The Trial of Henry Kissinger

Christopher Hitchens doesn't mince words when it comes to The Trial of Henry Kissinger, the former secretary of state and national-security advisor: in his view, Kissinger deserves vigorous prosecution "for war crimes, for crimes against humanity, and for offences against common or customary or international law, including conspiracy to commit murder, kidnap, and torture." The Trial of Henry Kissinger is a polemical masterpiece; even readers who don't agree that its target is an emanation of "official evil" will appreciate the verve and style brought to Hitchens's fiery brief. ("A good liar must have a good memory: Kissinger is a stupendous liar with a remarkable memory.")

The book is best understood as a document of prosecution--both because Hitchens limits his critique to what he believes might stand up in an international court of law following precedents set at Nuremberg and elsewhere, and also because his treatment of Kissinger is far from even handed. The charges themselves are astonishing, as they link Kissinger to war casualties in Vietnam, massacres in Bangladesh and Timor, and assassinations in Chile, Cyprus, and Washington, DC. After reading this book, one wants very badly to hear a full response from the defendant. Hitchens, a writer for Vanity Fair and The Nation, is a man of the Left, though he has a history of skewering both Democrats (he is the author of a provocative book on the Clintons, No One Left to Lie To) as well as Republicans (like Kissinger).

At the root of this latest effort is moral outrage, and a call for Americans, of all people, not to ignore Kissinger's record:

They can either persist in averting their gaze from the egregious impunity enjoyed by a notorious war criminal and lawbreaker, or they can become seized by the exalted standards to which they continually hold everyone else... If the courts and lawyers of this country will not do their duty, we shall watch as the victims and survivors of this man pursue justice and vindication in their own dignified and painstaking way, and at their own expense, and we shall be put to shame.

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A hatchet job that's well worth reading. - Rated
In the first paragraph of this book,Hitchens says openly that he is,and always has been,an opponent of Kissinger,so stop here if you want some objective study of US foriegn policy between 1969 and 1977.
Hitchens clearly loathes Kissinger(and what's wrong with that?),and this book is far from a complete critique of Kissinger-he notes in the introduction that the campaign against the Iraqi Kurds in 1975-76,partially caused by a switch in US policy,is not part of his case,and the massive cash payouts to the Italian Christian Democrats and other pro-US cliques in Europe aren't even mentioned.
There are five major charges in this book:
1-Genocide in Indochina
2-Genocide and assasinations in Bangladesh
3-Murder and conspiracy in Chile
4-Conspiracy to overthrow the Cypriot government.
5-Complicity in genocide in East Timor.
Hitchens produces a very strong casr for all of these allegations.The best news of all is in the introduction,where it is revealed that judges in France,Argentina and Chile are now trying to summon Kissinger to give evidence in human rights cases.Maybe it's time for Americans to demand a Truth Commission from the new president in 2009?Don't hold your breath.

We are utterly futile in the face of determined and covert manipulation of democracy - Rated
The contents here are so chilling that they almost defy description. In particular, glimpses of the final days of Nixon's era. And in ignorance we thought the Cuban missile crisis was as close as we got to global annihilation. Yeah, right. This is a densely written book that despite the clarity of writing requires considerable concentration to try and determine, let alone come to terms with the implications.

My conclusion is that sad to report, that as individuals we are utterly futile in the face of determined and covert manipulation of democracy. Our votes it seems count for nothing. Literally nothing Meanwhile the man himself was interviewed on BBC Radio 4 recently talking about his major contribution to US/China relationships. I guess the interviewer had not read this book. This book should be compulsory reading for every student of politics and/or history in every school.

So I'm off to play the B52s `Cosmic Thing' because The Samaritans are engaged right now.

The case for the prosecution - Rated
In The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Vanity Fair columnist and Professor of Liberal Studies Christopher Hitchens, presents the prosecution case for the charge that former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger should stand trial alongside the likes of Slobodan Milosevic, Augusto Pinochet and Saddam Hussein for crimes of international aggression.

Such a charge against a Western politician seems outrageous, were one not acquainted with the gravity of the crimes and the substantial evidence of the complicity of a key figure in several presidential administrations. Indeed, Kissinger's crimes, according to Hitchens (and drawing primarily on Anthony Summers' and Robbyn Swan's superb biography of Richard Nixon, The Arrogance of Power), started from his involvement in the successful sabotage of the Johnson administrations' Vietnam peace talks of 1968. From there, the war crimes escalated through out Indochina with Kissinger's blessing and then on into genocide in Bangladesh, the overthrow of a democratically elected government and the installation and active support of an openly fascist regime in Chile, the support of a brutal dictatorship in Cyprus and the arming of a genocidal regime in Indonesia.

All of the above is substantially documented via internal declassified records and witness statements, both from the guilty, the guilt-ridden and the survivors of a such a terrible plague bestowed upon the innocent by such a cynical and aloof promoter of realpolitik.

Some might be tempted to dismiss this book summarily as "one-sided" - and indeed it is. This book does just what it says on the tin: it presents the charge against one of the most prominent of global citizens. Those who would speak in his defence can present their own case, as Kissinger himself undertook, in his three volumes of nostalgic apologia. If, as Professor Noam Chomsky has written, it is a basic moral truism that we should judge ourselves by the same standards that we apply to others (or if we are being completely honest, we should hold our selves to a higher standard), then Dr Kissinger should quite rightly be tried for war crimes in The Hague; as Hitchens phrases it: "...in the name of innumerable victims known and unknown, it is time for justice to take a hand."

This slim book, then, is reasonably provocative. What separates it from a normal piece of political analysis, is that Hitchens is quite rightly placing the responsibility on an individual: that laws cannot be broken by abstract theories, policies or administrations but by individuals; that monstrous and great though some crimes are, they are not beyond punishment. Were the laws established by the Nuremburg trials after the Second World War applied evenly, without discrimination, then it is quite possible that Henry Kissinger, amongst others, might have one day found himself swinging at the end of a (sturdy) rope - or if this is too absurdly, graphically obscene, then perhaps the lethal injection, the method preferred by his confidant George W. Bush, who has given the death sentence a green-light to those guilty of lesser offences.

What is not included in this book is this: this book was published in early 2001. After the obscene tragedy of 11th September 2001, Christopher Hitchens became perhaps the most unforeseen enthusiast of President George W. Bush. As recently revealed, Henry Kissinger has been a close advisor to this presidency, an administration that has shamed a nation, in the eyes of much of the world's population. Such was the closeness of Kissinger and Bush's relationship, that Kissinger was Bush's first choice to lead a blue ribbon investigation into these terrible events. However, the 9/11 Family Steering Committee interviewed Kissinger, seeking to reassure themselves that there was no conflict of interest betwixt Kissinger (and his consultancy business, Kissinger Associates) and any potential areas of investigation. Given the choice between serving his country or suffer a financial hardship (and possibly some loss of prestige) by revealing his client list - a list that could well have included Saudi clients, some by the name of Bin Laden - Kissinger patriotically opted to look after his business and let the families of the dead take their quest for justice elsewhere.

Written with clarity and élan, Christopher Hitchens never lets us forget that where there are victims, there are criminals and that where there is criminality there should be justice. Regardless of Hitchens' recent volte-face, this book will remain an enduring testament to the ageless concept of the need for power to be confronted with truth.

Compelling... - Rated
This book is hard hittting and to the point. It is essentially a 150 page indictment of Kissinger for crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and it makes compelling reading. Particularly in these days of 'Iraq has weapons of mass destruction' and 'Iran is waging a proxy war against us' this book gives us insight into the terrible and murky world of realpolitik and the murderous capacity of unscrupulous politicians in powerful nations, liberal or otherwise. One of the gems about this gem of a book is it opens up many new planes of investigation for those interested in further examining the claims he makes therein. Credit therefore to the author for substantiating his claims with clear sources and referenced materials. It is a refreshing, no-frills read; necessary reading for the counter-hegemonic.

No Laws No War Criminals - Rated
What is a "war criminal"? For all practical purposes it means you lost so you are the criminal, we won we bring peace and freedom. It gives an easy out and a simple legal mechanism to lock up or kill the opposing leaders at the end of hostilities.

Here is the problem - there is no consistent set of international laws. As an example, I just read the new book by Brzezinski "The Choice" - excellent book - and he thinks an effective World Court is many decades away. So at the present time we have individuals living in sovereign states that accept only that laws apply to individuals living within states, but the states themselves still have failed to grasp or have intentionally chosen to ignore the concept that sovereign states in dealing among themselves must (also) be governed by a set of international laws. Then when there is a problem anywhere (like Iraq or even Haiti) the first step is to go through a legal process. People like Kissinger in the past, and more recently Wolfowitz have decided on their own that they are above the law or can act with impunity. But even Jimmy Carter shipped material to Afghanistan to support an armed insurrection, and Reagan shipped goods (secretly) to Iraq, Iran and Nicaragua contrary even to US law, not just international laws. So this is a problem that extends well beyond Kissinger.

It is somewhat ironic that Jack Straw is condemning Israel in March 2004 for their acts against Hamas while he supports illegal intervention in Iraq in 2003. All in all there is a high degree of arbitrariness and hypocrisy.

So it follows that if the US or Britain are to be a democratic examples they must apply consistent legal standards to all international dealings and support international treaties and laws - to the letter of the laws, even if that is inconvenient, takes longer, and does not always result in the short term interests of the US being served. If some sort of international consensus cannot be reached then it is a "war of the jungle", and war crimes will always be an issue. It also follows that Middle East peace and an environment consensus will never be solved which is quite a depressing concept. So it is really a priority to strengthen international laws and institutions. At the moment it is shear nonsense to call Kissinger a war criminal since there are no laws to break.

Jack in Toronto