http://www.counterpunch.org/pietri03052005.html When the Nepalis Know the Truth, They'll Hate Us
Murder at the Palace
By JOSEPH PIETRI
What really happened the night of June 1, 2001 at the Palace? Was the coup engineered by the Bush administration? In the days before the massacre a team of Muscular Americans were observed at the Hyatt Hotel in Boudha. They told everyone that they were their building a hospital in Patan but in the days after the massacre they left Nepal never to be seen again.
It was reported that the Black Prince was in Pokhara taking care of his conservation projects. The reality is he was at the Kathmandu airport awaiting the news of his coup. The Crown Prince was all ready arrested and taken to Balaju Army barracks. Prince Paras and Military Officers carried out the assassinations at the Palace. There was a tremendous shoot out at the Palace between King Birendra's staff and Paras and his assassins. Helicopters were observed all night taking bodies of Birendra's staff and dumping them in rivers along the border. This I know as well: anyone having any first hand knowledge of this is either dead or out of Nepal.
Those who did make it out live in fear.
Gyanendra waited at the airport while Paras did the dirty work and in case the coup did not succeed he planned on escaping from there. The Crown Prince was kept alive until after his father was killed. Then he was executed by the military. He was kept as a bargaining chip by the Military Officers involved in the coup in the case it did not succeed they would bargain the Crown Prince's life for exile.
Were the Americans just observers, or did they take part in this obviously well engineered plot?
The British and the Indian governments must have been in on it as well, but made sure they distanced themselves from the actual event. After all India is a Hindu country and Birendra a Hindu king, and there is a long relationship between Nepal and England and both royal families.
King Birendra never unleashed the Royal Nepalese Army on the Maoists and the gains they made led to the Coup. Gyanendra had the support of the military and the blessings of the Bush and Blair administrations as well as the Indian Government. Again they are now building a road from the Indian border to Lo Mothang. Lo Mothang on the Tibetan plateau bordering China was the jump off point for American-trained Tibetan guerillas fighting the Chinese. The CIA maintained a base there throughout the 1960s and 1970s--the Tibetan plateau being perfect for a forward airbase against China in the future.
Gyanendra is the Saddam Hussein of Nepal who killed his own brothers and family so he could be King. It's time for the awful truth to be known and our Governments part in it must be exposed. This is another chapter in our bloody history and again we have supported a heroin-dealing murderous despot/king/dictator.
I will all ways love Nepal and have many fond memories of my youth there and I am ashamed of what is obviously my own country's hand in this murderous affair in the land of Lord Buddha. American foreign policy has ruined Nepal. The thought of B 52s based in the land of temples makes me shudder.
This is how we create Osamas; this is how we create terrorism; this is how we create hatred for America. Say what you must against Birendra, the Nepali people loved their King and Queen and when they come to know the truth they will hate us for our part in this tragedy,
Jai Nepal! Free Nepal!
Joseph Pietri author The King of Nepal. He can be reached at:
jpietri@msn.com http://www.counterpunch.org/pietri03052005.html
.png)
