Sound familiar?
By David Ruppe
N E W Y O R K, May 1, 2001 In the early 1960s, America’s top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.
Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.
The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba’s then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.
America’s top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: “We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,” and, “casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.”
Details of the plans are described in Body of Secrets (Doubleday), a new book by investigative reporter James Bamford about the history of America’s largest spy agency, the National Security Agency. However, the plans were not connected to the agency, he notes.
The plans had the written approval of all of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and were presented to President Kennedy’s defense secretary, Robert McNamara, in March 1962. But they apparently were rejected by the civilian leadership and have gone undisclosed for nearly 40 years.
Duh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
April 6th, 2006 at 9:54 am
This is several years old, but still, yikes!
Sounds familiar to what? The USS Maine? (most likely an accident but heavily used for propaganda purposes) Or the burning of the Reichstag? (almost certainly deliberately set by the SS).
I just found the original proposal. It’s interesting that it mentions the “Remember the Maine” campaign. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
April 7th, 2006 at 1:19 am
In his last address to the American people as president, Dwight D. Eisenhower ( who I like to call the last righteous
republican ) said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the aquisition of unwarranted influence, whether
sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists
and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We
should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge
industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper
together.”
And I sincerely believe that Ike’s successor was eliminated for standing up to the military-industrial complex, not only in
this instance, but because JFK intended to end our involvement in Vietnam.
April 7th, 2006 at 1:24 pm
RTG is correct, there is an interview with JFK and Walter Conkite wherein Kennedy stated that he was going to withdraw all advisory troops from Vietnam by the end of 1964….. It is hard to image, but up until the Kennedy assassination, the American public believed totally in everything our government did or said….. Policies and actions of our government were not questioned by the public and it would have been considered treason for an individual or group to do so…. I bet the politicians were really corrupt in those days…. Wouldn’t it be great to not be responsible for your actions?….. We’ve come a long way but it’s still an uphill battle……
April 7th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Come a long way? Came a long way to get the same results. Vietnam, Iraq? I can’t fathom how far we’ve gone to get to the old same place.
April 8th, 2006 at 12:01 pm
Yeah, we do meddle way too much in other countries affairs…. I think all of the technological advances have really helped the “Military Industrial Complex” in continuing the meddling and keeping it from the public…. I really wouldn’t want to travel abroad as an American in this day and age…. I don’t believe the rest of the world views us as “Nice” people and with due cause….
April 8th, 2006 at 11:58 pm
MR and RtG, in spite of the Cronkite interview, do you really believe that JFK, he of the assertive foreign policy (e.g. Vietnam, failed Cuba invasion) would have pulled out all of the advisors by 1964? I don’t think so. He might not have ratcheted things up like LBJ did, but he certainly set the stage for what followed.
April 9th, 2006 at 2:17 am
Well, huskysooner, I don’t agree that Kennedy’s foreign policy was all that assertive. Right or wrong, it was he who pulled the
plug on the Cuba invasion, causing it to fail. At the time, it seemed to me that he was rather indecisive, but in retrospect, I
think his last minute change of heart was yet another instance of his standing up to the Pentagon culture and saying, “No, this
isn’t right.” In the early sixties, Castro’s and Che Guevera’s revolution, which had overthrown the cruel and oppressive regime
of Batista, was still popular with the majority of Cubans, so it would have been a case of a superpower throwing it’s weight
around like the Soviets, not like a country which promotes freedom and democracy.
As far as our involvement in Vietnam goes, sending military advisors there was a cautious response/reaction to Soviet expansion.
Kennedy also sent LBJ to southeast asia to scope out the situation. It is common knowledge, now, that Kennedy and Johnson did
not agree on what our course of action should be. It is my belief that criminals in the military-industrial complex put Johnson
in charge of our foreign policy, and that these criminals were never brought to justice for their treasonous acts.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
RTG brings up a good point, do any of you know how close Cuba was to becoming a ally of the US?. In 1958 I believe do not quote me on the exact date Castro asked for a meeting with Ike, to establish a dialogue with the US. this was after the conclusion of hostilities with Batista’s troops and the cuban people were in favor of the overthrow, Those in power and I do not mean the president decided that would not be a good idea because they considered Fidel an unfriendly head of state because most of them were beholden to the Mafia who lost millions and prestiege in Havana after the overthrow, so there fore he was not allowed to meet Ike, he was forced to meet with That’s Right none other than “Ol “Tricky Dicky” himself
He had a meeting that lasted approximately 25 min. Where he said that “If the US would not take him anymore seriously than that he would seek allies else where” Therefore he set up a meeting with Little Nikita and the rest is history. So maybe I’m reaching too far but, If Castro had gotten to meet IKE, he possibly could have had been an ally, The cuban missle crisis would not have happened, the bay of Pigs would not have happened, and possibly Jack Kennedy would have lived to pull the advisors out of vietnam, we would have not had an undercover secret election on Nov 22 1963 dna dow chemical and Richard Nixon would not have gotten rich off of a undeclared war in southeast asia, therefore the jack asses in power today would not have seen that it is allright to stick our noses in other countrys affairs. That’s just my opinion, I could be wrong. (D. Miller)