JAS, in your opinion, Kissinger should or shouldn’t be extradited for crimes related to Operation Condor?
Is your point that Kissinger should not be mentioned as a neocon alignment, or that neocons do not support him? I’ll be the first to offer sincere thanks if proven incorrect. How about you? By all means keep your gloves on if you’ve got an argument to make.
You’re attempting to disassociate Kissinger from 21st century neocons? We know Reagonites were not Dr. K fans, however our 9/11 era is vastly different from the 80’s. In agreement with your understanding that early neocons had problems with Nixon/Kissinger’s red scare posturing, here’s an excerpt for you:[quote=“Robert Parry”]
Neocon Amorality
Robert Parry
…
Soviet Giant
This strategy first surfaced in the 1970s when the neoconservative movement took shape around a group of former leftists and anticommunist intellectuals, the likes of Irving Kristol and Richard Pipes, who were determined to build a power base by hyping the threat from the Soviet Union. To do this, the neocons teamed up with some old-line conservatives to challenge the détente strategy of President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.
The neocons’ problem was that CIA analysts already were detecting signs – from both technical and human intelligence – that the Soviet Union was in steep decline and desperate for accommodation with the West. One senior CIA officer told me that he was hearing this news from some of his most trusted agents inside the Soviet Union.
Drawing on such CIA assessments, Nixon and Kissinger favored a policy of engaging Moscow in a policy aimed at eliminating some of worst dangers from the nuclear arms race and gradually reducing tensions.[/quote]
When the soviet scare fizzled, proponents of US aggression bent on ensuring lasting dominance did not. PNAC’s charter is but only one reference. A whole thread elsewhere covers more details.
[quote=“JAS”]Your lack of knowledge about American politics equals your ignorance on Latin American affairs.
Kissinger and neocons certainly aren’t related.[/quote]
Contradicting your claim
(& reversing your own insult), some remarks about Kissinger/neocon relations:
[quote=“Christopher Hitchens”]
The Return of Henry Kissinger
Will we never be free of the malign effect of this little gargoyle?
Christopher Hitchens
Bob Woodward’s disclosure of the influence of Henry Kissinger on the Bush administration’s Iraq policy both is and is not a surprise.
After all, we have known for a long time that the bungling old war criminal has his admirers within the White House. Did not the president, almost but not quite incredibly, call on him as the first chairman of the 9/11 commission
? Kissinger’s initial acceptance of that honor was swiftly withdrawn after it was pointed out–first of all in this space, if I may say so–that he would have to make a full disclosure of the interests of Kissinger Associates in the Middle East. This condition was too much for him. (I added that, since he was wanted for questioning by magistrates in France, Chile, and Argentina, in connection with offenses of state terrorism, his appointment to a position of such high eminence at such a time might expose the United States to ridicule, not to say contempt.)[/quote][quote=“Timothy Noah”]
Kissinger’s Advice to Bush
Timothy Noah
In his new book, State of Denial, Bob Woodward reports that
Henry Kissinger was a “powerful, largely invisible influence on Bush’s Iraq policy.”
Woodward quotes Vice President Dick Cheney saying in 2005 that he talked to Kissinger “at least once a month.” Kissinger met with President Bush, Woodward writes, “every couple of months.”
Kissinger saw Iraq “through the prism of the Vietnam war,” which Kissinger believes was won in 1972 but subsequently lost “because of the weakened resolve of the public and Congress.” (For more of Kissinger’s revisionist views on Vietnam and their relevance to Iraq, click here.) One Vietnam lesson, Kissinger told Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, was that Bush must resist public pressure to withdraw troops from Iraq.[/quote]Some recent articles do examine Dr K’s current retreat from supporting the neocon’s war in Iraq, but his influence undeniably still ensures his protection from justice. [quote=“Bill Gallagher”]
The Kissinger Neocon Betrayal
Kissinger’s Useful Idiot Bush Now Finds Himself Alone and Friendless
Bill Gallagher
King Rat, Henry Kissinger, is leaving the USS Shrub to save face. His departure underlines the willingness of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to continue sending young Americans to die in a venture they know has failed. Kissinger is an expert in that area.
Kissinger – who helped chart the course for the disaster in Iraq – is only abandoning ship in a desperate attempt to try to spare his already permanently stained reputation more disgrace. Kissinger kept the war in Vietnam going and sent more Americans to their deaths for political purposes.
Kissinger is pure cynicism. Amorality is his code. He has no soul. Thus, he always feels comfortable in the company of Bush and Cheney, whispering into their ears his perverted wisdom.[/quote]
Now back to the point…
Do YOU, JAS, believe any neocon will support Kissinger’s extradition? Even though I can’t name many Dems who would either (maybe Gravel, if he becomes President), we aren’t talking about parties that do NOT have the power to honor the request.
Dr. K’s self-justification of non-extradition policy:[quote=“Henry Kissinger”]
The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction: Risking Judicial Tryanny
Henry Kissinger
…
It is an important principle that those who commit war crimes or systematically violate human rights should be held accountable. But the consolidation of law, domestic peace, and representative government in a nation struggling to come to terms with a brutal past has a claim as well. The instinct to punish must be related, as in every constitutional democratic political structure, to a system of checks and balances that includes other elements critical to the survival and expansion of democracy.
Another grave issue is the use in such cases of extradition procedures designed for ordinary criminals. If the Pinochet case becomes a precedent, magistrates anywhere will be in a position to put forward an extradition request without warning to the accused and regardless of the policies the accused’s country might already have in place for dealing with the charges. The country from which extradition is requested then faces a seemingly technical legal decision that, in fact, amounts to the exercise of political discretion – whether to entertain the claim or not.
…
The advocates of universal jurisdiction argue that the state is the basic cause of war and cannot be trusted to deliver justice. If law replaced politics, peace and justice would prevail. But even a cursory examination of history shows that there is no evidence to support such a theory. The role of the statesman is to choose the best option when seeking to advance peace and justice, realizing that there is frequently a tension between the two and that any reconciliation is likely to be partial. The choice, however, is not simply between universal and national jurisdictions.[/quote][quote=“Simon Jones”]
Just What Does Kissinger Think of the Neocons?
Simon Jones
…
One of his favorite quotes was Goethe: “If I had to choose between justice and disorder, and injustice and order, I would always choose the latter.”[/quote]OF COURSE KISSINGER MUST CHOOSE INJUSTICE.
Secondly: Justice Can and Should Exist Within Order.
“The country from which extradition is requested then faces a seemingly technical legal decision that, in fact, amounts to the exercise of political discretion – whether to entertain the claim or not.”
And in come our neocon leaders to exercise political discretion,
also facing guilt of international crimes, fully capable yet unwilling to support either justice or order.
JAS, if you intend to demonstrate that Kissinger DOES NOT deserve to face justice for international crimes, please do so.
And finally JAS, if I have offered some ill-stated information on Latin or South American affairs specific to Kissinger facing justice for Operation Condor (or in any thread), by all means please do enlighten. Otherwise save the gloves for another day.
