Henry Kissinger Was Not a War Criminal

Henry Kissinger, the great American statesman who has died at age 100, stands accused by his critics of many things, but perhaps the most outlandish is that he bears responsibility for the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

Implementing a radical communist vision drawn from Mao and especially the Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot and his comrades killed roughly a quarter of the country’s population through execution and starvation resulting from forced collectivization and population transfers.

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Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry is the editor in chief of National Review.

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Henry Kissinger

Henry Kissinger, the great American statesman who has died at age 100, stands accused by his critics of many things, but perhaps the most outlandish is that he bears responsibility for the killing fields of Pol Pot’s Cambodia.

Implementing a radical communist vision drawn from Mao and especially the Cultural Revolution, Pol Pot and his comrades killed roughly a quarter of the country’s population through execution and starvation resulting from forced collectivization and population transfers.