Why Not Being Friends With A War Criminal Like Henry Kissinger Matters [View all]

[Ferd Berfel]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by In_The_Wind (a host of the General Discussion forum).

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/13/why-not-being-friends-war-criminal-henry-kissinger-matters

n the midst of questioning the United States’ history of overthrowing and meddling in other countries’ governments, Bernie Sanders denounced Hillary Clinton for befriending and taking advice from former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Numerous media commentators reacted by mocking the Sanders campaign, believing millennials could not possibly know anything about Kissinger. They suggested millennials did not care about what Kissinger did either.

It was typical of an establishment media class, which eschews serious reflection on the record of any current or former official’s role in war crimes or atrocities. But Kissinger is someone who Clinton has mentioned multiple times during debates and at campaign events. She said during the last debate in New Hampshire, “I was very flattered when Henry Kissinger said I ran the State Department better than anybody had run it in a long time.”

The condemnation from Sanders was also newsworthy because most of the elite international relations scholars in foreign policy research consider Kissinger to be the best secretary of state of the past 50 years. Plus, despite all the inflicted destruction he helped wreak, Kissinger is a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

(snip)

If Clinton has ever disagreed with Kissinger because of his past war crimes or support for horrendous policies, she has not made her disagreements well-known to the public. Instead, Clinton has expressed pride about being a member of a “fascinating club” of living former secretaries of state, which transcend “partisan differences.”