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"Archer Blood, the State Department’s consul general in Bengal, sent a cable to Washington on March 27. “Here in Decca we are mute and horrified witnesses to a
by whack 10y ago
"Archer Blood, the State Department’s consul general in Bengal, sent a cable to Washington on March 27. “Here in Decca we are mute and horrified witnesses to a reign of terror by the Pak[istani] military,” Blood wrote. “Evidence continues to mount that the MLA authorities have list of AWAMI League supporters whom they are systematically eliminating by seeking them out in their homes and shooting them down.
“Among those marked for extinction in addition to the A.L. hierarchy are student leaders and university faculty. …
“Moreover, with the support of the Pak[istani] military, non-Bengali Muslims are systematically attacking poor people’s quarters and murdering Bengalis and Hindus.”
He and 20 diplomats later sent a famous protest telegram in which he called what was occurring “genocide.” Kissinger responded to Blood’s complaints by dismissing him from his post. “The use of power against seeming odds pays off,” Kissinger observed regarding the crackdown.
The death toll is commonly estimated between at 200,000 and 3 million. Kissinger’s tacit support for the massacres in Bangladesh is one of many incidents contributing to his poor record on human rights."
"In July 1971, Kissinger had already secretly flown from Pakistan to Beijing for the first diplomatic meeting between the United States and Communist China. “Yahya hasn’t had such fun since the last Hindu massacre!” Kissinger remarked."
Wow. It's hard to believe that this is the same Kissinger that's still held in high regard today.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> It's hard to believe that this is the same Kissinger that's still held in high regard today. It's really not: the people that hold Kissinger in high regard today (and those that did so then) did so specifically because of things like this, not despite them. Note, though, that regard for Kissinger is rather mixed; while some hold him in high regard, some think of him as one of America's leading war criminals.
- finid 10y ago> Note, though, that regard for Kissinger is rather mixed; while some hold him in high regard, some think of him as one of America's leading war criminals. The people who consider him a war criminal can't do anything about it. For those that don't, he's a national hero, and will be buried with full honors when his time comes. Sadly, that says a lot about the moral compass of this country.
- EthanHeilman 10y agoHe has from a position of incredible power with a clear knowledge of the consequences freely and directly aided and argued for genocide multiple times. His actions go well beyond simple war-crimes. There are very few individuals in the history of the world that have participated in more than one genocide. Henry Kissinger is one of the rare individuals in human history who is responsible for multiple genocides. In the quote above, “Yahya hasn’t had such fun since the last Hindu massacre!”, Kissinger seems delight and reveal in about his crimes against humanity. He spent his life chasing the power necessary to perform such crimes and when given such power was happy to use it for hideous purposes. Kissinger from the Nixon tapes: “And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union,” he added, “it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”[0] In one tape Nixon compares the genocide in Bangladesh to the Holocaust, Kissinger goes along with the comparison but argues that the genocide should still be aided[1]. [0]: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/nyregion/17nyc.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/17/nyregion/17nyc.html?_r=0 [1]: http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/looking-away-from-genocide http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/looking-away-from-ge...
- whack 10y ago“And if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union,” he added, “it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.” Wow, that is just shocking. Originally, I thought he was just another racist like Nixon. But for a Jewish holocaust survivor to make a comment like that... he seems to fit the textbook definition of a psychopath.
- throwanem 10y agoOr maybe just a man who felt a stronger loyalty to his country than to his ethnic group.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- AJ007 10y agoSuggested reading https://www.amazon.com/Human-Smoke-Beginnings-World-Civilization/dp/1416572465/ https://www.amazon.com/Human-Smoke-Beginnings-World-Civiliza...
- 616c 10y agoI saw him talk in my locale when I grew up to much fanfare. As a youth I was more conservative. But even then, when I thought I liked him, he was pressed by more liberal students of the local college about covert action in Cambodia, or another contentious issue. His smug response and style, as in history will remember favorably for my GTD style of realpolitik, even then far more conservative than my current self, found that repulsive and alarming. I expected that from fellow HSers. But then again I was young and did not realize all politicians in the US are welcomed to act like children. Coming from German Jewish background, how can he himself not cringe on the effectiveness of genocide comment?
- GeoffKnauth 10y agoI doubt many people really hold Kissinger in "high regard."
- smacktoward 10y agoYou might be surprised. In Washington he's managed to achieve "elder statesman" status, disgustingly.
- blahi 10y agoBecause he was very effective.
- travmatt 10y agoHillary Clinton and many in similar high circles they absolutely do. The ones actually crafting American foreign policy.
- whyenot 10y agoThere is also a personal connection. The Clintons and the Kissingers also usually spend Christmas together at Oscar del la Renta's villa in the Dominican Repulic [as has been widely reported by Gawker and other "tabloids"].
- finid 10y agoActually, many do. The current crop of those running the country worship him. H. Clinton was on the line to him whenever she needed to figure something out.
- tomjen3 10y agoHe is a monster, but he is also extremely, extremely brilliant . If he would take my call I would be on the line with him all the time too. If you only take advice from nice people, how can you then understand evil?
- draw_down 10y ago
- jules 10y agoKissinger is held in high regard only by those who share his moral compass.
- srean 10y agoWhoever said "I would kill for a Nobel peace prize" was only half joking.
- angersock 10y ago> Wow. It's hard to believe that this is the same Kissinger that's still held in high regard today. Do you believe that because of his failure to accomplish much? Or do you just disagree with his methods?
- jkn 10y agoOr do you just disagree with his methods? What do you mean with "just"? The methods employed to reach a goal can have downsides (side effects) that dwarf the benefits of reaching the goal.
- angersock 10y agoI agree with your point here, but you need to go into it further. What do you think his goals were? What were the side-effects of his methods? How did the latter detract from the former? For example, if the goal is American hegemony, and only foreign losses were realized in pursuit of that goal, then it's a clear victory from a policy standpoint. Morality doesn't enter into it.
- wrefordt 10y ago> Morality doesn't enter into it. Why not?
- angersock 10y agoIt's subjective and doesn't translate across cultures. Not a useful metric unless you're just making opinionated speech.
- pjc50 10y ago> "Morality doesn't enter into it" Possibly an even more apt slogan for the gates of an extermination camp than "Arbeit Macht Frei"
- angersock 10y ago