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If President Bush had set out to undermine the credibility of the commission
charged with probing the intelligence and security flaws that allowed the
September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to succeed, he would have begun by naming
as the chair someone with a track record of secrecy, double-dealing and
bartering himself off to the highest bidder.
And so the president, who has resisted the investigation for more than a
year, did just that.
With the selection of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to head the
10-member commission, Bush has signaled that he is more interested in covering
for the intelligence establishment – and the administration's allies in
corrupt oil-producing nations such as Saudi Arabia -- than in getting to the
truth.
Even by the relatively low standards that one must apply when dealing with
former Nixon administration insiders, Kissinger is a reprehensible figure. As
Britain's Guardian newspaper put it: "This man is regarded by many outside
the US as a war criminal."
Guardian writer Julian Borger summed up a rather common reaction to the
Kissinger selection in a column titled "Henry's Revenge," which opened
with the observation that: "Those Europeans who were aware that the old
cold warrior was still alive could be forgiven for assuming he was in a cell
somewhere awaiting war crimes charges, or living the life of a fugitive, never
sleeping in the same bed twice lest human rights investigators track him
down."
It is not just a European reaction. In the US Christopher Hitchens' fine book
"The Trial of Henry Kissinger" -- which details the former Nixon and
Ford administration aide's responsibility for mass killings of civilians,
genocide and coups -- remains a best-selling title.
"The Bush administration did not want an objective inquiry into the
disastrous intelligence failures," Hitchens said after Kissinger's
selection was announced, "and having an inquiry chaired by Henry Kissinger
is the next best thing."
Kissinger's role in perpetuating the war in Vietnam, as well as the illegal
attacks on Cambodia and Laos during the Nixon years is well documented. So too
is his involvement with the murderous coup that overthrew the elected government
of Chilean President Salvador Allende and installed the dictatorship of General
Augusto Pinochet.
Kissinger was, as well, involved in the dirty dealing that encouraged
Indonesia's military to invade East Timor and oppress the people of that island
nation for a quarter century. And, as chair of the National Bipartisan
Commission on Central America (1983-84), Kissinger helped the Reagan
administration provide cover for the illegal war in Central America.
More recently, Kissinger has been a paid apologist for the Chinese government
and a consistent defender of dictatorships around the world. While Kissinger
refuses to release the names of his clients -- and client states, it is widely
believed that, in addition to his Chinese paymasters, Kissinger is collecting
hefty sums of money from interests in the Persian Gulf. National Security
Archive founder Scott Anderson, a former staff member of Senate Watergate
Committee, is of the view that Kissinger's sordid past -- and compromised
present -- will make it impossible for him to lead a credible investigation.
"He has so many clients whose interests are so completely tied up in the
results of this investigation," Armstrong says of Kissinger. "The
minute you start talking about clerics in Saudi Arabia, it's in no way in the
interests of his clients for the whole truth to be told."
About the best that can be said of the selection of Kissinger is this: At 79,
he may be inclined to try and finally do something useful for America and the
world – in hopes of earning a measure of redemption for an ill-spent life. But
no one who cared to find out what really led up to the terrorist attacks on New
York and Washington would gamble an investigation so important as this on so
remote a prospect.
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VIETNAM
Kissinger scuttled peace talks in 1968, paving the way for Richard
Nixon's victory in the presidential race. Half the battle deaths in
Vietnam took place between 1968 and 1972, not to mention the millions
of civilians throughout Indochina who were killed.
CAMBODIA
Kissinger persuaded Nixon to widen the war with massive bombing of
Cambodia and Laos. No one had suggested we go to war with either of
these countries. By conservative estimates, the U.S. killed 600,000
civilians in Cambodia and another 350,000 in Laos.
BANGLADESH
Using weapons supplied by the U.S., General Yahya Khan overthrew the
democratically elected government and murdered at least half a million
civilians in 1971. In the White House, the National Security Council
wanted to condemn these actions. Kissinger refused. Amid the killing,
Kissinger thanked Khan for his "delicacy and tact."
CHILE
Kissinger helped to plan the 1973 U.S.-backed overthrow of the
democratically elected Salvador Allende and the assassination of
General René Schneider. Right-wing general Augusto Pinochet then took
over. Moderates fled for their lives. Hit men, financed by the CIA,
tracked down Allende supporters and killed them. These attacks
included the car bombing of Allende's foreign minister, Orlando
Letelier, and an aide, Ronni Moffitt, at Sheridan Circle in downtown
Washington.
EAST TIMOR
In 1975 President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger met with
Indonesia's corrupt strongman Suharto. Kissinger told reporters the
U.S. wouldn't recognize the tiny country of East Timor, which had
recently won independence from the Portuguese. Within hours Suharto
launched an invasion, killing, by some estimates, 200,000 civilians.
From a
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