Vol 23. Num 2. 2021. Article 3 - A Critical Assessment of Gary Bass’s The Blood Telegram

Gary Bass’s The Blood Telegram narrates the historical and geopolitical backdrop to Bangladesh’s war of national liberation, drawing on documents from U.S. and Indian archives, including the White House tapes, diplomatic cables, and papers of senior functionaries. Bass’s research exposes the criminality of the Nixon Administration’s tilt toward Pakistan Army’s brutal repression of the Bengalis, and chronicles that, while the US diplomats in Dhaka, such as Consul General Archer Blood, were remitting real-time assessments of ongoing massacres, ethnic cleansing, and political repression to the State Department and the White House, the Nixon Administration was supporting General Yahya Khan’s regime and Pakistan Army’s terror campaign of repression in East Pakistan. He also chronicles the inner workings of the Indian political leaders, bureaucrats, and military officials, and the diplomatic maneuvers leading to the Indo–Soviet Treaty. However, Bass’s coverage of ongoing developments in Bangladesh/East Pakistan during 1971 is limited and wanting, partly due to his lack of access to archival Bangladeshi materials and his unfamiliarity with the available materials in Bengali. Nevertheless, Bass’s book is a critical and consequential work of scholarship.