The Trial Of Henry Kissinger

I have been a Henry Kissinger critic ever since I read William Shawcross’ compelling book Sideshow, about the illegal bombings in Cambodia and Laos during the Nixon administration during the Vietnam War, while on vacation in Cambodia 12 years ago. So I was intrigued by what the late Christopher Hitchens might have to say about it to condemn the man (in hindsight I realize I might have read a Harper’s piece about it prior to the publishing of this book) in his book The Trial Of Henry Kissinger. The introduction to the Twelfth edition is by Chilean playwright Areil Dorfman who met Hitchens while in exile from American backed dictator Augusto Pinochet. Hitchens sets up the argument that Kissinger should be tried for crimes against humanity by citing the places that directly or indirectly caused massive human suffering, misery, and deaths: Indochina (Vietnam-Cambodia-Laos), Latin America (Chile-Argentina), East Timor, Washington (via the Demetracopolos {Greek journalist} affair), and Legal Consequences. I think the strongest argument comes from the illegal bombings of Cambodia and Laos during the Vietnam war, but he is certainly guilty of being in bed with some bad people who cause untold amounts of human suffering. I think a case can be made for the CIA sanctioned overthrow of the Salvador Allende’s Marxist democratically elected government that became a nightmare of oppression. But I was at a loss to see how he was involved in the war between Bangladesh and Pakistan. He seems to have been indirectly supporting the Indonesian invasion/occupation of East Timor that would take lives of almost a third of the population. I also found the arguments relating to Cyprus and the Demetracopolos affair somewhat suspect. That being said I appreciated Appendix I: A Fragrant Fragment, in which Kissinger responded to Hitchens’ review of The Arrogance of Power, a book about Kissinger, by Anthony Summers and Robyn Swan. It was an interesting discussion of Kissinger’s misdeeds, but I think I would like to read Walter Issacson’s biography of Kissinger sometime in the future for a more comprehensive look at controversial figure and American villain.