A PREEMPTIVE ERUPTION BY MOUNT HENRY KISSINGER?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830021-5
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 28, 2012
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: December 2, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830021-5
3
ARTICLE APPEAR= THE WALL STREET JOURN
OR PAGE,
Halfway , through November, spewing "--the sort now enjoyed *'the Brteztnskis,
smoke and cliche hundreds of feet into the Rusks and Bundys of the world. The Kis-
air, Mount Kissinger entered a peculiarly singer imperial ego evidently regards this
active phase. Though no actual loss of life latter course as unthinkable.
seems to have occurred, "Kissinger 1 had thought that Mr. Kissinger's choo
Alr*ts" were broadcast on an hourly basis, sen mode, that of international superstar.
W;. ig the populace to beware of falling cafe society's preferred oracle, would not
semi-extinct volcano.
The first eruption took place in the Lon-
don Economist, dated November 13-.19, and
took the form of a "conversation" between
A Preemptive Eruption by Mount enr ss nger.
2 December 1982
for long endure; that the decline would be
rapid, from special adviser to NBC. to
guest on the Johnny Carson show, to final
apotheosis on the Hollywood Squares. Not
so.
Needing, by the look of his appurte-
Viewpoint mantes and domestic requirements, at
least a million a year in Income, Mr. Kis-
b Alexander Cockburn singer has lived by his wits with amazing
by .success. There is now a whole range of
semi-extinct volcanoes, Including Lord
Mr. Kissinger, coyly described as "a pri? Carmsm and R. O. Anderson, grouped
VIII! et n^ and rhP rdirnr v,f ,ho R,.,,.,... under the generic title "Kissinger Assoc)
mist
a long-term Kissinger disci
le
An- '' amb 'L"u '_uduxul; "OuZ cn Lry let LO
,
p
,
each client. There are business co:sultan-
drew xat
hL Ov
v
f
i
ties to Goldman Sachs and Chase and ad-
__visory functions at ABC and Newsweek.
Necessary in the success of this type
of operation is the belief of client or public
that the relevant retired statesman has
anything to offer. beyond gallon jugs of
.'wisdom" and '.experience." The trick
here is to ensure at least the appearance of
"brief ngs" or "consultancies" by. those
actually in power, and of course the possi-
bility that the retired statesman might one
day get back: into power himself. Mr. Kis-
singer, hinting that he might have had a
hand in the formulation of the Reagan Plan
for the Middle Ear., perennially bathing
himself in rumors of an emissary or more
substantial role, and at a pinch proffering
sagacious public advice, is a master at giv
'tog 'the volcano at least a semblance of
life.
Yet there was more to the November
eruptions than such normal considerations.
Oddly enough, Anthony Lewis provided the
tipoff. Normally this liberal columnist is so
quick to leap on his moral high horse that
he clears the saddle by a couple of feet,
but on November 22 he hailed Mr. Kis-
singer's utterances on the Middle East,
while adding cautiously that "on such is-
..sues as Vietnam and Chile be used power
g
er
e
i
nterminable pages
the two K's rambled through the politics of
the Levant.. leisurely seeking out and suc-
cessfully locating the obvious: the "fresh
beginning" now to be descried beneath the
rubble of Lebanon; the hopes, but ye: the
perils offered by the Reagan plan; the pos-
sibiltty -for moderate advance, yet the
ever-present menace of extremism.
Hardly had the basso rumblings died
down before Mount Kissinger burst into ac-
tivity once more. The eruption came this
time in Newsweek, in the edition that went
on sale on November 22. That magazine's
new young editor in chief, William Broyles,
seemingly as eager an acolyte as Mr.
Knight, spread Mr. Kissinger across four
inside pages and gave him the cover as
well: "How to Deal with Moscow-An Ex-
elusive Report by Henry- Kissinger."
Once again, for those foolhardy enough
to embark on the text, there was the ex-
hausting trek through slowly cooling sta-
tesrnanspeak: "To bring about a genuine
change-expressed in substantial recipro?
cal arms reduction and restraint in inter-
national conduct-requires American lead-
ership founded In firm purpose, clear con'
ceps and steadfast strategy j LQur_ pol?_
icy must be based on strength to discour-
age adventtirism yet at the same time of-
fer a vision of a better world for all
)
p~p es At frst I took all this volcanic activity from a forthcoming Atlantic Monthly arts-
- to be part of a normal :pattern: Mr.-Kis- , :. cle by Seymour Hersh.".
singer's perennial need to keep lets name In ... The commotf?ns of mom Kissinger,
'ex~ sa nil
t t
m
y V 9
o
id were once
c the pabic rye as a senor statesman, an, thus maintain his exchange value. In a de- pained: a Preemptive strike. If a volcano
U.-.
f
cently ordered world Mr.'Ktsstnger would
have at some point endowed himself with
legal credentials and thus could now-like
Cyrus Vance or William Rogers-have re-
tired to the powerful obscurity of an ob-
scure)y powerful law firm. The alternative,
for which no known credentials .are re-
quired, would be an academic position of
beyond the limits of decency. We can ex-
pect to )earn more about his role in Chile
e, you ve
. is b? rsung ponderousty into L
less time to inspect the pool of sewage
spreading across the backyard. The issue
of the Atlantic with Mr. Hersh's article in
it went on the newsstands a day or two af-
ter -Ne% week grandly promulgated Mr.
Kissinger's views of the Russian.
Mr. Hersh's article has not caused
much of a stir. The Washington Post said It
contained "no smoking gun." These are
times, of course, when a gun has to ex-
plode in your band for anyone to pay atten-
bon. Wounds are being healed, Vietnam
memorials unveiled and ex-presidents re-
habilitated at such a rate that they'll prob.
ably be reappointing Spiro . Aprew soon as
secretary of commerce.
Mr. Hersh's examination of the actions
of Messrs. Nixon and Kissinger immedi-
ately before. and after the popular election
-of Salvador Allende in September and Oc-
tober 1970 seems to me to establish as sol-
idly as available historical evidence will
probably ever permit. that orders for the
overthrow -and, Mr. Hersh implies, the as-
sassination of-Allende came out of the
president's office and were urged by his
national security adviser. Mr. Hersh also
deduces that CIA operatives were dis-
patched to Chile and that their mission et8-
minated in the murder of Get. Rene
Schneider, commander in chief of the Chi-
lean army. Mr. Hersh's investigation dem-
onstrates that Mr. Kissinger subsequently
lied repeatedly about his and his muter-s
attempts to bring down the legally elected
Chilean president. The article shows in de-
tail Messrs. Nixon and Kissinger conspir-
ing with U.S. executives to subvert Chile.
You could argue that a man who tried
and may indeed ultimately have succeeded
in engineering the overthrow of Allende is
well qualified to assess the best manner of
dealing with the former head of the KGB.
But that is not quite how Newsweek pre-
sented Kissinger's expertise. For the opin-
ion-forming elite, as represented by the' ed-.
hors of the Economist and Newsweek, the
smoking volcano seems permanently to
overshadow the smoking gun. whirl shorts
you can survive anything, provided you
are statesmanlike about It.
Mr. Cockburn is a cobnnnist.Jar The
ViIlape Voice.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/02/29: CIA-RDP90-00965R000402830021-5
STAT