by Whitney Webb, True Activist
RootsAction and Nobel Peace Prize Watch issued a petition last Tuesday demanding that Norwegian authorities arrest Kissinger for his war crimes and genocidal legacy.
Though the corporate media often describe him as an “internationally prestigious” political scientist and “uber-diplomat,” Henry A. Kissinger’s penchant for death, destruction, and genocide is well-documented. Kissinger, as Secretary of State under former President Nixon, transformed US foreign policy into one of perpetual wars waged throughout the world. Kissinger oversaw a bloody coup in Chile, an illegal bombing campaign in Cambodia, and millions dead in Vietnam. His disregard for human life shows no limits as he once famously said that US “military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.” Despite this dark legacy, US politicians and officials sing his praises. Hillary Clinton has publicly called Kissinger her “mentor” while President-Elect Donald Trump, despite his anti-establishment rhetoric, has met privately with Kissinger twice since being elected. At 92 years old, Kissinger remains a powerful figure in US foreign policy even though he only serves as a “consultant” via his international consulting firm Kissinger Associates Inc.
Last month, the Nobel Peace Prize committee created a stir by choosing Kissinger to speak at a forum entitled “The United States and World Peace after the Presidential Election.” The choice was allegedly made because Kissinger was once awarded the Nobel Peace Prize himself in 1973 for his role in “peacefully resolving” the Vietnam War, despite the fact that Kissinger prolonged the war for five years which cost millions of lives on both sides. At the time, the decision to award Kissinger with the Nobel Peace Prize caused two members of the Nobel committee to resign in protest.
The Nobel Peace Prize committee’s latest attempts to “honor” Kissinger did not go unnoticed by rights groups. This past Tuesday, RootsAction and Nobel Peace Prize Watch issued a petition demanding that Norwegian authorities arrest Kissinger for his war crimes. According to the petition, “The Nobel Committee has arranged for well-known war mastermind Henry Kissinger to speak as an honored guest at a forum that is part of the Nobel Peace Prize events. Several of Kissinger’s crimes come under treaties that make it mandatory for Norway to prosecute. Kissinger is complicit or a main actor in many violations of the Genocide Convention and of the Geneva Conventions.”
The committee’s forum was further shown to be a complete farce when it was also announced that Zbigniew Brzezinski, former National Security Advisor under former President Carter and “mentor” to President Obama, would also be speaking. Brzezinski was directly responsible for the rise of Islamic terror and much of the disorder currently plaguing the Middle East through his arming of certain factions to destabilize governments for political ends. Obama, his admitted pupil, has done much of the same in Syria and Libya among other nations, despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize himself.
Jan Oberg of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research had this to say about the committee’s decision to honor these two prominent officials with highly questionable legacies:
These two experts on warfare and interventionism will—Orwellian style—speak about “The United States and World Peace after the Presidential Election.”
This is the country that, since 1980, has intervened violently in Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Kuwait, Iraq, Somalia, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kosova/Serbia, Yemen, Pakistan, Syria, i.e. 14 Muslim countries. It has some 630 base facilities in 130+ countries. It has its U.S. Special Forces (SOF) in 133 countries.
It has used nuclear weapons without apology and owns the second largest arsenal of nuclear weapons.
The U.S. stands for about 40 percent of the world’s military expenditures, is the world’s leading arms exporter and has killed more people than anybody else since 1945. It’s the master of (imprecise) drone strikes. It presently supports Saudi Arabia’s bestial war on Yemen and conducts a military build-up in Asia and the Pacific planning, as it seems, for what looks like a future confrontation with China. And not with terribly positive results in its Middle East policies since 1945.
So with all these credentials, please tell us about world peace!
If the Nobel Peace prize wasn’t enough of a joke already, this latest forum honoring both Kissinger and Brzezinski may destroy its little remaining credibility.
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