CIA spy tip-off led to arrest of Mandela: report
Source: Agence France-Presse
CIA spy tip-off led to arrest of Mandela: report
May 15, 2016
London (AFP) - A tip from a CIA spy to authorities in apartheid-era South Africa led to Nelson Mandela's arrest, beginning the leader's 27 years behind bars, a report said on Sunday.
Donald Rickard, a former US vice-consul in Durban and CIA operative, told British film director John Irvin that he had been involved in Mandela's arrest in 1962 which was seen as necessary because the Americans believed he was "completely under the control of the Soviet Union", the report in The Sunday Times newspaper said.
"He could have incited a war in South Africa, the United States would have to get involved, grudgingly, and things could have gone to hell," Rickard said.
"We were teetering on the brink here and it had to be stopped, which meant Mandela had to be stopped. And I put a stop to it."
Read more: https://www.yahoo.com/news/cia-spy-claimed-tip-off-led-mandela-arrest-105645079.html?nhp=1
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)Baobab
(4,667 posts)RFK went to apartheid South Africa, in June 1966 - his trip was recorded by a Swedish TV station which is now a film.
The story is described here..
http://www.rfksafilm.org/html/back.php
Speaking of films..
There is also a REALLY good drama-documentary "Endgame" on the period immediately before the end of the apartheid regime that ran on BBC in 2009.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endgame_%282009_film%29
Very highly recommended!
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)ck4829
(35,077 posts)Sounds like a pre-Iraq war Curveball to me, everything this guy said to his superiors should be investigated and made public.
jalan48
(13,871 posts)like the one in Guatemala in 1954 and Chile in the early 70's. It's usually about big business interests.
zentrum
(9,865 posts)
.was overthrowing Moussedegh, the democratically elected President of Iran, when he tried to gain control of their own oil industry.
Which brought in the Shah, a brutal dictator. And because of the hostage crisis, due to Carter giving the Shah asylum when he was overthrown, brought us Saint Reaganwho's disastrous effect on our country may take a 100 years to climb out of, if ever.
America's foreign policy always hates democracies in the 3rd world.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Baobab
(4,667 posts)There is no other book I know of that explains the dozens of US interventions in so much detail. One chapter per intervention.
Maybe I am wrong but I cant think of a single one that turned out unambiguously well. There must have been, but I cant think of one.
Many of them were/are total disasters.
jalan48
(13,871 posts)zentrum
(9,865 posts)
Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government" by David Talbot, the founder of Salon.
Here's a quote from a book review (on Huffpo) by Joseph Palermo:
"The Devil's Chessboard is quite simply the best single volume Ive come across that details the morally bankrupt and cynical rise of an activist intelligence apparatus in this country that was not only capable of intervening clandestinely in the internal affairs of other nations but domestically too.
Talbots exhaustive research, lively prose, strong moral conviction, and the ability to convey historys relevance to our contemporary politics make The Devils Chessboard an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the institutional transformation that took place in this country at a time when rabid anti-communism dominated the thinking of foreign policy elites."
zentrum
(9,865 posts)And may I suggest:
"The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA and the Rise of America's Secret Government" by David Talbot, 2015.
It's terrific. Sadly mind-blowing. Even if you know a lot of this stuff, when it's all laid outit's horrifying anew.
laserhaas
(7,805 posts)Forecasted the U.S. Empire march through the Middle East
Octafish
(55,745 posts)...in defending his Congressional vote in support Mandela's continued imprisonment.
Cheney, after 9-11, was instrumental in remaking the US into a police state where We the People, who stand up against his ilk are labeled "terrorists."
Just like Nelson Mandela from 1962 until 2008.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024148730
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)It should be recognized everywhere in this country who the terrorists are.
It would be easier if the corporate "news" media didn't work night and day to conceal the truth.
What a shame ordinary good sense hasn't been awakened within so many, who don't know, care, that as adults they should have developed a conscience.
TomVilmer
(1,832 posts)... and his bombs killed a lot of civilians, when Mandela in the 1960'es was the leader of a very militant movement. His use of violence became the turning point for Amnesty International, which in 1964 based their concept of Prisoner of Conscience on not giving Mandela this status: "... While the greatest sympathy was expressed for those who find themselves deprived of every form of public protest, the movement recorded that it could not give the name of Prisoner of Conscience to anyone associated with violence ..."
Forty years later, Mandela was a bigger and very much changed person, and it was stupid of USA not to recognize that. In 2006, Amnesty International saluted Mandela as an Ambassador of Conscience.
daleo
(21,317 posts)I believe that's how the United States came to be an independent country, and how it finally eradicated slavery within its borders.
Cheese Sandwich
(9,086 posts)laserhaas
(7,805 posts)To explain
jwirr
(39,215 posts)Who was president at that time?
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)John Kennedy was the US President.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)misled JFK.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)It's always bullshit, and JFK is no exception.
Octafish
(55,745 posts)...when Eisenhower and Nixon were in charge. Yet, CIA continues to imply it was JFK. Details:
If the 1960 election had gone according to plan, Nixon would've been president during the Bay of Pigs. From all accounts, he likely would've sent in the Marines, along with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard, making Allen Dulles and Meyer Lansky and all their rich and corrupt friends very, very happy again.
AUG 1960: Richard Bissell meets with Colonel Sheffield Edwards, director of the CIA's Office of Security, and discusses with him ways to eliminate or assassinate Fidel Castro. Edwards proposes that the job be done by assassins hand-picked by the American underworld, specifically syndicate interests who have been driven out of their Havana gambling casinos by the Castro regime. Bissell gives Edwards the go-ahead to proceed. Between August 1960, and April 1961, the CIA with the help of the Mafia pursues a series of plots to poison or shot Castro. The CIAs own internal report on these efforts states that these plots "were viewed by at least some of the participants as being merely one aspect of the over-all active effort to overthrow the regime that culminated in the Bay of Pigs." (CIA, Inspector General's Report on Efforts to Assassinate Fidel Castro, p. 3, 14)
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/bayofpigs/chron.html
Details on the actual sit-down:
Ever wonder about the sanity of America's leaders? Take a close look at perhaps the most bizarre plot in U.S. intelligence history
By Bryan Smith
Chicago Magazine
November 2007
(page 4 of 6)
EXCERPT...
By September 1960, the project was proceeding apace. Roselli would report directly to Maheu. The first step was a meeting in New York. There, at the Plaza Hotel, Maheu introduced Roselli to O'Connell. The agent wanted to cover up the participation of the CIA, so he pretended to be a man named Jim Olds who represented a group of wealthy industrialists eager to get rid of Castro so they could get back in business.
"We may know some people," Roselli said. Several weeks later, they all met at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami. For years, the luxurious facility had served as the unofficial headquarters for Mafioso leaders seeking a base close to their gambling interests in Cuba. Now, it would be the staging area for the assassination plots.
At a meeting in one of the suites, Roselli introduced Maheu to two men: Sam Gold and a man Roselli referred to as Joe, who could serve as a courier to Cuba. By this time, Roselli was on to O'Connell. "I'm not kidding," Roselli told the agent one day. "I know who you work for. But I'm not going to ask you to confirm it."
Roselli may have figured out that he was dealing with the CIA, but neither Maheu nor O'Connell realized the rank of mobsters with whom they were dealing. That changed when Maheu picked up a copy of the Sunday newspaper supplement Parade, which carried an article laying out the FBI's ten most wanted criminals. Leading the list was Sam Giancana, a.k.a. "Mooney," a.k.a. "Momo," a.k.a. "Sam the Cigar," a Chicago godfather who was one of the most feared dons in the countryand the man who called himself Sam Gold. "Joe" was also on the list. His real name, however, was Santos Trafficantethe outfit's Florida and Cuba chieftain.
Maheu alerted O'Connell. "My God, look what we're involved with," Maheu said. O'Connell told his superiors. Questioned later before the 1975 U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (later nicknamed the Church Committee after its chairman, Frank Church, the Democratic senator from Idaho), O'Connell was asked whether there had ever been any discussion about asking two men on the FBI's most wanted list to carry out a hit on a foreign leader.
"Not with me there wasn't," O'Connell answered.
"And obviously no one said stopand you went ahead."
"Yes."
"Did it bother you at all?"
"No," O'Connell answered, "it didn't."
CONTINUED...
http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/November-2007/How-the-CIA-Enlisted-the-Chicago-Mob-to-Put-a-Hit-on-Castro/index.php?cparticle=4&siarticle=3
Yet, the Mighty Wurlitzer plays the false tune that Kennedy was the guy who wanted Castro dead.
Spies: Ex-CIA Agent In Raleigh Says Castro Knew About JFK Assassination Ahead Of Time
Former CIA agent and author Brian Latell in Raleigh
By The Raleigh Telegram
RALEIGH A noted former Central Intelligence Agency officer, author, and scholar who is intimately knowledgeable about Cuba and Fidel Castro, says he believes there is evidence that Castros government knew about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963 ahead of time.
SNIP...
Robert Kennedy, as the Attorney General of the United States, was in charge of the operation, said Latell. Despite the United States best efforts, the operation was nonetheless penetrated by Cuban intelligence agents, said Latell.
Latell said there were two serious assassination attempts by the United States against Castro that even used members of the mafia to help, but both of them were obviously unsuccessful.
He also said that there was a plot by the United States to have Castro jabbed with a pen containing a syringe filled with a very effective poison. Latell said that he believes the experienced assassin who worked for Castro who originally agreed to the plan may have been a double agent. After meeting with a personal representative of Robert Kennedy in Paris, the man knew that the plan to assassinate Castro came from the highest levels of the government, including John F. and Robert Kennedy.
The plan was never carried out, as the man later defected to the United States, but with so many double agents working for Castro also pledging allegiance to the CIA, Latell said it was likely that the information got back to Havana that the Kennedy brothers endorsed that plot with the pen.
CONTINUED...
http://raleightelegram.com/201209123311
Weird, huh?
jwirr
(39,215 posts)which may very well have gotten him killed.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)Dec 6, 2013 @ 03:52 PM 94,856 views
When Conservatives Branded Nelson Mandela A Terrorist
Rick Ungar
With the passing of President Nelson Mandelaarguably the most transformative world figure of the last centuryour nations airwaves are awash in soaring and well deserved testimonials from all sides of the American political spectrum. While the memorials are both heartwarming and sad, the loss of Mandela has also resulted in a great many conversations providing important historical perspective and context via the media coverageperspective that helps us more fully understand and appreciate just how remarkable and inspirational were the accomplishments of Nelson Mandela.
Indeed, so critical is Mandela to modern world history, each and every one of the living American presidents are planning to travel to South Africa next week to participate in a memorial service honoring the man who is considered the father of the South African nation.
However, there is one retired Vice-President of the United States that will likely not be attending any memorials for this great hero of humanityeither in South Africa or right here at home.
It was Dick Cheney who, while serving as Wyomings Republican congressman back in 1986, found it simply beyond his capacity to distinguish between a freedom fighter committed to ending South Africas brutal system of apartheidone of the most evil political systems ever to scar the planetand a terrorist.
More:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/12/06/when-conservatives-branded-nelson-mandela-a-terrorist/#3f8826b671c7
polly7
(20,582 posts)Baobab
(4,667 posts)apartheid. Must see.
This is the trailer for it. It was shown on PBS here in the US some time ago.
Hoppy
(3,595 posts)leveymg
(36,418 posts)The Cold War excused everything.
drokhole
(1,230 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)drokhole
(1,230 posts)Didn't violate anything, and posted it in light of these new revelations. Already had 12 recs, and was given no reason for its locking. Shameful.
Baobab
(4,667 posts)with Israeli help, I think.
Judi Lynn
(160,545 posts)and I keep seeing the country involved all over the Americas assisting hard right regimes in military crappola, which has always seemed so damned odd, considering what Jewish people suffered at the hands of German fascists.
Thank you for injecting some depth here.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)all in the name of peace
Doctor_J
(36,392 posts)He didn't like the cia much anyway.
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)They had assassinated Patrice Lumumba in Congo a year before and then did Diem in Vietnam a year later. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrice_Lumumba
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrest_and_assassination_of_Ngo_Dinh_Diem
Now they have drones, and it's all much more clinical.