Borja Alvarez’s Reviews > Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA > Status Update

«No one at the agency asked the question that
Vernon Walters, Bush's newly appointed ambassador to Germany, put to his officers in May 1989: "What are we going to do when the Wall comes down?"»

"In covert action," McMahon said, "you always have to think of the endgame before you start it.
And we don't always do that."

“Polgar burned all the CIA's files, cables, and codebooks that evening. Not long after midnight, he composed his farewell: "THIS WILL BE FINAL MESSAGE FROM SAIGON STATION.... IT HAS BEEN A LONG FIGHT AND WE HAVE LOST....
THOSE WHO FAIL TO LEARN FROM HISTORY ARE FORCED TO REPEAT IT. LET US HOPE THAT WE WILL NOT HAVE ANOTHER VIETNAM EXPERIENCE AND THAT WE HAVE LEARNED OUR LESSON. SAIGON SIGNING OFF."

«These colonels had been plotting for years and years," said Robert Keeley, later the American ambassador to Greece. "They were fascists. They fitted the classic definition of fascism, as represented by Mussolini in the 1920s: a corporate state, uniting industry and unions, no parliament, trains running on time, heavy discipline and censorship...almost a classic fascist ideal."»

“Facing capture at the presidential palace, Allende killed himself with an automatic rifle, a gift from Fidel Castro. The military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet took power that afternoon, and the CIA quickly forged a liaison with the general's junta.
Pinochet reigned with cruelty, murdering more than 3,200 people, jailing and torturing tens of thousands in the repression called the Caravan of Death.”

«General Camilo Valenzuela, chief of the
Santiago garrison, had been in touch with the CIA six days before. He had revealed that he was willing, perhaps able, but frightened. On the evening of October 16, one of Valenzuela's officers approached the CIA looking for money and guidance. "Que necesitamos es un general con cojones," the officer said. "What we need is a general with balls."»

«The high command sent the order to kill Che at 11:50 a.m. "Guevara was executed with a burst of shots at 1:15 p.m.," Rodriguez radioed to Tilton.
"Guevara's last words were: "Tell my wife to remarry and tell Fidel Castro that the Revolution will rise again in the Americas. To his executioner he said, 'Remember, you are killing a man.’»

«McCone had no confidence that the attacks would change Ho Chi Minh's mind. "The President should be informed that this is not the greatest thing since peanut butter," he advised.»

"They said Indonesia was a failure," Al Pope reflected bitterly. "But we knocked the shit out of them. We killed thousands of Communists, even though half of them probably didn't even know what Communism meant."

«If arms could not buy loyalty in the Middle East, the almighty dollar was still the CIA's secret weapon. Cash for political warfare and power plays was always welcome.»