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e2d4922
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"1. Bangladesh.... In 1971 ... Kissinger overrode all advice in order to support the Pakistani generals in both their civilian massacre policy in East Bengal and their armed attack on India from West Pakistan.... This led to a moral and political catastrophe the effects of which are still sorely felt. Kissinger's undisclosed reason for the 'tilt' was the supposed but never materialised 'brokerage' offered by the dictator Yahya Khan in the course of secret diplomacy between Nixon and China.... Of the new state of Bangladesh, Kissinger remarked coldly that it was 'a basket case' before turning his unsolicited expertise elsewhere. 2. Chile.... Kissinger had direct personal knowledge of the CIA's plan to kidnap and murder General Rene Schneider, the head of the Chilean Armed Forces ... who refused to countenance military intervention in politics. In his hatred for the Allende Government, Kissinger even outdid Richard Helms ... who warned him that a coup in such a stable democracy would be hard to procure. The murder of Schneider nonetheless went ahead, at Kissinger's urging and with American financing, just between Allende's election and his confirmation.... This was one of the relatively few times that Mr Kissinger (his success in getting people to call him 'Doctor' is greater than that of most PhDs) involved himself in the assassination of a single named individual rather than the slaughter of anonymous thousands. His jocular remark on this occasion--'I don't see why we have to let a country go Marxist just because its people are irresponsible'--suggests he may have been having the best of times.... 3. Cyprus.... Kissinger approved of the preparations by Greek Cypriot fascists for the murder of President Makarios, and sanctioned the coup which tried to extend the rule of the Athens junta (a favoured client of his) to the island. When despite great waste of life this coup failed in its objective, which was also Kissinger's, of enforced partition, Kissinger promiscuously switched sides to support an even bloodier intervention by Turkey. Thomas Boyatt ... went to Kissinger in advance of the anti-Makarios putsch and warned him that it could lead to a civil war. 'Spare me the civics lecture,' replied Kissinger, who as you can readily see had an aphorism for all occasions. 4. Kurdistan. Having endorsed the covert policy of supporting a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq between 1974 and 1975, with 'deniable' assistance also provided by Israel and the Shah of Iran, Kissinger made it plain to his subordinates that the Kurds were not to be allowed to win, but were to be employed for their nuisance value alone. They were not to be told that this was the case, but soon found out when the Shah and Saddam Hussein composed their differences, and American aid to Kurdistan was cut off. Hardened CIA hands went to Kissinger ... for an aid programme for the many thousands of Kurdish refugees who were thus abruptly created.... The of the day was: 'foreign policy should not he confused with missionary work.' Saddam Hussein heartily concurred.
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1971-bangladesh-atrocities
1972-nixon-visit-to-china
1973-chilean-coup-d-etat
1974
1975
assassination
athens
bangladesh
bangladesh-liberation-war
central-intelligence-agency
chile
china
china-pakistan-relations
civil-war
coup-d-état
cyprus
democracy
diplomacy
doctors
doctors-of-philosophy
east-timor
ecclesiastical-coup
fascism
foreign-policy
foreign-policy-of-the-us
greece
greek-cypriots
henry-kissinger
india
indo-pakistani-war-of-1971
indonesia
indonesian-national-armed-forces
international-law
iran
iran-iraq-war
iraq
iraqi-kurdistan
israel
israeli-lebanese-conflict
jakarta
junta
kurdish-iraqi-conflict
kurdish-people
kurdistan
lebanon
makarios-iii
marxism
military-of-chile
missionaries
mohammad-reza-pahlavi
monroe-leigh
morality
murder
news-leaks
pakistan
pakistan-united-states-relations
partition
politics
portugual
portuguese-empire
refugees
rene-schneider
richard-nixon
saddam-hussein
salvador-allende
schneider-doctrine
second-kurdish-iraqi-war
shah
sino-american-relations
slaughter
thomas-d-boyatt
turkey
turkish-invasion-of-cyprus
united-states
walter-isaacson
war
war-crimes
yahya-khan
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Christopher Hitchens |
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029385b
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Kissinger projects a strong impression of a man at home in the world and on top of his brief. But there are a number of occasions when it suits him to pose as a sort of Candide: naive, and ill-prepared for and easily unhorsed by events. No doubt this pose costs him something in point of self-esteem. It is a pose, furthermore, which he often adopts at precisely the time when the record shows him to be knowledgeable, and when knowledge or foreknowledge would also confront him with charges of responsibility or complicity.
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candide
crime
cyprus
henry-kissinger
naivete
self-esteem
turkey
turkish-invasion-of-cyprus
voltaire
war-crimes
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Christopher Hitchens |
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bc6f153
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It was at a conference in Cyprus in 1976, where the theme was the rights of small nations, that I first met Edward Said. It was impossible not to be captivated by him: of his many immediately seductive qualities I will start by mentioning a very important one. When he laughed, it was as if he was surrendering unconditionally to some guilty pleasure. At first the very picture of professorial rectitude, with faultless tweeds, cravats, and other accoutrements (the pipe also being to the fore), he would react to a risque remark, or a disclosure of something vaguely scandalous, as if a whole Trojan horse of mirth had been smuggled into his interior and suddenly disgorged its contents. The build-up, in other words, was worth one's effort.
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cyprus
edward-said
laughter
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Christopher Hitchens |