Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders

Name: Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders
Author: Rockefeller Commission
ISBN: 158963182X

by Rockefeller Commission

Yes. The Church Committee Interim Report. It documents CIA involvement in plans to assassinate foreign leaders during the 1960s, including Patrice Lumumba, the Diem brothers, Rafael Trujillo, René Schneider and Fidel Castro, and is an internal investigation that was part of an attempt to appear to be coming clean at a time when the US government was seen as being anything but clean. Among other things it looks at Operation Mongoose, which absolutely beggars belief. Yes. But you have to remember that this is an internal government report, and the actual ideas to assassinate or discredit Castro are like something from a Boy’s Own annual. Among one of the plans was to plant a box of exploding cigars at a state dinner. No. These were all potential plans. Castro was a keen scuba diver and they were going to plant an explosive shell underwater, for him to find while diving. I mean, it was stuff that a ten-year-old might dream up. Well, the US government couldn’t be seen to be doing such a thing overtly. The point to remember about these foreign assassination plots is that the question never seemed to arise as to whether it was right or wrong, but whether, if the US government were involved in such a thing, it helps or hinders: will it discredit the United States? There is no debate about whether this is a valid policy or not, which is interesting. Not until Gerald Ford, who stated categorically that his administration ‘has not and will not use such means as an instrument of foreign policy’. One of the ideas to discredit Castro that the report documents, was to slip LSD into his drink before a big radio address, or somehow administer depilatory cream to make his beard fall out, to make him appear ridiculous in front of the Cuban people. Silly, silly frat boy schemes and they are all written up in this report. The report also attempts to establish the extent to which the CIA was involved in assassinations like Patrice Lumumba’s in Congo – if they didn’t actually pull the trigger but just encouraged those that did. It’s really interesting reading. My book looks at seven different assassinations starting with Caesar and ending with JFK . Well, I don’t know. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Disraeli said: ‘Assassination has never changed the history of the world.’ It’s like an essay question – discuss. Cicero said about Caesar: ‘The tyrant has gone but the tyranny remains.’ The question is – is one person that much of a linchpin? Will the regime crumble? How often in history has the assassin produced the result he was looking for? Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . I think it depends on the aims of the assassin. Are they going for complete regime change or, like some terrorists, is it an attempt to grab attention? That’s what we all go back and forth about – I mean, if the purpose is to make people fearful then it works. In ancient times, if Caesar is the state and you remove him then you have a different state. “The question is: is one person that much of a linchpin? Will the regime crumble? How often in history has the assassin produced the result he was looking for?” But then, with the development of dynamite and the rise of anarchism in the 19th century, it is possible to kill on a larger scale and at a remove. The assassin is no longer caught with the dagger in his hand, like Ravaillac, for example, who knew in killing the king he would be immediately apprehended. Instead of targeting an individual as a symbol of the state, more abstract symbols can be targeted: the stock exchange, a bank, or a café with a particular clientele. Whether the enterprise can be judged ‘successful’ depends on the perpetrator’s aims. This interview was published May 26th, 2010 May 26, 2010. Updated: May 22, 2024 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]

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Lindsay Porter

"Yes. The Church Committee Interim Report. It documents CIA involvement in plans to assassinate foreign leaders during the 1960s, including Patrice Lumumba, the Diem brothers, Rafael Trujillo, René Schneider and Fidel Castro, and is an internal investigation that was part of an attempt to appear to be coming clean at a time when the US government was seen as being anything but clean. Among other things it looks at Operation Mongoose, which absolutely beggars belief. Yes. But you have to remember that this is an internal government report, and the actual ideas to assassinate or discredit Castro are like something from a Boy’s Own annual. Among one of the plans was to plant a box of exploding cigars at a state dinner. No. These were all potential plans. Castro was a keen scuba diver and they were going to plant an explosive shell underwater, for him to find while diving. I mean, it was stuff that a ten-year-old might dream up. Well, the US government couldn’t be seen to be doing such a thing overtly. The point to remember about these foreign assassination plots is that the question never seemed to arise as to whether it was right or wrong, but whether, if the US government were involved in such a thing, it helps or hinders: will it discredit the United States? There is no debate about whether this is a valid policy or not, which is interesting. Not until Gerald Ford, who stated categorically that his administration ‘has not and will not use such means as an instrument of foreign policy’. One of the ideas to discredit Castro that the report documents, was to slip LSD into his drink before a big radio address, or somehow administer depilatory cream to make his beard fall out, to make him appear ridiculous in front of the Cuban people. Silly, silly frat boy schemes and they are all written up in this report. The report also attempts to establish the extent to which the CIA was involved in assassinations like Patrice Lumumba’s in Congo – if they didn’t actually pull the trigger but just encouraged those that did. It’s really interesting reading. My book looks at seven different assassinations starting with Caesar and ending with JFK . Well, I don’t know. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated, Disraeli said: ‘Assassination has never changed the history of the world.’ It’s like an essay question – discuss. Cicero said about Caesar: ‘The tyrant has gone but the tyranny remains.’ The question is – is one person that much of a linchpin? Will the regime crumble? How often in history has the assassin produced the result he was looking for? Support Five Books Five Books interviews are expensive to produce. If you're enjoying this interview, please support us by donating a small amount . I think it depends on the aims of the assassin. Are they going for complete regime change or, like some terrorists, is it an attempt to grab attention? That’s what we all go back and forth about – I mean, if the purpose is to make people fearful then it works. In ancient times, if Caesar is the state and you remove him then you have a different state. “The question is: is one person that much of a linchpin? Will the regime crumble? How often in history has the assassin produced the result he was looking for?” But then, with the development of dynamite and the rise of anarchism in the 19th century, it is possible to kill on a larger scale and at a remove. The assassin is no longer caught with the dagger in his hand, like Ravaillac, for example, who knew in killing the king he would be immediately apprehended. Instead of targeting an individual as a symbol of the state, more abstract symbols can be targeted: the stock exchange, a bank, or a café with a particular clientele. Whether the enterprise can be judged ‘successful’ depends on the perpetrator’s aims. This interview was published May 26th, 2010 May 26, 2010. Updated: May 22, 2024 Five Books aims to keep its book recommendations and interviews up to date. If you are the interviewee and would like to update your choice of books (or even just what you say about them) please email us at [email protected]"

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