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BOOK
REVIEW
Master
strategist or master crook?
The Trial of Henry
Kissinger, by Christopher
Hitchens
Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia
"Everything on paper will be used
against me."
- Henry Kissinger, admonishing his State
Department staff for writing memos on the
illegality of Indonesia's occupation of East
Timor in 1975.
The line separating a master statesman and a
master thug is assumed to be of infinite length.
This is not so in the case of Henry Kissinger,
former US national security adviser and
secretary of state. For myriad American
diplomats, politicians and academicians,
Kissinger is a living deity who personified
realpolitik and shrewd tactical thinking, a
genius practitioner who sits in the same
pantheon as Bismarck, Castlereagh and Metternich.
However, as new information leaks out every day
about his misdeeds under Richard Nixon and
Gerald Ford (1969-76), only the ignoramus and
the sycophant can glorify a man whose
heartlessness and guile wrought terrible agony
and human loss in the Third World.
Christopher Hitchens has pieced together some of
the most odious of Kissinger's foreign policy
wrongdoings in a bill of indictment that can be
made the basis of prosecution for crimes against
humanity, war crimes and offenses against
international law. Aiming to affix direct
responsibility and criminality, Hitchens has
excluded material on Kissinger's crimes
committed as part of a larger policymaking
group, such as betrayal of Iraqi Kurds in
1974-5, support for apartheid South Africa to
destabilize Angola, chairmanship of the
presidential commission that sanctioned death
squad murders in the Central American isthmus,
and political protection for the Pahlavi dynasty
in Iran that put thousands of innocent civilians
through torturous meat grinders. The main
investigation in the book is about those crimes
for which Kissinger has complete or most
significant culpability.
Double-crossing his way to power: The 1968
election
Unlike Zbigniew Brzezinski or Condoleezza Rice,
Harvard professor Kissinger did not make it to
the pinnacle of the foreign policy machinery
through academic repute or connections with
politicos. He rode to power by double crossing
the Johnson-Humphrey administration in the
Vietnam peace talks and passing confidential
information on the details of LBJ's peace plan
to the Nixon camp. Thus informed, Republicans
counseled the South Vietnam negotiators in
advance to reject the Democratic government's
proposals by dangling the carrot of an even
better peace plan if Nixon won the presidential
election.
One of the factors propelling Humphrey's defeat
in the closely fought election was the rebuff
South Vietnam gave to LBJ's demarches. Kissinger
was rewarded for this unconstitutional (the
Logan Act in the US prohibits private diplomacy
with a foreign power by any American citizen)
and treacherous gambit as soon as Nixon came to
power in 1969. A "mediocre and opportunist
academic" (p.16) turned overnight into an
international potentate and America's national
security adviser. So adroitly had Kissinger
disguised his cards that if Humphrey won, he
would still have bagged a top position in the
new Democratic regime.
Ravaging Indo-China
Soon after taking office, Kissinger embarked on
a second round of protracted warfare, despite
promising a "better peace" to the
South Vietnamese before the election. When
Charles de Gaulle asked him the reason for
escalating punitive bombings that killed
thousands of Vietnamese civilians, Kissinger
replied, "A sudden withdrawal might give us
a credibility problem." At one point,
Kissinger angrily threatened to use
thermonuclear weapons to obliterate the railway
link between North Vietnam and China and flood
the Viet Cong areas by target bombing irrigation
dykes.
Kissinger intensified US air attacks in
neighboring Laos and Cambodia, leading to a
further loss of at least a million civilians. In
April 1970, Kissinger was described by Nixon as
"really having fun today" as more B52s
raided Cambodia without US Congressional
knowledge. Air Force Colonel Sitton recorded,
"Not only was Henry carefully screening the
raids, he was reading the raw intelligence on
mission patterns." (p. 38) As late as 1975,
when the US had disengaged from Vietnam,
Kissinger pressured President Ford to sanction a
"credibility enhancing" 15,000 pound
bombing of Cambodia on the pretext of the
Mayaguez ship incident. More than 35,500
Vietnamese civilians were separately murdered or
kidnapped by the CIA's "Phoenix
counter-guerrilla program" planned by
Kissinger's top-secret "Forty
Committee". When some of his own staff
members leaked these illegal deeds to the press,
a vindictive Kissinger telephoned FBI Director
Edgar Hoover asking him to "follow it up as
far as we can take it and destroy whoever did
this if we can find him, no matter where he
is". (p 42)
'Genocidal diplomacy' and coup in Bangladesh
The American consulate in East Pakistan sent a
cable to the State Department in April 1971
stating starkly that Pakistani military
brutalities had reached a crescendo, horrifying
enough to be considered genocide. Direct
evidence of aerial bombardment and mass killings
of Bengalis by General Tikka Khan was available
with US diplomats, thanks to a radio station
they ran, despite Pakistan's ban on foreign
media and press. But Kissinger was not to be
moved. He sent a message to President Yahya Khan
congratulating Pakistan for its "delicacy
and tact" in the eastern wing of the
country. Knowledge of Kissinger's secret
diplomacy with China via Pakistani good offices
and Nixon's "tilt" against India freed
Pakistani army hotheads from any moderation or
inhibition in pulverizing Bengalis. Many US
foreign service officers protested in memos to
Kissinger that he was backing a genocidal
regime, only to have their ranks demoted in the
bureaucratic ladder.
Kissinger nursed a deep grudge against
Mujib-ur-Rehman, the freedom fighter who won
Bangladesh independence with Indian help in
December 1971. He began encouraging US spies and
diplomats to contact Bangladeshi rightwing army
officers who intended a coup. Junior and senior
officer cadres plotting to overthrow Mujib
checked with their US point persons in advance,
and were told by "high circles" that
the overthrow was "no problem". (p.
53) Predictably, US-Bangladesh and
Pakistan-Bangladesh relations prospered from
1975 following Mujib's assassination, widespread
human rights abuses against minorities and
military capture of power in Dhaka.
Installing Pinochet in Chile
Kissinger once pooh-poohed Chile as a
"dagger pointed at the heart of
Antarctica", but flexed his muscles and
scheming mind as soon as Salvador Allende's
government won the 1970 elections. Unknown to
the US ambassador in Chile, Kissinger's Forty
Committee authorized a "track two"
policy of destabilization, kidnap and
assassination designed to provoke a military
coup. Fascist military plotters led by Roberto
Viaux were supplied machine guns and tear gas
grenades sent through US diplomatic pouches to
carry out the murder of moderate army chief Rene
Schneider. Hitchens quotes a newly declassified
file where cable traffic from Washington to the
assassins is recorded: "It is imperative
that these actions be implemented clandestinely
and securely so that the USG and American hand
be well hidden." (p. 60) Though Schneider's
murder did not have the desired effect of a
military uprising against Allende, Viaux's group
members were sent "hush money" through
CIA agents to prevent them from implicating
Kissinger.
From 1970 to 1973, Kissinger championed
"close relations" with military
dictatorships in Chile's neighborhood, a
pressure tactic that ended in the dreaded
Operation Condor raids. Covert anti-Allende
propaganda and the artificially generated crisis
environment in Santiago were achieved by the
Forty Committee's Project FUBELT. Kissinger's
warm welcome of Pinochet's September 11, 1973,
coup and the subsequent reign of terror is only
too well known to recount here. In 1976,
Kissinger met Pinochet in the Chilean capital
and assured him of continuing assistance thus:
"My evaluation is that you are a victim of
all leftwing groups around the world." (p.
70) The barbaric general who tortured thousands
and has several international warrants for
arrest and prosecution was to Kissinger a
"victim"! Kissinger also advised
Manuel Contreras, the infamous secret police
chief of Pinochet who ran an empire based on
human carnage, to continue the "good
work".
Aiding fascist Greece and militarist Turkey
in Cyprus
The legally elected president of Cyprus,
Archbishop Makarios, was viewed by fascist
Greece as a hurdle to Athenian control of the
disputed island. Kissinger was aware that the
Greek fascists bankrolled Nixon's election
campaigns and felt a natural sympathy for the
retarded view that "Makarios was the cause
of most of Cyprus' tensions". He had
advance knowledge of the fascist plan to depose
and kill Makarios. A US State Department order
of 1974 stood in complete agreement with Greek
fascist designs: "Remove Makarios once and
for all and have Greece deal directly with
Turkey over Cyprus' future." (p. 83)
Immediately after Greece invaded Cyprus,
Kissinger's office issued this statement:
"In our view there has been no outside
intervention."
Not to be outdone by Greece, Turkey conducted
two retaliatory invasions to occupy 40 percent
of Cyprus. This time, Kissinger exerted his
influence very strongly to protect Ankara, a
NATO ally and aid recipient, from US
Congressional sanctions for this shameful
violation of international law. Most of the
human rights violations the Turkish army
committed in Cyprus were achieved through US aid
and ammunition. Once the findings of independent
monitors laid the blame entirely on the Turkish
and American governments, Kissinger did a crafty
U-turn and claimed, "We knew the Soviets
had told the Turks to invade." (p. 88)
Turkey acting on Soviet behest in 1974 is a
ridiculous notion without parallel!
Abetting ethnic cleansing in East Timor
On the very day that General Suharto's military
invaded and vandalized East Timor in 1975,
Kissinger told the media in Jakarta, "The
United States understands Indonesia's position
on the question." In December 1975,
Kissinger chided his deputies in the State
Department for including a legal opinion that
the Indonesian invasion was a flouting of all
norms of international law. He also authorized
backdoor shipments of weapons to Indonesian
militias who went on an extirpation spree
against the Timorese people. Records of
diplomatic meetings of the time show Kissinger
irritated whenever his staff broached the fact
that 90 percent of weapons used against Timorese
were American. According to the CIA operations
chief in Indonesia, "Without continued
heavy US military support, the Indonesians might
not have been able to pull off the
invasion." On one occasion, Kissinger
showed his utter disregard for human lives and
American law, saying, "I know what the law
is but how can it be in the US national interest
for us to kick the Indonesians in the
teeth?" (p.105)
Conniving in elimination of a journalist
Kissinger repeatedly tried to assist his fascist
client government in Athens with the physical
elimination of Greek journalist and rights
activist Elias Demetracopoulos. Kissinger
promised the contract killers "cooperation
of various agencies of the US government"
in a secret cable, mainly because Elias was
investigating the links between the Forty
Committee and the Greek junta. The journalist's
knowledge of secret campaign donations from the
Greek fascists to Nixon's party was also too
uncomfortable a truth for Kissinger to sit
silently by. Greece's ambassador in Washington
recalled in his memoirs that the Greek desk of
the US State Department, "One of Elias'
most vitriolic enemies" sent him
"useful advice on extermination". (p.
118) Kissinger's papers contain a secret file
titled, "Acknowledging Mr Demetracopoulos'
death in Athens prison." Elias survived the
attempts on his life and is to this day trying
to subpoena Kissinger for releasing the contents
of this puzzling letter dated December 18, 1970.
The tightening noose
Kissinger Associates, a global consultancy firm,
now operates on the strength of all the shady
dealings its proprietor had with undemocratic
regimes around the world. The CEO of Heinz
credits Kissinger Associates for "helping
with contacts in that shadowy world where that
counts". (p. 121). Freeport McMoran and
Daewoo gained access to oil and gas rights and
plant construction privileges in the most
repressive state of Indo-China, Myanmar, through
Kissinger's exertions. Exploiting his excellent
ties with Suharto's crony capitalist network,
Kissinger helped another client close a deal for
a 30-year lease of gold and copper mines on the
Irian Jaya island of Indonesia. These acts of
"consultancy" are the last straws on
the camel's back as far as Kissinger's life
mission goes. His public diplomacy between 1969
and 1976 laid the foundation for the present
profits and commissions his firm earns by
peddling "contacts".
So, will Kissinger Associates continue to
perpetuate its owner's valueless and hideous
foreign policy? Will the countless victims of
Kissinger's greed and callousness remain
un-rehabilitated? Hitchens believes that the
noose is tightening around Kissinger. The Alien
Tort Claims Act in America allows non-citizens
to file cases against citizens for violations of
a US treaty or other international law. Chilean
relatives of Pinochet-era crimes are going ahead
with suits against Kissinger. Sufferers in
Bangladesh, Cambodia and Vietnam are also
queuing to prosecute him. Judge Baltasar Garzon
is trying to issue an arrest warrant for
Kissinger if he sets foot on Spanish soil, and
has requested Britain to detain and question
Kissinger should he travel to London.
States are still hesitant to act against an
establishment guru like Kissinger, but in the
court of the people, he already stands
convicted. Hitchens urges the American legal and
human rights community to take the lead and also
indict Kissinger for his violations of the US
constitution on numerous occasions. A new
documentary film, The Trials of Henry
Kissinger, is raising awareness about the
ugly truths that Americans always suspected but
lacked proof or courage to substantiate.
Kissinger's days of innocent denial seem
numbered.
Hitchens combines high quality investigation
with mordant irony to make this a sensational
book that exhorts the cloak of immunity to be
removed from the high priest of impunity.
The Trial of Henry Kissinger by
Christopher Hitchens, Verso Books, 2001, New
York. ISBN: 1-85984-631-9. Price US$22, 159
pages
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