Ian Smith: The Great Capitulator
Former Prime Minister of Rhodesia, at first resisted, then surrendered a whole nation to Communists.
by James Buchanan
Ian Smith, the former prime minister of Rhodesia, died Nov. 20th in Capetown, South Africa. Smith briefly resisted the insane march toward Black rule that liberals all over the world had pushed for and then he capitulated to the enemy.
Smith knew that White control of Rhodesia meant that farms would be run efficiently, that everyone would be fed and that Western law and order would be maintained. Handing Rhodesia over to Black rule in 1965 would have meant a ridiculously corrupt and tyrannical Black tribal chief would take over the country and drive it into the ground. One witness to the carnage in the 1980s writes “At the same time that Mugabe was being lauded by much of the rest of the world, his secret armies were murdering thousands of his political opponents and the ethnic cleansing of the country’s white inhabitants continued.”
Ian Smith declared Rhodesia independent in 1965. From 1972 to 1979, a war with Communist rebels took place. The Communists butchered White and Black civilians and even shot down two civilian airliners in terrorist attacks. White mercenaries from all around the world joined the Rhodesian Army to fight the Communists.
Due to political maneuvering by the leftist Jimmy Carter administration, the US cut a deal with South Africa to betray Rhodesia. South Africa began an embargo of many items, which Rhodesia needed. At this point, instead of holding out through tough times, Ian Smith decided to capitulate and ultimately handed over Rhodesia and hundreds of thousands of Whites to Black Communist rule.
Despite this shameful capitulation, some White people foolishly think Ian Smith is not a traitor to the White race. Of course the battle with the Communist insurgents would become more difficult without South African help, but Rhodesia produced its own food and the Rhodesian Army was killing dozens of communist troops for every one of their soldiers lost. They literally could have rearmed their army with AK47s and kept fighting indefinitely.
The most difficult part of the war with the Communists was infiltration into the local population. There was a simple solution to this, but Smith was apparently too timid and bourgeois to give it a try. If (for example) a communist-planted land mine were found near a particular village, the entire village should have been rounded up and driven over the border into Zambia or Mozambique. Eventually, the Blacks sympathetic to the Communists would all be expelled. This would have eliminated the internal terrorist threat in Rhodesia and made the war to preserve Rhodesia much more winnable.
Ian Smith should be condemned as an appeaser and a capitulator to the Black Communists.
Did Smith hold out as long as he possibly could? NO! He only held out as long as he was comfortable.
Did Smith keep fighting off the Black Communists to the last bullet? NO!
Did Smith GIVE the Black Communists total control of Rhodesia –something which the Blacks may never have been able to win on the battlefield? Yes, he did and he deserves our eternal contempt for that.
The White people of Rhodesia would have literally been better off if they had lost a war with the Blacks and been driven across the border into South Africa.
The false sense of security that the “peaceful” transfer of power that Ian Smith signed onto led to many White families being butchered on their farms by Mugabe’s thugs and who knows how many White women raped by Black savages. Nice job Ian.
Anyone who thinks Ian Smith is a “hero” of the White race is woefully ignorant. Of course the enemy is going to put pressure on the White race to surrender to them. That is never an excuse to surrender.
Sure, the South Africans betrayed him, but he was still in charge of Rhodesia. And there was always a chance a new government would be voted into power in South Africa.
If Rhodesia held out to 1989, instead of surrendering in 1979, the Soviet Union would have begun to fall apart by then. If Rhodesia had held out just two more years until 1981, the anti-Communist Reagan administration would have replaced the pro-Communist Carter administration. There is always hope and a chance for things to improve –except for those who don’t have the backbone to fight for their own existence.
The Rhodesians produced enough food to feed themselves, and I’m sure they could have gotten a few vital things from smugglers. The Rhodesian Army was killing dozens of Black soldiers for every White soldier lost. They could have re-armed themselves several times over with AK47s and captured ammunition.
If anyone doesn’t think a lone White-led force could hold out very long in Africa cut off from outside help, read about von Lettow-Vorbeck in World War One. He resisted superior enemy forces in German East Africa (Tanzania) from 1914 to the end of the war in 1918. He only disbanded his force after learning of the end of the war in Europe weeks after it was over.