Itwillbecomeclear,Andmayaswellbe

Itwillbecomeclear,Andmayaswellbe

REPORT THE CASE AGAINST HENRY KISSINGER The making of a war crimina By Christopher Hitchens THE 1968 ELECTION In the same way, Kissinger's orchestration of INDOCHINA • CHILE political and military and diplomatic cover for apartheid in South Africa presents us with a It will become clear, and may as well be morally repulsive record and includes the ap stated at the outset, that this is written by palling consequences of the destabilization of a political opponent of Henry Kissinger. Angola. Again, though, one is looking at a sor Nonetheless, I have found myself contin did periodofColdWar and imperial history, and ually amazed at how much hos an exercise of irresponsible pow- tile and discreditable material I have felt compelled to omit. I . ganized crime.Additionally,one am concerned only with those must take into account the in Kissingerian offenses that ' Ml Jer,stitutionalrather than naturean ofepisode this policy,of or might or should form the basis |H which might in outline have of a legal prosecution: for war B[ been followed underanyadmin crimes, for crimes against hu- • V istration, national security ad manity, and for offenses against S viser, or secretary of state. common or customary or inter- Similar reservations can be national law, including con- 401 held about Kissinger's chairman spiracy to commit murder, kid- ^ shipof the PresidentialCommis sion on Central America in the Thus, 1mighthave mentioned early 1980s, whichwas staffed by Kissinger's recruitment and be- '-EL Oliver North and which white trayal of the Iraqi Kurds, who washed death-squad activity on werefalsely encouraged byhim to the isthmus. Or about the polit take up arms against Saddam ical protection provided by Hussein in 1972-75, and who southSOUTH VIETNAMESE'AMfSE Kissinger,while in office,for the were then abandoned to exter- napalkNAPALM VICTIM,\M, 1967 Pahlavi dynasty in Iran and its mination on their hillsides when machinery of torture and repres SaddamHusseinmadea diplomaticdealwith the sion.The list, it issobering to say, could be pro Shah of Iran, and who weredeliberatelylied to as tracted very much further. But it will not do to well as abandoned. The conclusior^ of the report blamethe wholeexorbitantcrueltyand cynicism by Congressman Otis Pike still make shocking ofdecades on one man.(Occasionally one gets an reading and reveal on Kissinger's part a callous in intriguing glimpse, aswhen Kissinger urges Pres difference to human life and human rights. But ident Ford not to receive the inconvenient they fall into the categoryofdepravedrealpolitik Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, all the while posing as and do not seem to have violated any known law. Communism's most daring and principledfoe.) Christopher Hitchens, formerly Washington editor o/Harper's Magazine, u the author ofbooks on the Cyprus crisis, Kurdistan, Palestine, andthe Anglo-American relationship. He is a regular columnist for Vanity Fair and The Nation. Photograph © 1967/ P.J.Grifliths/ Magnum Photos, Inc. REPORT 33 ^ No, IKave confined myself to the identifiable lonely impunity isrank; it smells to heaven. If it crimes that can and should be placed on a prop isallowed to persist then we shall shamefully vin er bill of indictment, whether the actions taken dicate the ancient philosopher Anacharsis, who were in line with general "policy" or not. These maintained that lawswere like cobwebs—strong include, in this installment, the deliberate mass enough to detain only the weakand too weak to killing of civilian populations in Indochina and hold the strong. In the name of innumerable vic the personal suborning and planning of murder tims known and unknown, it is time for justice to of a senior constitutional officer in a take a hand. democratic nation—Chile—with which the United States was not at war. In a second in REGARDING HENRY stallment we will see that this criminal habit of mind extends to Bangladesh, Cyprus, East Ti On December 2, 1998, Michael Korda mor, and even to Washington, D.C. wasbeing interviewed on camera in his Some of these allegations can be constructed office at Simon &. Schuster. As one of only prima facie, since Mr. Kissinger—in what the reigning magnates of New York may also amount to a deliberate and premedi publishing, he had edited and "produced" the tated obstruction of justice—has caused large work of authors as various as Tennessee Williams, tranches of evidence to be withheld or possibly Richard Nixon, Joan Crawford, and Joe Bonan- destroyed. We now,however,enter upon the age no. On this particular day, he wastalking about when the defense of "sovereign immunity" for the life and thoughts of Cher, whose portrait state crimes has been held to be void. As I demon adorned the wall behind him. And then the tele strate below, Kissingerhas understood this deci phone rang and there wasa message to call "Dr." sive change even ifmany of his critics have not. Henry Kissinger^ soon as possible. A polymath The House of Lords' ruling in London, on the in like Korda knows—what with the exigencies of ternational relevance of General Augusto publishing in these vertiginous days—how to Pinochet's crimes, added to the splendid activism switch in an instant between Cher and high of the Spanish magistracy and the verdicts of the statecraft. The camera kept running, and record International Tribunal at The Hague, has de ed the following scene for a tape that I possess: stroyed the shield that immunized crimes com Asking his secretary to get the number (759- mitted under the justification of raison d'etat. 7919—the digitsof Kissinger Associates),Korda There isnow no reason why a warrant for the tri- quipsdryly, to general laughter in the office, that it "should be 1-800-CAMBODIA ... 1-800- BOMB-CAMBODIA." After a pause of nicely calibrated duration (no senior editor likes to be IN POLITICS ARE NOW IN put on hold while he's receivingcompany, espe cially media company) it's "Henry—Hi, how are HIS OWN LONELY IMPUNITY IS RAnS you?.. .You're getting all the publicity youcould want in the NewYork Times but not the kinH you al of Kissinger may not be issued in any one of a want... I also think it's very, verydubiousfor the number of jurisdictions and no reason why he administration to simplysay yes, they'll release may not be compelled to answer it. Indeed, as I these papers... no... no, absolutely... no... no write, there are a number of jurisdictions where .. .well, hmmm, yeah. We did it until quite re the law is at long last beginning to catch up with cently, frankly, and he did prevail . Well, I the evidence. And we have before us in any case don't think there's any question about that, as un the Nuremberg precedent, by which the United comfortable as it may be... Henry, this is total States solemnly undertook to be bound. lyoutrageous...yeah.. .alsothe jurisdiction. This A failure to proceed will constitute a double or isa Spanish judge appealing to an English court triple offenseto justice. First, it will violate the about a Chilean head of state. So it's, it... Also, essentialand now uncontested principle that not Spain has no rational jurisdiction over events in even the most powerful are above the law. Sec Chile anyway, so that makesabsolutelyno sense ond, it will suggest that prosecutions for war ... Well, that's probably true ... If you would. I crimesand crimesagainst humanity are reserved think that would be byfar and away the best... for losers, or for minor despots in relatively neg Right, yeah, no, 1 think it's exactly what you ligible countries. This in turn will lead to the should do, and I don't think it should be long, and paltry politicization ofwhatcould havebeena no I think it should end with your father's letter. I ble process and to the justifiable suspicionofdou think it's a very important document... Yes, but ble standards. I think the letter is wonderful, and central to the Manyifnot mostofKissinger's partners in pol entire book. Can you let me read the Lebanon itics, from Greece to Chile to Argentina to In chapter over the weekend?" At this point the donesia,are now in jail or awaitingtrial. His own conversation ends, with some jocular observa- 34 HARPER'S MAGAZINE / FEBRUARY 2001 tions byKordaabout his upcomingcolonoscopy: case against General Pinochet, Clinton Adminis HENRY KISSINGER, "a totally repulsiveprocedure." tration officials said they believed the benefits of 1973 Bymeans of the same tiny internal camera,or opennessin human rightscasesoutweighedthe risks itsforensic equivalent,one coulddeducenot a lit to national security in this case. But the decision tle about the worldof Henry Kissinger from this could open "a can of worms,"in the wordsof a for mer Central Intelligence Agency officialstationed microcosmic exchange. The first and most im in Chile, exposingthe depth of the knowledge that portant isthis:Sitting in hisoffice at Kissinger As the United States had about crimescharged against sociates, with its tentacles of business and con the Pinochet Govemment sultancystretching from Belgrade to Beijing, and While some European govemment officialshave cushioned by innumerable other directorships supported bringing the former dictator to court. and boards, he still shudders when he hears of the United States officials have stayed largelysilent, re arrest ofa dictator. Syncopated the conversation flectingskepticismabout the Spanishcourt's power, with Korda maybe,but it's clear that the keyword doubts about intemational tribunals aimed at former is "jurisdiction." What had the New York Times foreign rulers, and worries over the implications for American leaders who might someday also beacciised in been reporting that fine morning?On December foreign countries, lltalics added.] 2,1998, itsfront pagecarriedthe following report President Richard M. Nixon and Henry A.

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