In 1972, in order to weaken Baghdad, Nixon, Kissinger and the Shah of Iran encouraged an insurgency by Iraq’s Kurds, and provided them millions of dollars in weapons, logistical support, and funds. Over the next three years, $16 million in CIA money was given to Iraq’s Kurds, and Iran provided the Kurds with some 90 percent of their weapons, including advanced artillery. A Congressional investigation of CIA activities, headed by New York Congressman Otis Pike, concluded that “ none of the nations who were aiding [the Kurds] seriously desired that they realize their objective of an autonomous state.” Rather, the U. S. and the Shah sought to weaken Iraq and deplete its energies. According to CIA memos and cables, they viewed the Kurds as “a card to play” against Iraq, and “ a uniquely useful tool for weakening [Iraq’s] potential for international adventurism.” The Pike Investigation concluded, “ The president, Dr. Kissinger, and the Shah hoped that our clients would not prevail. They preferred instead that the insurgents simply continue a level of hostilities sufficient to sap the resources of our ally’s [Iran’s] neighbouring country. The policy was not imparted to our clients, who were encouraged to continue fighting.” Eight hours after Iraq agreed to U. S.- Iranian terms, which were formalized in the Algiers Agreement of March 1975, the Shah and the U.S. cut off aid — including food — and closed Iran’s border, cutting off Kurdish lines of retreat. In a message to Kissinger that year the Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani wrote: “Our movement and people are being destroyed in an unbelievable way, with silence from everyone. We feel, your Excellency, that the United States has a moral and political responsibility towards our people, who have committed themselves to your country’s policy.” Kissinger did not reply, but this comment to a staff member sums up his response to the pain of the Kurds: “Promise them anything, give them what they get, and f… them if they can’t take a joke.”

By 1974 Kissinger was President Gerald Ford’s Secretary of State. When the island of East Timor tried to declare independence from Portugal, its colonial master, East Timor’s neighbor, Indonesia, moved to annex it. On the day before the invasion, President Ford and Kissinger met with Indonesian president Suharto. The US national interest “had to be on the side of Indonesia,” Ford concluded. According to declassified documents released by the National Security Archive (NSA) in December 2001, they gave a green light for the invasion. “It is important that whatever you do succeed quickly,” Kissinger said to Suharto. On October 8, 1975, Philip Habib, a member of the U. S. National Security Council, told meeting participants that “It looks like the Indonesians have begun the attack on Timor.” Kissinger responded, “I’m assuming you’re really going to keep your mouth shut on this subject.”

At the start of the occupation, FRETILIN radio in East Timor appealed to the world: “ The Indonesian forces are killing indiscriminately. Women and children are being shot in the streets. We are all going to be killed…. This is an appeal for international help. Please do something to stop this invasion.” Between 1975 and 1999, one third of East Timor’s population died from military action, starvation and disease, according to Amnesty International. In total, the United States furnished over $250 million of military assistance to Indonesia between 1975 and 1979.

I will end with a quote from the March 24, 2013 Kurdistan Tribune by Dr. M. Koohzad: “ Henry Kissinger’s realpolitik or political realism refers to politics or diplomacy based chiefly on power and on practical and material considerations, rather than ideological notions or moralistic or ethical premises. This makes him a cold- blooded political murderer and war criminal. He left his bloody fingerprints behind in more than a dozen countries, such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Cyprus, and Indonesia’s East Timor. The American carpet bombing of Vietnam and Cambodia left hundreds of thousands of civilians, mainly peasants, dead.”

———

Selma Sternlieb lives in Brunswick.