Originally posted at TomDispatch.
If you happen to be a potential American war criminal, you’ve had a few banner
weeks. On May 9th, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter presented
former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger with
the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, that institution’s
“highest honorary award for private citizens.”
In bestowing it on the 92-year-old who is evidently still consulting for the
Pentagon, he offered this praise: “While his contributions are far from
complete, we are now beginning to appreciate what his service has provided our
country, how it has changed the way we think about strategy, and how he has
helped provide greater security for our citizens and people around the world.”
Certainly people “around the world” will remember the “greater
security” offered by the man who, relaying an order from President Richard
Nixon for a “massive” secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, used
a line that may almost be the definition of a war crime: “Anything
that flies on anything that moves.” The result:
half a million tons of bombs dropped on that country between 1969 and 1973 and
at least 100,000 dead civilians. And that’s just to start down the
well-cratered road to the millions
of dead he undoubtedly has some responsibility for. Public service indeed.
Meanwhile, speaking of American crimes in the Vietnam era, former Nebraska
Senator Bob Kerrey, who ran for president of the U.S. and then became the president
of the New School in New York City, was just
appointed to “lead” Fulbright University Vietnam, the first
private American-backed school there. Its opening was announced
by President Obama on his recent visit to that country. Only one small
problem: we already know of some children who won’t be able to apply for
admission. I’m thinking of the progeny-who-never-were of the 13
children killed by a team of U.S. SEALs under Kerrey’s command and on
his orders in South Vietnam in 1969 (along with a pregnant woman, and an elderly
couple whose three grandchildren were stabbed to death by the raiders) –
all of whom were reported at the time as dead Vietcong guerillas.
It seems that if you are a distinguished citizen of the most exceptional country
on the planet, even war crimes have their rewards. Consider, for instance, the
millions
of dollars that were paid for memoirs by top Bush administration officials
responsible for creating an American offshore torture regime at CIA “black
sites” around the world. Must-reads all! With that in mind, turn to
TomDispatch
regular Rebecca Gordon, author most recently of American
Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes,
to consider what “justice” for such figures might look like in a
…