REL: ATED: TAN: Xfiles versus Real Life. [WAY Long]
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The X-files tell us of dark labyrinthe conspirarcies to confuse, deceive
and enveigle. The plots are always serious, spoken in hushed terms and
the details are always treated with awe laden disbelief.
Nobody laughs at them. Which, when you get to read the real thing
below, they should laugh.
Infecting the entire US population with alien DNA? That's nothing
compared to the working parties suggestions on how to deal with Fidel
Castro.
From Infoseek's New Bulletin, originally from Reuters NEws
Pentagon Planned 1960s Cuban ``Terror Campaign'' 10:28 p.m. Nov 18, 1997
Eastern
By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon drew up plans to mount a bloody
``terror campaign'' in the United States 35 years ago and planned to
blame it on Fidel Castro to justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba, according
to newly declassified documents.
The tentative plans, never implemented, were among many devised in the
spring of 1962 after Castro's revolutionary government crushed the
CIA-backed Bay of Pigs invasion by Cuban exiles in April 1961.
At the time, President John F. Kennedy was wrestling with whether to use
U.S. military force to oust Castro, a Soviet ally feared by Washington
to be providing a base for the spread of Communism throughout the
Western hemisphere.
Other schemes included complex deceptions that would give the impression
the Cubans had shot down a civilian U.S. airliner or a Cuban MiG had
attacked a U.S. ship.
``The courses of action which follow are a preliminary submission
suitable only for planning purposes,'' Pentagon strategists said in an
annex to a March 12, 1962, report about Cuba options to the military
Joint Chiefs of Staff.
``We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami area,
inother cities and even in Washington,'' they said in the document
stamped ``topsecret.''
``The terror campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven
in theUnited States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to
Florida. (real orsimulated).
``We could foster attempts on lives of Cuban refugees in the United
States evento the extent of wounding in instances to be widely
published,'' the strategistsadded.
``Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest
of(supposed) Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents
substantiatingCuban involvement also would be helpful in projecting the
idea of an irresponsiblegovernment,'' the planners wrote to the Joint
Chiefs.
A month later, on March 13, 1962, Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer, then chairman of
theJoint Chiefs, forwarded the plans for a possible terror campaign and
other dirtytricks to then-Defense Secretary Robert McNamara.
Again calling them a ``preliminary submission for planning purposes,''
Lemnitzer,writing for all of the military chiefs, said: ``It is assumed
that there will be similarsubmissions from other agencies and that these
inputs will be used as a basis fordeveloping a time-phased plan.''
``Individual projects can then be considered on a case-by-case basis,''
Lemnitzertold McNamara. Another option cited by the Pentagon included
blowing up aU.S. ship at the Guantanamo Bay naval base on Cuba's
southeastern tip andblaming Cuba.
In a follow-up memorandum to McNamara dated April 10, 1962,
Lemnitzerwrote that the Joint Chiefs believed that the Cuban problem
``must be solved inthe near future.''
``Further, they see no prospect of early success in overthrowing the
presentCommunist regime either as a result of internal uprisings or
external political,economic or internal uprisings.''
``Accordingly they believe that military intervention by the United
States will berequired to overthrow'' Castro.
The previously secret documents were made public Tuesday by the John
F.Kennedy Assassination Records Review Board, an independent federal
agencyoverseeing the release of government records related to Kennedy's
assassinationNov. 22, 1963. A total of about 1,500 pages of once-secret
military recordscovering 1962 to 1964 were declassified.
Timothy Naftali, co-author of ``One Hell of a Gamble: Khruschev, Castro
andKennedy 1958-64,'' said the newly released material illustrated the
intensePentagon pressure on Kennedy to authorize an invasion.
``They were sending a message to Kennedy and the civilian leadership.
They'resaying we have to get rid of Castro and fast,'' he said. ``It was
a period of manicplotting.''
At the time, the Central Intelligence Agency was mounting
''OperationMongoose,'' a Kennedy-authorized covert action aimed at
toppling Castro andkilling him if possible.
Copyright 1997 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication and
redistribution ofReuters content is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters. Reutersshall not be liable for any
errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in
reliancethereon.
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"Simulated Cubans? How the hell do you simulate a Cuban?"