CIA'nın Büyük Operasyonları

by Mark Zepezauer, Hasan Böğün (Translator)

Bu kitapta CIA'nın en büyük 42 suçu özetlenerek anlatılıyor. Yasadışı, kanlı faaliyetlerin bu özeti bile, bağımsızlık, özgürlük ve adalet yanlısı herkesin kemiklerini sızlatmaya yeter. CIA'nın bir istihbarat toplama örgütü olduğu düşüncesi, CIA'nın en büyük propaganda zaferidir. Merkezi Haber Alma Ajansı adına rağmen, CIA'nın temel işlevi, gerçekte, ekonomik savaşı, darbeleri, suikastları ve hatta soykırımı da içeren örtülü ve gizli operasyonları yürütmektir. Örtülü operasyonlar CIA'nın can damarıdır.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Conspiracy Theories, American, American History, Espionage

120 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1994

About the author

Mark Zepezauer is an author and cartoonist based in Tucson, Arizona. He is the author of Take the Rich Off Welfare and The CIA's Greatest Hits as well as the cartoon panel US History Backwards. On his shoulder he carries a Siamese cat.

Reviews

[Public Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

A whirlwind tour of the CIA's greatest alleged crimes. If half of this is true we should think long and hard about how much we really need covert operations. Their skewed view of the national interest puts us all in danger.

[Aidan Giordano · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okayyy I don’t know how much of this book is actually true because I don’t know anything about foreign affairs (yet ;)) but if ANY of it is true i am disgusted and ready now for everything to burn down.

[David Sarkies · Rating 3 out of 5]

And now for the comeback tour
23 September 2012

This is probably one of those books that I cannot get away with simply saying that I read it long ago and can't be bothered reading it again simply because a) I own the book and b) it pretty much takes only fifteen minutes to read, if that. My valid excuse as to not being able to read this book is that it is located in a plastic crate in a shed 700 kilometres from my present location, so unfortunately I actually do not have it at hand to reference what it actually says, but I suspect that I really do not need to do that because there is probably quite a lot I can say about the CIA anyway. However, I won't say anything about its history (which can be left for another book about the CIA that I read) but rather about some of the alleged schemes that they have allegedly performed.
This book goes through a number of the plots that the CIA have allegedly carried out though I can't remember what ones he specifically listed (apparently the bombing of the PAM-AM flight, which was linked to the Lybians, was one of them) but I sure can talk about some of the things that I do know. This book goes through a number of events that were performed by the precursor to the CIA up to operation Desert Storm, though I suspect there is some myth thrown into it as well. The suggestion is that they were acting on behalf of some shadowy organisation (known as the American Government) to keep certain people (namely foreign governments) in line and to remove other people (namely enemy combatants) from causing problems (for corporate America).
One incident involved the U2 spyplane which crashed over the Soviet Union. Initially it appeared that it was that the spyplane was shot down by the Russians because, well, it wasn't supposed to be there, however there is a suggestion that the CIA tipped the Russians off so that they could embarrass President Eisenhower. One would wonder why they would want to embarrass their boss, but the question I would like to put to you is haven't you ever wanted to embarrass your boss, especially if it creates an opening that you can then go in and fill. While this may not be the case with the President, the American Bureaucracy is huge and in reality the President does not control nearly all of it, and even if he does, he can find that the bureaucracy can and will fight back (as was the case with President Kennedy).
We all like to think that a wonderful country such as the United States could never sink so low as to do things like this, nor could they be controlled by some shadowy evil organisation, but we forget that the United States not only is an Imperial Superpower, but the President is not the be all and end all in government. Ignoring the conspiracy theorists, the President's powers are curtailed by both Congress and the Supreme Court, and while the President can issue executive orders to get around that (Cheney became an expert in that regard) he still has to have such support if he is to continue.
Also remember that (ignoring President Obama, who did come out of the slums) that the American electoral system is rigged so that only a certain type of person is able to become President, and that person needs to be nominated by one of the two big parties. No President, for over 150 years, has been elected from outside of one of these big parties. Secondly the electoral college means that the direct election of the President does not happen, so that puts a further dampener on the possibility that a popular candidate (like Hitler) could get into power. Mind you, it is still possible because despite the restrictions that the electoral college imposes, somebody that is able to garner 80% of the popular vote is going to be elected.
Now, about these conspiracy theories, and ignoring September 11, remember that in the past the United States Government has done things to get people to support it for a war. First was in 1917 with the sinking of the Lusitania. That was a set up, pure and simple. Basically a passenger liner taking civilians across the Atlantic was loaded with with military supplies, and the German's notified. Effectively they painted a big target on the ship that said 'sink me please'. Granted, the Germans should not have been stupid enough to actually sink the ship, but that is one point that I wish to make.



The second was before the Vietnam war known as the 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident. That was went an American Patrol boat was sunk by a torpedo allegedly fired by the NVA. The problem was that the NVA actually didn't have a functional navy, and even if they did, they would have unlikely to have been able to take a boat out into the middle of the Gulf of Tonkin, which was swarming with American Ships, and sink the boat.



Anyway, to finish off here, I want to put forward my belief regarding September 11th. Namely there are people out there who point to engineering reports and building seven, and what not to say that it was a government conspiracy. Well, maybe it was, but my position still is the moderate position, in that the CIA knew about it, and even told the president that it was going to happen, and did nothing about it. The reason I say this is because they needed such an incident to happen to, guess what, mobilise for war. The war they wanted was not the war in Afghanistan, but the war in Iraq. If it was a real conspiracy, why was it that they didn't make it appear that it was Sadam who ordered the attacks as opposed to Bin Laden? Further, why did they go to war in Afghanistan first as opposed to Iraq. Granted, they wanted to go to Iraq because, as Donald Rumsfeld saids 'there are better targets there', but they were pressured to go into Afghanistan instead. Secondly, when they did go into Iraq why didn't they find any weapons of mass destruction. Surely a government that could go to huge lengths to orchestrate the September 11th attacks could have easily planted a nuclear centrifuge and a bio-weapons lab in Iraq (and as if the average Joe Blow would know what a centrifuge looked like). Instead, they were embarrassed that they were wrong, and shifted their rhetoric from disarming Sadam, to regime change (when we all know it was pretty much about oil, and allow Halliburton to make an absolute killing from the no-bid contracts).

[Tom Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an easy to read fast overview of over 40 examples of the CIA's most heinous laundry. It goes from the OSS, pre-CIA days up to the Desert Storm era. There is plenty of bibliography to back up the rapid-fire, 2-page accounts of CIA-backed coups and such dirty tricks that were new to me as the U2 spy-plane incident done by the CIA to embarass Eisenhower and the Lockerbie Pan Am bombing a CIA ruse to kill key passengers before they could expose it.

In 2003, a year after this book was published, Gaddafi accepted Libya's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the families of the victims, although he maintained that he had never given the order for the attack. Here, Zepezauer relates one of the Pan Am Flight 103 conspiracy theories> giving his succinct version of the CIA drug smuggling one:

Syrian terrorist Monzer al-Kassar had a great setup. He ran a Frankfurt-to-New York
heroin smuggling operation that netted him millions, and the whole thing was protected
by the CIA. This was payback for serving as a middleman in Oliver North's Iran/contra
deals (see Hit #34) and also in the hope that he'd use his influence to secure the release
of US hostages in Beirut. Al-Kassar's accomplice at the Frankfurt airport regularly
substituted a suitcase full of heroin for an identical suitcase checked onto a Pan Am
flight to New York.

Major Charles McKee, a CIA agent charged with rescuing US hostages in Beirut, was
outraged when he heard of the smuggling operation, and felt it could jeopardize his
mission. He complained bitterly to the CIA, but got only silence in reply. Impulsively,
and against CIA procedures, McKee and four other members of his team decided to fly
home and expose the deal with al-Kassar. Their flight connected with Pan Am Flight 103
in London.

On December 20, 1989, a German government agent in Frankfurt who was privy to the
heroin deal noticed that the switched suitcase being put onto Pan Am Flight 103 looked
completely different than it usually did. Aware that a bomb threat had been made against
the flight, he called his local CIA contact and asked what was up. "Don't worry about it,"
he was told. "Don't stop it. Let it go."

When Flight 103 left London, not only was the McKee team on board, but also a US
Justice department Nazi hunter and a UN diplomat mediating conflicts in southern
Africa. South Africa's foreign minister was booked on the flight as well, but luckily
cancelled at the last minute.

When the plane blew up over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people, a team of CIA
agents was on their way to the wreckage within the hour. Disguised as Pan Am
employees, they removed evidence from the crash site, then later returned it (or
something similar) to be rediscovered.

Initial investigations focused on Syria and Iran, with the possible motive being revenge
for an Iranian plane shot down by a US warship the previous July. But when Syria's
cooperation was needed during the Gulf War, the blame was shifted to our favorite
whipping boy, Libya ...

Pan Am conducted its own investigation, which uncovered the links to al-Kassar. But it
was unable to secure CIA documents on the case, and lost a massive lawsuit filed by the
families of Flight 103 victims. Soon after, it filed for bankruptcy.

Even PBS Frontline considers a connection to Iran, one that was avoided in serious US government exploration:

Though investigators say they never found hard evidence of an Iranian-Palestinian conspiracy, last year, an Iranian defector to Germany gave the theory new life when he claimed the attack was ordered by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomheini “to copy exactly what happened to the Iranian Airbus” that had been shot down by the U.S. warship.

This theory has proved durable and, for many, convincing. In its 800-page review of the Lockerbie evidence, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission said the evidence found in the Frankfurt raid shortly before the Lockerbie bombing — including the Toshiba bomb and the flight timetable — led it to determine that “there was some evidence that could support an inference of involvement by” Palestinian terrorists.

Dr. Jim Swire, whose daughter was one of the 270 victims of Flight 103, is among those who believe Megrahi was innocent. Swire has repeatedly told reporters that he believes Iran was primarily responsible for the attack, and that the U.S. did not pursue this angle because officials wanted “to blame somebody, anybody, rather than Iran.”

Investigating the Iran link, says Swire, would have caused diplomatic problems at a time when Americans were negotiating over hostages in Lebanon...

From same and FWIW:

In 2007, the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission, after more than three years of investigating, validated several of these misgivings, concluding that “some of what we have discovered may imply innocence” and referred Megrahi’s case to an appeal court in the interests of avoiding “a miscarriage of justice.”

The commission rejected several points of contention raised by critics, saying they found no signs that evidence had been tampered with, that the Libyans had been framed, or that there had been “unofficial CIA involvement” in the investigation.

[Jennifer Riaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be required reading for high school students. If that doesn’t happen, then this book should be required reading for college students. As part of developing critical thinking skills, and learning to question the government and its propaganda, this book would be a great tool in that process. It’s a small book and can be read cover to cover in less then an hour but it can certainly lead to further reading and research. The CIA is a lethal, unethical organization. Human lives are expendable and all that matters is protecting capitalism. The CIA is responsible for countless deaths and needs to Be reigned in.

[Bec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was given this book, the perfect size to carry in your back pocket and read at work (if you have that kind of job). At first I thought the layout and design to be terrible and the comics cheesy. But the text is so devastating in such short, concise statements that the silly-looking cartoons actually balance it out.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you hate the CIA...this will only affirm and strengthen your hate. If you trust your government...you should read this book. If you wonder why so many people in the world hate the United States...you won't after reading this.

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

straightforward listing of a number of operations that the rightwing will mostly find it hard to deny without losing any credibility that they may as yet retain.

[Miroku Nemeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read many serious scholarly works on the topic of CIA malfeasance, but never one this easy to read--it really only takes a couple of hours and is a good integration of so much often left unsaid in US normative discourse that it is quite remarkable a read. Other than the chapter on Yugoslavia that tries to slander Bosnians by association with Croatians during WWII and completely omits the Bosnian genocide and any mention of genocidal violence by the Serbs (the killing of over 200,000 Bosnian Muslims, including massacres of around 9,000 in places like Sbernica), it is very good. That chapter was more than suspect, however, and shows many of us who are Muslim exactly how little our lives mean to the "Western" "Left." We see this, mark it, and remember it for what it is, especially as the US-backed Zionist settler-colonial state commits genocide against the innocent indigenous people of Gaza.

[Diana Barredo · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, it makes me question whether we should have a CIA. Their unethical, immoral, deadly methods don't justify their outcomes. Using the CIA to meddle in the outcomes of other countries' elections for our monetary benefit is unconscionable, yet our government continues to do it. This book was eye-opening.

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this little book a bit of a revision of many events I remember from my early life. Some new ideas about these events, but mostly stuff I already knew. Very succinct summary of events but I think I may enjoy the source books more, particularly Blum.

[Hafiz Sheriff · Rating 5 out of 5]

If this book is true it is a disaster for the USA. How can we allow a certain government approved organization like the CIA to go on such a rampage. JFK and RFK were semi god's. How can we allow there lives to be snatched away so easily. So this is America?

[Katherine Reiter · Rating 5 out of 5]

clicking this probably means i'm on a government watchlist now but this is a book everyone needs to read

[Steve Crooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the inclusion of the words "(Real Story)" might be a bit of a stretch.

[Medical Gunch · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. It’s fine.

[Hermann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of left wing nut conspiracy theories with the CIA cast as the villain.

[Jimmy B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book but I wished the individual hits were more detailed and self contained. I understand the author left footnotes mentioning his sources, but each of the hits could have used more detail. Like the section on 9/11, what was the purpose?

[Nomax]

Oh yeah, this was a good book!

[jPhx · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super bites

[Ben Jaques-Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

You got to love a book that lists all of the horrible things that the CIA has done over the years!

[Brice Frierson · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good. It told the truth about the cia.

[Chris]

God Bless America

[Stephen K. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for Conspiracy theorists! Very fascinating read!

[Sonja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read.