Kissinger's Supposed Crimes

Kissinger has passed away. I strongly suggest reading Diplomacy, which is a seminal work on the subject.

He is widely accused of having committed numerous war crimes. Ok, let's discuss Kissinger's crimes. Here is a good summary. I numbered them in bold and red...

During his brief tenure at the forefront of U.S. foreign policy, Kissinger got a lot done. In his first two years in office, he helped Richard Nixon 1. sabotage Vietnamese peace talks for his own political gain, 2. expanded that war into Laos and Cambodia (the destabilizing effects of which would pave the way for the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the death of up to two million people), and 3. advocated the bombing of, in his own words, “anything that moves.”

In 1971, Kissinger 4. backed Pakistan in its war against Bangladesh despite evidence of massacre and rape. In ‘73, he 5. orchestrated a military coup against the democratically elected Allende regime of Chile, installing in its stead the violently oppressive Pinochet dictatorship. And in ‘75, the then-Secretary of State 6. lent his tacit support to President Suharto of Indonesia―himself a despot already responsible for the mass killings of hundreds of thousands―in the deadly conquest of East Timor. Kissinger himself, in proposing an intervention in Cyprus, summed up his philosophy best: “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer"

You'll notice that his support of Suharto is listed as crime number 6. as he was killing people in East Timor.  So, where is Kissinger's support for Mao listed as a crime as he killed an estimated 80% of the population of Tibet in the 1950s?  It's not like no one was aware of what happened in Tibet by the early 1970's.  Mao was a Commie, so his mass murders are OK, and Kissinger's playing nicey-nice with Mao is forgiven. 

The problem that I have with all but two of these six crimes is that they aren't actually crimes, and even those two are questionable. 

As a starter, bombing in war is not illegal. His advocacy of the bombing of Cambodia and Laos is the one of two acts that I think could be a crime, as the USA was not at war with these countries at the time.  The fact that they were both being used as supply routes for the North Vietnamese could excuse this as, again, bombing is not illegal, and countries are not allowed to to permit their territory to be used against another territory as a base for war-like activities. Still, that may be a weak defence.

Oh ya! Obama killed thousands of people in countries against which the USA was not at war at the time, with drones and Hellfire missiles. If Kissinger is a criminal, then so is Obama.

Obama is a war criminal?!  NOOOOOOOO! He's sunshine and light, and he's a Left Democrat and Hope Incarnate, so we give him a pass. 

Oh, this from the Council on Foreign Relations "The 542 drone strikes that Obama authorized killed an estimated 3,797 people, including 324 civilians. As he reportedly told senior aides in 2011: “Turns out I'm really good at killing people. Didn't know that was gonna be a strong suit of mine.” 

While Kissinger only set policy and let others implement his policies, every single one of these 542 attacks was personally authorized by Obama himself...he came as close as you can to actually pulling the trigger.

Not a "strong suit" for Obama...isn't he from Chicago?

The other alleged crime that could be real was the overthrow of Allende.  This was undoubtedly a crime in Chile. It could also at least theoretically be a violation of the Neutrality Act, 1794. Numerous individuals have been charged under that act and its successor with attempting to overthrow foreign governments. Given that it was the US government itself that was doing this, however, it probably did not constitute a crime as the point of that act is to leave nasty business like overthrowing foreign governments to the US Government, not to individuals.

There is also a UN Resolution from 1965 called the "Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of Their Independence and Sovereignty General Assembly resolution 2131 (XX)" It says this..."No State has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any State."  

This seems to do it, but the USA is not bound by international law unless it adopts it into its domestic law and I'm not sure they adopted that resolution.  However, the UN Charter Article 2(4) and Article 2(7), also prohibit the UN as well as states from intervening in the domestic affairs of other states except where there is collective action. Based on this, it seems that his advocacy of the overthrow of Allende did constitute a crime. However, it is the country, not the person, that is culpable when there are violations against the Charter. I can't see how this is a personal crime committed by Kissinger himself.

I'll summarize his supposed crimes here - 

- sabotaging peace talks that didn't fit the internal politics of his country - not a crime;

- supporting bombing in a war against a belligerent - not a crime;

- supporting one side in a civil war, where there were war crimes being committed - not a crime;

- supporting bombing of third party countries which were aiding another country in attacking their neighbor, where the USA had an alliance with that same neighbor - may be a crime;

- supporting a dictator who was committing war crimes - not a crime;

- supporting the overthrow of a Commie - may be a crime of America but likely not Kissinger personally....

Ironically, he is almost always implicitly blamed for the Khmer Rouge coming to power and for everything that came afterward. This is idiotic. Um, like, didn't the USSR, North Vietnam and especially China support that despicable outfit in the overthrow of the recognized government of Cambodia at the time?  If so, why are they not listed as criminals as this is exactly the same supposed crime that Kissinger apparently committed in overthrowing in Allende in Chile?

Why, I ask? 

Because in the West, with its slavish adherence to "liberation journalism" where all West = Bad and all "Revolution" = Good, Commies simply didn't commit war crimes, only guys like Kissinger did.

He lived to 100. Good on him.