Henry Kissinger chose Philadelphia as his launching site for a new crusade which he now labels his “most urgent priority.” It is a program to overthrow and change two governments some 8,000 miles away — Rhodesia and South Africa.
One would think that Secretary of State Kissinger would have so much to do looking after the interests of the United States that he wouldn’t have time to do any kingmaking for countries so faraway.
Kissinger, however, says he must speak out as the “conscience of humanity” in order to solve the racial problems in those two African countries. It is not clear why Kissinger thinks he has the capability to accomplish this. If he has a hidden talent along those lines, he should first practice it on South Boston, Louisville, or even London.
If Kissinger thinks he can wave a magic wand and wipe out long-standing enmities that have brought about many senseless killings, why doesn’t he devote himself to the problems of Northern Ireland? Terrorism, tortures, and star chamber proceedings have plagued that area for years.
Kissinger’s statements about Southern Africa, beginning last April with what is now known as his Lusaka Doctrine, are inconsistent with his other policies all over the world. Take, for example, the matter of interfering in another country’s internal affairs.
When the Senate was considering Jackson’s proposal to halt credits to the Soviet Union until the Russians allowed emigration by the Jews, Henry Kissinger worked overtime to stop what he considered a grievous U.S. interference in Russia’s internal affairs.
Kissinger successfully persuaded President Ford to sign the Helsinki agreement under which the United States solemnly took a Pontius-Pilate-we-wash-our—hands attitude toward the religious, racial, and ethnic persecution in the countries behind the Iron Curtain. Worse still, the Helsinki agreement placed the seal of approval on the Brezhnev Doctrine under which the Kremlin asserts its right to send in military force to suppress any demand for liberation or majority rule within the Captive Nations.
Likewise, Kissinger has favored the lifting of economic sanctions on Castro on the general premise that, even if Cuba has a Communist dictator who eliminated his political opposition by firing squads, it is not our place to interfere.
Kissinger describes the Rhodesian government as “Illegal.” It certainly is an un-Bicentennial notion that a government which declares its independence from the British Crown must be called “illegal.”
Southern Africa is of immense strategic importance to the Western World. Most of the Middle Eastern oil headed for Western Europe and the United States travels by tanker around the Cape of Good Hope. More than 90 percent of the known reserves of chrome in the non-Communist world are in Rhodesia and South Africa. Chrome is absolutely indispensable to the production of stainless steel and many essential military and civilian items. We have no chrome in the United States.
It makes no sense to try to overturn the two governments that are friendly and reliable sources of strategic materials the United States must acquire from abroad.
Secretary Kissinger’s foray into the internal affairs of Africa is devoid of both intellectual consistency and of concern for American security. It is difficult to escape the conclusion that he embarked on those untried waters because President Ford wants Kissinger as far away as possible from involvement in the current Presidential election campaign.
