The Nation.

Castro and the Colossus

Truthdig

By Robert Scheer

February 20, 2008

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  • The author is ignorant of some of the facts or is misrepresenting the Bay of Pigs Fiasco. Kennedy got conned by the CIA and some advisors with their own agenda. The whole operation was created during the Eisenhower Administration and was rehearsed for almost a year before Kennedy was elected. A double agent at CIA leaked it to Castro and when the going got tough, Kennedy chickened out and called off the air support that may have saved the day but would have blown CIA cover. Corporate America drove that operation just like it drove Vietnam and is now driving Iraq. Eisenhower had it right when he warned us to beware of the military-industrial complex, but his Administration was in charge when the Bay of Pigs fiasco was created. If there is no enemy readily at hand, you must create one!

    Robby Zuwadza

    San Francisco, CA

    02/21/2008 @ 6:47pm


  • In his article on Castro, Robert Scheer states: "And after Eisenhower resisted calls to overthrow Castro in reprisal for his nationalizing American-owned power grids, nickel mines and sugar plantations in Cuba, Kennedy, in the first months of his Administration, ordered the Bay of Pigs invasion." Scheer's version of events is nonsense. In fact, the Bay of Pigs invasion was planned under the Eisenhower Administration, with Vice President Richard Nixon taking a leading role in the planning. Roger Hilsman, Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs under President Kennedy, in letter to the New York Times, January 20, 1992, wrote: "When Kennedy took office, Laos was the hot spot, and the departing President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, warned Kennedy he might have to fight there. If so, Eisenhower said, he would support the decision. Over the next few weeks Kennedy made several hawkish public statements. But after the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba, he changed his attitude. He told several people, including Richard Nixon, that since 'the American people do not want to use troops to remove a Communist regime only 90 miles away, how can I ask them to use troops to remove one 9,000 miles away?' "

    Mary Tracy

    El Monte, CA

    02/21/2008 @ 5:04pm


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