooza) March 28, 2021
War criminal ≠ "courage".
— Pete LaPlace (@hothotcocoa05) March 27, 2021
So proud to have a woman justifying mass murder!
— Jenny Kastner (@Drivenbitch) March 27, 2021
Neoliberal imperialism. It’s like the slow-boiling lobster. People don’t realize it until it’s too late.
She said the death of half a million children was "worth it."
— you deserve health care (@jenjavitis) March 28, 2021
I would simply have selected a non-war criminal
— Tristan (@tri_stan__) March 27, 2021
So you at least admit that murdering 500.000 Iraqi kids via sanctions and giving the thumbs up to that ("worth it") is role-model behavior. Cool stuff, totally non-psychopathic.
— Gregor Flock (@GFlock_GCSN) March 27, 2021
What did she say about the children in Iraq who were dying under US sanctions?
— masood mortazavi (@mortazavi) March 28, 2021
Albright later slammed the segment, saying that she “had fallen into a trap” during the interview and said something she hadn't meant to. But the words had already been said.
The ex-ambassador and former secretary of state has since been embroiled in a number of controversies, including claims that she had initially refused to brand the 1994 mass killings in Rwanda a “genocide”.
There were also accusations from pro-Serbian activists and a police complaint from Czech film director Vaclav Dvorak against Albright for spreading ethnic hatred after the woman was filmed saying “disgusting Serbs” during a 2012 book signing in Prague.
Blinken’s readers concluded that the ex-official, who recently cursed women not willing to support Hillary Clinton as US president to “hell”, was not the most desirable choice for a role model.
Psychopath.
— Oswald Defence Lawyer (@xenopraxis) March 28, 2021
That really explains a lot. I don't mean that in a good way.
— DaeguDave (@DaeguDave) March 27, 2021
Beyond parody.
— Elizabeth Ferrari (@48thAve) March 27, 2021
Do you celebrate super-capable killers?
— Daniel Wirt (@wirt_dan) March 28, 2021
A role model for genocide against the Serbs?
— Dana Lazarevic (@DanaLazarevic) March 28, 2021
