Opened Files Show Kissinger’s Pragmatism
WASHINGTON, May 26 (AP) Ñ In June 1972, when Henry Kissinger was secretary of state, he told Prime Minister Zhou Enlai of China that the United States, mired in Vietnam, probably could live with a Communist government in South Vietnam as long as it evolved peacefully, according to foreign policy papers released Friday.
The discussion is included in some 28,000 pages of Kissinger-era papers published online by George Washington University at http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/. The National Security Archive released the collection, drawn from the National Archives and obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
“If we can live with a Communist government in China, we ought to be able to accept it in Indochina,” Mr. Kissinger said.
He also hinted that the United States, newly courting China, would consider a nuclear response if the Soviet Union were to overrun Asia with conventional forces. At the time, the United States was playing the Communist states against each other while seeking detente with Moscow.
The papers also indicate that the United States reached out to hostile Arabs three decades ago with an offer to work toward making Israel a “small friendly country” and with an assurance to Iraq that Washington had stopped backing Kurdish rebels.
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Papers Show U.S. Courted Arabs in Mid-70s
Kissinger pressed: “Our attitude is not unsympathetic to Iraq. Don’t believe; watch it.”
He said U.S. public opinion was turning more pro-Palestinian and U.S. aid to Israel could not be sustained for much longer at its massive levels. He predicted that in 10 or 15 years, “Israel will be like Lebanon – struggling for existence, with no influence in the Arab world.”
Mindful of Israel’s nuclear capability, a skeptical Hammadi peppered Kissinger with questions, including whether Washington would recognize Palestinian identity and even a Palestinian state. “Is it in your power to create such a thing?”
Kissinger said he could not make recognition of Palestinian identity happen right away but, “No solution is possible without it.”
“After a settlement, Israel will be a small friendly country,” he said.