(By Steve Kangas)
The following timeline describes just a few of the
hundreds of atrocities and crimes committed by the CIA.
(1)
CIA operations follow the same recurring script. First, American business interests
abroad are threatened by a popular or democratically elected leader. The people
support their leader because he intends to conduct land reform, strengthen
unions, redistribute wealth, nationalize foreign-owned industry, and regulate
business to protect workers, consumers and the environment. So, on behalf of
American business, and often with their help, the CIA mobilizes the opposition.
First it identifies right-wing groups within the country (usually the military),
and offers them a deal: “We’ll put you in power if you maintain a favorable
business climate for us.” The Agency then hires, trains and works with them to
overthrow the existing government (usually a democracy). It uses every trick in
the book: propaganda, stuffed ballot boxes, purchased elections, extortion,
blackmail, sexual intrigue, false stories about opponents in the local media,
infiltration and disruption of opposing political parties, kidnapping, beating,
torture, intimidation, economic sabotage, death squads and even assassination.
These efforts culminate in a military coup, which installs a right-wing
dictator. The CIA trains the dictator’s security apparatus to crack down on the
traditional enemies of big business, using interrogation, torture and murder.
The victims are said to be “communists,” but almost always they are just
peasants, liberals, moderates, labor union leaders, political opponents and
advocates of free speech and democracy. Widespread human rights abuses
follow.
This scenario has been repeated so many times that the CIA
actually teaches it in a special school, the notorious “School of the Americas.”
(It opened in Panama but later moved to Fort Benning, Georgia.) Critics have
nicknamed it the “School of the Dictators” and “School of the Assassins.” Here,
the CIA trains Latin American military officers how to conduct coups, including
the use of interrogation, torture and
murder.
The Association for Responsible Dissent estimates that by
1987, 6 million people had died as a result of CIA covert operations. (2) Former
State Department official William Blum correctly calls this an “American
Holocaust.”
The CIA justifies these actions as part of its war against
communism. But most coups do not involve a communist threat. Unlucky nations are
targeted for a wide variety of reasons: not only threats to American business
interests abroad, but also liberal or even moderate social reforms, political
instability, the unwillingness of a leader to carry out Washington’s dictates,
and declarations of neutrality in the Cold War. Indeed, nothing has infuriated
CIA Directors quite like a nation’s desire to stay out of the Cold
War.
The ironic thing about all this intervention is that it
frequently fails to achieve American objectives. Often the newly installed dictator grows
comfortable with the security apparatus the CIA has built for him. He becomes an expert at running a police
state. And because the dictator knows he cannot be overthrown, he becomes
independent and defiant of Washington’s will. The CIA then finds it cannot overthrow
him, because the police and military are under the dictator’s control, afraid to
cooperate with American spies for fear of torture and execution. The only two
options for the U.S at this point are impotence or war. Examples of this “boomerang effect”
include the Shah of Iran, General Noriega and Saddam Hussein. The boomerang
effect also explains why the CIA has proven highly successful at overthrowing
democracies, but a wretched failure at overthrowing dictatorships. The following timeline should confirm
that the CIA as we know it should be abolished and replaced by a true
information-gathering and analysis organization. The CIA cannot be reformed - it
is institutionally and culturally
corrupt.
The culture we lost - Secretary of State Henry Stimson
refuses to endorse a code-breaking operation, saying, “Gentlemen do not read
each other’s mail.”
COI created - In preparation for World War II, President
Roosevelt creates the Office of Coordinator of Information (COI). General
William “Wild Bill” Donovan heads the new intelligence
service.
OSS created - Roosevelt restructures COI into something
more suitable for covert action, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Donovan
recruits so many of the nation’s rich and powerful that eventually people joke
that “OSS” stands for “Oh, so social!” or “Oh, such
snobs!”
Italy - Donovan recruits the Catholic Church in Rome to be
the center of Anglo-American spy operations in Fascist Italy. This would prove
to be one of America’s most enduring intelligence alliances in the Cold
War.
OSS is abolished - The remaining American information
agencies cease covert actions and return to harmless information gathering and
analysis. Operation PAPERCLIP -
While other American agencies are hunting down Nazi war criminals for arrest,
the U.S. intelligence community is smuggling them into America, unpunished, for
their use against the Soviets. The most important of these is Reinhard Gehlen,
Hitler’s master spy who had built up an intelligence network in the Soviet
Union. With full U.S. blessing, he creates the “Gehlen Organization,” a band of
refugee Nazi spies who reactivate their networks in Russia. These include SS
intelligence officers Alfred Six and Emil Augsburg (who massacred Jews in the
Holocaust), Klaus Barbie (the “Butcher of Lyon”), Otto von Bolschwing (the
Holocaust mastermind who worked with Eichmann) . The Gehlen Organization
supplies the U.S. with its only intelligence on the Soviet Union for the next
ten years, serving as a bridge between the abolishment of the OSS and the
creation of the CIA. However, much of the “intelligence” the former Nazis
provide is bogus. Gehlen inflates
Soviet military capabilities at a time when Russia is still rebuilding its
devastated society, in order to inflate his own importance to the Americans (who
might otherwise punish him). In 1948, Gehlen almost convinces the Americans that
war is imminent, and the West should make a preemptive strike. In the 50s he
produces a fictitious “missile gap.” To make matters worse, the Russians have
thoroughly penetrated the Gehlen Organization with double agents, undermining
the very American security that Gehlen was supposed to protect.
Greece - President Truman requests military aid to Greece
to support right-wing forces fighting communist rebels. For the rest of the Cold
War, Washington and the CIA will back notorious Greek leaders with deplorable
human rights records.
CIA created - President Truman signs the National Security
Act of 1947, creating the Central Intelligence Agency and National Security
Council. The CIA is accountable to the president through the NSC -there is no
democratic or congressional oversight. Its charter allows the CIA to “perform
such other functions and duties... as the National Security Council may from
time to time direct.” This loophole opens the door to covert action and dirty
tricks.
Covert-action wing created - The CIA recreates a covert
action wing, innocuously called the Office of Policy Coordination, led by Wall
Street lawyer Frank Wisner. According to its secret charter, its
responsibilities include “propaganda, economic warfare, preventive direct
action, including sabotage, antisabotage, demolition and evacuation procedures;
subversion against hostile states, including assistance to underground
resistance groups, and support of indigenous anti-communist elements in
threatened countries of the free world.” Italy - The CIA corrupts democratic
elections in Italy, where Italian communists threaten to win the elections. The
CIA buys votes, broadcasts propaganda, threatens and beats up opposition
leaders, and infiltrates and disrupts their organizations. It works—the
communists are defeated.
Radio Free Europe - The CIA creates its first major
propaganda outlet, Radio Free Europe. Over the next several decades, its
broadcasts are so blatantly false that for a time it is considered illegal to
publish transcripts of them in the
U.S.
Operation MOCKINGBIRD - The CIA begins recruiting American
news organizations and journalists to become spies and disseminators of
propaganda. The effort is headed by Frank Wisner, Allan Dulles, Richard Helms
and Philip Graham. Graham is publisher of The Washington Post, which becomes a
major CIA player. Eventually, the
CIA’s media assets will include ABC, NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, Associated Press,
United Press International, Reuters, Hearst Newspapers, Scripps-Howard, Copley
News Service and more. By the CIA’s own admission, at least 25 organizations and
400 journalists will become CIA
assets.
Iran - CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed
Mossadegh in a military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil.
The CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret police,
SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.
Operation MK-ULTRA - Inspired by North Korea’s brainwashing program, the
CIA begins experiments on mind control. The most notorious part of this project
involves giving LSD and other drugs to American subjects without their knowledge
or against their will, causing several to commit suicide. However, the operation
involves far more than this. Funded in part by the Rockefeller and Ford
foundations, research includes propaganda, brainwashing, public relations,
advertising, hypnosis, and other forms of
suggestion.
Guatemala - CIA overthrows the democratically elected
Jacob Arbenz in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the
Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen Dulles also
owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of right-wing dictators whose
bloodthirsty policies will kill over 100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40
years.
North Vietnam - CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four
years trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using all
the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a tyrannical puppet
regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem. These efforts fail to win the
hearts and minds of the South Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed
to true democracy, land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA’s
continuing failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in
the Vietnam War.
Hungary - Radio Free Europe incites Hungary to revolt by
broadcasting Khruschev’s Secret Speech, in which he denounced Stalin. It also
hints that American aid will help the Hungarians fight. This aid fails to
materialize as Hungarians launch a doomed armed revolt, which only invites a
major Soviet invasion. The conflict
kills 7,000 Soviets and 30,000
Hungarians.
Laos - The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year
trying to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. The problem is the Pathet Lao, a
leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of any coalition
government. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an “Armee Clandestine” of
Asian mercenaries to attack the Pathet Lao. After the CIA’s army suffers
numerous defeats, the U.S. starts bombing, dropping more bombs on Laos than all
the U.S. bombs dropped in World War II. A quarter of all Laotians will
eventually become refugees, many living in
caves.
Haiti - The U.S. military helps “Papa Doc” Duvalier become
dictator of Haiti. He creates his own private police force, the “Tonton
Macoutes,” who terrorize the population with machetes. They will kill over
100,000 during the Duvalier family reign. The U.S. does not protest their dismal
human rights record.
The Bay of Pigs - The CIA sends 1,500 Cuban exiles to
invade Castro’s Cuba. But “Operation Mongoose” fails, due to poor planning,
security and backing. The planners had imagined that the invasion will spark a
popular uprising against Castro-which never happens. A promised American air
strike also never occurs. This is the CIA’s first public setback, causing
President Kennedy to fire CIA Director Allen
Dulles.
Dominican Republic - The CIA assassinates Rafael Trujillo,
a murderous dictator Washington has supported since 1930. Trujillo’s business
interests have grown so large (about 60 percent of the economy) that they have
begun competing with American business
interests.
Ecuador - The CIA-backed military forces the
democratically elected President Jose Velasco to resign. Vice President Carlos
Arosemana replaces him; the CIA fills the now vacant vice presidency with its
own man.
Congo (Zaire) - The CIA assassinates the democratically
elected Patrice Lumumba. However, public support for Lumumba’s politics runs so
high that the CIA cannot clearly install his opponents in power. Four years of
political turmoil follow.
Dominican Republic - The CIA overthrows the democratically
elected Juan Bosch in a military coup.
The CIA installs a repressive, right-wing junta. Ecuador - A CIA-backed military coup
overthrows President Arosemana, whose independent (not socialist) policies have
become unacceptable to Washington. A military junta assumes command, cancels the
1964 elections, and begins abusing human
rights.
Brazil - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the
democratically elected government of Joao Goulart. The junta that replaces it
will, in the next two decades, become one of the most bloodthirsty in
history. General Castelo Branco
will create Latin America’s first death squads, or bands of secret police who
hunt down “communists” for torture, interrogation and murder. Often these
“communists” are no more than Branco’s political opponents. Later it is revealed
that the CIA trains the death
squads.
Indonesia - The CIA overthrows the democratically elected
Sukarno with a military coup. The CIA has been trying to eliminate Sukarno since
1957, using everything from attempted assassination to sexual intrigue, for
nothing more than his declaring neutrality in the Cold War. His successor,
General Suharto, will massacre between 500,000 to 1 million civilians accused of
being “communist.” The CIA supplies the names of countless suspects. Dominican Republic - A popular rebellion
breaks out, promising to reinstall Juan Bosch as the country’s elected leader.
The revolution is crushed when U.S.
Marines land to uphold the military regime by
force.
The CIA directs everything behind the scenes. Greece - With the CIA’s backing, the
king removes George Papandreous as prime minister. Papandreous has failed to
vigorously support U.S. interests in Greece. Congo (Zaire) - A CIA-backed military
coup installs Mobutu Sese Seko as dictator. The hated and repressive Mobutu
exploits his desperately poor country for
billions.
The Ramparts Affair - The radical magazine Ramparts begins
a series of unprecedented anti-CIA articles. Among their scoops: the CIA has paid the
University of Michigan $25 million dollars to hire “professors” to train South
Vietnamese students in covert police methods. MIT and other universities have
received similar payments. Ramparts also reveals that the National Students’
Association is a CIA front.
Students are sometimes recruited through blackmail and bribery, including
draft deferments.
Greece - A CIA-backed military coup overthrows the
government two days before the elections. The favorite to win was George
Papandreous, the liberal candidate.
During the next six years, the “reign of the colonels” - backed by the
CIA - will usher in the widespread use of torture and murder against political
opponents. When a Greek ambassador
objects to President Johnson about U.S. plans for Cypress, Johnson tells him:
“Fuck your parliament and your constitution.” Operation PHEONIX - The CIA helps
South Vietnamese agents identify and then murder alleged Viet Cong leaders
operating in South Vietnamese villages.
According to a 1971 congressional report, this operation killed about
20,000 “Viet Cong.”
Operation CHAOS - The CIA has been illegally spying on
American citizens since 1959, but with Operation CHAOS, President Johnson
dramatically boosts the effort. CIA agents go undercover as student radicals to
spy on and disrupt campus organizations protesting the Vietnam War. They are
searching for Russian instigators, which they never find. CHAOS will eventually
spy on 7,000 individuals and 1,000
organizations.
Bolivia - A CIA-organized military operation captures
legendary guerilla Che Guevara. The CIA wants to keep him alive for
interrogation, but the Bolivian government executes him to prevent worldwide
calls for clemency.
Uruguay - The notorious CIA torturer Dan Mitrione arrives
in Uruguay, a country torn with political strife. Whereas right-wing forces
previously used torture only as a last resort, Mitrione convinces them to use it
as a routine, widespread practice. “The precise pain, in the precise place, in
the precise amount, for the desired effect,” is his motto. The torture
techniques he teaches to the death squads rival the Nazis’. He eventually
becomes so feared that revolutionaries will kidnap and murder him a year later.
Cambodia - The CIA overthrows Prince Sahounek, who is
highly popular among Cambodians for keeping them out of the Vietnam War. He is
replaced by CIA puppet Lon Nol, who immediately throws Cambodian troops into
battle. This unpopular move strengthens once minor opposition parties like the
Khmer Rouge, which achieves power in 1975 and massacres millions of its own
people.
Bolivia - After half a decade of CIA-inspired political
turmoil, a CIA-backed military coup overthrows the leftist President Juan
Torres. In the next two years, dictator Hugo Banzer will have over 2,000
political opponents arrested without trial, then tortured, raped and
executed.
Haiti - “Papa Doc” Duvalier dies, leaving his 19-year old
son “Baby Doc” Duvalier the dictator of Haiti. His son continues his bloody
reign with full knowledge of the
CIA.
The Case-Zablocki Act - Congress passes an act requiring
congressional review of executive agreements. In theory, this should make CIA
operations more accountable. In fact, it is only marginally
effective.
Cambodia - Congress votes to cut off CIA funds for its
secret war in Cambodia.
Wagergate Break-in - President Nixon sends in a team of
burglars to wiretap Democratic offices at Watergate. The team members have
extensive CIA histories, including James McCord, E. Howard Hunt and five of the
Cuban burglars. They work for the Committee to Reelect the President (CREEP),
which does dirty work like disrupting Democratic campaigns and laundering
Nixon’s illegal campaign contributions.
CREEP’s activities are funded and organized by another CIA front, the
Mullen Company.
Chile - The CIA overthrows and assassinates Salvador
Allende, Latin America’s first democratically elected socialist leader. The
problems begin when Allende nationalizes American-owned firms in Chile. ITT
offers the CIA $1 million for a coup (reportedly refused). The CIA replaces Allende with General
Augusto Pinochet, who will torture and murder thousands of his own countrymen in
a crackdown on labor leaders and the political
left.
CIA begins internal investigations - William Colby, the
Deputy Director for Operations, orders all CIA personnel to report any and all
illegal activities they know about. This information is later reported to
Congress.
Watergate Scandal - The CIA’s main collaborating newspaper
in America, The Washington Post, reports Nixon’s crimes long before any other
newspaper takes up the subject. The two reporters, Woodward and Bernstein, make
almost no mention of the CIA’s many fingerprints all over the scandal. It is
later revealed that Woodward was a Naval intelligence briefer to the White
House, and knows many important intelligence figures, including General
Alexander Haig. His main source, “Deep Throat,” is probably one of
those.
CIA Director Helms Fired - President Nixon fires CIA
Director Richard Helms for failing to help cover up the Watergate scandal. Helms
and Nixon have always disliked each other. The new CIA director is William
Colby, who is relatively more open to CIA
reform.
CHAOS exposed - Pulitzer prize winning journalist Seymour
Hersh publishes a story about Operation CHAOS, the domestic surveillance and
infiltration of anti-war and civil rights groups in the U.S. The story sparks
national outrage.
Angleton fired - Congress holds hearings on the illegal
domestic spying efforts of James Jesus Angleton, the CIA’s chief of
counterintelligence. His efforts included mail-opening campaigns and secret
surveillance of war protesters. The hearings result in his dismissal from the
CIA.
House clears CIA in Watergate - The House of
Representatives clears the CIA of any complicity in Nixon’s Watergate
break-in.
The Hughes Ryan Act - Congress passes an amendment
requiring the president to report nonintelligence CIA operations to the relevant
congressional committees in a timely
fashion.
Australia - The CIA helps topple the democratically
elected, left-leaning government of Prime Minister Edward Whitlam. The CIA does
this by giving an ultimatum to its Governor-General, John Kerr. Kerr, a longtime
CIA collaborator, exercises his constitutional right to dissolve the Whitlam
government. The Governor-General is a largely ceremonial position appointed by
the Queen; the Prime Minister is democratically elected. The use of this archaic
and never-used law stuns the nation.
Angola - Eager to demonstrate American military resolve after its defeat
in Vietnam, Henry Kissinger launches a CIA-backed war in Angola. Contrary to
Kissinger’s assertions, Angola is a country of little strategic importance and
not seriously threatened by communism. The CIA backs the brutal leader of
UNITAS, Jonas Savimbi. This polarizes Angolan politics and drives his opponents
into the arms of Cuba and the Soviet Union for survival. Congress will cut off
funds in 1976, but the CIA is able to run the war off the books until 1984, when
funding is legalized again. This
entirely pointless war kills over 300,000
Angolans.
“The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence” - Victor Marchetti
and John Marks publish this whistle-blowing history of CIA crimes and abuses.
Marchetti has spent 14 years in the CIA, eventually becoming an executive
assistant to the Deputy Director of Intelligence. Marks has spent five years as an
intelligence official in the State
Department.
“Inside the Company” - Philip Agee publishes a diary of
his life inside the CIA. Agee has worked in covert operations in Latin America
during the 60s, and details the crimes in which he took part. Congress investigates CIA wrong-doing -
Public outrage compels Congress to hold hearings on CIA crimes. Senator Frank Church heads the Senate
investigation (“The Church Committee”), and Representative Otis Pike heads the
House investigation. (Despite a 98 percent incumbency reelection rate, both
Church and Pike are defeated in the next elections.) The investigations lead to
a number of reforms intended to increase the CIA’s accountability to Congress,
including the creation of a standing Senate committee on intelligence. However,
the reforms prove ineffective, as the Iran/Contra scandal will show. It turns
out the CIA can control, deal with or sidestep Congress with
ease.
The Rockefeller Commission - In an attempt to reduce the
damage done by the Church Committee, President Ford creates the “Rockefeller
Commission” to whitewash CIA history and propose toothless reforms. The
commission’s namesake, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, is himself a major CIA
figure. Five of the commission’s eight members are also members of the Council
on Foreign Relations, a CIA-dominated
organization.
Iran - The CIA fails to predict the fall of the Shah of
Iran, a longtime CIA puppet, and the rise of Muslim fundamentalists who are
furious at the CIA’s backing of SAVAK, the Shah’s bloodthirsty secret police. In
revenge, the Muslims take 52 Americans hostage in the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
Afghanistan - The Soviets enters in Afghanistan. The CIA
immediately begins supplying arms to any faction willing to fight the Soviets.
Such indiscriminate arming means that when the Soviets leave Afghanistan, civil
war will erupt. Also, fanatical Muslim extremists now possess state-of-the-art
weaponry. One of these is Sheik Abdel Rahman, who will become involved in the
World Trade Center bombing in New
York.
El Salvador - An idealistic group of young military
officers, repulsed by the massacre of the poor, overthrows the right-wing
government. However, the U.S. compels the inexperienced officers to include many
of the old guard in key positions in their new government. Soon, things are back
to “normal” - the military government is repressing and killing poor civilian
protesters. Many of the young military and civilian reformers, finding
themselves powerless, resign in
disgust.
Nicaragua - Anastasios Samoza II, the CIA-backed dictator,
falls. The Marxist Sandinistas take over government, and they are initially
popular because of their commitment to land and anti-poverty reform. Samoza had a murderous and hated
personal army called the National Guard. Remnants of the Guard will become the
Contras, who fight a CIA-backed guerilla war against the Sandinista government
throughout the 1980s.
El Salvador - The Archbishop of San Salvador, Oscar
Romero, pleads with President Carter “Christian to Christian” to stop aiding the
military government slaughtering his people. Carter refuses. Shortly afterwards,
right-wing leader Roberto D’Aubuisson has Romero shot through the heart while
saying Mass. The country soon dissolves into civil war, with the peasants in the
hills fighting against the military government. The CIA and U.S. Armed Forces
supply the government with overwhelming military and intelligence superiority.
CIA-trained death squads roam the countryside, committing atrocities like that
of El Mazote in 1982, where they massacre between 700 and 1000 men, women and
children. By 1992, some 63,000 Salvadorans will be
killed.
Iran/Contra Begins - The CIA begins selling arms to Iran
at high prices, using the profits to arm the Contras fighting the Sandinista
government in Nicaragua. President Reagan vows that the Sandinistas will be
“pressured” until “they say ‘uncle.’” The CIA’s Freedom Fighter’s Manual
disbursed to the Contras includes instruction on economic sabotage, propaganda,
extortion, bribery, blackmail, interrogation, torture, murder and political
assassination.
Honduras - The CIA gives Honduran military officers the
Human Resource Exploitation Training Manual
-
1983, which teaches how to torture people. Honduras’
notorious “Battalion 316” then uses these techniques, with the CIA’s full
knowledge, on thousands of leftist dissidents. At least 184 are
murdered.
The Boland Amendment - The last of a series of Boland
Amendments is passed. These amendments have reduced CIA aid to the Contras; the
last one cuts it off completely. However, CIA Director William Casey is already
prepared to “hand off” the operation to Colonel Oliver North, who illegally
continues supplying the Contras through the CIA’s informal, secret, and
self-financing network. This includes “humanitarian aid” donated by Adolph Coors
and William Simon, and military aid funded by Iranian arms
sales.
Eugene Hasenfus - Nicaragua shoots down a C-123 transport
plane carrying military supplies to the Contras. The lone survivor, Eugene
Hasenfus, turns out to be a CIA employee, as are the two dead pilots. The
airplane belongs to Southern Air Transport, a CIA front. The incident makes a
mockery of President Reagan’s claims that the CIA is not illegally arming the
Contras.
Iran/Contra Scandal - Although the details have long been
known, the Iran/Contra scandal finally captures the media’s attention in 1986.
Congress holds hearings, and several key figures (like Oliver North) lie under
oath to protect the intelligence community. CIA Director William Casey dies of brain
cancer before Congress can question him. All reforms enacted by Congress after
the scandal are purely cosmetic.
Haiti - Rising popular revolt in Haiti means that “Baby Doc” Duvalier
will remain “President for Life” only if he has a short one. The U.S., which
hates instability in a puppet country, flies the despotic Duvalier to the South
of France for a comfortable retirement. The CIA then rigs the upcoming elections
in favor of another right-wing military strongman. However, violence keeps the country in
political turmoil for another four years. The CIA tries to strengthen the
military by creating the National Intelligence Service (SIN), which suppresses
popular revolt through torture and
assassination.
Panama - The U.S. invades Panama to overthrow a dictator
of its own making, General Manuel Noriega.
Noriega has been on the CIA’s payroll since 1966, and has been
transporting drugs with the CIA’s knowledge since 1972. By the late 80s,
Noriega’s growing independence and intransigence have angered Washington... so
out he goes.
Haiti - Competing against 10 comparatively wealthy
candidates, leftist priest Jean-Bertrand Aristide captures 68 percent of the
vote. After only eight months in power, however, the CIA-backed military deposes
him. More military dictators brutalize the country, as thousands of Haitian
refugees escape the turmoil in barely seaworthy boats. As popular opinion calls
for Aristide’s return, the CIA begins a disinformation campaign painting the
courageous priest as mentally
unstable.
The Fall of the Soviet Union - The CIA fails to predict
this most important event of the Cold War.
This suggests that it has been so busy undermining governments that it
hasn’t been doing its primary job: gathering and analyzing information. The fall
of the Soviet Union also robs the CIA of its reason for existence: fighting
communism. This leads some to accuse the CIA of intentionally failing to predict
the downfall of the Soviet Union. Curiously, the intelligence community’s budget
is not significantly reduced after the demise of
communism.
Economic Espionage - In the years following the end of the
Cold War, the CIA is increasingly used for economic espionage. This involves
stealing the technological secrets of competing foreign companies and giving
them to American ones. Given the CIA’s clear preference for dirty tricks over
mere information gathering, the possibility of serious criminal behavior is very
great indeed.
Haiti - The chaos in Haiti grows so bad that President
Clinton has no choice but to remove the Haitian military dictator, Raoul Cedras,
on threat of U.S. invasion. The
U.S. occupiers do not arrest Haiti’s military leaders for crimes against
humanity, but instead ensure their safety and rich retirements. Aristide is returned to power only after
being forced to accept an agenda favorable to the country’s ruling
class.
In a speech before the CIA celebrating its 50th
anniversary, President Clinton said: “By necessity, the American people will
never know the full story of your
courage.”
Clinton’s is a common defense of the CIA: namely, the
American people should stop criticizing the CIA because they don’t know what it
really does. This, of course, is the heart of the problem in the first place. An
agency that is above criticism is also above moral behavior and reform. Its
secrecy and lack of accountability allows its corruption to grow
unchecked.
Furthermore, Clinton’s statement is simply untrue. The
history of the agency is growing painfully clear, especially with the
declassification of historical CIA documents. We may not know the details of
specific operations, but we do know, quite well, the general behavior of the
CIA. These facts began emerging nearly two decades ago at an ever-quickening
pace. Today we have a remarkably accurate and consistent picture, repeated in
country after country, and verified from countless different
directions.
The CIA’s response to this growing knowledge and criticism
follows a typical historical pattern.
(Indeed, there are remarkable parallels to the Medieval Church’s fight
against the Scientific Revolution.) The first journalists and writers to reveal
the CIA’s criminal behavior were harassed and censored if they were American
writers, and tortured and murdered if they were foreigners. (See Philip Agee’s
On the Run for an example of early harassment.) However, over the last two
decades the tide of evidence has become overwhelming, and the CIA has found that
it does not have enough fingers to plug every hole in the dike. This is
especially true in the age of the Internet, where information flows freely among
millions of people. Since censorship is impossible, the Agency must now defend
itself with apologetics. Clinton’s “Americans will never know” defense is a
prime example.
Another common apologetic is that “the world is filled
with unsavory characters, and we must deal with them if we are to protect
American interests at all.” There are two things wrong with this. First, it
ignores the fact that the CIA has regularly spurned alliances with defenders of
democracy, free speech and human rights, preferring the company of military
dictators and tyrants. The CIA had moral options available to them, but did not
take them.
Second, this argument begs several questions. The first
is: “Which American interests?” The CIA has courted right-wing dictators because
they allow wealthy Americans to exploit the country’s cheap labor and resources.
But poor and middle-class Americans pay the price whenever they fight the wars
that stem from CIA actions, from Vietnam to the Gulf War to Panama. The second begged question is: “Why
should American interests come at the expense of other peoples’ human
rights?”
The CIA should be abolished, its leadership dismissed and
its relevant members tried for crimes against humanity. Our intelligence
community should be rebuilt from the ground up, with the goal of collecting and
analyzing information. As for covert action, there are two moral options. The
first one is to eliminate covert action completely. But this gives jitters to
people worried about the Adolf Hitlers of the world. So a second option is that we can place
covert action under extensive and true democratic oversight. For example, a
bipartisan Congressional Committee of 40 members could review and veto all
aspects of CIA operations upon a majority or super-majority vote. Which of these two options is best may
be the subject of debate, but one thing is clear: like dictatorship, like
monarchy, unaccountable covert operations should die like the dinosaurs they
are.