by Kenneth J. Theisen
I recently discovered information about a proposal put forth by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff in the early 1960s that may have relevance to 2007 and 2008 under the Bush regime. The proposal used the code name “Operation Northwoods.” According to investigative reporter James Bamford in his book, Body of Secrets, the plan was developed to give the U.S. cause to invade Cuba and overthrow the government there.
Bamford claims that the plan called for the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, hijacking planes, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even committing terrorist acts in the U.S. The Cuban government of Fidel Castro would then be blamed for these actions. In the U.S. military documents examined by Bamford, the Joint Chiefs contemplated blowing up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay. “We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba”casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.” I guess this one came from the sinking of the ship, the Maine, which led to the Spanish American War of 1898. “Remember the Maine” became the rallying cry for that war when the Spanish were blamed for the ship’s explosion and sinking.
The plans were approved in writing by of all of the then Joint Chiefs of Staff and in March 1962 were submitted to Department of Defense secretary, Robert McNamara. The plan was never put into action as it apparently was even too much for a man responsible for millions of deaths in Vietnam.
Bamford stated in an 2001 interview with ABCNEWS.com., “These were Joint Chiefs of Staff documents. The reason these were held secret for so long is the Joint Chiefs never wanted to give these up because they were so embarrassing. The whole point of a democracy is to have leaders responding to the public will, and here this is the complete reverse, the military trying to trick the American people into a war that they want but that nobody else wants.”
The Joint Chiefs even had an outlandish plan to use the possible death of astronaut John Glenn to foster war. Glenn was scheduled to orbit the earth at that time. But if Glenn were killed in this risky venture, the Chiefs wrote, “the objective is to provide irrevocable proof ” that the fault lies with the Communists et all Cuba [sic].”
In 1962 the Joint Chiefs were headed by Army General. Lyman L. Lemnitzer. He made his proposal to McNamara on March 13, 1962. He wanted Operation Northwoods to be under the control of the military because the CIA had earlier botched the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba. Three days after the meeting, President Kennedy informed Lemnitzer directly that his administration has no intent of using overt force to overthrow Castro. Kennedy had already suffered the humiliating defeat at the Bay of Pigs.
I bring this past history to the attention of our readers as we enter the hopefully last days of the Bush regime. Readers of this site know that the Bush regime may possibly launch war against Iran. Officials from the president on down have accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons, supporting terrorism, etc. They will undoubtedly continue to do so as they attempt to create public opinion for war against Iran. But along with all of these there is the possibility of the creation of a pretext to justify such a war. As Operation Northwoods indicates such pretexts were considered in the past to justify an invasion.
Another concern I have is the possibility of such pretexts being used by the regime to justify the implementation of one or more of the Bush regime’s Presidential Directives. As I have written here before, Bush has signed such directives to give himself virtual dictatorial powers in the event of a national emergency (See National Security Presidential Directive 51). As the Bush regime’s time to rule becomes closer to an end, you do not need to be a conspiracy theorist to contemplate the possibility that the regime may stage an incident or incidents to justify its hold on power.
None of this is to say that the Bush administration will do any of the above. But it has shown that lies, torture, mass murder, war, massive spying, and countless other immoral acts are part of its regular operating procedure, so we should not discount the possibilities.
The actual documents for Operation Northwoods can be viewed at the National Security Archives website.