24-04-2009, 03:45 AM
Nathaniel Heidenheimer Wrote:A question I have been curious about is how Helms is often descibed as out of the loop in the Bay of Pigs. Was he, and why did a guy whose last job was the U2 have more organizational experience with exiles than Helms-- unless designed from the very first as a failure that would require the direct intervenion. If so what did that imply about the guy who was nominally running it?
Was Helms part of a wider loop on Bay of Pigs?
I don't know about this specific question Nathaniel, but I'll wade in anyway just because it seems to me that Allen Dulles took great pains to be out of the loop during the Bay of Pigs. Literally, I mean he left the country so that on the day of the invasion Kennedy was left holding the bag, and that was part of the setup that was supposed to force Kennedy to call in the overt armed forces.
The CIA is so good at being plausibly deniably "out of the loop."