Molly Ivins: Return of the War Criminal
truthdig
Posted on Oct 5, 2006
By Molly Ivins
AUSTIN, Texas—The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as “a piece of dung in a silk stocking.”
Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared with Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th-century Austrian diplomat). Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973 and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn.
As for Kissinger’s getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness—as in, “As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that blow.
The War Criminal’s return is the only piece of news I have yet found in Bob Woodward’s new book, and what amazes me is the reaction to the work. Gosh, gasp, imagine, Woodward says the war’s a disaster!
People who know a lot more than Bob Woodward have been saying the war’s a disaster for years—because war is self-evidently a disaster. Why this is greeted as an annunciation from on high just because Woodward, the world’s most establishment reporter, now says so is a mystery to me.
(The rest is here.)
Posted on Oct 5, 2006
By Molly Ivins
AUSTIN, Texas—The Old War Criminal is back. I try not to hold grudges, but I must admit I have never lost one ounce of rancor toward Henry Kissinger, that cynical, slithery, self-absorbed pathological liar. He has all the loyalty and principle of Charles Talleyrand, whom Napoleon described as “a piece of dung in a silk stocking.”
Come to think of it, Talleyrand looks pretty good compared with Kissinger, who always aspired to be Metternich (a 19th-century Austrian diplomat). Just count the number of Americans and Vietnamese who died between 1969 and 1973 and see if you can find any indication he ever gave a damn.
As for Kissinger’s getting the Nobel Peace Prize, it is a thing so wrong it has come to define wrongness—as in, “As weird as the time Henry Kissinger got the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Tom Lehrer, who was a lovely political satirist, gave up satire after that blow.
The War Criminal’s return is the only piece of news I have yet found in Bob Woodward’s new book, and what amazes me is the reaction to the work. Gosh, gasp, imagine, Woodward says the war’s a disaster!
People who know a lot more than Bob Woodward have been saying the war’s a disaster for years—because war is self-evidently a disaster. Why this is greeted as an annunciation from on high just because Woodward, the world’s most establishment reporter, now says so is a mystery to me.
(The rest is here.)
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