On the occasion of his death at the ripe old age of 100, having outlived his millions of victims by a lifetime or more, here’s what I had to say about Henry Kissinger in a 2019 article Whose Bread I Eat, His Song I Sing: An International Education Nonprofit and a Devil’s Bargain:
Speaking of things that are not spoken of in polite company, why is it that one of the premier international education organizations in the US has Henry Kissinger, now a ‘life trustee,’ on its (IIE) board of trustees?
Knowing more than most of my fellow citizens about Kissinger’s direct involvement in the death and suffering of millions of people in Southeast Asia during the US war in Viet Nam, including the bombing of Cambodia and Laos, having personal ties to many of his victims, and knowing that he is probably responsible for more human misery than any other living former US government official, I viewed his appointment as a deal with the devil struck by IIE’s leadership.
In case you’re counting, it is estimated that US executive branch leaders, including Kissinger, have killed, wounded, and made homeless over 20 million people in the last half-century, mostly civilians, including 3.8 million in the US war in Viet Nam alone, of whom 2 million were civilians. (President Jimmy Carter’s recent characterization of the US as ‘the most warlike nation in the history of the world,’ having been at peace for only 16 of its 243 years as a nation, is spot-on.)
Years ago, I remember chatting with a Vietnamese student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. who excitedly told me he had met Henry Kissinger at a reception. He proudly showed me a picture of the two, smiling broadly, wine glasses in hand. Student and master teacher? More like victim and victimizer, I thought glumly. I wondered how much he knew about Kissinger’s involvement in the destruction of his country and region, not to mention US interventions in Angola, Argentina, Chile, and East Timor which, as the late Bill Blum noted in Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower, ‘brought unspeakable horror and misery to the peoples of those lands.’
Shalom (שלום), MAA
An International Educator in Vietnam 
Henry Kissinger’s Cluster Bombs Are Still Killing People in Southeast Asia: https://www.thedailybeast.com/henry-kissingers-cluster-bombs-are-still-killing-people-in-southeast-asia
Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/henry-kissinger-war-criminal-dead-1234804748/
Henry Kissinger, America’s Most Notorious War Criminal, Dies At 100: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/henry-kissinger-dies_n_6376933ae4b0afce046cb44f
The World Kissinger Built Must Die Too: https://www.leftvoice.org/the-world-kissinger-built-must-die-too/
Yes My Educator Friend,
Thank You, And, yet the “war on terrror” rolls on …. current victims … the children / people of Gaza..
Peace be upon You, Take the best of care ________________________________
Thank you. All my best to you.