The Trial of Henry Kissinger [Hardcover]

Richard Stampfle's excellent review of this book, posted over two years ago, nails the central issue of Henry Kissinger's criminal conduct. He draws on the old saw analogy of money owed to a bank - if you owe a small amount, the problem is yours; if you owe megabucks, it's the bank's problem. Likewise, if you are high on drugs, and kill one person, you have the problem; but if you are high on the arrogance of power, and cloak your actions in "statecraft," and are responsible for the death of millions, it is unlikely that you will be prosecuted, particularly if your country does not lose a war.

Christopher Hitchens wrote this indictment, in polemic form, almost ten years ago. He admits that he is (or at least was, when he wrote it) a political opponent of the "Doctor," and points out how, as one of his "achievements," Kissinger managed to have virtually everyone call him by that honorific, even though he is not a medical doctor. In the preface Hitchens eliminates from his indictment certain Kissinger actions that might not be indictable offenses, but are despicable enough, such as encouraging the Kurds to rise against Saddam Hussein, as well as his support for apartheid South Africa. Setting these aside, Hitchens details Kissinger's bloody hand in the events in Indochina, Chile, Bangladesh, Cyprus, East Timor, and the murder of a journalist in Washington, D.C. Prior to Hitchens' book, I was most aware of Kissinger's malevolence in the events in Indochina and Chile. Hitchens details Kissinger's efforts to prolong the Vietnam War by encouraging South Vietnamese obduracy at the Paris Peace talks in 1968, so that Richard Nixon could be elected. My personal involvement in the Vietnam War, serving as a medical corpsman, during a period of that prolongation, places me also in that "political opponent" camp. Considering that half the names (some might quibble- and have - that it is only a third) on the black wall in Washington D.C. might be alive today if "Dr." Kissinger had not practiced his "statecraft" in Paris is enough to beg for a revision of Dante, and create a special 10th circle of Hell, for his exclusive residence. And if that is not enough, consider that one to two million Vietnamese who died during that period, or the auto-genocide of the Khmer Rouge, attributed in large portion to the horrific B-52 carpet bombing that Kissinger orchestrated. His hand in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende, as well as the murder of General René Schneider, which occurred, ironically in retrospect, on September 11, has also been fairly well known, particularly since the fall of the Pinochet regime, and the release of Chilean government papers on this CIA conducted coup. The less well known crimes, at least to me, but certainly not to the victims, were Kissinger's actions involving Bangladesh, Cyprus and East Timor, and only serve to pile more brimstones into that 10th circle.

I read all the 1 and 2-star reviews, searching for some sort of refutation to the charges, and found none. I only found excuses, and rationalizations, such as others have been as bad, like Stalin and Mobuto, or that the presidents are also responsible. And then there was the classic cover for all crimes made by people who had never experienced a B-52 strike, the old stand-by, with shrug, "you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs." Even Kissinger himself, as included in the appendix, does not provide refutations, only dissimulations, in the infamous style of the "doctor" who still nourishes his foreign accent... a la Strangelove?

Overall, Hitchens has provided a strict legal brief, examining Kissinger's actions by the standards that the United States has held others, primarily defeated military powers. Hitchens engages in the more that occasional rhetorical flourish however, which I would consider hard not to do, and is probably better than a deadpan bureaucratic document. He has shown considerable courage for taking on a subject that the mainstream media, still showing the Doctor immense deference, would consider "too hot to handle." But there is a major postscript that has been omitted from this book, and that is the transformation of Hitchens himself, from a contrarian gadfly of the establishment outlook to a major promoter of right-wing Islamophobia. That story, however, as they used to say in college is "beyond the scope of this course," (or, in this case, the particular merits of this book, which deserves a solid 5-stars).

Siegfried Sassoon's famous poem, "Base Details," concerning the scarlet majors at the base (who were more prosaically known at REMF's in Vietnam) concluded with the line: "And when the war is done, and the youth stone dead, I'll toddle safely home- and die in bed." Another architect of the wars, Robert McNamara, who at least showed partial remorse, has already safely exited via his bed, at a ripe old age, as no doubt will Kissinger. But he almost certainly will pass without even the partial remorse.

My standard quip remains, which denotes the possibility of the most unlikely events: "In a world in which Henry Kissinger can win the Nobel Peace Prize, anything is possible."

(Note: Review first published at Amazon, USA, on January 18, 2010)

In The Trial of Henry Kissinger, Vanity Fair columnist and Professor of Liberal Studies Christopher Hitchens, presents the prosecution case for the charge that former Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger should stand trial alongside the likes of Slobodan Milosevic, Augusto Pinochet and Saddam Hussein for crimes of international aggression.

Such a charge against a Western politician seems outrageous, were one not acquainted with the gravity of the crimes and the substantial evidence of the complicity of a key figure in several presidential administrations. Indeed, Kissinger's crimes, according to Hitchens (and drawing primarily on Anthony Summers' and Robbyn Swan's superb biography of Richard Nixon, The Arrogance of Power), started from his involvement in the successful sabotage of the Johnson administrations' Vietnam peace talks of 1968. From there, the war crimes escalated through out Indochina with Kissinger's blessing and then on into genocide in Bangladesh, the overthrow of a democratically elected government and the installation and active support of an openly fascist regime in Chile, the support of a brutal dictatorship in Cyprus and the arming of a genocidal regime in Indonesia.

All of the above is substantially documented via internal declassified records and witness statements, both from the guilty, the guilt-ridden and the survivors of a such a terrible plague bestowed upon the innocent by such a cynical and aloof promoter of realpolitik.

Some might be tempted to dismiss this book summarily as "one-sided" - and indeed it is. This book does just what it says on the tin: it presents the charge against one of the most prominent of global citizens. Those who would speak in his defence can present their own case, as Kissinger himself undertook, in his three volumes of nostalgic apologia. If, as Professor Noam Chomsky has written, it is a basic moral truism that we should judge ourselves by the same standards that we apply to others (or if we are being completely honest, we should hold our selves to a higher standard), then Dr Kissinger should quite rightly be tried for war crimes in The Hague; as Hitchens phrases it: "...in the name of innumerable victims known and unknown, it is time for justice to take a hand."

This slim book, then, is reasonably provocative. What separates it from a normal piece of political analysis, is that Hitchens is quite rightly placing the responsibility on an individual: that laws cannot be broken by abstract theories, policies or administrations but by individuals; that monstrous and great though some crimes are, they are not beyond punishment. Were the laws established by the Nuremburg trials after the Second World War applied evenly, without discrimination, then it is quite possible that Henry Kissinger, amongst others, might have one day found himself swinging at the end of a (sturdy) rope - or if this is too absurdly, graphically obscene, then perhaps the lethal injection, the method preferred by his confidant George W. Bush, who has given the death sentence a green-light to those guilty of lesser offences.

What is not included in this book is this: this book was published in early 2001. After the obscene tragedy of 11th September 2001, Christopher Hitchens became perhaps the most unforeseen enthusiast of President George W. Bush. As recently revealed, Henry Kissinger has been a close advisor to this presidency, an administration that has shamed a nation, in the eyes of much of the world's population. Such was the closeness of Kissinger and Bush's relationship, that Kissinger was Bush's first choice to lead a blue ribbon investigation into these terrible events. However, the 9/11 Family Steering Committee interviewed Kissinger, seeking to reassure themselves that there was no conflict of interest betwixt Kissinger (and his consultancy business, Kissinger Associates) and any potential areas of investigation. Given the choice between serving his country or suffer a financial hardship (and possibly some loss of prestige) by revealing his client list - a list that could well have included Saudi clients, some by the name of Bin Laden - Kissinger patriotically opted to look after his business and let the families of the dead take their quest for justice elsewhere.

Written with clarity and élan, Christopher Hitchens never lets us forget that where there are victims, there are criminals and that where there is criminality there should be justice. Regardless of Hitchens' recent volte-face, this book will remain an enduring testament to the ageless concept of the need for power to be confronted with truth.

After the character assassinations of Mother Theresa and the Clintons, Christopher Hitchens aims his sights at the Nobel Peace Prize winner and Richard Nixon's Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger. As always, Hitchens refuses to pull his punches, and you are confronted with a barrage of vitriol from the outset - almost the first description of Kissinger is as "an odious schlump who made war gladly".

Indeed, this seems to be an accurate summary of Hitchens' overall position in 'The Trial of Henry Kissinger'; though he does bring wit and style to what actually amounts to a legal indictment of Kissinger for various war crimes. Following the Pinochet case, it seems that Hitchens is determined to see more international figures brought to justice for their actions. His main claim is that Kissinger deliberately prolonged the Vietnam War so that he could gain favour with Nixon and help to get the Republicans elected in 1968. As with the other claims, this is serious stuff that is being alleged and Hitchens uses all of his investigative powers to try and make his case.

All of the allegations are very intricately researched and detailed, often legalistic in the level of information and analysis that is provided. Although Hitchens never proves definitively that Kissinger is guilty of multiple war crimes, it is hard not to come away from reading this book with the conclusion that there were many atrocities committed by the American government in the name of 'realpolitik' during the late 1960's and early 1970's. There are too many awkward facts, mysterious documents and unanswered questions for this to be simply dismissed as an attack on a right-wing statesman by a political opponent.

If we ever see an active and effective international criminal court, Christopher Hitchens has provided enough material here to warrant Henry Kissinger appearing before it. And what's more, he's done so with verve and passion.