Just in case you ever wondered where "Gotcha" came from as in gotcha journalism or gotcha politics, here is the cover of the UK newspaper The Sun reporting on the sinking of the Argentinian navy ship the Belgrano from 1982. Here is one person's take on the incident and here the BBC's.
Comments
Arthur - May 15, 2004 10:31 AM
Everytime I think of the Iraq war, I keep thinking of the Dutch attempts to 're-colonize' the former Dutch East Indies right after the war ('The Police Actions').
Alan - May 15, 2004 1:18 PM
I had no idea that had happened.
Arthur - May 15, 2004 4:28 PM
I had no idea that had happened.
Not too many people are aware of the fact that Indonesia was a former colony of The Netherlands. My dad refers to that specific time as the 'Bersiap' period: the time of chaos between liberation and the struggle for independence. Most Dutch people, like my parents, went from the Japanese prison ('hunger') camps back to the Japanese prison camps to be protected by the Japanese once again, against the radical independency fighters.
<small>As a historical sidenote: my dad never believed that the Police Actions would be succesful and at that time those opinions weren't appreciated by the majority of Dutch colonists. He thought it was it lost case right after he was 'liberated': as he frequently said '10,000 Dutch troops can never impose their will on millions of Indonesians longing for a bit of freedom'.<br>
I personally believe the same is true for Iraq.</small>