Senator Bernie Sanders has called Henry Kissinger “one of the most destructive secretaries
of state in the modern history of this country”.
Kissinger most notably approved the carpet-bombing of Cambodia around the 1970s.
This bombing campaign led to instability, allowing Pol Pot [PAWL PAWT]’s genocidal
Khmer Rouge (kuh-MEHR rouge) regime to commit mass atrocities.
More recently, documents were discovered showing how Kissinger’s close relations with Argentina
prevented the US from stopping mass killings in the country in the late 1970s.
So we wanted to know, what other evidence has there been of the United States supporting
genocidal regimes?
Well, by 1979, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million
people; roughly a fifth to a quarter of the country’s population.
After years of terror, Pol Pot eventually lost power and fled to the Thai border.
However, according to journalist John Pil-jer, records from the Congressional Research Service
suggest that the US was secretly funding the exiled dictator.
Between 1980 and 1986, some $85 million dollars were allegedly sent to the border where Khmer
Rouge leaders were hiding.
Even during their reign, President Jimmy Carter’s national security advisor was quoted as encouraging
China to support Pol Pot, ostensibly in order to curb the influence of communism from Vietnam
and the Soviet Union.
Around that same time, in Central America, Guatemala was undergoing a three and a half
decade long civil war.
During the war, General EFF-rain Ríos Mon-tt seized power through a military coup in 1982.
During the 17 months he was in power, his regime was responsible for genocide against
the indigenous Mayan Ixil (ih-SHIL) population, who were suspected of supporting communism.
This anti-communist stance led to US and Israeli military and intelligence support of the dictator.
The United States sent millions of dollars of military equipment to the genocidal Montt
regime.
The United Nations reports that throughout the war, as many as 200,000 people died, with
about 93% of killings committed by the government.
Roughly 80% of the massacres, sexual violence, death squads and other criminal acts from
this war occurred around the time of the dictator’s brief reign.
But the clearest involvement of the United States in genocide was during the 1960s in
Indonesia.
A military coup by Major General sue-HAR-toe led to mass killings in an attempt to stop
communist influence.
As many as 1 million people were murdered in one year by military and civilian death
squads.
Most documents on American involvement are still classified.
But, a director at the National Security Archive alleges that there is declassified information
which shows that the US provided economic, technical, and military aid during the genocide.
Former CIA agents of the time have even admitted that they compiled lists of suspected communists
for the Indonesian government, which were believed to have been used to track down and
kill civilians.
The CIA has officially denied involvement.
United States foreign policy has had some unsavory ties to war crime, genocide, illegal
invasions, and more.
As the huge archive of classified foreign policy documents in the 20th century slowly
expires and becomes public, there will likely be further discoveries into the US’s shady
dealings.
Even when genocides are public knowledge, it doesn’t mean they’re publicly acknowledged.
Many people deny genocides, from the Holocaust to mass killings by the Ottoman Empire.
So what do genocide deniers have to gain?
Why do people deny genocide?
Find out by watching this video.
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