Jerome Keating, historian and gentleman, blogs on the insane assassination conspiracy theories of the KMT, and what they should really be doing:Henry Lee the forensics expert from the United States is back in Taiwan to give a series of lectures. Lee known for his expertise in helping to solve crimes is no stranger to Taiwan since he had been brought here to assist police in the March 19 assassination attempt on President Chen Shui-bian. In the past, Lee's examinations blew a lot of the pan-blue theories on how they had been cheated in the last elections out of the water. Nevertheless, in the hopes of proving that pigs can fly and that the assassination attempt was a hoax, the pan-blue papers jumped on the fact that Lee said that any case can be re-opened if new evidence is brought forth.
What the pan-blue press failed to mention of course is that Lee stressed the word evidence. In stressing that, Lee went into detail explaining that evidence is not hearsay, or rumors, or wishful thinking or crackpot theories or any of the annual garbage that the KMT and PFP drag out every March and that the country has to endure.
It is good to have Henry Lee back in the country to help breathe a little fresh air into the stagnant pan-blue atmosphere of those who cannot move on and face the real facts as to why they lost, nor own up to their past.
If the pan-blues are really serious about justice, why don't they seek out those who gave the approval for the high profile political murders of the Lin Yi-hsiung family, Chen Wen-cheng and Henry Liu as well as all the real crimes of the White Terror period where there are thousands of victims but no criminals. These criminals still walk the streets and some may even hold positions in the KMT structure. Buried in KMT records, this evidence is available if there are any honest men who would dare reveal it.
Hell yes.
[Taiwan] [White Terror] [KMT]
In Bradley Winterton's review of Jonathan Manthorpe's Foribdden Nation, Jon is quoted as writing that "Henry Lee was unable to say conclusively that the assassination attempt had not been staged." TT 5 Feb 2006.
ReplyDeleteHow's that for a clever inversion of the burden of proof? The Greens apparently have to prove it WASN'T staged rather than the Blues having to prove it WAS staged. Bizarre.
LOL. I looked over the work the other day. It didn't look bad. I'll read it this summer....
ReplyDeleteMichael
Even assuming that the urban myths you've dredged up again are have any truth to them, at least the 'White Terror' provided a potentially overwhelming benefit to the people of Taiwan - the prosperity and freedoms that are the legacy of the KMT. Maybe opening up old wounds isn't worth throwing out all those nice things.
ReplyDeleteSo assuming that Chen staged the shooting, what would be the benefit to the people of Taiwan of looking the other way? What exactly has he accomplished in his second that justifies us being so nice to him? Opening up this wound is worth it because Taiwan doesn't have much to hold onto from Chen's term.