Look who's back! It's America's own favoritest war criminal! UPDATE: Hank the K sidelined!

UPDATE: Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker announced Monday that a shoulder fracture will keep the 91-year-old former secretary of state from appearing this week

Lookin' sassy, Doctor K! Okay, I've chopped former German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher out of the picture, taken in June 2013 at a Berlin reception for Henry the K’s 90th birthday (which had happened on May 27), because heck, we're here to celebrate our own Scumbags 'n' Crackpots -- and while Germans may wish to still think of our Hank as one of theirs, we know better, don't we?

by Ken

It's one of the things I have fond remembrance of the late Christopher Hitchens, a man it isn't easy to remember fondly. (This was before his brain succumbed to all that pickling, or whatever happened to it.) He began a book review with an apology, explaining that he was breaking his vow not to read another book by this author until the first volume of his prison diaries. The author, as you've no doubt guessed, was Henry Kissinger.

In the carnival atmosphere of this week in Our Nation's Capital, marking the opening of the new Congress -- "The Crackpot 114th™," as it's known affectionately to its friends -- I imagine the Capitol festooned with celebratory signs, probably hand-painted on old bed sheets, like this:



And this:



And especially this:



Because, yes, in addition to welcoming all the new scumbags taking their seats in The Crackpot 114th™, the Crackpot 'n' Scumbags ringleaders are pleased to welcome bag crackpots and scumbags from days of old. Yes, two of the Senate's new committee chairment, "Corkless Bob" Corker of Foreign Relations and "Young Johnny" McCranky of Armed Services, are kicking off their new shows with Old Gravel Puss, at 10am and 2:30pm respectively.

And — wouldn’t you know it? — it just so happens Kissinger’s  latest book, his 14th, came out a few months ago, appropriately titled, World Order.

Perhaps he could rev up the new teams with an elaborate disquisition on the Treaty of Westphalia back in the mid-17th century — you know, the one that ended the Thirty Years’ War — and the Islamist rejection of those principles?

Just make sure committee members and staff are sufficiently caffeinated.

What, you don't have your copy of World Order yet? You can probably find it at your local bookseller's, or at, you know, Amazon or one of those places.

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Finally... Justice For Víctor Jara-- But War Criminal Henry Kissinger Is Still On The Loose

The song above, "Plegaria a un Labrador" ("Prayer to a Worker") is one of Víctor Jara's classic songs. You need to know who this guy was. On September 11, 1973, Nixon, Kissinger and the CIA gave the go-ahead for a violent fascist coup against Chile's democratically elected government. The presidential palace was bombed and shelled and Chile's beloved president, Salvator Allende, was murdered. But that was just the beginning. Within hours of Allende's murder thousands of his supporters were rounded up (eventually 80,000) and herded into a stadium and many were tortured (40,000) and murdered (3,000) to help the fascists make way for a Chicago School/Ayn Rand-inspired dictatorship. Labor unions were put under fascist control and Social Security, for example, was privatized according to the same directives by the same people who have worked out the same plans for the GOP here in America.

One of the people herded into the stadium that day was Chile's Bob Dylan, Víctor Jara. He was tortured; his fingers were broken; a soldier played Russian roulette until a bullet wounded him in the head. He was then machine-gunned and 44 bullets were found in his body, which was dumped on the street of a local slum. The following year Phil Ochs, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and Arlo Guthrie did a memorial concert for Jara in New York City. The stadium where he was murdered was renamed the Estadio Víctor Jara in 2003. I first heard about Jara in 1980 when the Clash included a song, "Washington Bullets" on their iconic album Sandinista! (video below). 16 years later Chuck Brodsky wrote and recorded a tribute, "The Hands of Victor Jara."

The blood of Victor Jara
Will never wash away
It just keeps on turning
A little redder every day
As anger turns to hatred
And hatred turns to guns
Children lose their fathers
And mothers lose their sons

Before Pinochet finally died-- hundreds of criminal indictments pending against him-- he had stolen between 20 and 30 million dollars. He managed to evade justice, just as Nixon did and as Kissinger still is. But Jara's direct murders are finally being brought to justice, 8 retired army officers charged on Friday.

Judge Miguel Vásquez charged two of the former officers, Pedro Barrientos and Hugo Sánchez, with committing the murder and six others as accomplices. Mr. Sánchez, a lieutenant colonel, was second in command at the stadium. Mr. Barrientos, a lieutenant from a Tejas Verdes army unit, currently lives in Deltona, a city southwest of Daytona Beach, Fla., and was interrogated by the F.B.I. earlier this year at the request of a Chilean court. Attempts to reach Mr. Barrientos for comment were unsuccessful; his two listed telephone numbers had been disconnected.

Judge Vásquez issued an international arrest warrant against Mr. Barrientos through Interpol Santiago and ordered the arrest of the other seven, who were in Chile. Those charged as accomplices are Roberto Souper, Raúl Jofré, Edwin Dimter, Nelson Hasse, Luis Bethke and Jorge Smith.

...Judge Vásquez established that Mr. Jara was recognized by military officers, separated from the rest of the detainees and taken to the basement dressing rooms, which were being used to question prisoners. There, he was interrogated, beaten and tortured by several officers, according to the court.

On Sept. 16, 1973, when the stadium was evacuated and the prisoners transferred to the larger, open-air National Stadium in the capital, Víctor Jara and a former prison service director, Littré Quiroga, who was also detained there, were taken to the basement and killed. The bodies of both men and three other victims were later found dumped near a railroad track outside a cemetery; one of the victims remains unidentified. According to the autopsy report, Mr. Jara was badly beaten and was shot 44 times.

EVER WONDER WHAT WENT ON IN HENRY KISSINGER'S MIND? (IT'S UGLY)

You may have read that war-criminal-on-the-loose, Henry Kissinger, told reporters this weekend that a military victory in Iraq is no longer possible. This probably came as much as a slap in the face to Bush as the slams he took in the last two days from old pals/rats deserting a sinking ship Matthew Dowd and Vic Gold. Why, you ask? Who cares what that discredited old publicity hound says? Bush-- at least according to a new book by historian Robert Dallek, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power.

In recent years, President George W. Bush has consulted him for advice on the Iraq war, which Kissinger has supported. Since 2001, Kissinger has, according to Bob Woodward's State of Denial, met with the president every other month, and with Vice President Dick Cheney every month, and he has advised President Bush that "victory … is the only meaningful exit strategy" for Iraq.

Poor Bush! What a pathetic wretch.

But to be hung out to dry by Kissinger... he's not the only one. And others have fared far worse-- which is why he has to be very careful about which countries planes he's on land. He could easily win up in prison in quite a few of them. In any case, the excerpt from Dallek's book in the May issue of Vanity Fair (at the link above) is well worth reading. Here are a couple of excerpts from the excerpt:

Using language that has a painfully contemporary echo, Kissinger and Nixon very quickly came to private conclusions about Vietnam that they never revealed publicly and denied entertaining. "In Saigon the tendency is to fight the war to victory," Nixon told Kissinger, according to the transcript of a 1969 phone conversation. "But you and I know it won't happen—it is impossible." Even so, according to Haldeman's unpublished diaries, Nixon later urged that Democratic critics making this same point should be labeled "the party of surrender." When someone told Kissinger that Nixon could not be re-elected, because of Vietnam, he disputed it and added, according to a memo of a conversation, that "anytime we want to get out of Vietnam we can," and that "we will get out of Vietnam before the [1972] election." Nixon wanted to plan the removal of all U.S. troops by the end of 1971, but Kissinger cautioned that, if North Vietnam then de-stabilized Saigon during the following year, events could have an adverse effect on the president's campaign. According to Haldeman's diaries, Kissinger advocated a pullout in the fall of 1972, "so that if any bad results follow they will be too late to affect the election." He apparently had nothing to say about the American lives that would be lost by deliberately prolonging the war. Just before a peace treaty was signed, Kissinger in a phone conversation advised Nixon against stating that this was a "lasting peace or guaranteed peace because this thing is almost certain to blow up sooner or later."

See how much of this one can be related to anyone you happen to have been reading about in the last 6 years:

Kissinger's demands for influence and attention incensed Nixon, who occasionally talked about firing him. Watergate made this impossible. Nixon's need to use Kissinger and foreign policy to counter threats of impeachment made Kissinger an indispensable figure in a collapsing administration. The balance of power shifted massively and irrevocably.
Many facets of Kissinger's operating procedure were in full-blown display during the 1973 Yom Kippur War: the secrecy, the subterfuge, and the desire to gather power to himself. The crisis arose just as a convergence of domestic scandals rocked the White House. The president was losing his battle to keep the Watergate tapes under seal. The Saturday Night Massacre, when Nixon fired the Watergate special prosecutor and accepted the resignations of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general, was merely weeks away. And Vice President Spiro Agnew was on the verge of resigning, in the face of charges of extortion, bribery, and income-tax evasion. The president was deeply preoccupied, and at times incapacitated by self-pity or alcohol.
On the morning of October 6—Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar—Egypt attacked Israeli forces in the Sinai even as Syria struck the Israelis in the Golan Heights. A combination of complete surprise and effective preparation initially gave Egypt and Syria the advantage.
From the outset Kissinger, who was now secretary of state as well as national-security adviser, centered control of the crisis in his own hands. The Israelis had informed him of the attacks at six a.m. that Saturday, but three and a half hours would pass before he felt the need to consult Nixon, who had escaped Washington for his retreat in Key Biscayne, Florida. At 8:35 a.m., Kissinger called Haig, who was with the president, to report on developments. He said, according to a phone transcript, "I want you to know … that we are on top of it here." To ensure that the media not see Nixon as out of the loop, Kissinger urged Haig to say "that the President was kept informed from 6:00 a.m. on." When Kissinger finally called Nixon, at 9:25 a.m., the president left matters in Kissinger's hands. But he asked, according to a transcript, that Kissinger "indicate you talked to me."
At 10:35 a.m., Kissinger again called Haig. They discussed how to work with the Soviets to bring the fighting to a halt. When Haig reported that Nixon was considering returning to Washington, Kissinger discouraged it—part of a recurring pattern to keep Nixon out of the process. Over the next three days, Kissinger oversaw the diplomatic exchanges with the Israelis and Soviets about the war. Israeli prime minister Golda Meir's requests for military supplies, which were beginning to run low, came not to Nixon but to Kissinger. Although he consistently described himself as representing the president's wishes, Kissinger was seen by outsiders as the principal U.S. official through whom business should be conducted. On October 7, for example, a Brezhnev letter to Nixon was a response to "the messages you transmitted to us through Dr. Kissinger." On October 9, a telegram to King Hussein of Jordan urging continued non-involvement in the conflict came not from Nixon but from Kissinger.
Although Kissinger spoke to Nixon frequently during these four days, it was usually Kissinger who initiated the calls, kept track of the fighting, and parceled out information as he saw fit. On the night of October 7, according to a telephone transcript, Nixon asked Kissinger if there had been any message from Brezhnev. "Oh, yes, we heard from him," Kissinger replied, volunteering no more. Nixon had to press, asking lamely, "What did he say?"
At 7:55 on the night of October 11, Brent Scowcroft, Haig's replacement as Kissinger's deputy at the N.S.C., called Kissinger to report that the British prime minister, Edward Heath, wanted to speak to the president in the next 30 minutes. According to a telephone transcript, Kissinger replied, "Can we tell them no? When I talked to the President he was loaded." Scowcroft suggested that they describe Nixon as unavailable, but say that the prime minister could speak to Kissinger. "In fact, I would welcome it," Kissinger told Scowcroft.
What is striking is how matter-of-fact Kissinger and Scowcroft were about Nixon's condition, as if it had been nothing out of the ordinary—as if Nixon's drinking to excess was just part of the routine. They showed no concern at having to keep the prime minister of America's principal ally away from the president.

I don't know if the gangsters Bush has surrounded himself with as devious and treacherous as Kissinger-- although I would take a guess that they certainly are-- but this next bit makes you eager to see similar pieces come out about the current "meatball mind" in the not too distant future:

Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were symbiotic rivals—men who shared many similarities, including cynicism and insecurity, and who desperately needed each other despite their often poisonous antagonism and mutual suspicion. Nixon distrusted Kissinger, doubting his professions of admiration. Kissinger's eagerness for the spotlight and his self-serving ambition put Nixon on edge. Nixon rightly believed that Kissinger saw himself as a superior intellect manipulating a malleable president. Nixon called him "my Jew boy" behind his back and occasionally to his face as a way to humiliate him and keep him in his place. Kissinger reciprocated, according to a raft of transcripts and other documents. He despised Nixon's top aides. "I have never met such a gang of self-seeking bastards in my life," Kissinger told the British ambassador in 1970, in a remark preserved in an ambassadorial memo in the National Archives in London. "I used to find the Kennedy group unattractively narcissistic, but they were idealists. These people are real heels." The president himself fared little better. Kissinger privately referred to Nixon as "that madman," "our drunken friend," and "the meatball mind."
By the spring of 1974, public attitudes toward Nixon and Kissinger were heading in opposite directions. The president's political survival seemed more uncertain with every passing day, while Kissinger's public standing reached new heights. Kissinger remained publicly supportive of Nixon, but in his own mind he viewed America's well-being as inextricably linked to his own.
After returning from the Middle East in June of 1974, Kissinger spoke by phone with Jacob Javits and told the New York senator, "You know, what really worries me, Jack, [is that,] with the President facing impeachment, what's been holding things together is my moral authority abroad and to some extent at home. If that's lost we may be really in trouble."

IS THERE A REASONABLE WAY OUT OF BUSH'S DISASTER IN IRAQ? RUSS FEINGOLD THINKS SO-- AND REID IS BACKING HIM

The wingnuts are going ape-shit as they see all factions of the Democratic Party coming together to wrap up Bush's escalating catastrophe in Iraq. The Democratic unity is driving them insnane, so insane that far right Georgia extremist Jack Kingston seems to be threatening to turn himself into a suicide bomber "The Democrats' honeymoon is fixing to end" he threatened. "It's going to explode like an IED... It's going to be like the government shutdowns" of 1995 and 1996. Oh yeah; that worked when another crazy right-wing congressman from Georgia tried it back then too. These loons never learn!

Fortunately, there are responsible and serious members of Congress who are dedicated to trying to solve the problems the Bush Regime has been creating. Russ Feingold is usually ahead of the curve. Today he's introduced legislation that would end the war by March 31, 2008. Harry Reid, who is getting quite serious about this thing lately is co-sponsoring the bill. The bill requires Bush to begin safely redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq 120 days from enactment, as required by the emergency supplemental spending bill the Senate passed last week. He explains the whole thing in a piece he published at Salon this morning. Here are the main points of the bill that McConnell must be choking on this morning:

(a) Transition of Mission - The President shall promptly transition the mission of United States forces in Iraq to the limited purposes set forth in subsection (d).

(b) Commencement of Safe, Phased Redeployment from Iraq - The President shall commence the safe, phased redeployment of United States forces from Iraq that are not essential to the purposes set forth in subsection (d). Such redeployment shall begin not later than 120 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.

(c) Prohibition on Use of Funds - No funds appropriated or otherwise made available under any provision of law may be obligated or expended to continue the deployment in Iraq of members of the United States Armed Forces after March 31, 2008.

(d) Exception for Limited Purposes - The prohibition under subsection (c) shall not apply to the obligation or expenditure of funds for the limited purposes as follows:
(1) To conduct targeted operations, limited in duration and scope, against members of al Qaeda and other international terrorist organizations.
(2) To provide security for United States infrastructure and personnel.
(3) To train and equip Iraqi security services.

UPDATE: AND IT LOOKS LIKE REPUBLICAN WAR CRIMINAL HENRY KISSINGER-- STILL A FUGITIVE FROM JUSTICE-- AGREES THAT BUSH BOTCHED IRAQ AND THAT THE WAR CAN'T BE WON

Yesterday's International Herald Tribune reported that Kissinger said the conflict in Iraq is more complex than Vietnam and that a military solution is no longer possible. Kissinger didn't say so explicitly, but it goes without saying that "complex" is not Bush's forte. Despite the impossibility of a military solution, Kissinger predicted that we would be fighting in Iraq for many years. Somewhere in a safe house Osama bin-Laden is smiling serenely and thanking Allah his efforts to make sure Bush was re-elected paid off so handsomely.

WILL HENRY KISSINGER'S CRIMINAL & PREDATORY FOREIGN AFFAIRS FINALLY CATCH UP WITH HIM?

I'm not an expert on Uruguay-- after my 2 day visit a few months ago-- but I did notice that it's a very moderate country in all ways. The weather is. So are the politics. And you don't see these huge discrepancies in wealth. I'm sure there must be some very rich people-- what country doesn't have those kinds of dangerous parasites-- but you don't notice the disparities between rich and poor in Uruguay the way you do in Argentina and Brazil, the two giant countries little Uruguay is sandwiched between. I recall that they used to call themselves "the Switzerland of South America," and there are no mountains.

It's a pretty homogeneous country-- like 95% European, mostly Spanish and Italian. (The early Portuguese and Spanish settlers killed all the native inhabitants.) In the mid-60s the U.S. started training the Uruguayan military and police in the fine arts of suppression and torture. See, and you thought it was all Bush, Cheney and Gonzales who got that going! By 1968 there was a state of emergency followed in 1972 with a suspension of civil liberties. In 1973 there was a U.S.-backed military coup. Under U.S. tutelage the Switzerland of South America soon had the highest per capita percentage of political prisoners in the world. In 1984 massive protests broke out against the U.S.-backed dictatorship and democracy resumed that year.

Why the little history lesson today about a small far away country with no oil that you'll probably never visit? It's another in a growing list of country's Henry Kissinger will never be able to sit his fat ass down in again. Kissinger is wanted for questioning in France, Argentina and Chile. You see... the right wing military dictatorships/U.S. proxies in Latin America were worried that popular resentment against the feudal system and grinding poverty would lead to democratic reforms, especially in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia. The U.S. helped them start a state terror system called Operation Condor which was used to assassinate and terrorize anyone who opposed the fascists.

One of my friends, Amelia Lafferriere, who has done some writing on my political blog, was imprisoned by the Argentine junta as part of this operation. (George Bush I, then CIA director, warned Congressman Ed Koch that he was an assassination target of Uruguayan fascists in the mid-70s. He was sponsoring legislation to cut off US military assistance to Uruguay because of egregious human rights abuses. By the early 1970's Henry Kissinger seemed to be directing the whole program, ordering hits on politicians, journalists, labor leaders, even the Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, Rene Schneider. (Schneider's family is suing Kissinger now.)


Now, as for Uruguay, which currently has a dedicated democratic government, a request to extradite Kissinger was filed with the Supreme Court last month on behalf of Bernardo Arnone, a political activist who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered ("disappeared") by the right wing militarists in 1976. The government is studying the request and trying to come up with a solution since it is unlikely the Bush Regime is about to hand over any Americans to a foreign justice system, no matter how heinous the crimes he committed. Bad precedent for quite a few figures in the current Regime, don't you think?