Salon: Emails expose close ties between Hillary Clinton and accused war criminal Henry Kissinger

[nationalize the fed]

Kissinger met regularly with Secretary Clinton, and applauded her hawkish foreign policy in a handwritten message

Salon.com by Ben Norton and Jared Flanery Jan 12, 2016

“I greatly admire the skill and aplomb with which you conduct our foreign policy,” wrote Henry Kissinger in a 2012 letter to “the Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton.” The compliment was included as a handwritten postscript added to the printed letter.

The Feb. 7 letter, which was released in a batch of emails from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is a request that she help declassify documents from Kissinger’s time as secretary of state, which he says constitute “a unique record of a critical period in American foreign policy.”


(A scanned copy of Kissinger’s printed message to Clinton)

Critics say Kissinger helped carry out egregious war crimes in this critical period, during which he served as secretary of state under presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

The late journalist Christopher Hitchens devoted an entire book to detailing the war crimes overseen by Kissinger, who infamously declared “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”...snip

...In a June 2009 email titled “Startegy memo,” Clinton mentions an upcoming dinner she will be having with Kissinger — along with Cold War-era statesman and National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who pushed for the U.S. to arm Islamic extremist mujahideen militants in Afghanistan in order to fight the Soviet Union, giving rise to al-Qaeda and the Taliban....snip more- http://www.salon.com/2016/01/12/emails_expose_close_ties_between_hillary_clinton_and_accused_war_criminal_henry_kissinger/





Related: Hillary Clinton reviews Henry Kissinger’s ‘World Order’
By Hillary Clinton, WaPo

...Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state. He checked in with me regularly, sharing astute observations about foreign leaders and sending me written reports on his travels. Though we have often seen the world and some of our challenges quite differently, and advocated different responses now and in the past, what comes through clearly in this new book is a conviction that we, and President Obama, share: a belief in the indispensability of continued American leadership in service of a just and liberal order...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clinton-reviews-henry-kissingers-world-order/2014/09/04/b280c654-31ea-11e4-8f02-03c644b2d7d0_story.html

[peacebird]

1. That she considers Kissinger a friend is creepy, but relying on HIM for foreign policy insights?

Well, nothing about Hillary surprises me any more. Her friends are as despicable as she is. Trump, Kissinger, all her rightwing buddies in The Family.

[truedelphi]

9. Unfortunately her supporters are existing inside a closed loop.

They have no idea of who "The Family" is and it would not surprise me if they think of Kissinger as a kindly "elder statesman."

[MisterP]

36. either they think he saved Chile from that wicked lefty Allende, that he backed democracy

in Chile (and even endorsed Allende), or both simultaneously

[Human101948]

47. New documents link Kissinger, Bush senior to Letelier assassination

New documents link Kissinger, Bush senior to Letelier assassination
By Patrick Martin
20 April 2010
Documents released last week by the National Security Archive, which has played a valuable role in uncovering evidence of the crimes of American imperialism in Latin America, provide new details on the role of top US officials in facilitating the assassination of former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier.
These documents add to the overwhelming case for the prosecution of then-secretary of state Henry Kissinger, then-CIA director George H. W. Bush and other top officials for their role in these and other murders perpetrated by military juntas allied with and backed by the US government.
The September 21, 1976 murder of Letelier and an American aide, Ronni Moffitt, was the most spectacular act of international terrorism on US soil up to that time. The two were killed, and Moffitt’s husband Michael wounded, when a bomb detonated underneath their car as they rounded Sheridan Circle in northwest Washington D.C., barely a mile from the White House.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2010/04/lete-a20.html

[hifiguy]

53. No surprise there,

no sir, none at all.

[MissDeeds]

30. + 1000000000

[hifiguy]

45. Going to War Criminal Kissinger for diplomatic advice

is like looking up Charlie Manson as a family therapist.

[99th_Monkey]

2. Another nail in the coffin of Hillary's "progressive" credentials. n/t

[Generic Brad]

31. What? Did you expect her to kick him in the nuts?

Being in the same room at the same time as someone or receiving an unsolicited note from them does not mean they share the same viewpoints.

[nationalize the fed]

34. Read her WAPO book review

Hillary Clinton reviews Henry Kissinger’s ‘World Order’
By Hillary Clinton, WaPo 9/2014

...Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state. He checked in with me regularly, sharing astute observations about foreign leaders and sending me written reports on his travels. Though we have often seen the world and some of our challenges quite differently, and advocated different responses now and in the past, what comes through clearly in this new book is a conviction that we, and President Obama, share: a belief in the indispensability of continued American leadership in service of a just and liberal order...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/hillary-clinton-reviews-henry-kissingers-world-order/2014/09/04/b280c654-31ea-11e4-8f02-03c644b2d7d0_story.html

Really, the whole Clinton/Kissinger love fest shouldn't be surprising to anyone that has followed US foreign policy.

[Generic Brad]

35. I guess you are going to see what you want to see

He shared his observations with her. They see the world and challenges quite differently. They advocated different responses now and in the past.

Well...just lock her up as a war criminal too. She received unsolicited advice from Kissinger and did not agree with him on many points. That must make them joined at the hip!

[Got it]

38. Libya

Ms Clinton earned her war criminal credentials all by herself.

[Generic Brad]

39. Ah - a Benghazi believer

I believe you may have stumbled into DU in error. Free Republic is that a way.

[cali]

50. No. An Iraq war supporter. An overthrow Gadaffi and leave Libya broken

to shit supporter. A no fly zone Syria supporter.

[Hekate]

58. Yeah. They do. It's an ongoing meme here. nt

[TIME TO PANIC]

3. Laughing it up with a war criminal.

Disgusting!

[Cary]

4. Meaning what?

I would love to meet Henry Kissinger and hear what he would tell me. If I were Secretary of State I would definitely talk to him.

Feh.

[hifiguy]

43. He has the blood of millions on his hands.

I'd think that over if I were you.

[Cary]

48. Why?

Because some over the top radicals who will never mean anything might not approve?

[hifiguy]

52. Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger personally monkeywrenched

Lyndon Johnson's attempt to stop the Vietnam war in 1968 by telling the South Vietnamese President that he would get a "better deal" from Nixon. They did so for the purpose of assisting Nixon's election that year, and so that they could drag the war out another four years so that "peace" could be announced to insure his re-election in 1972. The terms announced in 1972 were virtually identical to what LBJ had proposed.

In the meantime more than 15,000 US soldiers died, as well as countless Vietnamese and Cambodians.

Those are the historical FACTS.

[dreamnightwind]

69. +1, thanks

[PyaarRevolution]

49. Don't worry about him..

Generations have been brainwashed by History books that say Henry Kissinger walks on water. They infer if you're a man you should admire and aspire to emulate his success, if you're a woman you should be intimate with him.
After hearing about Kissinger from Hitchens any of those notions were wiped from my head.

[JRLeft]

5. Not for Hillary fans.

[tk2kewl]

6. Like Berie said... She has plenty of foreign policy experience

Is this really the sort of foreign policy Democrats want to continue?

[KittyWampus]

13. Since she is responsible for renewing America's good image, I'd say 'maybe'.

[libdem4life]

20. How did she do that? Or is that a rhetorical statement.

[tk2kewl]

21. Glad you think she gets all the credit for what good may have happened over the past 7 yrs

Better than the previous 8 yrs, but that's not too hard.

Frankly, I do not believe there is any warm fuzzy feelings around the globe for The US. Still at war, still have Guantanamo, drone wars.

And she wants to escalate the Syrian conflict. Thanks, but no thanks.

[Jarqui]

32. I don't think she is responsible for that

Audacity of Hope laid out what Obama was going to do. She was a participant. The guy who decides what the policy is or what America does is the president. She may well have had some influence but if she'd made the call on bin Laden during the campaign of 2008, he wouldn't have been taken out.

[KittyWampus]

14. So you grabbed your comment from FreeRepublic?

[Cary]

15. I wouldn't be surprised.

The hate fest here is appalling.

[ms liberty]

33. This Bernie supporter does not appreciate

your comment. It is unhelpful, rude, and unnecessary. So just stop it. There are plenty of issues we disagree with Hillary about that are legitimate points of discussion, but snarking about The Clenis isn't one of them. And before any newbie gets bent out of shape, referring to The Clenis is a well-known old DU term for all of the Bill's sex life bullshit.

[shenmue]

44. No.

Is GDP a bathroom wall now?

[Hekate]

57. In answer to your question...

Yes. Apparently so.

[awake]

8. " a request that she help declassify documents"

That says it all

[HereSince1628]

22. Maybe not...I rather suspect it's to promote either biographic or historic

research about Kissenger's role. He was an important player in many things including some awful things, so academics certainly have an interest in what he did.

As he gets closer to the end of his life he may also be interested in cleaning up his reputation.

In either case penning his signature for a request to declassify communications is mostly about making hidden things public.

Getting hidden thing into the light of day is generally a long term good.

[FlatBaroque]

10. At this point, I consider her candidacy a parody

I couldn't write a better, fictional caricature

[KittyWampus]

12. Sanders is a great alternative.

[KittyWampus]

11. I should post a pix of Jimmy Carter and Kissinger so you can trash him too.

[Fumesucker]

17. You might include a warm personal note from Henry the K to Jimmy too

Just to keep it even of course.

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. LOL........ good luck finding that one

or Carter promoting Kissinger's book or giving him a keynote speaking at the state department like Hillary did.

[Ichingcarpenter]

23. Carter never endorsed Kissinger or his book

like Hillary did. She gave him accolades, Carter never did. She promoted his book, Carter never did.

In 2011
Secretary Hillary Clinton's invited Henry Kissinger to keynote a major State Department conference on the history of the Indochina war.

Inviting Kissinger to keynote a conference on U.S. history in Indochina insults history, the memories of tens of thousands of Americans and countless Indochinese civilians who needlessly died as a result of his policies, the young people of America who desperately need to learn the truth about what occurred in Indochina so as not to repeat it, and all those who oppose indiscriminate mass murder of civilians.

She gave him that platform to speak..........Not Carter

Kissinger orchestrated the most massive bombing in world history, dropping 3,984,563 million tons on an area inhabited by some 50 million people, twice the 2 million tons dropped on hundreds of millions through Europe and the Pacific in World War II. He dropped 1.6 million tons on South Vietnam, as many as Lyndon Johnson at the height of U.S. involvement; quadrupled the bombing of Laos, from 454,200 to 1,628,900 million tons; initiated widespread bombing of previously peaceful Cambodia, including B52 carpet bombing of undefended villages, for a total of 600,000-1 million tons; and vastly expanded the bombing of civilian targets in North Vietnam.

And then he blamed Congress for not winning the war
at HILLARY'S CONFERENCE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fred-branfman/hillary-clintons-promotin_b_742287.html


Hillary Clinton has written a review of Henry Kissinger's new book World Order for the Washington Post
NOT CARTER

SHE SAID THIS


Kissinger is a friend, and I relied on his counsel when I served as secretary of state.


http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/05/hillary_clinton_henry_kissinger_pals.html

[hifiguy]

42. There you go again, with all those silly,

verifiable FACTS. HRH creates her own reality - didn't you get the memo?

[KittyWampus]

64. Clinton NEVER endorsed Kissinger's book. She critiqued it. Big difference

[comradebillyboy]

16. And Sanders' foreign policy positions consist of him bragging about

not voting for the Iraq war 13 years ago. Does he actually have any kind of foreign policy ideas at all?

[Fumesucker]

19. Frankly I'd be happy with "Don't do stupid shit", stupid shit like the Iraq war

[comradebillyboy]

24. That's a nice simple philosophy, but the world is a very

complex and messy place. I'd like a bit more detail on how he'd approach global issues.

[Ichingcarpenter]

26. He wouldn't do it like clinton and her buddy Kissinger

that's for sure.

[Fumesucker]

28. You didn't recognize the quote? I had it that way for a reason.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/10/hillary-clinton-obama_n_5665901.html

So what if your candidate not only voted for but made a passionate speech in support of the single worst foreign policy blunder in American history?

[dreamnightwind]

70. Well played

I'll post it here, a lot of people skim these threads and don't click all the links.

Former secretary of state and potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had sharp words for President Barack Obama's foreign policy in an interview with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg, dismissing the president's "don't do stupid shit" foreign policy approach for not being "an organizing principle" worthy of "great nations."

In recent months, "Don't do stupid shit" has emerged as a common shorthand for Obama's foreign policy (which aims to be "interventionist and internationalist, but not isolationist or unilateral," as one aide told the Los Angeles Times). Clinton, however, believes the approach is not enough.

[hifiguy]

41. Doing nothing is vastly preferable

to thinking you own the world and acting like a tinpot Napoleon.

[Unknown Beatle]

62. I guess you don't know much about presidential politics.

Sanders, of course, would surround himself with the best and the brightest advisers on global issues, just like every president does. Yes, I know, ultimately, it's the president that makes the final decision. But, before making that final decision, every president listens to his advisers first.

[bvar22]

37. You didn't watch the 3rd Debate.

Sanders was clear about his approach to the Middle East, Syria especially.

paraphrase: Its EASY to remove people like Saddam and Qaddafi when you never consider WHAT you are going to replace these people with.
The effect of this short sighted and faulty Clinton approach toForeign Policy is the creation of Failed States that are a vacuum for the very worst terrorists and terrorist factions.

QED: Iraq, Libya..and Syria if Hillary has her way.

[Odin2005]

25. Disgusting!

[Uncle Joe]

29. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, nationalize the fed.

[hifiguy]

40. In a country that gave a single hamster turd about the rule of law,

Henry Kissinger would have been hanged for war crimes 30 years ago. He literally has the blood of millions on his hands, from Vietnam to Chile, to Argentina, Nigeria, Cambodia and countless other places around the world. He is a monster on the Pol Pot level and should have been executed long ago.

Being BFF's with a murderous, amoral monster is hardly a qualification for county clerk, much less the presidency.

[TheFarS1de]

71. I have relations via marriage to a bunch of Chileans

Their father didn't make it out but they did and they have a few choice words about Kissinger . Most involve the words "firing squad" , just to return the favour he bestowed upon their family .

[pnwmom]

46. And Bernie's foreign policy judgment is so great that he said in the debate

that they should include Iranian troops -- Syria's bitterest enemy -- in the forces on the ground in Syria.

His judgment doesn't seem much better than Kissinger's.

[Hekate]

56. Add to that a yawning gulf in BS's (lack of) applied experience in foreign policy.

A person who wants to be President or SoS really has to know what diplomacy is, and how to negotiate with even people they find despicable. The GOP candidates want to bomb the ME until the sands glow; and BS wants to throw enemies together on the one hand and rush to hold hands and sing Kumbayah with countries he knows very very little about on the other hand.

Soooo strange that a Secretary of State would find things to talk about with a former Secretary of State. Almost as strange as one former POTUS finding things to talk about with another former POTUS. The fact that they are members of what has been called the world's smallest club with experiences the rest of us can't even fathom -- well that's just beside the point, isn't it?

Oy.

[pnwmom]

59. Bernie has made a career of being anything but diplomatic

and many of his supporters revere him for that.

But that's not the kind of person we need as President.

[Fumesucker]

61. While Hillary is the consummate diplomat, eh?

I love her girlish laugh in this piece, it's so infectious, she's quite engaging when she has the courage to let the real Hillary out.

[pnwmom]

65. "Girlish laugh" -- thanks for the reminder that sexism never quite goes away around here.

[Hekate]

66. +1 >smh<

[Fumesucker]

67. It sounded natural and unaffected

Unlike many of her laughs I've heard which sound contrived.

[reddread]

51. the horror

[Metric System]

54. Y'all are getting desperate.

[Agony]

60. No we are trying to steer America's moral compass away from the barf zone.

kissinger

[SoapBox]

55. Oh barfo....

[hopemountain]

63. gross. do you think

their lips touched.

under that professional stiff hair sprayed coiffure, who would think deep down she is into the spilling of the blood and guts of soldiers?

our youth are $$ signs for this seemingly harmless woman.

[senz]

68. “The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer.”

No wonder they get along so well.