PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat welcomes U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright before their meeting 3 September 1999 at his offices./ Public domain
Some thoughts on the occasion of the death of former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright:
"if we have to use force, it is because we are America; we are the indispensable nation. We stand tall and we see further than other countries into the future, and we see the danger here to all of us." — Madeleine Albright.
Lesley Stahl: "We have heard that half a million children have died (in Iraq). I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?"
Madeleine Albright: "We think the price is worth it."
According to Albright's memoirs, she once argued with Colin Powell for the use of military force by asking, "What's the point of you saving this superb military for, Colin, if we can't use it?"
In 1996, Albright entered into a secret pact ... to overthrow UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali who was running unopposed for a second term.
After 15 U.S. peacekeepers died in the infamous "Black Hawk Down" raid in Somalia in 1993, Albright made Boutros-Ghali a political scapegoat in the United States.
The conspirators dubbed the pact "Operation Orient Express" to reflect their hope that other nations would join the United States.
Every other member of the United Nations Security Council including the non-permanent members voted for Boutros-Ghali, but Albright did not back down and kept the US veto. Boutros-Ghali eventually stepped down.
He is to this day the only UN Secretary-General ever to be denied a second term.
The 1998-1999 illegal NATO bombing of Belgrade and surrounds was dubbed " Madeleine's War " by many commentators at the time. Her rationale for going into the conflict has been used by Vladimir Putin to justify his current invasion of Ukraine.
Albright's involvement in the 78 day illegal NATO bombing of Serbia became even more controversial when it was revealed that her investment firm, Albright Capital Management, was preparing to bid in the proposed privatization of Kosovo's state-owned telecom and postal company,
Saddam Hussein, then president of Iraq, called her a serpent. Albright then took to wearing jewellery as a political statement . "This all started when I was ambassador at the U.N. and Saddam Hussein called me a serpent… I had this wonderful antique snake pin. So when we were dealing with Iraq, I wore the snake pin."
In May 2012, Albright was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama.
