2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumSalon: Emails expose close ties between Hillary Clinton and accused war criminal Henry Kissinger
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 Kissingers time as secretary of state, which he says constitute a unique record of a critical period in American foreign policy.
(A scanned copy of Kissingers 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 Kissingers 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
(14,195 posts)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
(32,324 posts)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
(23,730 posts)in Chile (and even endorsed Allende), or both simultaneously
Human101948
(3,457 posts)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 Moffitts 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
(33,688 posts)no sir, none at all.
MissDeeds
(7,499 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)is like looking up Charlie Manson as a family therapist.
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)Generic Brad
(14,272 posts)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
(2,169 posts)Hillary Clinton reviews Henry Kissingers 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
(14,272 posts)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!
Ms Clinton earned her war criminal credentials all by herself.
Generic Brad
(14,272 posts)I believe you may have stumbled into DU in error. Free Republic is that a way.
cali
(114,904 posts)to shit supporter. A no fly zone Syria supporter.
Hekate
(90,538 posts)TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)Disgusting!
Cary
(11,746 posts)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
(33,688 posts)I'd think that over if I were you.
Because some over the top radicals who will never mean anything might not approve?
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)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
(4,775 posts)PyaarRevolution
(814 posts)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
(7,010 posts)tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)Is this really the sort of foreign policy Democrats want to continue?
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)libdem4life
(13,877 posts)tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)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
(10,119 posts)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.
Response to tk2kewl (Reply #6)
tk2kewl This message was self-deleted by its author.
Response to nationalize the fed (Original post)
JEB This message was self-deleted by its author.
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Cary
(11,746 posts)The hate fest here is appalling.
ms liberty
(8,549 posts)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.
Is GDP a bathroom wall now?
Hekate
(90,538 posts)Yes. Apparently so.
awake
(3,226 posts)That says it all
HereSince1628
(36,063 posts)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
(3,160 posts)I couldn't write a better, fictional caricature
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Just to keep it even of course.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)or Carter promoting Kissinger's book or giving him a keynote speaking at the state department like Hillary did.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)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
(33,688 posts)verifiable FACTS. HRH creates her own reality - didn't you get the memo?
KittyWampus
(55,894 posts)comradebillyboy
(10,128 posts)not voting for the Iraq war 13 years ago. Does he actually have any kind of foreign policy ideas at all?
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)comradebillyboy
(10,128 posts)complex and messy place. I'd like a bit more detail on how he'd approach global issues.
Ichingcarpenter
(36,988 posts)that's for sure.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)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
(4,775 posts)I'll post it here, a lot of people skim these threads and don't click all the links.
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
(33,688 posts)to thinking you own the world and acting like a tinpot Napoleon.
Unknown Beatle
(2,672 posts)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
(39,909 posts)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
(53,521 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,272 posts)Thanks for the thread, nationalize the fed.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)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
(1,017 posts)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
(108,955 posts)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
(90,538 posts)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
(108,955 posts)and many of his supporters revere him for that.
But that's not the kind of person we need as President.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)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
(108,955 posts)Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)Unlike many of her laughs I've heard which sound contrived.
reddread
(6,896 posts)Metric System
(6,048 posts)Agony
(2,605 posts)SoapBox
(18,791 posts)hopemountain
(3,919 posts)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
(11,945 posts)No wonder they get along so well.