KISSINGER Crimes Misdemeanors Readings Christopher Hitchens article in

KISSINGER Crimes & Misdemeanors

Readings • Christopher Hitchens’ article in Harpers detailing Kissinger’s actions • Kissinger’s attack on universal jurisdiction in Foreign Affairs • Roth’s rebuttal of Kissinger’s attack

Depraved Realpolitik crimes • Betrayal of Kurds in 1972 -75 – Encouraged to revolt against Hussein – Abandoned to extermination • Kissinger’s role in South Africa & Angola • White-washing of death squads in Central America • Support for Shah’s Torture & Repression in Iran

Indictable Crimes • • • Mass murder in Indochina during war Murder in Chile during peace Bloodbath in Bangladesh Coup, Torture, Murder in Cyprus Conquest & Slaughter in East Timor Assassination in Washington, D. C.

International Law • No longer recognizes “sovereign immunity” • International Tribunal at the Hague • Pinochet indictment – Spanish judge suppoena for Chilean Dictator Pinochet – British government arrested Pinochet • Warrant for arrest of Kissinger • Many of his co-conspirators are in jail

Prelude: “October Surprise” • Fall of 1968 before the presidential elections: Humphrey vs Nixon • Nixon & Kissinger sabotage the Paris Peace Talks over ending the Vietnam War • Promise a better deal from Republicans • South Vietnamese junta withdrew • Result: Peace Talks Collapsed

1973 Coup in Chile • Chilean military overthrew democratically elected president Salvador Allende • Materially and morally backed by Kissinger and Nixon Administration

Consequences • • Humphrey lost, Nixon won Seven more years of war (1968 -1975) 20, 000 more American soldiers died Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians died.

Evidence I • Haldeman Diaries: reveal Johnson bugging? • Stephen Ambrose bio on Nixon, fear of consequences of revelation • Clark Clifford discovered secret communications between Nixon camp & S. Vietnamese government (violation of Logan Act)

Evidence II • Richard Holbrooke: Kissinger was spy for Nixon inside negotiations • Nixon’s Autobiography: John Mitchell was contact for Kissinger • Anthony Summer’s book: Claire Chennault as second intermediary to S. Vietnamese • Hitchen’s lists other sources, same story

“War Crimes” in Indochina? • Christmas Bombing of North Vietnam after 1968 Elections • General Telford Taylor’s book on Nuremberg & Vietnam: US leaders could be tried as well. • Nuremberg Trials reasoning taken over by United Nations as basis of international law • US accepted law its prosecutors & judges produced.

Question of Responsibility • General Taylor analyzes cases of WWII leaders sentenced to death • Central issue was knowledge and failure to act to stop or prevent further crimes – E. g. , General Yamashita - hanged – E. g. , Foreign Minister Hirota & Rape of Nanking – hanged • Kissinger et. al. knew and in detail yet continued to perpetrate crimes

Kissinger & “Speedy Express” • 9 th Division Slaughter in Kien Hoa province • Body count = 11, 000, weapons = 748 • General Creighton Abrams praised operation widely and frequently • Impossible to believe Kissinger was unaware • Yet he took no steps to stop the slaughter

Kissinger & Cambodia/Laos - I • Post-WWII, US denied allies right to attack other countries – E. g. , Egypt in 1956, attacked by France, Britain and Israel, US forced retreat – E. g. , against French attack of Tunesian town during war to keep Algeria • All set aside by “hot pursuit” • Secret bombing of Cambodia & Laos, Kissinger and Nixon lied about what they were doing, denied it.

Kissinger & Camboida/Laos - II • 350, 000 civilians in Laos, 600, 000 civilians in Cambodia were killed by bombing • Use of toxic chemical defoliants caused massive health crisis, esp for mothers, children & aged • Kissinger brags about his role in orchestrating the bombing & poisoning • Haldeman reports Kissinger’s pleasure

Kissinger & Cambodia/Laos - III • Kissinger not only orchestrated but micromanaged operations – He carefully picked bombing targets – Tracked results, read “raw intelligence” • Several of his own staff resigned, e. g, Anthony Lake • Kissinger tapped phones of those who revealed what was going on

Kissinger & Operation Phoenix • Murder of 35, 708 Vietnamese civilians by CIA “counter-guerrilla” operatives • Over first 2 & ½ years of Kissinger-Nixon Administration • When word of operation leaked, Kissinger was furious and ordered wire-taps to find leaks, taps inside White House, State Department and newsmen • Prelude to Watergate, Hitchen argues

Kissinger & Chile - I • Chile: best democracy in Southern Cone • 1/3 conservative vote, 1/3 socialist, 1/3 Christian Democratic centrist • CIA funded “reliable elements” (as in Italy –which we now know involved fascists) • 1972 socialist Salvador Allende elected president • Kissinger et al decide to remove

Kissinger & Chile - II • Two track operation: one thru State Department, one thru CIA • Objective: destablization, kidnapping & assassination • First target: Chilean General Rene Schneider, a military leader devoted to democracy • So, word went out in Santiago of $50 k

Kissinger & Chile - III • Hitchens: “an unelected official in the US is meeting with others, without the knowledge or authorization of Congress, to plan the kidnapping of a consitutionally minded senior official in a democratic country with which the US is not at war and maintains cordial diplomatic relations. . . A “hit”, a piece of state-supported terrorism. ”

Kissinger & Chile - IV • Extensive evidence from de-classified cables between Washington and Chile about provision of money and guns for assassination • Memo of Conversation, Oct 15, 1970 • Two tracks within 2 nd track: – General Roberto Viaux et al – General Camilo Valenzuela et al • Schneider was kidnapped and murdered

Kissinger & Chile - V • Not only was Kissinger & US government involved in Coup against Allende that murdered him • But also involved in cover-up of subsequent atrocities: torture, murder, etc. • Evidence: CIA Report to Congress in 2000 admitted role, tried to escape responsibility for results

Kissinger & Cyprus - I • Greece/Turkey conflict & Cyprus – Military dictatorship in Greece – Militarized government in Turkey – Democratically elected government in Cyprus (President Makarios) • Cyprus: 82% Greek, 18% Turkish • Kissinger had advance knowledge of plan to depose and kill Makarios

Kissinger & Cyprus - II • Senator J. William Fulbright learned of impending coup and tried to get Kissinger to intervene • Kissinger refused • Coup took place on July 15, 1974 • Murders followed, Kissinger ordered recognition of new regime – only country to do so. • Turkish invasions, torture, murders followed, and partition.

Kissinger & Bloodbath in Bangladesh • 1971 West Pakistan attacked East Pakistan (Bangladesh) slaughtering thousands • US lack of action protested by US foreign service agents • Kissinger was using Pakistan for secret negotiations with China • Result: genocide in Bangladesh & Nixon to China Spring 1971.

US & Indonesia • Pre-Kissinger US role in Indonesia – CIA organized invasion to overthrow Sukarno – Berkeley & MIT trained new elite – CIA collaborated in military coup that slaughtered 500, 000+ – US/UN allowed take over of West Papua

Kissinger & East Timor - I • Indonesia invaded East Timor on December 7, 1975 (Pearl Harbor) • Right after Ford/Kissinger visit to Jakarta • Ford/Kissinger gave permission and provided support for Indonesian invasion, conquest and colonization of East Timor via slaughter, rape, deliberate starvation – 50200, 000 killed • Kissinger furious over leaks of his role

Demetracopoulos -I • Plan to kidnap and murder Greek journalist Elias Demetracopoulos who opposed USbacked military dictatorship in Greece • (see the movie “Z”) • After fall of dictatorship, he discovered documents about plans to kill him that included reference to cooperation in Washington

Demetracopoulos -II • Used Freedom of Information Act to get documents in Washington • 1963 CIA had tried to keep him out of US • Greek military money for Nixon campaign – CIA money? “hush money” for Watergate? • Demetracopoulos revelations led to plans to discredit and then assassinate him • Prima facie case Kissinger knew

Relevant Laws? • • International Human Rights Law of Armed Conflict International Criminal Law Domestic Law & Law of Civil Remedies Genocide Convention Covenant on Civil & Political Rights Alien Tort Claims Act

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction • Kissinger: universal jurisdiction is new • Roth: no, it’s not, US & Israeli courts have done this • Kissinger: treaties on HR not intended for use of local judges against outsiders • Roth: Wrong, e. g. , Torture Convention mandates such prosecution

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction - II • Kissinger: International Criminal Court “crimes” are too vague. • Roth: wrong, definition of war crimes resembles US military definitions • Kissinger: ICC prosecutor will not be accountable • Roth: wrong, prosecutor can be removed

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction - III • Kissinger: attacks ICC jurisdiction over US citizens in absence of US accession to treaty • Roth: US itself asserts such jurisdiction • Kissinger: ICC defendents won’t have due process as understood in US • Roth: 1) US courts martial same, 2) US courts regularly approve extradiction to countries lacking jury trials

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction - IV • Kissinger: ICC would violate US constitution by asserting jurisdiction over US citizens • Roth: 1) ICC gives up jurisdiction to good faith investigation by home government, 2) US allows foreign prosecution of US military personnel

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction - V • Kissinger: claims selective prosecution, eg. , Pinochet – “fashionably reviled man or the right” • Roth: 1) Pinochet targeted because of murder of 3, 000 and torture of thousands more, 2) all sorts of people have been prosecuted: Bosnian war criminals, Rwandan genocidaires, Argentine torturers

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction - VI • Kissinger: ICC ignores local justice, eg. , amnesty for Pinochet • Roth: Amnesty for Pinochet was imposed by him • Kissinger: worries about undemocratic government prosecution • Roth: Govt’s regularly deny extradiction

Kissinger/Roth on Universal Jurisdiction • Kissinger: UN Security Council should decide who gets tried • Roth: option rejected because it would give member states ability to veto prosecution of their own citizens and those of their allies • Roth: international law means US citizens must be held accountable like everyone else

Kissinger to Bush • What, if any, are parallels between actions analzyed and condemned by Hitchens and those currently pursued by Bush Administration? • Who, if anyone, might be prosecuted for the kinds of crimes delineated above?