Foreign Relations, 1969-1976, Volume
E-7, Documents on
Released by the Office of the Historian
Conversation Between President Nixon and his
Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger),
Nixon:
I told Keating that I would see him—he was there last night at this
little party we had—and I told him I would see him when he came back, late and
in the middle of June, just before the Foreign Minister came. And I think we’ll just have him for a half
hour and then have him—
Kissinger:
I saw him leaving.
Nixon:
I also told him that, I said the problem here is that we just got to be
sure we don’t get involved in an internal conflict, be pulled one way or
another, so forth and so on.
Kissinger:
He’s almost fanatical on this issue.
Nixon:
Well what the hell does he think we should do about it?
Kissinger:
Oh he thinks—I tell you, he thinks we should cut off all military aid,
all economic aid, and in effect help the Indians to push the Pakistanis out of—
Nixon:
Push—I don’t want him to come in with that kind of jackass thing with
me.
Kissinger:
Mr. President, actually we’ve got to keep Yahya, we have to keep Yahya
[unclear] public executions for the next month.
Nixon:
Look, even apart from the Chinese thing, I wouldn’t do that to help the Indians, the Indians are no goddamn good. Now Keating, like every Ambassador who goes
over there, goes over there and gets sucked in.
He now thinks the—
Kissinger:
Those sons-of-bitches, who never have lifted a finger for us, why should
we get involved in the morass of
Nixon:
Yeah.
Kissinger:
No resources. They’re going to
become a ripe field for Communist infiltration.
And then they’re going to bring pressure on
Nixon:
Oh, what they had in the back of their mind was to destroy