U.S. Officials Proposed Staging Terror Attacks!

Would the U.S. government stage a terrorist attack on its own citizens on
American soil?Yes, according to shocking once-secret documents unveiled by
a respected mainstream journalist.

Exclusive To American Free Press

By Michael Collins Piper

___In the wake of the tragic Oklahoma City bombing, media pundits raised
voices of horror at the suggestion by some that U.S. government operatives
might have played a part in orchestrating the bombing for some geopolitical
purpose or purposes unknown.
___However, in 2001, six years after the Oklahoma tragedy, best-selling
author James Bamford, a veteran journalist, released Body of Secrets which
revealed that in January 1961, top U.S. policy makers were considering a
horrific scheme to launch terrorist attacks on American citizens and point
the finger of blame at Fidel Castro's communist Cuba.

___Here's what Bamford wrote:

___According to documents obtained for Body of Secrets, [then-Joint Chiefs of
Staff Chairman, Army General Lyman] Lemnitzer and the Joint Chiefs proposed
secretly to stage an attack on the American naval base at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba-and then blame the violent action on Castro. Convinced that Cuba had
launched an unprovoked attack on the United States, the unwitting American
public would then support the Joint Chief's bloody Carib bean war. After
all, who would believe Castro's denials over the word of the Pentagon's top
military commanders? The nation's most senior military leadership was
proposing to launch a war, which would no doubt kill many American
servicemen, based solely on a fabric of lies. On January 19, just hours
before [then-President Dwight] Eisenhower left office, Lemnitzer gave his
approval to the proposal. As events progressed, the plan would become only
the tip of a very large and secret iceberg.
___Lemnitzer, a self-described "imaginative planner," kept his initial plan in
cold storage. However, after the new Kennedy administration's Bay of Pigs
fiasco, which left Fidel Castro stronger than ever before, Lemnitzer
reinvigorated his scheme under the name "Operation Northwoods." Bamford
reports that:
___The plan, which had the written approval of the chairman and every member
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on
American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on
the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in
Washington, D.C., Miami and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings
they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of
it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving Lemnister and his cabal the
excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to
launch their war.
___What makes this so additionally disturbing is that this was not some wild
scheme by only some "mad bombers" inside the military. In Bamford's
estimation, "the idea may actually have originated with President Eisenhower
in the last days of his administration."
___Bamford reports that Eisenhower was determined to invade Cuba and that if
Castro did not provide an excuse prior to the inauguration of newly-elected
President John F. Kennedy, Eisenhower suggested that the United States
"could think of manufacturing something that would be generally acceptable."
___What Eisenhower was suggesting, writes Bamford, was "a bombing, an attack,
an act of sabotage carried out secretly against the United States by the
United States. Its purpose would be to justify the launching of a war. It
was a dangerous suggestion by a desperate president." Lemnitzer,
Eisenhower's protegé since World War II days, was eager to carry out the plan.
___Although a direct proposal for the assassination of then-astronaut (and
future U.S. Senator) John Glenn was never formally put in writing,
Lemnitzer did propose that "IF" Glenn's historic earth-orbiting journey of
1962 should happen to be interrupted by an explosion of his rocket, the
U.S. government should:
______"Provide irrevocable proof that . . . the fault lies with the
______Communists et al Cuba . . . by manufacturing various pieces
______of evidence which would prove electronic interference on
______the part of the Cuba . . ."
___Lemnitzer also had in mind the possibility of a dramatic scenario recalling
the 1898 disaster which befell the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor, sparking
the Spanish-American war:
______"We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame
______Cuba. Casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful
______wave of national indignation."
___Terrorism on American soil by Americans against Americans-but blamed on
Castro-was also offered up by Lemnitzer and his advisors:
______"We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign in the Miami
______area, in other FLorida cities and even in Washington. The terror
______campaign could be pointed at Cuban refugees seeking haven in the
______United States . . . . We could sink a boatload of Cubans en route to
______Florida (real or simulated). . . . We could foster attempts on lives of
______Cuban refugees in the United States even to the extent of wounding
______in instances to be widely publicized."
___Among the proposals cited by Bamford, quoting the original documents:
______"Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of
______Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating
______Cuban involvement also would be helpful in projecting the idea of an
______irresponsible government.
______"Hijacking attempts against civil air and surface craft could appear to
______continue as harassing measures condoned by the Government of Cuba."
___Following in Lemnitzer's tradition, like-minded "intellectuals" in the defense establishment continued to formulate plans passed on to the military leadership
that were designed to provoke a war through a staged terrorist attack. One
proposal, cited by Bamford, read:
______"A contrived 'Cuban' attack on an OAS [Organi zation of American States]
______member could be set up and the attacked state could be urged to "take
______measures of self-defense and request assistance from the U.S. and OAS; the
______U.S. could almost certainly obtain the necessary two-third support among
______OAS members for collective action against Cuba."
___This same proposal made the suggestion that the United States should bribe
someone in the Castro regime to launch an attack on an American military installation. This, Bamford points out, constituted TREASON.
___Bamford also reveals that one of the defense department's civilian "intellectuals,"
Paul H. Nitze-then an assistant secretary of defense-came up with a plan sent to
the White House in May 1963. Nitze proposed-in Nitze's own chilling words:
______"A possible scenario whereby an attack on a United States
______reconnaissance aircraft could be exploited toward the end of effecting
______the removal of the Castro regime."
___In the event Cuba attacked a U-2, Nitze proposed sending in additional
American pilots, this time on dangerous, unnecessary low-level reconnaissance
missions with the expectation that they would also be shot down, thus provoking
a war. "[T]he U.S. could undertake various measures designed to stimulate the
Cubans to provoke a new incident," said Nitze. Bamford adds wryly that
"Nitze, however, did not volunteer to be one of the pilots."
___In later years, Nitze-along with his ally Lemnitzer-would emerge as one of
the Israeli lobby's key contacts inside the defense establishment in
official Washington. Nitze and Lemnitzer, who shared ethnic ties to Israel,
worked relentlessly through a variety of venues to advance Israel's cause,
manipulating American policy to benefit their favorite foreign nation.
(For more on Nitze's associates, see the story on pages 4, 5 and 6 of this
issue.)

Body of Secrets (hardcover, 720 pps., $32.95) is available from First
Amendment Books (FAB), 1433 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.
Call 1-888-699-NEWS if you would like to order using Visa or Mastercard.

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