“Great Henry” could be calm. Garzon will not interrogate him

Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon’s attempt to interrogate ex-Secretary of State and National Security Henry Kissinger has finished with nothing. British authorities, after having consulted with the US administration, refused to give this possibility to Garzon. It should be reminded that the judge wanted to interrogate Kissinger in the framework of the Operation Condor case’s investigation. This operation was carried out in the 1970s-1980s by special services of some South-American states. The main aim of the operation was annihilation of political opponents of dictatorial regimes in the Latin-American countries. In such operations which were nothing but a form of state terrorism, citizens of some European states were killed, including that ones of Spain and France. According to the investigation, CIA and personally Henry Kissinger were implicated in that operations. This was the reason, why Baltasar Garzon wanted to interrogate the ex-Secretary of State. The Spanish judge sent an official inquiry to Great Britain which Kissinger intends to visit April 24. He explained his activities with regulations of European Convention on Legal Cooperation in Fight on Terrorism. Though, Washington seems to have its idea about what is terrorism. For, some attempts to interrogate Kissinger were made earlier as well. Though the White House and the Department of State demanded such inquiries to be sent only through official channels. However, if even such inquiries appeared they were not answered. Moreover, US authorities used all their power to secure Kissinger’s immunity. The same took place this time. Of course, we could speculate that Garzon would use Kissinger’s case for political purposes, as we also could notice that the US is not Chile, while the ex-Secretary of State is not Pinochet. Though, Garzon is not the first (and, probably, not the last) who wants to interrogate the “great Henry.” At least, he wants only interrogate him, but not to put him to prison. So, why then Kissinger is so persistent in his not wishing to meet with the judges? From purely human reasons, he could be understood: meetings like that do not belong to the best impressions of the life. Though, Kissinger is a politician, and still a very influential one. He should be prepared for any troubles. Otherwise, one could think that Kissinger keeps something back, if he does not want to be interrogated. For the time being, it is clear that circumstances of Operation Condor will be further investigated. And if so, Kissinger could easily turn into a defendant. Especially, if he avoids further meetings with judges.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru NTVRU.com photograph: Baltasar Garzon

Translated by Vera Solovieva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/23/40125.html