Alex Constantine - June 18, 2007
" ... the world's most famous (and venal) diplomat - now said by Bob Woodward to be advising President Bush on Iraq - make speeches that might be deemed comical if they weren't so depressingly emblematic of this country's endless tolerance for con men ... "
By John R. MacArthur
06/10/2007
SJMN
They say America is the land of the second chance - the chance to make good on a promise, a project or a virtuous deed that might lead to redemption. But in the case of Henry Kissinger, the chances never seem to run out, no matter how much harm he does.
Twice in the last two months I've heard the world's most famous (and venal) diplomat - now said by Bob Woodward to be advising President Bush on Iraq - make speeches that might be deemed comical if they weren't so depressingly emblematic of this country's endless tolerance for con men, courtiers and failures. Kissinger should have run out his string years ago, but there he was, nearly 84 and still vigorous, commanding the rapt attention of people who by now should know better.
How does he get away with it? The crimes committed by Kissinger in the service of Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford are well-known, exhaustively described by William Shawcross, Seymour Hersh and Christopher Hitchens, among others. I've always thought that Kissinger's role in pointlessly prolonging the carnage of Vietnam while Nixon's national security adviser was his greatest sin. But I don't mean to minimize his other acts of diplomatic debauchery, both large (contributing to the destruction of Cambodia and the overthrow of Salvadore Allende, in Chile) and smaller (giving the green light to Indonesia's immensely bloody invasion, and subsequent occupation, of East Timor).
