%s1 / %s2
 
NEDERLANDS  |  ENGLISH
  • economy
  • iran
  • e-voting
  • 9/11
  • media
  • top stories
  • read
  • news archive
  • by deepjournal
29 July 2003  |     mail this article   |     print   |   
Kissinger: hawk or peace dove?
The documentary The Trial of Henry Kissinger proves that, by way of sabotaging peace talks, Kissinger can be held responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians and tens of thousands of Americans. An additional 200,000 murdered East Timorese can be added to this, as can be read in this article by DaanSpeak.
The Dutch in the original article has been translated by Marienella Meulensteen.

In fact, the totals don't stop there, as is apparent from this article from The Village Voice. An entire series of crimes by Kissinger is cataloged in the article, in which Vietnam, Chile and Bangladesh are examined alongside Cambodia and East Timor. The main question in this article is: to what extent is Kissinger guilty of the deaths in Cambodia? In the documentary The Trial of Henry Kissinger this issue is explored extensively. [Also see the documentary Der Fall Kissinger].

Kissinger's treason
In October of 1968, peace talks were initiated in Paris between America and communist North Vietnam, organized by then President Lyndon Baines Johnson. He knew that an end to the war would bring victory for his successor in the upcoming elections. 'Kissinger was an advisor to the negotiators who were authorized to provide him with privileged information', says the narrator in the documentary. In the meantime, the elections in the U.S. were in full swing. Vice President Hubert Humphrey versus Richard Nixon. During the negotiations, President Johnson wasn't the only one that Kissinger kept informed - he had secretly made contact with Nixon's campaign.

Tricky Dick tells blatant lies
'Tricky' Dick Nixon in a speech on August 8, 1968: 'We all hope in this room that there is a chance that current negotiations may bring an honorable end to that war. And we will say nothing during this campaign that might destroy that chance. But if the war is not ended when the people choose in November, the choice will be clear. Here it is. [...] And if after all of this time and all of this sacrifice and all of this support there is still no end in sight, then I say the time has come for the American people to turn to new leadership -- not tied to the mistakes and the policies of the past. That is what we offer to America. And I pledge to you tonight that the first priority foreign policy objective of our next Administration will be to bring an honorable end to the war in Vietnam. We shall not stop there -- we need a policy to prevent more Vietnams'.

Sabotage of the peace talks
'Kissinger told the Nixon campaign that the Johnson team was close to an agreement with North Vietnam. Until the deal was final, the Johnson team wanted to keep the negotiations secret from South Vietnam', says Walter Isaacson, author of a biography about Nixon in the documentary. The narrator: 'But Nixon had opened a secret channel of communication with South Vietnamese President Thieu. The go-between was Anna Chennault'. She was called the 'Dragon Lady' and 'was a vice president of the Republican election finance committee and chairwoman of Republican Women for Nixon', writes investigative journalist Tom Paine: 'As head of Flying Tiger Airlines, a company originally formed with CIA backing to assist Chiang Kai-shek in his war against the Chinese Communists, Mrs. Chennault had high-level contacts in the South Vietnamese government.'

Operation a success, peace dead
On Nixon's orders, Kissinger managed to convince President Thieu via Chennault not to attend the meetings so as to cause them to fail. This would result in the Democrats losing the White House, and then the Republican Nixon would be elected. "During the closing week of the election, Nixon's campaign manager John Mitchell, called [Chennault] 'almost every day' to persuade her to keep Thieu from going to Paris for peace talks with the North Vietnamese," they write. She was successful. Five days before the American election, Thieu announced his refusal to participate in the peace talks.' That did not happen without difficulties.

Bush applied Kissinger trick
On November 2, 1968, Anna Chennault sent a telegram to the South Vietnamese camp with a message from the Nixon campaign: 'Hold on. We are gonna win'. And so it happened. On November 5, Nixon was elected with less than a 1% difference; Kissinger becomes 'Secretary of State and National Security Advisor'. The same trick to win the elections was applied by George Bush Sr. to bring Ronald Reagan into power in November of 1980. This operation was called October Surprise and is described in this article I wrote for Esquire.

Kissinger commits secret attacks on Cambodia ...
In his speech cited above, Nixon said: 'The first priority foreign policy objective of our next Administration will be to bring an honorable end to the war in Vietnam. We shall not stop there -- we need a policy to prevent more Vietnams.' The fact was that the war in Vietnam continued as usual and officially ended only in 1973 (in Paris mind you, on the same conditions as in 1968), and that in February of 1969, secretly and without the knowledge of Congress, and on the orders of Kissinger, Cambodia was attacked. '[...] after the accession of Nixon and Kissinger to power, a program of heavy bombardment of [Cambodia] was prepared and executed in secret. One might with some revulsion call it a "menu" of bombardment, since the code names for the raids were "Breakfast," "Lunch," "Snack," "Dinner," and "Dessert."
The raids were flown by B-52 bombers which, it is important to note, fly at an altitude too high to be observed from the ground and carry immense tonnages of high explosive; they give no warning of approach and are incapable of accuracy or discrimination. Between March 1969 and May 1970, 3,630 such raids were flown across the Cambodian frontier', writes Christopher Hitchens in Harper's Magazine. Hitchens is the man behind the book and the documentary The Trial of Henry Kissinger.

... and is 'really excited'
'[H. R.] Haldeman's Diaries for March 17 record: Historic day. K[issinger]'s "Operation Breakfast" finally came off at 2:00 PM our time. K[issinger] really excited, as was P[resident].
The next day's entry: K[issinger]'s "Operation Breakfast" a great success. He came beaming in with report, very productive.
It only got better. On April 22, 1970, Haldeman reports that Nixon, following Kissinger into a National Security Council meeting on Cambodia, "turned back to me with a big smile and said, `K[issinger]'s really having fun today, he's playing Bismarck'", writes Harper's.

Kissinger receives Nobel Peace Prize
'As a result of the expanded and intensified bombing campaigns, it has been officially estimated that as many as 350,000 civilians in Laos and 600,000 in Cambodia lost their lives. 'These are not the highest estimates', writes Harper's. These numbers do not represent the victims that fell in Vietnam (half of the deaths on the American side fell during the Kissinger period of the war, so as of 1969) or the victims that fell during peace time as a consequence of all the chemicals that were used during the battle, and the land mines that continue to cause loss of life to this day. After negotiations between Kissinger and North and South Vietnam, the peace treaty was signed in 1973. For this Kissinger was awarded the Nobel Prize.

____________________________________________________________________________

DeepJournal
Sign up for the free mailing list.
12 September 2013  |  
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 4
When you peek below the surface, it becomes clear that Syria is under attack due to the interests of the parties involved. ‘Syria’ is about power, money, influence and energy.
10 September 2013  |  
Why is Syria under attack? - 3
8 September 2013  |  
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 2
In the event of major military conflicts that risk considerable humanitarian and economic consequences, it is useful to examine the interests of all parties involved as well as the role that the media plays in reporting the events.
7 September 2013  |  
Why is Syria under attack? - Part 1
On the surface it’s straightforward: the U.S. wants to liberate Syria from a brutal dictator who is attacking his own people with poison gas. But beneath the surface there is something very different going on.
28 August 2012
Daan de Wit (DeepJournal) interviewt Webster Tarpley op het Magneetfestival
Het Magneetfestival gaat de diepte in met vier interviews. Daan de Wit interviewt Webster Tarpley, Albert Spits, en Mike Donkers.
Contact - About - Donate - RSS Feeds - Copyright © 2006 DeepJournal, All rights reserved