Henry Kissinger: Prince of Peace or a narcissistic war monger?

By Milan Perera, Third Year English Literature

“He’s a thug and a crook and a liar and a pseudo intellectual and a murderer, all of those things are factually verifiable,” said the late Christopher Hitchens during an interview while discussing his book The Trial of Henry Kissinger (2001).

After the announcement of the death of Henry Kissinger at the age of 100, air waves were saturated with tributes to the grey man of international affairs, naming him a model statesman who steered the world towards a peaceful phase. Yet, views of Kissinger ranged from adulation to downright contempt, during his colourful life as a diplomat, advisor and strategist.

Who was Henry Kissinger? What impact did he exert on geopolitics?

Kissinger who was born in 1923 in Fürth, Germany emigrated to the United States in 1938. Before he was walking in the corridors of power, he built up a reputation as an academic of considerable influence. From 1959 to 1969, Kissinger taught at Harvard University, where he directed the Defence Studies Program. His long and enduring career as a political advisor and strategist began when President Richard Nixon appointed him as assistant for national security affairs. Immediately after, in 1969, he was appointed as head of the National Security Council (from 1969 to 1975). He was also secretary of state from 1973 to 1977.

He was widely credited for easing the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War when he adopted a détente approach towards the latter. He was also instrumental in easing the tensions between the United States and China where he paved the way for diplomatic ties which culminated in the state visit of President Nixon to China in 1972.

His political ledger in Southeast Asia is somewhat mixed and often controversial. Some historians believe that Kissinger was gifted with a rare degree of courage which justified his means. His negotiation of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, effectively ending the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War, earned him the joint Nobel Peace Prize with Le Duc Tho (who declined to accept).

Kissinger's involvement in Southeast Asia during the Nixon administration was marked by a series of disastrous events that left a lasting impact on the region. One of the most egregious incidents was the secret carpet bombing campaign in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. Without congressional approval or public knowledge, Kissinger orchestrated a series of bombings from 1969 to 1970, aiming to destroy North Vietnamese supply routes. This covert operation not only escalated the conflict but also resulted in significant civilian casualties and widespread destruction.

According to CNN, from October 1965 to August 1973, the United States dropped at least 2,756,941 tons of artillery over Cambodia. To provide some context, this is more than the Allies dropped during World War II.

Due to the resentment and anger caused by the American carpet bombing, the usually politically agnostic Cambodians joined the Khmer Rouge out of desperation. 

This act paved the way for the brutal regime of Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot which carried out a genocide of unprecedented magnitude which claimed the lives of 1.5 million to 2 million Cambodians, roughly a quarter of Cambodia’s population in 1975 (7.8 million). 

“When your village is bombed and you were told that it’s some Americans that dropped the bomb and when you lost your sister, your brothers, your parents … what is your choice? Be a victim and die by the bomb or fight back,” said Youk Chhang, executive director of the Phnom Penh-based Documentation Center of Cambodia, himself a survivor of the Khmer Rouge’s notorious “killing fields,”

It is also naïve to assume that Kissinger was the “knight in shining armour” for democracy as his role in propping up dictators in South America has become increasingly apparent. Kissinger's support for authoritarian regimes in the region, particularly in Chile and Argentina, has been widely criticised, irrespective of political persuasion. 

His role in backing military coups in these countries led to brutal dictatorships and widespread human rights abuses. Operation Condor, a covert collaboration between various South American military dictatorships, allegedly received tacit approval from Kissinger's policies, resulting in the persecution and disappearance of political dissidents.

An accurate number of deaths from Operation Condor is harder to pinpoint due to the clandestine nature of the operation. A conservative estimate of the operation claims that from 60,000 to 80,000 leftist sympathisers were killed.

In Chile “leftists” were tortured, hurled from helicopters and forced to watch their relatives being raped. In Argentina, many were “disappeared” by members of the brutal military dictatorship that held detainees in concentration camps.

It was no surprise that the news of Kissinger’s passing was received with indifference by the Chilean diplomatic services in the United States, devoid of adulations or warm words. Juan Gabriel Valdes, Chile’s ambassador to the United States, said: “A man has died whose historical brilliance never managed to conceal his profound moral misery.”