The whole sordid mess was much ado about nothing - just like Iraq's WMDs. Ironically, the "Sovet threat" that prompted the covert action turned out to be a figment of the Dulles brothers' imaginations: after the coup, captured documents revealed that the handful of communists in Guatemala's government never had significant links to Moscow. The world knew that we had raped a small country, and the damage to our reputation was immense. Although Americans didn't learn this secret history for decades, no one in Europe or Latin America was deceived. The operation entered CIA lore as a big success, and led to the fiasco at the Bay of Pigs. Under the ensuing dictatorship, land reform was cancelled, two-thirds of the population was disenfranchised, political parties were banned, and Guatemala became dependent on massive U.S. Fortunately for the bunglers at the CIA, the Guatemalan Army became gripped by fear that Eisenhower might send in the Marines: to avoid a showdown with the U.S., the generals removed the reformers from power. Worst of all, the invaders were laughably incompetent and on the verge of collapse after a few days of border fighting. Intelligence was bad, the operation was poorly planned and riddled with security lapses, and most CIA assets within Guatemala were rolled up before the invasion began. Notwithstanding the David-and-Goliath nature of the contest, the covert action almost failed. The agency funded anti-regime activists, blocked arms shipments, established a clandestine radio station, and assembled a rag-tag army of rebels based in Nicaragua and Honduras. In the early 1950s, the CIA plotted to rub out a reformist Guatemalan government that had redistributed land to peasants and curbed the influence of the United Fruit company. Cullather is wise in the ways of government, and understands the role of hubris and error in human affairs. Parts were heavily (and clumsily) redacted by CIA censors before declassification, but the remaining text still fascinates and appalls. It was ultimately released as part of a brief "openness" campaign at the CIA. He had full access to surviving files on the Guatemala operation, and intended his monograph to serve as a case-study for CIA staff. The author, Nick Cullather, wrote the book while employed as a CIA historian. This is a great book about one of the great follies of the Cold War: the CIA's overthrow of a leftist government in Guatemala in 1954. A recommended reading to all contemporary historians. This story (not so secret after all) outlines the modus operandi of CIA and will be the blueprint for future covert operations, whether or not successful. Guatemala is still paying for that successful operation. Castill Armas was a disaster and his successor will prove themselves even worse. The operation in Guatemala will turn into a success despite the many mistakes in the planning and implementation phase. The ousting of the democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz by the would be caudillo Carlos Castillo Armas with the enthusiastic support from the CIA will be the general rehearsal for future operations in other parts of the World during the Cold War. They now have the insider proof they needed. The story is well known by conspiracy theorists and historians of Guatemala. The text shows many deletions (often idiosyncratic) from CIA censors, even if they reemerge in other parts of the text. This report has been published during the short "glasnost" at the CIA. Cullaher had full access to all the allegedly existing files concerning CIA operations in Guatemala from 1952 to 1954. When I look back through my notebook later to see what I’ve written– in almost unintelligible handwriting – there’s sentiments like “Reptilians eat slaves” and “The great honour to be consumed by a Draco” and “Some Reptilians are vegetarian” and, finally, “Hilary Clinton has a reptilian parasite in her throat”.The author, the young historian Nick Cullather, wrote this case-study report on Guatemala for new recruits during his one year stint at the CIA. Gilmore paced the floor, blowing over subjects in such quick succession that I barely had time to scribble down a sentence before he had moved to the next topic. I had watched a bunch of Alien movies (I’m still haunted by The Fourth Kind) – but my knowledge was nowhere near as extensive as it should have been to understand what was happening. I knew about reptilians (Thanks Men in Black), and UFO sightings in Westall in the 1960s. Much of the information is lost to me: I hadn’t done any sizeable research. It’s hard to decipher what exactly Steve Gilmore is talking about. When I finally sit somewhere at the edge, he has moved onto the topic of the day: The extraterrestrial wars on earth. One lady lifts her hand and nods knowingly. Gilmore asks if anyone in the audience has seen into the future. Steve Gilmore speaking on Extraterrestrial Wars
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