US Secretary of State Antony Blinken caught flak after he praised the legacy of Madeleine Albright, who once appeared to justify the deaths of Iraqi children, saying that she made the country “more respected globally.”
Blinken took to Twitter on Friday to hail Albright, a former US ambassador to the UN and secretary of state under former President Bill Clinton, as a ‘woman of courage’.
“During her diplomatic career as U.S. Ambassador to the UN & the first female Secretary of State, her tenacity & effectiveness left the U.S. stronger & more respected globally,” Blinken tweeted, adding that Albright is a role model for him and “many of our diplomats.”
His choice of role model struck many as odd. The replies were inundated with the clip of Albright’s infamous 60 Minutes interview with Lesley Stahl, in which Albright said that the deaths of half a million Iraqi children allegedly due to sanctions was “worth it.”
