This is a followup to Ennis’ post, in pictures (thanks, Sajit). Memos released in ’02 show that Richard Nixon continued supporting the Pakistani military throughout the genocide in Bangladesh, even sending them fighter jets. During the massacre, the U.S. ambassador in Delhi cabled Nixon:

The U.S. consul in Dhaka also wrote:

And:

 But Nixon continued to support the Pakistani dictator Yahya Khan:

Instead of censuring Khan, he illegally circumvented Congress’ embargo and sent fighter jets:

Nixon’s Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, said:

In protest, the Dhaka consul communicated his disgust in the infamous Blood telegram:

Nixon retaliated by transferring him out of Bangladesh.

I disagree with one aspect of my fellow blogger’s belief in American exceptionalism, the idea that we rarely engage in unsavory realpolitik:

… much of Global Politics basically boils down to one big high school with America being the richest kid on the block. And we all know how everyone in High School felt about that kid… That’s not to say we don’t occasionally screw things up in a “careless” Daisy Buchanan sort of way…

American policy towards the subcontinent has hardly been accidental.

All documents here.