One million dead and still a Nobel Peace Prize: Henry Kissinger's destructive legacy

Henry Kissinger was responsible for the deaths of at least one million people – yet he received the Nobel Peace Prize. When he died at his home in Connecticut almost three years ago at the age of one hundred, George W. Bush, Olaf Scholz, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin all rushed to offer reverent obituaries. Hardly anyone spoke about Kissinger's wars. Anyone who examines the life's work of arguably the most influential foreign policy figure of the post-war era quickly understands: his friendships say more about Western power politics than about the man to whom they were extended.

Early Years and Political Science Education

But one thing at a time: Kissinger arrived in May 1923 in Fürth, Germany. As the child of Jewish parents, he had to 1938 flee to the USA, for which he from 1943 to 1946 served as an intelligence agent against the Nazis.

1968, after his doctorate in political science, he punched his ticket to the center of power with a decision that the then-US President Lyndon B. Johnson internally referred to as „high treason“: As a secret informant, Kissinger spied on the Paris Peace Talks and fed sensitive insider information to Richard Nixon's campaign team. Forward.

Nixon obstructed the peace talks with this knowledge and extended so the Vietnam War. The peace deal fell apart, Nixon narrowly won the presidential election and rewarded Kissinger with the position of National Security Advisor. Kissinger's espionage led to five more years of war, over 20.000 dead US soldiers and hundreds of thousands of casualties in Southeast Asia. During Kissinger's tenure alone, at least died in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia combined one million People.

Bombs over Cambodia and Laos

In March 1969 the secret bombings of Cambodia and Laos began. Kissinger played a role in the planning of the bombings central role one. He gave personally set his sights on the kill and, from his green table, had entire villages wiped out. He was the principal architect of illegal covert operations – and personally approved each of the 3,875 bomb attacks between 1969 and 1970.

Overall, Nixon and Kissinger threw from 1969 to 1973 over half a million tons of bombs over Cambodia. Together with Laos, it was by 1973 more than two million tons. For comparison, the Allies dropped in World War II a total of around two million tons.

With these attacks, Kissinger drew neutral Cambodia into what was then the most brutal war since the two World Wars. Historians and researchers assume 50,000 to 150,000 civilians were killed, although the actual number is likely higher. With this, Kissinger rolled out the red carpet for the Khmer Rouge. Of insignificant 10.000 Fighters in the year 1969 reached the number due to the indiscriminate destruction of Cambodia by 1973 twenty times 200.000 Fighter too. The bombings massively strengthened the Khmer Rouge and contributed significantly to their rise.

The Khmer Rouge as useful partners

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge genocide against their own population began, in which approximately 1.7 million People – around 21 percent of the total Cambodian population – to be murdered. Kissinger is US Secretary of State at this time and has Pol Pot informed that the USA wants to be friends with the Khmer Rouge.

He explains his decision as follows:

„While they are murderous criminals, we must not let that stop us. We are ready to improve relations with them.“

In the fight against communism, Kissinger also works with self-proclaimed „communists“ together. Even after they already one fifth their population wiped out. This contradiction best describes Kissinger's political philosophy: for his success, he is indeed all means law. He also does not shy away from direct involvement.

He chose, for example, self the villages bombed by the US military, thus supporting the Khmer Rouge, whose ideology he allegedly wanted to fight. For Kissinger, power was above law and morality. In English, his philosophy is called „Might Makes Right“.

Proximity to authoritarian regimes

Kissinger ordered the coup against Salvador Allende in Chile, which cost the CIA around eight million dollars. A bargain, compared to the brutal consequences for the left-wing forces in Chile. Allende had won the election in September 1970 with about 36 percent gained votes. Directly thereafter, covert CIA operations the Chilean economy and paved the way for the military dictator Augusto Pinochet.

During the regency, between 1973 and 1990 official 3,216 people murdered or went missing. Around 40.000 more were tortured, imprisoned, or victims of political violence. An estimated 200.000 Chileans fled into exile. This Kissinger's now-famous quote from 1970 reflects his relationship with democratic elections:

„I don't see why we should stand by idly and watch a country become communist due to the irresponsibility of its own people.“

Similar Brutally, he acted in Bangladesh. Bangladesh (then East Pakistan) wanted to become independent from Pakistan. In this war of liberation, the Pakistani military dictatorship in East Pakistan murdered between 300,000 and 3 million Civilians, while the local militia 200.000 Women were raped. During this period, Kissinger relied on Pakistan as an intermediary to China. Although U.S. officials in Pakistan officially spoke of genocide, Kissinger, despite a Congress ban continue to supply weapons to the Pakistani military dictatorship with which they could continue their genocide.

Kissinger gave the Indonesian dictator Suharto explicitly „Green light“, to invade East Timor. The only condition was that he should wait until President Ford and he had returned to the USA again, so as not to suffer any damage to his image. In the subsequent crew, through conscious man-made famines and brutal massacres between 100,000 and 200,000 civilians killed. That was nearly a quarter of East Timor's population.

Kissinger's Friends

This brutality of US foreign policy is in itself historically significant. However, it is particularly worrying that leading politicians disagree on whether Kissinger is Role model for Western foreign policy. He was a welcome guest at international events throughout his life and an important Expert on global political issues.

Also Hillary Clinton, under which Barack Obama served as foreign minister, stated 2015 proudly, in a TV debate, with „Henry“ to be friends. She has always valued his advice and decades of experience. The SPD Chancellor also Helmut Schmidt and George W. Bush highly valued Kissinger.

Perhaps surprisingly, but hardly surprising on second glance: Also the former KGB officer and current autocrat Vladimir Putin had a close relationship with Kissinger. They are said to have 17 Times met. The same applies to Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli president Isaac Herzog and the British Prime Minister Tony Blair. They are all united by a policy that. own interests on human well-being and international law.

The Legacy of Henry Kissinger

Kissinger was Secretary of State for years under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. During his time as chief diplomat, he was responsible for prolonging the Vietnam War and the destruction of Cambodia and other Southeast Asian states. Due to his uncompromising realpolitik, Kissinger is seen by supporters as foreign policy role model, by critics as Amoral cynic is designated. Kissinger's circle of friends consisted of powerful heads of state, influential politicians, and spanned the entire globe.

The harshest criticism of Kissinger's life's work was probably formulated by Anthony Bourdain in his autobiography:

„Once you've been to Cambodia, you'll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands.“

He also writes:

„When one witnesses what Henry has wrought in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statecraft – one will never understand why he is not sitting next to Milošević in the dock in The Hague.“

Whether one has to phrase it that clearly is up to each individual.