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With Bush stuck neck deep in the sands of Iraq, I was rather starled to hear a brief piece on NBC News this evening. It concerns none that the the king rat of the Nixon era, good old Henry Kissinger.
What's is so shocking?
While Nixon was lying his ass off to the American people about the need to continue the war in Vietnam, and we will never leave our friends and support the South Vietnamese goverment, good old Henry was on a secret mission. One that stabed the South Vietnamese in the back and sold out to the Chinese communists.
Let me begin by citing a few examples of Kissinger's discussions with his main Chinese interlocutor, Zhou Enlai. In early July 1971, amidst great secrecy as is well known, Kissinger boarded a plane from Pakistan to Beijing where he spent two days in discussions with the Chinese premier. While the most public outcome of these talks was the July 15, 1971 announcement that President Nixon would be travelling to China in the spring of 1972, much of the Kissinger-Zhou dialogue focussed on Vietnam. They provided, I presume, the first instance when Kissinger effectively stated the Nixon administration's willingness to comply with a decent interval solution.
While in Beijing, Kissinger told Zhou although the U.S. needed to look at the Vietnam situation 'from the point of view of a great country, not in terms of a local problem,' he was ready to set a deadline for American troop withdrawals provided that they were complemented by a ceasefire.
More significantly, Kissinger added to Zhou, there should be 'some attempt at negotiations [between the Vietnamese parties]. If the agreement breaks down, then it is quite possible that the people of Vietnam will fight it out.'
He further added that: 'We cannot participate in the overthrow of people with whom we have been allied, whatever the origins of the alliance. If the government [of South Vietnam] is as unpopular as you seem to think, then the quicker our forces are withdrawn the quicker it will be overthrown.'
Most significantly, Kissinger offered that 'if it is overthrown after we withdraw, we will not intervene.' Later on, he volunteered that the ceasefire could have 'a time limit, say 18 months.' Pressed by the Chinese premier on this issue, Kissinger ultimately told Zhou that 'What we require is a transition period between the military withdrawal and the political evolution.... If after complete American withdrawal, the Indochinese people change their government, the US will not interfere.'
How much you want to bet Bush to save his ass will make a secret deal with bin Laden and terrorists in Iraq.
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