02-03-2013, 06:03 PM
Don:
Cuba was not a "smokescreen" as far as policy went. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted Castro out. This is why in 1959, the war against Castro was planned, and the CIA Mafia plots were originated. And the trade embargo enacted and the Bay of Pigs plans were enacted. Dulles and Bissell then continued this and hoodwinked JFK into launching it. Hoping that he would commit American forces en masse to save it from failure. When JFK found out this trickery, he decapitated the top level of the CIA and Dulles and Hunt fought back by blaming the failure on him, with the myth of the "cancelled D Day air strikes", which were never actually part of the plan, they were a contingency. Afterwards, Kennedy decided on the Mongoose route to pressure Castro.
None of this is a "smokescreen". These are all historical facts. What gets into a smokescreen is how one uses these facts.
There is a difference between blaming Cuba for the assassination, whichever way you want to do it, and saying that one of the plans of the conspirators was to get an invasion of Cuba as a result of Kennedy's death.
No serious person believes that Castro killed Kennedy, its always been a CIA fallback position. And only a few buy the argument about RFK's guilt factor immobilizing him.
Cuba was not a "smokescreen" as far as policy went. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted Castro out. This is why in 1959, the war against Castro was planned, and the CIA Mafia plots were originated.
But many people I know do think that one of the aims of the plot was to get an invasion of Cuba. And you can actually see parts of that within some of its aspects: the actions of the DRE and Bringuier afterwards, the McKeown story, the order to the strike force, David Phillps planting stories about Oswald being in Mexico in September to receive funds for a future attempt etc. No reasonable person can deny these important strands.
And its not accurate to say the plots to kill Castro stopped with JFK's death. The IG report says they went on until 1965.
LBJ clearly did not want any kind of commie plot--or any plot at all-- involved in the investigation. And he did this by intimidating the heck out of Warren. There is also evidence the White House was in contact with Dallas and relayed the message to charge Oswald singly, no conspiracy. Hoover knew this, and he decided to squelch any leads that indicated conspiracy from the outset. Beginning that night with the switching of CE 399.
As far as Cuba goes under LBJ, there was a review of Cuban policy in the summer of 1964. Because there were still operations ongoing against the island. But by this time, one of the guys driving the campaign, Bill Harvey, has been gone from the CIA desk and is being shuffled out. He has been replaced by Fitzgerald.
Helms and Fitzgerald conducted the review for the White House, and I quote these memos in my book. Since the attack on Cuba was squelched after Kennedy's death, they see little upside in continuing the mini campaign against Castro. They conclude, as Magda mentions, that this is really counter productive in the long run. Castro is too strongly entrenched by now, his defenses fairly strong, the populace has too much allegiance to him, therefore the attacks they have been running are simply pin pricks without lasting effect. So they actually recommend to the White House that what was left of the program be wound down by the end of the year, that is 1964. And from what seems to have happened, the White House appears to have concurred.
From here of course, LBJ decided to switch the resources and focus to Southeast Asia. In a big way. The planning for a huge land war was well along by the summer of 1964. Which is where Walt Rostow, a man LBJ liked a lot, wanted to go anyway. And, as I said, it was this impending debacle that really put the kabosh on further American forays later. And actually saved regimes like the Sandinistas.
Cuba was not a "smokescreen" as far as policy went. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted Castro out. This is why in 1959, the war against Castro was planned, and the CIA Mafia plots were originated. And the trade embargo enacted and the Bay of Pigs plans were enacted. Dulles and Bissell then continued this and hoodwinked JFK into launching it. Hoping that he would commit American forces en masse to save it from failure. When JFK found out this trickery, he decapitated the top level of the CIA and Dulles and Hunt fought back by blaming the failure on him, with the myth of the "cancelled D Day air strikes", which were never actually part of the plan, they were a contingency. Afterwards, Kennedy decided on the Mongoose route to pressure Castro.
None of this is a "smokescreen". These are all historical facts. What gets into a smokescreen is how one uses these facts.
There is a difference between blaming Cuba for the assassination, whichever way you want to do it, and saying that one of the plans of the conspirators was to get an invasion of Cuba as a result of Kennedy's death.
No serious person believes that Castro killed Kennedy, its always been a CIA fallback position. And only a few buy the argument about RFK's guilt factor immobilizing him.
Cuba was not a "smokescreen" as far as policy went. Eisenhower and Dulles wanted Castro out. This is why in 1959, the war against Castro was planned, and the CIA Mafia plots were originated.
But many people I know do think that one of the aims of the plot was to get an invasion of Cuba. And you can actually see parts of that within some of its aspects: the actions of the DRE and Bringuier afterwards, the McKeown story, the order to the strike force, David Phillps planting stories about Oswald being in Mexico in September to receive funds for a future attempt etc. No reasonable person can deny these important strands.
And its not accurate to say the plots to kill Castro stopped with JFK's death. The IG report says they went on until 1965.
LBJ clearly did not want any kind of commie plot--or any plot at all-- involved in the investigation. And he did this by intimidating the heck out of Warren. There is also evidence the White House was in contact with Dallas and relayed the message to charge Oswald singly, no conspiracy. Hoover knew this, and he decided to squelch any leads that indicated conspiracy from the outset. Beginning that night with the switching of CE 399.
As far as Cuba goes under LBJ, there was a review of Cuban policy in the summer of 1964. Because there were still operations ongoing against the island. But by this time, one of the guys driving the campaign, Bill Harvey, has been gone from the CIA desk and is being shuffled out. He has been replaced by Fitzgerald.
Helms and Fitzgerald conducted the review for the White House, and I quote these memos in my book. Since the attack on Cuba was squelched after Kennedy's death, they see little upside in continuing the mini campaign against Castro. They conclude, as Magda mentions, that this is really counter productive in the long run. Castro is too strongly entrenched by now, his defenses fairly strong, the populace has too much allegiance to him, therefore the attacks they have been running are simply pin pricks without lasting effect. So they actually recommend to the White House that what was left of the program be wound down by the end of the year, that is 1964. And from what seems to have happened, the White House appears to have concurred.
From here of course, LBJ decided to switch the resources and focus to Southeast Asia. In a big way. The planning for a huge land war was well along by the summer of 1964. Which is where Walt Rostow, a man LBJ liked a lot, wanted to go anyway. And, as I said, it was this impending debacle that really put the kabosh on further American forays later. And actually saved regimes like the Sandinistas.