History Internal Assessment
Research question:
Was Henry Kissinger responsible for war crimes in Cambodia during the Vietnam War?
Word count: 2199
Section A
In order to investigate the question of “To what extent is Henry Kissinger guilty of war crimes in Cambodia?” I will be using the following two sources. These sources are relevant to my question, as one gives an objective account of his discussions with Nixon, and the other provides a more legal perspective on his possible guilt.
Source 1: Transcripts of Telephone call between Kissinger and Nixon on the 9th Dec 1970
One value regarding the source's purpose is that it was originally intended for Kissinger’s personal use, and was only made public to avoid a lawsuit[1]. Therefore, the transcript is unique for a historian, as it will have avoided any attempts of censorship or alteration by Kissinger or Nixon. Additionally, another value that the origin provides is insight into the highest level of government dealings, allowing a historian to see how central of a role Kissinger played in any bombing operations. Yet the fact that the source is a transcript removes the ability to properly understand the attitude of people in the transcript, and is dependent on the interpretation of the transcriptionist. This limits the historian's understanding of Kissinger’s reaction to suggestions or orders. An additional value that the transcript provide is that they include discussion about the bombing campaign in Cambodia[2], allowing the historian to see their knowledge and opinions of it. However, a clear drawback of the content of the source is that it does not include any further orders that Kissinger might have relayed to generals or other white house staff, possibly excluding incriminating or exonerating evidence of his actions.
Source 2: Hitchens, Christopher. The Trial of Henry Kissinger. Twelve, 2012.
One limitation of the contents of the book for a historian is that it is much too broad, as it focuses on Indochina as a whole, rather than focusing on Cambodia itself. This results in it being at times difficult for a historian to understand what part of Indochina is being discussed, and if it is relevant to Cambodia. The purpose of the book also includes certain limitations, such as that it only attempts to accuse Kissinger as a war criminal, without any remarks from a defendant, despite it being labelled as a trial. Nevertheless, a value for both its contents and purpose is that it includes quotes from experts in international law[3] to support Hitchens arguments. The benefit for historians is that this provides a more objective and legal view on Kissinger’s guilt or innocence. Additionally, a limitation derived from the origin of the source is that Hitchens does not have a background of working in politics. This means that he might be unable to properly understand the complex bureaucratic systems surrounding Kissinger, and who really held power in them.
Section B
After his recent death in November 2023, Henry Kissinger’s handling of conflicts, such as in Cambodia, has come under renewed praise and critic. Many of his critics, such as the late Christopher Hitchens, argue that Kissinger was directly responsible for multiple war crimes in Cambodia. In contrast, Kissinger always adamantly argued his innocence, describing the allegations as baseless and “shameful”[4]. This essay will attempt to evaluate if Kissinger was a war criminal, by mainly focusing on two US bombing operations, “Menu” and “Freedom Deal” and evaluating if he bears responsibility for “disproportional” and “indiscriminate”[5] civilian casualties.
Christopher Hitchens, condemns Kissinger as a war criminal by arguing 3 main points; that the bombings were indiscriminate, that Kissinger was directly responsible for them, and that Kissinger therefore tried to conceal them. Firstly, Hitchens highlights that Kissinger’s role as National Security Advisor meant that he was involved in the planning of both operations and was thereby clearly aware of the risks of civilian casualties, yet knowingly proceeded with them. Operation Menu in particular was mainly Kissinger’s doing, as proven by H.R Haldeman, the Whitehouse chief of staff, who wrote in his diary on the 18th of march that “K[issingers] ‘operation breakfast’ finally came off at 2.00 pm our time”[6]. This quote clearly illustrates how Kissinger was ultimately responsible for the planning and carrying out of the operations. Therefore, he will have also had a say about the target selection. This gets proven by the fact that the National Security Council, which Kissinger himself headed, approved around 3,875 individual bombing raids against targets in Cambodia[7] in addition to any raids over restricted areas, which required special approval from the White House[8]. Therefore, any civilian casualties from these raids can be directly attributed to Kissinger’s doing, as he would have had the last say on whether the proposed strikes aligned with the rules of engagement. Hitchens also uses Kissinger’s attempts to whitewash the operation as evidence of his criminality. The fact that Kissinger felt the need to cover up these strikes also hints at the possibility that he likely was aware of the amount of civilian casualties that were being caused, yet decided to continue the operation despite them. Additionally, Kissinger and Nixon both were aware that they lacked any support by the US congress, as they would not be able to justify their bombings. The transcript of the telephone call between Nixon and Kissinger attests to this, as Nixon talks about how they “have another enemy here to fight. And that is a group of legislators who will not support us”[9]. Kissinger supports Nixon's view by saying that “your instinct on those things has always been right”[10]. The fact that both Nixon and Kissinger recognize that their actions would have no support by legislators, who should be experts in domestic but also international law, denotes their own recognition of their crimes. To prevent having to justify these bombings, Kissinger and General Vogt altered official records of the co-ordinates of the targets in an attempt to conceal them from congress and the public. Lastly, Hitchens points out how declassified documents by the Clinton administration show that many of the sites bombed in Cambodia were outside of the permitted area of 20 km inland from Vietnam, far from the 5 km inland in which Kissinger himself described the VC sanctuaries as being[11]. This, combined with the accurate details of the number of civilians in each base area were available to Kissinger, indicate that he clearly knew the risks of the operation, yet continued with them anyway. An example of this accurate data available to Kissinger can be found in a memorandum on the population in each base area, prepared by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which lists: base area 351: 383 civilians, base area 609: 198 civilians and base area 352: 770 civilians[12]. Despite this accurate knowledge of the distribution and location of the civilian population, Kissinger and Nixon made no distinction between what targets are to be hit, instead, Nixon orders “I want them to hit everything. I want them to use the big planes, the small planes, everything they can that will help out here and let's start giving them a little shock”[13]. Despite Nixon having just told Kissinger to start an indiscriminate bombing campaign, Kissinger “absolutely”[14] agreed with Nixon's plan, making him compliant in these indiscriminate attacks.
Conversely, Kissinger argues his innocence by focusing on three main arguments; that he had no control over target selection, that civilian deaths were exaggerated and not ‘indiscriminate’, and that the operations were necessary[15]. Firstly, in charge of both operation “Menu” and “Freedom Deal” was General John W. Vogt as commander of the United States Support activities group and the seventh air force. He himself proves this, saying that “the choice of targets was made by my headquarters,”[16]. Additionally, the US embassy in Phnom Penh held responsibility for validating any strikes that fell outside of the area determined in “Freedom Deal” or requests for strikes submitted by the Cambodian military (FANK). In the case of requests submitted by FANK, they had to guarantee that no friendly forces, villages or holy sites were within 1km of the target[17]. Moreover, the chief of mission, Emory C. Swank[18], had to make the final approval of the target whether it abided by the US air forces rules of engagement. This illustrates that Kissinger had little direct control over the target selection, and therefore could not have purposefully targeted civilians. Furthermore, in a private conversation discussing the situation in Cambodia on the 9.12.1970, both Nixon and Kissinger criticized the fact that despite Kissinger saying that “I asked them every day. I sent backchannels. For three months, I have been bugging them about that column that is now being attacked” yet the “the relevant information was not given to the White House”[19]. The fact that Kissinger and Nixon did not even get necessary information regarding Cambodia means that the situation was completely out of their hands. Additionally, Kissinger also argues that the amount of collateral civilian casualties have been greatly exaggerated, as “Menu” and “Freedom deal” targeted uninhabited jungle areas in Cambodia. An example of the overestimation of civilian deaths, in a declassified investigation by the US Army Advisory Group into civilian casualties from a B-52 airstrike, the conclusion was that there were an “unknown number of civilians were injured/killed”. Due to the ambiguity in the word “casualty”, it completely unclear how many civilians were killed or even wounded, giving room for hugely varying estimates of civilian deaths. Similarly, Nixon claims that; “[Norodom] Sihanouk ... had told one of our representatives that as far as he was concerned he did not care what we did in that part of Cambodia because no Cambodians were there”[20]. This shows how even the president of Cambodia was certain that the areas targeted were scarcely populated, supporting Kissinger’s argument that deaths were overestimated as the majority of bombing occurred in rural areas. Moreover, in the few cases where strikes did in fact hit heavily populated and urban areas, such as the bombing of the Neak Loeung city centre[21] which killed 137 civilians, these were due to “mechanical or human technical error(s),”[22] meaning that Kissinger could have never prevented them. This clearly underscores how not only are the civilian casualties blown out of proportion, but also how all available information at the time pointed to the fact that rural, uninhabited land was being bombed. Lastly, Kissinger highlights the necessity in the bombing operations to drive the VC out of Cambodia, and simultaneously prevent the excess deaths of American soldiers. The main necessity of the bombing was because only 3 weeks after the Nixon administration took office, 4 divisions of VC soldiers[23] started raids on American bases in north Vietnam from Cambodia, killing 400 US soldiers a week[24]. In order to prevent this immense loss of life, Nixon and Kissinger had to order to protect their currently withdrawing troops. Additionally, Sihanouk also told the White House that “he would like to get the North Vietnamese out of his country”[25], delineating the necessity of the operations to not just save American lives, but to also protect a neutral country.
Ultimately, the topic of Kissinger involvement in war crimes in Cambodia is still heavily, still after his death. Whilst his critics highlight the fact that Kissinger certainly was aware of the immense suffering that US bombing operations in Cambodia would cause. Conversely, Kissinger rejects these allegations by is little evidence directly tying him to individual war crimes, as he did not control the actual target selection. Nevertheless, it is absolutely clear that although not a war criminal by legal standards, Kissinger certainly bears moral responsibility for all the deaths caused in the operations.
Section C
For historians concerning themselves with whether Henry Kissinger’s actions in Cambodia make him a war criminal are faced with multiple challenges regarding the scope of the question, the definition of the crime and the validity of evidence.
Firstly, arguably the scope of the question is too small, as operations in Cambodia often spilled over into Vietnam or Laos and vice versa, as the Ho Chi Min trail led through all three of the countries. Therefore, it is completely possible that Kissinger actions in, for example. Laos could easily brand him a war criminal, yet were ignored in this investigation, despite being part of the larger conflict. Henry Kissinger has also been accused of being responsible for war crimes all over the world, such as in Chile, Bangladesh, Cyprus, East-Timor and Argentina, once again illustrating how small the scope of this investigation is[26]. It would be naive of a historian to make any judgement of Kissinger overall guilt as a war criminal without increasing their scope to include all of these regions in their investigation.
Secondly, the historian has to tackle a challenge that lawyers are often confronted with, namely that of defining the crime. Although the International red cross does provide a definition, multiple people will interpret it differently. In the case of Kissinger, it is up to debate whether he was simply following the orders of his president, or if he himself gave the orders to knowingly bomb civilians. Different historian will come to different conclusions regarding this question, as it is based upon an ethical values.
Lastly, the validity of the investigation could be hurt due to the destruction of possible incriminating evidence by Kissinger and Alexander Haig by burning the target records[27]. Therefore, any possible investigation conducted by a historian will never have access to all of the facts and be able to portray an accurate picture.
Endnotes
[1] National Security Archive, “The Kissinger Telcons: The Story Behind the Story”
[2] Transcript p 4-5
[3] Page 33. Uses quotes from General Telford Taylor who was chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials
[4] TheLBJLibrary, The Vietnam War Summit: Henry Kissinger On Being Called a War Criminal [Excerpt]. Video
[5] Claire Simmons. Investigating War Crimes: What Is Legal in War?. Global investigative Journalism Network
[6] H. R. Haldeman Diaries. 1994. Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives
[7] The Cornell Daily Sun, Pentagon Discloses Secret Ground Activities in Laos. Published 11.09.1973
[8] Ricky Drake, The Rules of Defeat: The impact of Area Rules of Engagement on USAF Operations in North Vietnam, 1965 -1968. Department of Defence. US Department of Defence. 1992
[9] Transcripts of Telephone call between Kissinger and Nixon on the 9th Dec 1970. Page 3
[10] Ibid.
[11] TheLBJLibrary, The Vietnam War Summit: Henry Kissinger On Being Called a War Criminal
[12] Hitchens, Christopher The Trial of Henry Kissinger
[13] Transcripts of Telephone call between Kissinger and Nixon on the 9th Dec 1970. Page 5
[14] Ibid.
[15] TheLBJLibrary, The Vietnam War Summit: Henry Kissinger On Being Called a War Criminal
[16] Henry Kissinger, Ending the Vietnam War. Page 570
[17] Ibid.
[18] Foreign Service Institute “Chiefs of Mission for Cambodia”
[19] Transcripts of Telephone call between Kissinger and Nixon on the 9th Dec 1970. Pages 5-6
[20] Richard Nixon Foundation, “Richard Nixon Asked If He Regrets Cambodia 'Invasion'”
[21] Kissinger, Henry “Ending the Vietnam War”
[22] Declassified/Released US Department of State EO Systematic Review 30 JUN 2005
[23] TheLBJLibrary, The Vietnam War Summit: Henry Kissinger On Being Called a War Criminal [Excerpt]. Video
[24] Henry Kissinger, Diplomacy. Page 693
[25] Richard Nixon Foundation, “Richard Nixon Asked If He Regrets Cambodia 'Invasion'”
[26] Hitchens, Christopher. “The trial of Henry Kissinger”
[27] The Intercept, “Henry Kissinger’s Bloody Legacy”
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