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by DirectorKrennic 1113 days ago
The quote is apocryphal. There is no evidence he said that. And if he did, it was in jest.
5 comments

I don't think "He didn't say that, but if he did he didn't mean it" is a great argument, especially since there is proof that he did say it in the documents linked to these articles...

It's also clear that that he did tons of illegal/unconstitutional things in his career, so it's pretty clear that he did say it and meant it, because it was an accurate portrayal of his behavior.

The Narcissist's Prayer comes to mind.

"That didn't happen. And if it did, it wasn't that bad. And if it was, that's not a big deal. And if it is, that's not my fault. And if it was, I didn't mean it. And if I did, you deserved it."

Kissinger him self claims to have said it.

https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/P860114-1573_MC_b.html#ef...

“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”

― Henry Kissinger

502 error
Works for me, here's the relevant segment:

Esenbel: The Europeans should find ways to meet quick needs; for example, the Air Force needs spare parts. For other items that they can't find in the stocks, maybe you could make a deal with the Dutch or others to send it here.

Macomber: That is illegal.

Kissinger: Before the Freedom of Information Act, I used to say at meetings, "The illegal we do immediately; the unconstitutional takes a little longer." [laughter] But since the Freedom of Information Act, I'm afraid to say things like that.

If it counts for anything, at least a journalist saw the relevant quote in the same link: https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/about-that-kissing...

I got a 502 in Firefox but it worked in Safari.

  host wikileaks.org 
  wikileaks.org has address 80.81.248.21
  wikileaks.org has address 51.159.197.136
  wikileaks.org mail is handled by 10 reykjavik.spp.is.
For comparison in case your DNS provider is doing something that you might not care for.
I think you're supposed to wait until after someone proves that they said it to claim that it was a joke. I'd add that Kissinger had a decent sense of humor that he did not mind using glibly.
Plenty of evidence he did it, however.
… and if it wasn’t in jest: “sticks and stones”.