Tick, tock

National Review, April 27, 1992

CBS'S 60 Minutes continues to earn its reputation as the supermarket tabloid of television journalism. Its recent expose on Henry Kissinger reached a new low, the political equivalent of a sighting of Kissinger and Elvis on a UFO. It was an attack on Kissinger's business and consulting activities, with dark hints about his influence on U.S. policy toward China and Iraq.

What 60 Minutes came up with as "evidence" was a blend of insinuation and incoherence. It charged, for example, that Kissinger's opposition to sanctions against China was inspired by his rather minor business connection with China, but it also charged him with hypocrisy when he came out for sanctions (and, indeed, war) against Iraq, with which CBS claimed he also had some business connection. Discounting Mike Wallace's winks and the script's breathless prose, we could detect no credible evidence of anything improper in Kissinger's behavior. His views on human rights, which many criticized in the China case, have been consistent and well known for twenty years. With it there was the implication (quite possibly libelous) that he knowingly connived in helping Iraq finance its military buildup; this was based on factual stretching compounded by wild surmise.

NR has had differences with Kissinger over the years, but we can still spot a cheap shot. No one has been more consistent and forthright in his opinions than Kissinger, and one can surely disagree with them without looking for corrupt economic motives.