Do not speak badly of the dead. This is a good admonition. But what about the truth? Should a person be remembered accurately when they die? Henry Kissinger’s death has brought this question to the forefront. The veteran diplomat died on Wednesday, aged 100. He left behind a legacy that included
Do n’t disparage the deceased. That is a commendable warning. What about the truth, though? Should a person be remembered precisely when they pass away? The passing of Henry Kissinger poses a serious question. At the age of 100, the seasoned diplomat passed away on Wednesday. He left behind a lengthy legacy that includes honors like the opening to China as well as evil deeds that led to mayhem and death—thousands of thousands of deaths. The international policy establishment, which hailed him as the wisest of intelligent men, will send out hosannas in his obituaries. However, those who were killed as a result of his foreign gamesmanship are unable to comment on his influence on world affairs.
I published an evaluation of his career earlier this year, just before he turned 100. ” Kissinger is indeed a huge figure who shaped many of the past 50 years,” I remarked. During his tenures as President Richard Nixon’s secretary of state and national security adviser, he pursued a detente with the Soviet Union and brokered the US’ opening to China. But the fact that he is not extremely well-known and respected for his numerous acts of treachery—covert bombings, coup planning, and aiding defense juntas—that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people is an insult to history. I gave a breakdown of each episode. Is now a good time to reflect on Kissinger’s troubled past? We can only speculate as to what the deceased would say. This is the roll call.
Cambodia: Nixon, Kissinger, and others devised a plan to covertly bomb Cambodia in order to pursue enemy camps in first 1969, soon after Nixon moved into the White House and inherited the Vietnam War. White House Chief of Staff H. R.” Bob” Haldeman noted in his diary that Kissinger and Nixon were “really excited” when the bizarrely named” Operation Breakfast” was launched. However, the action was questionably legal because Congress had hardly approved the carpet bombing, which Nixon tried to keep a secret, and the United States was not at war with Cambodia. 540,000 tons of bombs were dropped by the US military. They did n’t simply attack enemy strongholds. Between 150 000 and 500 000 Vietnamese civilians are thought to have died.
Bangladesh: A political party supporting East Pakistan’s independence won parliamentary elections in 1970. Gen. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, the military dictator who rules Pakistan, detained the party’s leader and gave the order for his army to exterminate the Bengalis. Yahya, a US ally at the time, was assisting Kissinger and Nixon in forging ties with China, so they did n’t want to obstruct him. The major US diplomat in East Pakistan reported that Yahya’s troops were committing “genocide” in a cable detailing and denouncing the atrocities they had carried out. Nixon and Kissinger, however, chose not to denounce Yahya or take action to put an end to the heinous attack. ( This came to be referred to as” the tilt” toward Pakistan. ) The murderous slaughter of 300,000 Bengalis, the majority of whom were Hindus, was ignored by Kissinger and Nixon, who may have even given their tacit approval.
Chile: Nixon and Kissinger devised a covert scheme to prevent Salvador Allende, the socialist president, from being elected democratically in 1970. Kissinger oversaw covert operations to destabilize Chile and bring about a military coup as part of this. This plot resulted in the murder of Chile’s army commander-in-chief. Gen. Augusto Pinochet’s military junta gradually took control, massacred thousands of Chileans, and put in place a dictatorship. Kissinger backed Pinochet to the hilt after the coup. In 1976, the Chilean tyrant told Pinochet in secret,” My evaluation is that you are a victim of all left-wing groups around the world and that your greatest sin was that which you overthrew an government which was going marxist.”
East Timor: In December 1975, Indonesia’s President Suharto was thinking about annexing the former Portuguese colony that was on the verge of independence. President Gerald Ford and Kissinger, who was next Ford’s secretary of state, visited Beijing on December 6 and stopped in Jakarta to meet with Suharto, the military leader of the country. Suharto gave the go-ahead to send troops to East Timor so they could join Indonesia. Kissinger and Ford made no protests. We will understand and will certainly press you on the matter, Ford said to Suharto. We are aware of the issue and the goals you have. It’s crucial that everything you do succeeds fast, Kissinger continued. Suharto would be smart to wait until Ford and Kissinger arrived back in the US, where they “would be able to influence the reaction in America,” he said. The following day, the invasion started. Here was a Kissinger ( and Ford ) “green light.” The terrible invasion of East Timor by Suharto claimed 200, 000 lives.
Argentina: In March 1976, a neofascist military junta deposed President Isabel Perón and started the so-called Dirty War, killing, abducting, and torturing social rivals it labeled as terrorists. Kissinger offered a “green light” when more, this time to an operation of terror and murder. Cesar Augusto Guzzetti, the junta’s foreign minister, and he had a secret meeting in June 1976. At that meeting, Guzzetti informed Kissinger that “terrorism is our primary problem in Argentina,” according to a memo obtained in 2004 by the nonprofit National Security Archive. ” If there are things that need to be done, you should do them immediately,” Kissinger retorted. In another words, continue your vicious campaign against the leftists. An approximated 30, 000 Brazilian civilians would perish in the Dirty War.
Kissinger was a dishonest schemer who committed numerous acts of skullduggery throughout his career in politics and government. While advising the Johnson administration’s team at the Paris peace talks, which were intended to put an end to the Vietnam War, he secretly shared information about the negotiations with Nixon, who was attempting to sabotage them, out of concern that the talks ‘ success would improve the chances of Vice President Hubert Humphrey—Niphoney’s opponent in the race—during the 1968 presidential campaign. At Nixon’s request, Kissinger urged FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap his personal aides and journalists to find out who was leaking after the New York Times revealed the covert bombing in Cambodia. In his most recent book, Watergate: A New History, historian Garrett Graff noted that although this operation was unable to identify the perpetrators of the subtle bombing, it did” seed the administration’s taste for spying on its enemies—real or imagined.”
Operation Condor, a covert initiative developed by the military dictatorships of South America to assassinate their democratic rivals both inside and outside of their nations, was briefed to Kissinger in 1976. The State Department’s attempt to warn these military juntas not to carry out global assassinations was finally thwarted by him. The National Security Archive notes in a dossier it released this week on different Kissinger controversies that” Five days later, Condor’s boldest and most renowned terrorist attack took place in downtown Washington, D. C., when Orlando Letelier and his younger colleague, Ronni Moffitt, were killed by car-bombs planted by Pinochet agents.”
Kissinger can be easily portrayed as a master geostrategist and an authority on the game of nations. However, do the math. There were possibly a million dying in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and East Timor. The Dirty War in Argentina claimed tens of thousands of lives. The military dictatorship in Chile killed thousands of people and tortured tens of thousands more, destroying a democracy. His hands were covered in blood.
Despite not being held responsible for his wrongdoings, Kissinger was frequently branded a “war criminal” by his detractors. In the decades since he left the government, his consulting, writing, and commentating careers have brought in millions of dollars. He again made fun of the “war criminal” label at a cocktail party in Manhattan, calling it practically an emblem of honor. He joked,” Bill Clinton does not have the spine to be a war criminal. Few, if any, regrets were expressed by Kissinger regarding the brutal and lethal outcomes of his moves on the international chessboard. This program you’re doing because I’m going to be 100 years old, Kissinger responded when Ted Koppel carefully nudged him about the covert bombing in Cambodia in an interview this year. And you’re choosing a subject from something that occurred 60 years back? You must be aware that it was a necessary step. He huffed,” Now the younger generation feels they do n’t have to think if they can raise their emotions,” as for those who continue to criticize him for that and other actions.
There were no Kissinger apologies. But if we do not fully consider the man, the rest of us will owe history—and the thousands of people who died as a result of his political scheming—an apology. Whatever his accomplishments, he left behind a massive collection of corpses. Do not disparage the deceased. That’s a commendable warning. But what about the reality? Should a person be remembered exactly when they pass away? The passing of Henry Kissinger poses a serious question. The seasoned diplomat passed ahead on Wednesday at the age of 100, leaving behind a legacy that includes
Do not speak badly of the dead. This is a good admonition. But what about the truth? Should a person be remembered accurately when they die? Henry Kissinger’s death has brought this question to the forefront. The veteran diplomat died on Wednesday, aged 100. He left behind a legacy that included
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, seen during a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in 2006, died at the age of 100 on November 29, 2023.Sergey Ponomarev/AP. Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.. Do not speak ill of the dead. That’s an honorable admonition. But what of the truth? When a person dies, should he be remembered accurately? That question is acutely posed by the demise of Henry Kissinger. The veteran diplomat passed away on Wednesday at the age of 100, leaving behind a long legacy that includes such highs as the opening to China, as well as foul deeds that resulted in mayhem and death—thousands and thousands of deaths. His obituaries will be filled with hosannas from the foreign policy establishment that hailed him as the wisest of wise men. Unfortunately, those who were slaughtered in part due to his global gamesmanship are not able to comment on his contribution to international affairs.. Earlier this year, ahead of his centennial birthday, I published an assessment of his career. I noted, “Kissinger is indeed a monumental figure who shaped much of the past 50 years. He brokered the US opening to China and pursued detente with the Soviet Union during his stints as President Richard Nixon’s national security adviser and secretary of state. Yet it is an insult to history that he is not equally known and regarded for his many acts of treachery—secret bombings, coup-plotting, supporting military juntas—that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands.” I provided a break-down of these episodes. Is it an appropriate moment to revisit Kissinger’s dark past? We can only imagine what the dead would say. Here’s the roll call.. Cambodia: In early 1969, shortly after Nixon moved into the White House and inherited the Vietnam War, he, Kissinger, and others cooked up a plan to secretly bomb Cambodia, in pursuit of enemy camps. With the perversely-named “Operation Breakfast” launched, White House chief of staff H.R. “Bob” Haldeman wrote in his diary, Kissinger and Nixon were “really excited.” The action, though, was of dubious legality; the United States was not at war with Cambodia and Congress had not authorized the carpet-bombing, which Nixon tried to keep a secret. The US military dropped 540,000 tons of bombs. They didn’t just hit enemy outposts. The estimates of Cambodian civilians killed range between 150,000 and 500,000.. Bangladesh: In 1970, a political party advocating autonomy for East Pakistan won legislative elections. The military dictator ruling Pakistan, Gen. Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, arrested the leader of that party and ordered his army to crush the Bengalis. At the time, Yahya, a US ally, was helping Kissinger and Nixon establish ties with China, and they didn’t want to get in his way. The top US diplomat in East Pakistan sent in a cable detailing and decrying the atrocities committed by Yahya’s troops and reported they were committing “genocide.” Yet Nixon and Kissinger declined to criticize Yahya or take action to end the barbarous assault. (This became known as “the tilt” toward Pakistan.) Kissinger and Nixon turned a blind eye to—arguably, they tacitly approved—Pakistan’s genocidal slaughter of 300,000 Bengalis, most of them Hindus.. Chile: Nixon and Kissinger plotted to covertly thwart the democratic election of socialist president Salvador Allende in 1970. This included Kissinger supervising clandestine operations aimed at destabilizing Chile and triggering a military coup. This scheming yielded the assassination of Chile’s commander-in-chief of the Army. Eventually, a military junta led by Gen. Augusto Pinochet seized power, killed thousands of Chileans, and implemented a dictatorship. Following the coup, Kissinger backed Pinochet to the hilt. During a private conversation with the Chilean tyrant in 1976, he told Pinochet, “My evaluation is that you are a victim of all left-wing groups around the world and that your greatest sin was that you overthrew a government which was going communist.”. East Timor: In December 1975, President Suharto of Indonesia was contemplating an invasion of East Timor, which had recently been a Portuguese colony and was moving toward independence. On December 6, President Gerald Ford and Kissinger, then Ford’s secretary of state, en route from a visit to Beijing, stopped in Jakarta to meet with Suharto, who headed the nation’s military regime. Suharto signaled he intended to send troops into East Timor and integrate the territory into Indonesia. Ford and Kissinger did not object. Ford told Suharto, “We will understand and will not press you on the issue. We understand the problem and the intentions you have.” Kissinger added, “It is important that whatever you do succeeds quickly.” He pointed out that Suharto would be wise to wait until Ford and Kissinger returned to the United States, where they “would be able to influence the reaction in America.” The invasion began the next day. Here was a “green light” from Kissinger (and Ford). Suharto’s brutal invasion of East Timor resulted in 200,000 deaths.. Argentina: In March 1976, a neofascist military junta overthrew President Isabel Perón and launched what would be called the Dirty War, torturing, disappearing, and killing political opponents it branded as terrorists. Once again, Kissinger provided a “green light,” this time to a campaign of terror and murder. He did so during a private meeting in June 1976 with the junta’s foreign minister, Cesar Augusto Guzzetti. At that sit-down, according to a memo obtained in 2004 by the National Security Archive, a nonprofit organization, Guzzetti told Kissinger, “our main problem in Argentina is terrorism.” Kissinger replied, “If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly.” In other words, go ahead with your savage crusade against the leftists. The Dirty War would claim the lives of an estimated 30,000 Argentine civilians.. Throughout his career in government and politics, Kissinger was an unprincipled schemer who engaged in multiple acts of skullduggery. During the 1968 presidential campaign, while he advised the Johnson administration’s team at the Paris peace talks, which were aimed at ending the Vietnam War, he underhandedly passed information on the talks to Nixon’s camp, which was plotting to sabotage the negotiations, out of fear that success at the talks would boost the prospects of Vice President Hubert Humphrey, Nixon’s opponent in the race. After the secret bombing in Cambodia was revealed by the New York Times, Kissinger, acting at Nixon’s request, urged FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to wiretap his own aides and journalists to discover who was leaking. This operation failed to uncover who had outed the covert bombing, but, as historian Garrett Graff noted in his recent book, Watergate: A New History, this effort seeded “the administration’s taste for spying on its enemies—real or imagined.”. In 1976, Kissinger was briefed on Operation Condor, a secret program created by the intelligence services of the military dictatorships of South America to assassinate their political foes inside and outside their countries. He then blocked a State Department effort to warn these military juntas not to proceed with international assassinations. As the National Security Archive points out in a dossier it released this week on various Kissinger controversies, “Five days later, Condor’s boldest and most infamous terrorist attack took place in downtown Washington D.C. when a car-bomb, planted by Pinochet’s agents, killed former Chilean ambassador Orlando Letelier and his young colleague, Ronni Moffitt.”. It’s easy to cast Kissinger as a master geostrategist, an expert player in the game of nations. But do the math. Hundreds of thousands of dead in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and East Timor, perhaps a million in total. Tens of thousands dead in Argentina’s Dirty War. Thousands killed and tens of thousands tortured by the Chilean military dictatorship, and a democracy destroyed. His hands were drenched in blood.. Kissinger was routinely lambasted by his critics as a “war criminal,” though has never been held accountable for his misdeeds. He made millions as a consultant, author, and commentator in the decades since he left government. I once heard of a Manhattan cocktail reception where he scoffed at the “war criminal” label and referred to it almost as a badge of honor. (“Bill Clinton does not have the spine to be a war criminal,” he joshed.) Kissinger expressed few, if any, regrets about the cruel and deadly results of his moves on the global chessboard. When Ted Koppel in an interview this year gently nudged him about the secret bombing in Cambodia, Kissinger took enormous umbrage and shot back: “This program you’re doing because I’m going to be 100 years old. And you are picking a topic of something that happened 60 years ago? You have to know it was a necessary step.” As for those who still protest him for that and other acts, he huffed, “Now the younger generation feels if they can raise their emotions, they don’t have to think.”. There were no apologies from Kissinger. But the rest of us will owe history—and the thousands dead because of his diplomatic scheming—an apology, if we do not consider the man in full. Whatever his accomplishments, his legacy includes an enormous pile of corpses.
