Search - The Trials of Henry Kissinger on DVD

A Compelling Documentary Poses Moral Questions For Americans

Jana L. Perskie | New York, NY USA | 08/27/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"About 2,500 years ago, a Scythian philosopher, Anarcharis, maintained that "laws were like cobwebs; strong enough to detain only the weak, and too weak to hold the strong."The moral question posed in this compelling 80 minute documentary is, 'Are American citizens, and US government officials in particular, exempt from prosecution and trial when charged with crimes against humanity?' The world community, represented by the International Criminal Tribunal, with its uniform definitions and international laws, is clear on what constitutes crimes against humanity. In the wake of the terrible tragedy of September 11, and the war in Iraq against Saddam Hussein and his Baathist regime, this question takes on additional importance, and new meaning for Americans. Are we to hold ourselves, and our country's leaders, to a lesser standard than we apply to all other nations? How do government leaders make decisions between power and morality; between national interests and idealism? Is there a middle ground between these choices - a possibility to act morally as a country, while protecting our own national interests? Do war criminals reside only in nations whose interests are unfavorable to our own?On September 11, 2001, mass murder was committed against innocent US civilians, by a group of terrorists, all belonging to the same organization. The US government, and the international community, has sworn to bring to justice those who conceived, organized and commanded the tragic event, and to destroy their organization. After WWII, those who committed atrocities against humanity were brought to trial, judged and punished accordingly. In our recent history, Slobodan Milosevic and Augusto Pinochet have been detained, indicted and tried for causing the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children in the name of their nation's welfare. Is the US exempt from investigating its own officials who are accused, with ample evidence, for committing similar acts?Director Eugene Jarecki's and Producer Alex Gibney's intense BBC production provides evidence in documents, and through expert testimony, sufficient to indict Kissinger on at least four counts of mass murder. Such notables as: Seymour Hersh, author of "The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House," William Shawcross, author of "Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon and the Destruction of Cambodia," and Walter Isaacson, Kissinger biographer, provide testimony against the former Secretary of State. Defending Kissinger's actions are Alexander Haig, Brent Scowcroft, and William Safire. Mr. Kissinger comes to his own defense in newsclips and interviews. He refused to be interviewed for the documentary, however. Christopher Hitchens, a controversial journalist, and author of "The Trial of Henry Kissinger," also speaks his piece here. His book inspired the documentary. Now, I am not a fan of Mr. Hitchens. His writing is incendiary, and he is a harsh, biased critic of Henry Kissinger. However, writing style aside, his information and evidence are accurate, and damning.The evidence documents that Kissinger undermined President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnamese Paris Peace Talks, prolonging the war for seven more years, and causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of US soldiers, innocent Vietnamese civilians, and Cambodian civilians, not to mention the statistics for the dead North and South Vietnamese soldiers, which are not included. He engineered the secret bombing of Cambodia, and continuously mislead and lied to the US Congress. Kissinger approved Indonesian President Suharto's use of U.S. arms to massacre 100,000 East Timorese, many of them innocent civilians. He was very instrumental in planning the military coup that murdered democratically elected Chilean President Salvador Allende, which lead to a reign of terror in Chile for many years. He was responsible for the murder of Rene Schneider, a Chilean military commander, who had sworn an oath to protect and support his president and refused to break it. Schneider's family has initiated a law suit against Mr. Kissinger.Jarecki had a personal interest in making this film. His father fled Nazi Germany a year after Kissinger's family left. He says, "But while my father took from his experiences in Nazi Germany the idea that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely, Kissinger found it necessary to find and then re-seek power."There is much biographical information included which makes this work a more balanced effort. Narrator Brian Cox does an excellent job. The only thing about the film that I object to is the musical score, which is so repetitious and annoying that it almost drove me crazy. I agree with a speaker at the movie's end who says that whether Henry Kissenger is publically tried or not, he knows what he did, and has to live with his actions, and their consequences, for the rest of his life. Below is a quote from Henry Kissinger:"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." Henry Kissinger, commenting on the US sellout of the Kurds in Iraq in 1975
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