Remember all those stories written about the Clinton/Kissinger association? Even the very centrist Vox (funded in large part by ComCast) published an article last month, titled: “Bernie Sanders is right: Hillary Clinton praising Henry Kissinger is outrageous”. It plainly states: “Nonetheless, Henry Kissinger is a war criminal” and summarizes some of his crimes, including the death of more than 150,000 (!) people in Cambodia as a result of American carpet-bombing.
There was much criticism of Clinton’s association, but no official rebuttal from the Clinton camp — not even a single tweet. On the contrary, more than a month later, the “Correct the Record” super-PAC continues to feature quotes from Kissinger praising Hillary at the very top of its praise for Hillary page.
The page is intended to showcase bipartisan and popular support: it also includes quotes from Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich, and Condoleezza Rice. But none of those people are Henry Kissinger — none of those people, with the exception of Rice, have been called war criminals; none of them have as much blood on their hands. Whether praise from homophobe Mike Huckabee makes her a more appealing candidate is perhaps debatable. Not so for Henry Kissinger.
Even Barack Obama just recently made it clear what he thought of the Nixon/Kissinger policy, as quoted in the detailed in the April 2016 The Atlantic feature, “The Obama Doctrine”:
“But let’s examine the Nixon theory,” he said. “So we dropped more ordnance on Cambodia and Laos than on Europe in World War II, and yet, ultimately, Nixon withdrew, Kissinger went to Paris, and all we left behind was chaos, slaughter, and authoritarian governments that finally, over time, have emerged from that hell. When I go to visit those countries, I’m going to be trying to figure out how we can, today, help them remove bombs that are still blowing off the legs of little kids. In what way did that strategy promote our interests?”
And as for the Clinton campaign’s influence on the “Correct the Record” super-PAC, it self-identifies as “a strategic research and rapid response team designed to defend Hillary Clinton from baseless attacks.” OpenSecrets shows that “Hillary for America” has directly donated $275,615.
The Kissinger association — which extends into personal vacation plans — should be criticized by supporters of either Democratic candidate, and we should expect Hillary to end this association once and for all. Kissinger will never be prosecuted for his crimes, but he should at least be confronted with the consequences of his actions while he is still alive, not coddled as a “foreign policy expert” and cited as a friend and character witness.