Humanitarian or War Criminal?

[Andy Thayer]

Is Henry Kissinger – a leading organizer of America's war on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia during its bloodiest years – a "humanitarian"?

 

Unfortunately the Illinois Holocaust Museum, which is having him give the keynote speech at their "Humanitarian Awards Dinner" on Thursday, March 20th, thinks so.

 

But look at his record –

 

++ Besides being a leading architect of the U.S. war on Southeast Asia which killed over 3 million people, Kissinger was a key promoter of the 1973 coup which overthrew Chile's government, killing its democratically elected president and 10,000+ more, and imprisoning and torturing 10's of thousands more.

“I don't see why we need to stand by and watch a country go communist due to the irresponsibility of its people," he said. "The issues are much too important for the Chilean voters to be left to decide for themselves.”

++ Kissinger organized U.S. support for the 1965 coup in Indonesia, where the CIA assisted by "naming names" of alleged communist activists, promoting the deaths of half a million people.

 

++ In 1975, he and President Ford gave the green light for the Indonesian dictatorship to invade newly-independent East Timor, which led to the deaths of over 200,000 people, according to Amnesty International -- one-third of the country's population.

++ Kissinger supported the assassinations of heads of government in Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, South Vietnam and probably several other countries too.

++ He promoted the notorious "Operation Condor," a program of torturing and murdering 10s of thousands in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

 

That the United States under both Democratic and Republican administrations has failed to criminally prosecute Kissinger, a man responsible for the deaths of millions, means that the U.S. has no moral authority to criticize human rights abuses anywhere in the world.

 

"Never again" to the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930s and 1940s should mean "Never Again" to any program of mass murder and torture. Because we abhor the mass murders of Jews and millions of others by the Nazis, we oppose this honor for Henry Kissinger.

 

Please call the Illinois Holocaust Museum at 847-967-4800 and protest their sponsorship of Henry Kissinger, America's #1 living war criminal.

 

Then please attend the protest against Kissinger in Chicago:

 

5:30 PM, Thursday, March 20

Hyatt Regency Hotel

151 East Wacker Drive

 

Please join and share the Facebook event.

 

A bilingual 2-up handbill advertising the event is available here.

 

Co-sponsored by the 8th Day Center for Justice, Anti-War Committee - Chicago, ,Gay Liberation Network, Illinois Coalition Against Torture, International Socialist Organization, La Voz de los de Abajo, Neighbors for Peace, NW Indiana Vets for Peace, Third Coast Society, United States Palestinian Community Network, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, Voices for Creative Nonviolence, World Can't Wait – Chicago (list in formation).  For more info or to endorse, email LGBTlib...@aol.com