{"id":44886,"date":"2023-11-30T08:16:49","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:16:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=44886"},"modified":"2023-11-30T08:16:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:16:49","slug":"best-early-reactions-to-death-of-henry-kissinger-war-criminal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2023\/11\/30\/best-early-reactions-to-death-of-henry-kissinger-war-criminal\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Early Reactions to Death of Henry Kissinger, War Criminal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reprinted with permission from Greg Mitchell\u2019s newsletter Between Rock and a Hard Place<\/a>.<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

Greg Mitchell is the author of a dozen books and director of three films for PBS since 2021. He first wrote about the evils of Kissinger for Crawdaddy more than a half century ago.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Came back from dinner tonight to learn that ogre who has haunted my life for six decades, Henry Kissinger, has finally died. At least Jimmy Carter outlived him, though perhaps a million others he killed around the globe did not. But Christopher Hitchens, wherever he is, no doubt smiling and ordering a round of drinks for everyone. And I can say for the last and perhaps most apt time: Who\u2019s Kissinger now?<\/p>\n

No time to write my own anti-obituary, but I have collected some telling early reactions from media and social media. That\u2019s a Steve Brodner classic illustration above. See my recent piece here on Victor Jara<\/a>, the \u201cBob Dylan of Chile,\u201d who died in Kissinger-directed coup in Chile.<\/p>\n

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Rolling Stone<\/em> headline: \u201cHenry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America\u2019s Ruling Class, Finally Dies.\u201d Huff Post: \u201cThe Beltway Butcher: Henry Kissinger Dead at 100.\u201d Mother Jones<\/em>: \u201cDead at 100, Henry Kissinger Leaves Behind a Bloody Legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Al Franken tweeted: \u201cKissinger called SNL<\/em> once late on a Friday night looking for tix for his son. The Stones were playing that week. I told him that if it hadn\u2019t been for the Xmas bombing [of Hanoi], he\u2019d have the tickets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several recalled Anthony Bourdain:<\/p>\n

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Or Gore Vidal: In the Sistine Chapel, Vidal once came upon Henry Kissinger \u201cgazing thoughtfully\u201d at the Hell section of Michelangelo\u2019s Last Judgment. \u201cLook,\u201d said Vidal to a friend, \u201che\u2019s apartment hunting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Old pal Stevie Van Zandt: \u201cBon voyage to an historic scumbag mass murderer who forever cheapened the Nobel Peace Prize.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sarah Kendzior: \u201cKissinger was an evil man who brought tremendous pain and death to the world and deserved none of the good things he received in life. He should not be honored. His legacy is that of criminal impunity. Remember his victims instead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Pierce:<\/p>\n

200,000 souls in East Timor didn’t get to live to be 100. Numberless Cambodians didn’t, either. You know what you get when a war criminal dies? A dead war criminal. There is going to be a massive amount of insufferable media coverage this week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Headline at The Intercept:<\/em> \u201cHenry Kissinger, top U.S. diplomat responsible for millions of deaths, dies at 100.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Sharlet: \u201c100 years for Kissinger. 10,000 worthier lives \u2013 very few in history weren\u2019t \u2013 snuffed out for every one. May they haunt the rotten cheese vapor that was the final condition of his soul. May every pol who paid him court shiver.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Shorrock: \u201cLe Duc Tho outsmarted the hell out of Kissinger and refused his part of their joint Nobel Peace Prize knowing what a sick fuck the guy was.\u201d Tim also quoted Dylan: “And I’ll stand over your grave ’til I’m sure that you’re dead.” (“Masters of War.”)<\/p>\n

Mo Weeks: \u201cEverybody is celebrating Kissinger dying and no one is thinking about the low wage workers forced to build an entire new level of hell at depths never reached before. You guys are so anti-labor.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Mark Jacob: \u201cWe\u2019ll hear a lot of lies about what an accomplished statesman Henry Kissinger was. He accomplished an illegal war in Southeast Asia. He accomplished a coup that stole democracy from the Chilean people. He was a very bad American.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dan Froomkin: \u201cImagine two types of people: those who would schmooze with Kissinger at a cocktail party, and those who would spit in his eye. The elite Washington media is almost without exception in that first category.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alec MacGillis: \u201cThe passing of major figures often inspires film choices for the following weekend. Next up: The Killing Fields<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

Cam Smith ordered up an AI illustration and received Kissinger at the Gates of Hell:<\/p>\n

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Peter Baker: \u201cThe Blood Telegram<\/em> by Gary Bass is Kissinger at his most Machiavellian, a devastating and disturbing account of how he turned a blind eye to the genocide in Bangladesh to preserve his Pakistani channel to China.\u201d And Bass himself wrote tonight at The Atlantic<\/em> under headline: \u201cThe People Who Didn\u2019t Matter to Henry Kissinger: Lauded for his strategic insights, the former secretary of state is better remembered for his callousness toward the victims of global conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenneth Roth: \u201cWith his backing of abusive allies evidently in mind, Henry Kissinger was an adamant opponent of any international criminal justice effort that might have targeted an American such as himself. https:\/\/foreignaffairs.com\/world\/case-universal-jurisdiction<\/a> Dying at age 100, he was never charged.\u201d<\/p>\n

Others found this:<\/p>\n

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Doug Henwood: \u201cDing dong\u2026..\u201d<\/p>\n

Greg Grandin: \u201cEvery year, a significant number of unexploded bombs laying in fields in Laos and Cambodia detonate. In other words, even in death, Kissinger is still killing people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucian K. Truscott IV: \u201cI sat next to him at an Upper East Side dinner party once in the late 70’s. I felt like I was drowning in a lake of crude oil with a legion of alligators snapping at me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The great David Levine called this \u201cScrewing the World\u201d back in 1984.<\/p>\n

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Thanks for reading Between Rock and a Hard Place ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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