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Revisiting History May Help
 “The dark side of Henry Kissinger is very very dark.” It was a sentence
uttered by Seymour Hirsh about Henry Kissinger in a documentary
called “The Trial of Henry Kissinger.” The documentary was made
in 2002 after the publication of Christopher Hutchison’s book
‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ in 2000.
The Trial of Henry Kissinger was an important book then and it is more
important now to understand the current US military engagements
in different parts of globe including Afghanistan, Pakistan and
the Middle East.
It is important the current US policy makers, Pakistani policy makers,
and the Middle Eastern policy makers read Mr. Hutchison’s book
and watch the movie to reevaluate the events and draw fresh
conclusions to formulate a policy which may help to achieve
peace in a war-torn world.
There are lessons for everyone in this book and movie: lessons for US,
Pakistan and the Middle Eastern powers.
Although the book was written and the movie was made with focus on former
Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger, but it provides insight
in United States state policies and behind the scene forces
manipulating state institutions to pursue policies which on one
side brought US humiliation, internal weakness, and overall
tarnished image across the globe and on the other side a lot of
deaths, destruction and devastation in many countries in
Indo-Chinese and Latin America.
The book and the movie The Trial of Henry Kissinger need revisiting to
take a fresh look at current policies and the parallels in US
policies which managed the global events in last 40 years and
ask some bitter questions and find answers to some troubling
realities of our time.
What US policy makers need to learn are the mistakes their forerunners
made in Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Chili and the
consequences of those mistakes for United States, and for the
countries where those mistakes were made? Then they should ask
themselves if they are repeating the same mistakes in current
conflict in Afghanistan, Iraq and emerging trouble Iran. If they
find that they are making the same mistakes they should not hope
for different results.
The most relevant areas of the book and movie are that deal with United
States undeclared war against Cambodia after it starting losing
in Vietnam. There are many parallels between policy towards
Cambodia in 70s and Northern Pakistan in present days.
US air force bombers bombed areas adjacent to Vietnam under the pretext
that Vietnamese guerillas were attacking American forces from
Cambodian territories.
The book and the movie blamed the then Secretary of State Dr. Henry
Kissinger for waging undeclared war against Cambodia. According
to some estimates roughly half a million Cambodians were killed
in result of US undeclared engagements in Cambodia.
Did US achieve any objectives in Vietnam and Cambodia?
US achieved no objective other than deaths of thousands of American
troops and millions of Vietnamese and Cambodians.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger left office long time ago, but it
seems his thinking still inspires Policy makers to adopt
identical policies in various current conflicts around the
globe.
They are repeating the same mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan with the
hope to achieve different results.
The US and Pakistani policy makers must re-read the Christopher
Hutchison’s book ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger’ and also watch
the movie ‘The Trial of Henry Kissinger.’ It may help them to
re-evaluate their policies, engagements and tactics they are
using in Afghan conflict.
It is amazing to see how relevant are both the book and the movie ‘The
Trial of Henry Kissinger’ even after 10 years of their
production.
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