One of the most common arguments used against conspiracy theories is that something would leak, something would always leak. This was the line used by Richard Clarke, former counterterrorism tsar to Clinton and the early years of Bush II. The refutation of this is that massive secrets have successfully been kept for relatively long periods of time. The Manhattan project, as noted in Bart Sibrel's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Moon, involved tens of thousands of people over several years, but its development was successfully kept secret from the vast majority.
Likewise, the operation known as Gladio covered three continents and five decades before Andreotti eventually admitted its existence. Troops trained as part of the Portuguese stay behind secret army were, according to Gladio historian Daniele Ganser, involved in the 1973 CIA coup in Chile where the elected leftist Allende was ousted and replaced by a more corporatocrat-friendly military dictator, Augusto Pinochet. Death squads and large scale torture ensued. Decades later, Pinochet has died before he could stand trial for his various crimes and Chile is still trying to recover from his reign of terror. And it is only now, over 30 years after the fact, that the role of Gladio, or rather, the Aginter Press is being investigated. Secrets can be kept.
Aside from historical examples of successful conspiracies, the ream of declassified or leaked documents pertaining to covert operations contain little mention of concerns about keeping the plans hidden from the public. The now notorious Operation Northwoods memo is full of comments about manipulating the media and public opinion, but contains absolutely no mention of the necessity for secrecy. To understand Northwoods, you have to understand the context in which the memo was written. In the late 1940s, the Office of Strategic Services - a clandestine operations group set up to help fight in World War Two, became the CIA. Via Project Paperclip they picked up some former Nazi SS officers and suchlike, so from its inception the CIA was a blend of some of the most ruthless and secretive agents in the world.
When the CIA and MI6 planned to overthrow Mossadegh in Iran in '53, they sent in card-carrying CIA operative and close relative of the former President, a man named Kermit Roosevelt. Operation TP/AJAX achieved its aim, and the Prime Minister of Iran was ousted. The official documents as published on the NY Times website portray it as being seen in the CIA as a limited success, a near miss. According E Howard Hunt's memoirs, the opposite was true, that in fact they saw it as a huge success.
However, they learnt a valuable lesson in the importance of secrecy. Had Kermit been captured, there's no plausible way for the US to deny that he was their agent of influence. So when they launched into a coup against Arbenz in Guatemala the following year, they were more careful. The planes used in bombing campaigns did come from the US, but had no insignia connecting them to that country. The soldiers themselves were a combination of mercenaries and genuine opponents of Arbenz's socialism. Once again the coup attempt, Operation PB/FORTUNE, then Operation PB/SUCCESS, achieved its aims, though Arbenz's replacement Diaz lasted only days, and his replacement Castillo Armas only three years.
In the former case, Mossadegh had nationalised the Iranian oil fields, taking away the monopoly enjoyed by the company now known as BP. The British enlisted the help of the CIA in getting back 'their' oil rights. In the latter case, Arbenz had nationalised the Guatemalan farmland, taking away the monopoly enjoyed by United Fruit. So one of the company's directors, and also US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles enlisted the help of the CIA, whose director just happened to be his brother, Allen Dulles.
Guatemala was then used as the staging base for the Bay of Pigs plan. Castro had come to power in a guerrilla revolution in '59. He implemented socialist policies and left many of his middle class supporters disillusioned, so they began moving to America. Around 1500 of them were recruited by the CIA, trained in the mountainous jungle of Guatemala to prepare them for the terrain they'd face at the Bay of Pigs, and then moved across the water. United Fruit, just as they had in the Guatemalan plot, provided ships to help transports troops and ammunition. This invasion failed, for various reasons. Firstly, Castro had come to power as the head of a guerrilla force so he knew how to work against such a force. Secondly, the invaders, for all their plausible deniability, were mostly people with no prior military experience. But most importantly, the Cuban air force, attacked by US planes flown by Cuban exiles in the days prior to the sea invasion, were still functioning. The CIA made their move, trying in the process to force the new President Kennedy into engaging the US military to help out the invaders. Kennedy refused because if American planes were shot down and pilots were captured, the deniability was lost.
In the aftermath Kennedy fired Allen Dulles, Richard Bissell and Charles Cabal, all senior CIA, all involved in the Bay of Pigs operation. It's interesting to note that a couple of years down the line, when Kennedy was assassinated, it was Charles Cabal's brother, the mayor of Dallas, who announced that Oswald was the lone assassin, and Dulles sat on the Warren Commission which concluded this was indeed the case. The Cuban plan for ongoing covert action was turned over to the Pentagon under the command of General Lansdale, seen here on the left with Allen Dulles:
The overall name for the plan was Operation Mongoose, of which Northwoods was only one set of plans. An even more ambitious memo, titled Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba, was sent to Lansdale just weeks before the Northwoods document. The earlier memo suggests:
7. Operation DIRTY TRICK:
a. Objective: The objective is to provide irrevocable proof that, should the MERCURY manned orbit flight fail, the fault lies with the Communists et al Cuba.
b. Concept: This to be accomplished by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans.
and then:
The Northwoods plans are identical in their aims and similar in scope:
10. Operation BINGO:
a. Objective: The objective is to create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on U.S. facilities (GMO) in Cuba, thus providing an excuse for use of U.S. military might to overthrow the current government of Cuba.
b. Concept: This to be accomplished by the use of SNAKES outside the confines of the Guantanamo Base. SNAKES simulate an actual fire-fight and upon hearing such a sound it is entirely feasible that the immediate reaction on G'Mo would be that the base is being attacked. This would, with proper preparation, be followed by a counterattack and with adequate planning the base at G'Mo could disgorge military force in sufficient number to sustain itself until other forces, which had been previously alerted, could attack in other areas. It is envisaged that a schedule of operations similar to the following would overwhelm the Cuban military and cause its defeat:
(1) Simulated attack on Guantanamo.
(2) Word flashed to the President.
(3) President orders counterattack to include:
(a) Immediate launch of alerted aircraft whose targets are Cuban airfields.
(b) Immediate launch of counterattack down strategic lines in communication in Cuba.
(c) Fleet force standing by on alert would make way toward pre-selected targets/landing areas.
(d) Immediate embarkation of airborne troops previously alerted to pre-selected targets.
(e) Launch of additional combat aircraft to clear drop areas and further interdict lines of communication.
(f) Ships and aircraft would land/airdrop troops and secure airfields, road/rail terminals, etc.
(g) Resupply and replacement activities.
Properly executed, the above could overthrow the Cuban Government in a matter of hours, providing the plan is implemented within the next six months.
3. A "Remember the Maine" incident could be arranged in several forms:
a. We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.
b. We could blow up a drone (unmanned) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters. We could arrange to cause such incident in the vicinity of Havana or Santiago as a spectacular result of Cuban attack from the air or sea, or both. The presence of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack. The nearness to Havana or Santiago would add credibility especially to those people that might have heard the blast or have seen the fire. The US could follow up with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to "evacuate" remaining members of the non-existent crew. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.
4. We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area, in other Florida cities and even in Washington.
The terror campaign could be pointed at refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated). We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding in instances to be widely publicized. Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement, also would be helpful in projecting the idea of an irresponsible government.
At no point in either memo does the question of secrecy come up. And Kennedy's decision to take responsibility for such covert operations away from the CIA and into military hands was not motivated by a need to maintain secrecy, but because he didn't trust the CIA. Given Dulles' activities on the Warren Commission, it seems that mistrust was well founded.
An update on the possibility of a 'generated crisis' in the early days or months of the forthcoming Obama presidency is that 'Al Qaeda' number 2 Ayman Zawahiri has called on others to harm the Us and said of the president elect:
You were born to a Muslim father, but you chose to stand in the ranks of the enemies of the Muslims, and pray the prayer of the Jews - BBC NewsDon't be surprised if something resembling 9/11, at least in terms of the media coverage, happens in the next few months. And don't be surprised if 40 years down the line we find documents showing that officials knew far more than they claimed but successfully kept it hidden from the vast majority.
0 comments:
Post a Comment