Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com
If you happen to be a potential American war criminal, you've had a few banner weeks. On May 9th, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter presented former Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger with the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Award, that institution's "highest honorary award for private citizens." In bestowing it on the 92-year-old who is evidently still consulting for the Pentagon, he offered this praise: "While his contributions are far from complete, we are now beginning to appreciate what his service has provided our country, how it has changed the way we think about strategy, and how he has helped provide greater security for our citizens and people around the world."
Certainly people "around the world" will remember the "greater security" offered by the man who, relaying an order from President Richard Nixon for a "massive" secret bombing campaign in Cambodia, used a line that may almost be the definition of a war crime: "Anything that flies on anything that moves." The result: half a million tons of bombs dropped on that country between 1969 and 1973 and at least 100,000 dead civilians. And that's just to start down the well-cratered road to the millions of dead he undoubtedly has some responsibility for. Public service indeed.
Meanwhile, speaking of American crimes in the Vietnam era, former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, who ran for president of the U.S. and then became the president of the New School in New York City, was just appointed to "lead" Fulbright University Vietnam, the first private American-backed school there. Its opening was announced by President Obama on his recent visit to that country. Only one small problem: we already know of some children who won't be able to apply for admission. I'm thinking of the progeny-who-never-were of the 13 children killed by a team of U.S. SEALs under Kerrey's command and on his orders in South Vietnam in 1969 (along with a pregnant woman, and an elderly couple whose three grandchildren were stabbed to death by the raiders) -- all of whom were reported at the time as dead Vietcong guerillas.
It seems that if you are a distinguished citizen of the most exceptional country on the planet, even war crimes have their rewards. Consider, for instance, the millions of dollars that were paid for memoirs by top Bush administration officials responsible for creating an American offshore torture regime at CIA "black sites" around the world. Must-reads all! With that in mind, turn to "Crimes of the War on Terror" by Rebecca Gordon, author of American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes, to consider what "justice" for such figures might look like in a different and better world.