Saturday 27th of July 2024
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giving henry posterior kisses.....

From Paul Keating to Kevin Rudd and John Howard, Australian ex-PMs have been waxing lyrical about a man who, perhaps more than anyone else, is responsible for the myth of a rules-based world order.

Paul Keating credits him with the One China policy, “the pivotal organising idea which underwrites the equilibrium between the world’s two greatest powers, the United States and China.” Kevin Rudd wrote how “he believed in the rhythms of history,” a sentiment echoed by John Howard who said Kissinger “well understood the arc of history.”

Neither had anything to say about how Kissinger was instrumental in the senseless (and illegal) bombing of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam War – actions that directly led to the horror regime of Pol Pot (who it is now widely believed had at least tacit US support prior to his ascension). Nor was there any mention of his involvement in the CIA-induced coup to overthrow Salvador Allende, the legally elected President of Chile.

Neither ex-PM brought up the Nobel Peace Prize he won jointly with North Vietnam leader Le Duc Tho in 1973, following the Paris Peace Accord that brokered peace in Vietnam. At least Le Duc Tho had the honesty to refuse the prize for a peace that never was.

And our current PM continues Australia’s long tradition of subservience to the US – to whom few rules apply.

 

Henry Kissinger is dead. Australian ex PMs fawns over the myth of a war criminal

    by Kim Wingerei 

https://michaelwest.com.au/henry-kissinger-is-dead-australian-ex-pms-fawns-over-the-myth-of-a-war-criminal/

 

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remembering henry....

 

By Joe Bader
Common Dreams

 

Historian Greg Grandin, in his 2015 biography of Henry Kissinger, estimated that Kissinger’s policies were responsible for 3-to-4 million deaths around the world — from Vietnam to Pakistan, to Indonesia, to Chile, to southern Africa, to the Middle East. 

Grandin’s damning indictment against the former U.S. national security adviser and secretary of state is powerful and overwhelming.

But large numbers like 3 to 4 million mask the very real pain, terror and tragedy suffered by those individuals and their families. Look at the cases of Charles Horman, Frank Teruggi and Ronni Moffit. 

All three were Americans killed by the Chilean military junta backed by Kissinger and Nixon that overthrew the democratically-elected socialist government of Salvador Allende.

[Related: Kissinger as Nixon’s ‘Messenger Boy’]

Horman and Teruggi were journalists in Chile in 1973 when the coup happened. They were taken to the infamous National Stadium in Santiago where they were executed along with thousands of Chileans. Their story was painfully yet meaningfully represented in the 1982 film Missing with Jack Lemon and Sissy Spacek.

Ronni Moffit was a researcher at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., who was riding in a car with her husband Michael Moffit and the former Chilean diplomat Orlando Letelier in Sheridan Circle, Washington, when their car exploded. 

It was determined that a bomb was planted by agents of the Chilean secret police most likely under orders from junta leader General Augusto Pinochet.

The record indicates that Kissinger told Pinochet in a phone conversation in June of 1976 that his regime was a victim of leftist propaganda on human rights:

“In the United States as you know we are sympathetic with what you are trying to do here. We want to help, not undermine you. You did a great service to the West in overthrowing Allende.”

A few months later, Moffit and Letelier were murdered. Letelier’s lower torso was blown away and his legs were severed. Moffit’s larynx and carotid artery were slashed by a piece of shrapnel and she drowned in her own blood.

Most Americans today don’t know about these murders or the names of the three victims mentioned above. After all, it was almost 50 years ago and people have become inured to the many atrocities committed at home and abroad since then. 

The death of Henry Kissinger allows us to remember that his 3 to 4 million victims are not just amorphous entities but individuals who had names, families, lives, hopes and dreams. They did not deserve to die miserable deaths.

My wish would be that anyone who praises Kissinger or cites his “accomplishments” must also acknowledge his victims and know some of their names. 

In particular, American media figures, politicians and prognosticators should know who Horman, Teruggi, and Moffit were, how they died, and who was responsible for their deaths. Their families, friends, and descendants certainly know and deserve to have their pain and loss acknowledged.

Kissinger never had to answer for his crimes or face his victims’ families. There is nothing we can do about this now that he is dead. But we can at least insure that his crimes and misdeeds are never forgotten.

Joe Bader is a retired union organizer and representative with over 30 years experience in the labor movement. He has a Master’s Degree in American and European history from California State University at Long Beach with an emphasis on labor and social movements.

This article is from Common Dreams.

https://consortiumnews.com/2023/12/06/remembering-kissingers-victims/

 

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