what pisses me off about Kissinger is that he's accepted in

[cali]

the highest circles of our government and our society. Accepted? Hell, he's lauded and treated as an elder statesman.

It highlights a cognitive dissonance of epic proportions. As a nation, we hold ourselves up as more moral than other nations and yet we turn a blind eye over and over again the the crimes committed by high government officials. We sweep it all under a bulging carpet.

I don't claim that everything this country has done has been evil, but it sure as hell has committed some terrible crimes, and not acknowledging and dealing with that will inevitably lead us to committing those same acts over and over and over.

Kissinger represents some of the worst of those crimes.

[LuvNewcastle]

1. I can understand why most Americans think of Kissinger that way.

Most people just don't know anything really about all the misery caused by Kissinger in his advisory role to Presidents and many other powerful people in the world. But there's no excuse for people in our government to admire him. There's no way that Obama doesn't know about Kissinger's history. The only conclusion i can draw from that is that the people running our government either agree with what Kissinger has done, or they've turned a blind eye to it. The fact that they still consult and admire that evil old toad tells me all I need to know about their moral makeup.

[PNW_Dem]

13. Specifics Please

I see a lot of general criticism of Kissinger on this site and I don’t disagree with it. However, it would be interesting to have a summary of his offensive acts for the record (and discussion).

[Comrade Grumpy]

17. Okay, just for starters:

Conspired with the Chilean military in the coup that overthrew the democratically-elected Marxist president of Chile, in which thousands of people were murdered.

Conspired with the military juntas of the Southern Cone in Operation Condor, in which they took turns kidnapping, torturing, and murdering leftists from each others' countries.

Cynically urged the Iraqi Kurds to rebel against Saddam Hussein, then left them to their dire fate after cutting a deal with Hussein.

The last four years of the Vietnam War.

This guy should be at the Hague, not being feted and lauded by out political leadership.

[lastlib]

25. His role in Indonesia's invasion and pillaging of East Timor in 1975......

...ought to be deemed a war crime on its own merits. He and Gerald Ford both should have had a one-way ticket to The Hague for that. More than 100,000 people died in that little atrocity, and that doesn't count the mass rapes and all the other pretty little details.

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

. . . . . . .

[Vanje]

31. Heres a very watchable documentary about Kissenger

Watch it, and consider if you really want this guy contributing foreign policy pointers with anyone in the Obama Administration.
He has no regard for laws. He lies. He targets civilians.

[SylviaD]

40. Good lord. The man is evil, if anyone is evil. n/t

[Vanje]

41. That the Obama Administration consulting with Kissinger for "diplomacy" strategy

nauseates me.

[grasswire]

2. Just the same with elder Bush.

Too big to be shamed.

[Maedhros]

3. In the world of Realpolitik there is no room for humanitarian impulse.

Small countries and their citizens are just expendable pieces on the chess board. "Realists" view Kissinger as someone who gets things done in the rough-and-tumble "real" world. Niggling over a few hundred or thousand dead, here and there, is namby-pamby peacenik stuff. We've got power, and we need hard men to make the hard choices to properly project it.

[leftstreet]

4. Disgustingly true

And unfortunately, since the US likes to pretend Russia doesn't exist, Kissinger is the only one who's met with Putin more often than any other politician or diplomat. So Kerry and Obama probably need his help

[lsewpershad]

9. To do what?

To tell them that Putin is good or bad, what makes him tick...?

[Vanje]

37. Kissinger doesn't "help".

Kissinger chooses war every time, and he plays it dirty.
Kissinger breaks laws, murders, kidnaps, assassinates, lies, and lays waste to civilian innocents.

I am not exaggerating.

[Hutzpa]

11. Reading this makes me want to throw up

because the truth really does hurt and it hurts real bad.

You have it on the money, it's wrong, it's not right, but it IS the truth.

It is this same attitude and approach that has systematically destroyed the American middle class.

[ctsnowman]

32. This ^^^^

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

5. Oh history schmistory. Who cares...... nt

[malthaussen]

6. I could offer a minority viewpoint...

... no fan of Kissinger here, but he represents very well the kind of statesman for whom realpolitik is a great virtue. Totally unconcerned with human fallout or the rule of law (or the rules of diplomacy, if it comes to that), he worked quite brilliantly to advance the agenda of the ruling elite of our country. Opening China to counterbalance the USSR was brilliant, and helped to achieve detente and reduce tensions among the superpowers. Whatever we may think about the menace of China and its incalculable potential, it was also a realistic acknowledgement of how things really were in the world, rather than how we wished them to be.

It's kind of sad that it took an amoral, dishonest, and loathsome man to achieve ends that those who were more admirable in every way could not accomplish. I wonder what that says about our society, and about diplomacy in general?

-- Mal

[sulphurdunn]

8. “Military men are just dumb, stupid animals

to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” H. Kissinger.

It's a shame that I'll never get the chance to kick Dr. K's fat Machiavellian ass into a foxhole with the the dumb, stupid animals he put there. Curse the sonofabitch. If there's a hell, no one deserves more to be in it than Henry.

[malthaussen]

10. Agreed. Much the same can be said about...

... Talleyrand, Metternich, and Bismarck, all of whom are no doubt on Henry's speed-dial list.

-- Mal

[sulphurdunn]

15. Agreed.

The one difference is that with Kissinger it's personal.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

7. They consider him to be a hero of the Cold War.

[BlueMTexpat]

12. Amen to everything you say here. eom

[snappyturtle]

14. We're dealing with sociopaths. They are encapable of empathy

and are great actors saying, at times, what we want to hear.
All the while, the evil is playing out behind the scenes. There
is no remorse.

[Rex]

16. The PTB really don't give two shits about the people of this country.

If they did, then they would put principle above politics. And it is not just this group, ALL groups feel this way. We are expendable numbers in the work force and that is all. We are the Have Nots and they are the Haves.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. Or, one could look at it this way:

In "The Silence of the Lambs," FBI agent Clarice Starling visits deranged and incredibly evil cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in prison in order to learn more about "Buffalo Bill," another deranged, evil serial killer they are trying to catch.

So one might think of Kerry as Clarice Starling, visiting Hennibal Lecter/Henry Kissinger to find out more about Buffalo Bill/Assad?

[cali]

19. one could if Kissinger was behind bars like Hannibal Lecter.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Good point. I'd like to see him in a cage with a mask on

to keep him from eating people.

[Fuddnik]

24. That's not a mask?

[ctsnowman]

33. lol Love it.

[Electric Monk]

21. like a German parakeet

[indepat]

22. Acceptance of Kissinger at the highest levels of office is, imo, ratification of the man, his

politics, and his deeds. It's almost like official Washington is playing like the consequences of the man's deeds are just fine and dandy.

[GeorgeGist]

23. Co-workers ...

[NuttyFluffers]

26. like Death Squad Negroponte, should be called War Criminal Kissinger

as long as the appellation is used continuously it will push the truth home.

i suggest people only refer to War Criminal Kissinger by his full title every time. it can only degrade his public image in circles unaware. eventually such names stick and hurt acceptability.

[DeeDeeNY]

28. "Never Shake Hands with a War Criminal"

The war criminal referred to in the title of this book is none other than Kissinger http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1181098.Never_Shake_Hands_with_a_War_Criminal

[Agony]

27. You say here what needs to be said... but some how it never reaches "main street"

most people around me just tune me out now because thinking about things like this is just "too depressing".

I think we have a "rotting advanced civilization" on our hands.

but thanks for posting this

[CK_John]

29. You have to realize the world of ICBM's and Curtis LeMay were not the same as today.

At that time Kissinger was the voice of reason and the best of the best.

It wasn't always easy to be correct but that's the way it was.

[Doctor_J]

36. Yeah, I guess Allende's friends and family might disagree.

[rhett o rick]

30. Apparently no one in the "Obama Group" wanted to touch this subject. Seems they are

very particular of what they discuss.

[ctsnowman]

34. We have a ;ot of old republicans who are now

the new Democrats.

[Doctor_J]

35. Notice how anyone associated with the BFEE gets a full rehab from the press?

Kissinger is the worst but all of our criminals on the right wing get reprieved

[livingwagenow]

38. Satan checks under his bed for Kissinger.. knr nt

[Warren DeMontague]

39. And he tapes illegal bootlegs, too.