ABC: 1960's Military Plans To TERRORIZE AMERICAN CITIES To Provoke War With Cuba

[kpete]

Book: U.S. Military Drafted Plans to Terrorize U.S. Cities to Provoke War With Cuba

By David Ruppe

N E W Y O R K, May 1, 2001 In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.

Code named Operation Northwoods, the plans reportedly included the possible assassination of Cuban émigrés, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, hijacking planes, blowing up a U.S. ship, and even orchestrating violent terrorism in U.S. cities.

The plans were developed as ways to trick the American public and the international community into supporting a war to oust Cuba's then new leader, communist Fidel Castro.

America's top military brass even contemplated causing U.S. military casualties, writing: "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba," and, "casualty lists in U.S. newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation."

more at:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=92662

[Nikki Stone1]

1. This has been around for awhile

I know some people believe that the war on "terra" runs along the same lines.

[NVMojo]

5. the date on this is interesting. May 2001

[file83]

38. Also interesting, JFK was assassinated about 1 year later - after shutting Northwoods down.

Makes one wonder...

[Ian_rd]

45. May 2001 indeed. I never heard of this and I read a lot of news. I imagine the public would've been

.... informed if this story could have somehow been tied into Bennifer or Branjelina. Holy Jesus - proof that high level officials in the U.S. government wanted to kill our own troops/civilians in order to pursue a war. How can you sleep at night as a news organization and not make this a primetime topic?

[Land Shark]

46. don't know how they sleep at night, but do know I made a pdf or printout of this in 2001

It's not a question of IF the government would ever possibly run such an operation or plan one, the question is whether that occurred in the particular instance of September 2001. Nor is it a question whether or not the government of the United States or any other nation would let their own citizens die, in WWII citizens were allowed to die by the thousands when we knew about Axis attacks ahead of time because their code was broken but failed to warn our own people, because to do so would indicate or could indicate advance warning that we had broken their code, and that intelligence asset was deemed more important and may well have been more important than protecting against individual attacks. So I am saying here that the "9-11 as LIHOP or MIHOP" is certainly not "unthinkable" but NOT judging the issue at all of whether it did in fact happen that way...

[bleever]

2. Interesting that ABC is revisiting this story now.

[Rose Siding]

12. The article's dated May 01

[bleever]

17. Thanks, you're right. I saw today's date and assumed it was

republished.

[Wilms]

3. I think it was May of 2001 when the document was released via FOIA .

Some consider this a potential blueprint for 9/11.

Google Operation Northwoods and read the actual doc, and you'll see why.

[Mr Rabble]

4. k & r for truth!

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. The "false flag" rationale

espoused by many theorists. I prefer not to say conspiracy theorist as there is a knee-jerk response to discount anything said after reading that label.

[nashville_brook]

24. been wondering what "false flag" ops might have been employed in ancient history

the idea seems to me to be solid military strategy, albeit dirty. so i wonder if there's any examples from ancient history that describe so-called false flag or "strategy of tension" operations. surely the approach was used in ancient warfare.

rhetorically,identifying historic usage of the tactic would go a long way to countering it's CT identity nowadays.

[spillthebeans]

27. It's the oldest trick in the book,

dating back to Roman times; creating the enemies you need.

In 70 BC, an ambitious minor politician and extremely wealthy man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, wanted to rule Rome. Just to give you an idea of what sort of man Crassus really was, he is credited with invention of the fire brigade. But in Crassus' version, his fire-fighting slaves would race to the scene of a burning building whereupon Crassus would offer to buy it on the spot for a tiny fraction of it's worth. If the owner sold, Crassus' slaves would put out the fire. If the owner refused to sell, Crassus allowed the building to burn to the ground. By means of this device, Crassus eventually came to be the largest single private land holder in Rome, and used some of his wealth to help back Julius Caesar against Cicero.
In 70 BC Rome was still a Republic, which placed very strict limits on what Rulers could do, and more importantly NOT do. But Crassus had no intentions of enduring such limits to his personal power, and contrived a plan.

Crassus seized upon the slave revolt led by Spartacus in order to strike terror into the hearts of Rome, whose garrison Spartacus had already defeated in battle. But Spartacus had no intention of marching on Rome itself, a move he knew to be suicidal. Spartacus and his band wanted nothing to do with the Roman empire and had planned from the start merely to loot enough money from their former owners in the Italian countryside to hire a mercenary fleet in which to sail to freedom.
Sailing away was the last thing Crassus wanted Spartacus to do. He needed a convenient enemy with which to terrorize Rome itself for his personal political gain. So Crassus bribed the mercenary fleet to sail without Spartacus, then positioned two Roman legions in such a way that Spartacus had no choice but to march on Rome.

Terrified of the impending arrival of the much-feared army of gladiators, Rome declared Crassus Praetor. Crassus then crushed Spartacus' army and even though Pompey took the credit, Crassus was elected Consul of Rome the following year.
With this maneuver, the Romans surrendered their Republican form of government. Soon would follow the first Triumvirate, consisting of Crassus, Pompeii, and Julius Caesar, followed by the reign of the god-like Emperors of Rome.

The Romans were hoaxed into surrendering their Republic, and accepting the rule of Emperors.
Julius Caesar's political opponent, Cicero, for all his literary accomplishments, played the same games in his campaign against Julius Caesar, claiming that Rome was falling victim to an internal "vast right wing" conspiracy in which any expressed desire for legislative limits on government was treated as suspicious behavior. Cicero, in order to demonstrate to the Romans just how unsafe Rome has become hired thugs to cause as much disturbance as possible, and campaigned on a promise to end the internal strife if elected and granted extraordinary powers.

[nashville_brook]

34. THANK YOU! i knew there had to be an ancient example of this!

btw... this story mentions "gladiators" which made me think of "Gladio."

from the WIKI:
During the Cold War era, Operation Gladio was a clandestine "stay-behind" operation sponsored by the CIA and NATO to counter a possible Warsaw Pact invasion of Western Europe after World War II in Italy, as well as in other European countries. <1> NATO stay-behind armies existed in all countries of Western Europe during the Cold War, including Turkey.

Gladio, the Latin word for sword, is a colloquial term to denote the stay-behind networks in various European countries. The exact details of each stay-behind network are still unknown, although Italy, Switzerland and Belgium have had parliamentary inquiries into the matter.

[spillthebeans]

35. there is a better link between gladio and northwoods

Lemnitzer had worked with Allen Dulles during World War II, and was part of Dulles' Operation Sunrise, the separate surrender of German forces in Italy by SS General Karl Wolf Lemnitzer had helped to assemble the first stay-behind networks of the Gladio type, which were often staffed by former Nazis and fascists. Lemnitzer, along with Curtis LeMay of the Air Force, favored using the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 to provoke general nuclear war with the USSR. Robert Dallek's new biography of Kennedy documents the reckless and irresponsible advice Lemnitzer gave Kennedy on a number of military problems; it usually came down to recommending nuclear weapons under all circumstances as the only way to guarantee victory. In 1962 Lemnitzer was denied his ambition of being re-appointed to a second term as JCS chairman, but he was given the post of NATO Supreme Commander, where he presided over the creation of the first Gladio arms and explosives caches on the Italian front. Lemnitzer did not retire from active duty until 1969. President Gerald Ford asked Lemnitzer to join the agitation of the Committee on the Present Danger, a retread of a CIA front group from the early 1950s. The CPD was the private-sector arm of CIA Director George Bush's Team B, an exercise in anti-Soviet alarmism that foreshadowed the Feith-Luti-Shulsky Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon. Ford also promoted General William H. Craig, who had been a part of the Northwood cabal, to be the head of the Army Security Agency, an arm of the supersecret National Security Agency, the center of electronic surveillance. Lemnitzer died in November 1988.

http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NCaBbiDldx0J:www.american-buddha.com/911.syntheticterrormade4.htm+lemnitzer+directed+gladio&hl=de&gl=de&ct=clnk&cd=1

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=16921

[Phrogman]

39. Well Karl, do you like gladiator movies?

eom

[Joanne98]

50. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[petgoat]

7. Oh our government would never do so dastardly a thing!

Even if you prove it, I refuse to believe it.

[deminks]

8. You mean the US is capable of false flags? (heavy sarcasm)

Interesting timing for this to reappear, I must say.

[scarletwoman]

9. Interesting that this was published in May, 2001. I'm kinda surprised it's still up.

Funny how no one in the mainstream news brought it up after Sept. 11, 2001.

sw

[annabanana]

10. On ABC?!?!?

That's your story here. The fact that this is being presented as fact and not "tin-foil" stuff, on ABC is pretty big.

This would be where they'd have to start if they were going to make a part-way honest accounting of the recent history of the relationship between our government and our people. Of course, to bring the public "up to speed" would require three hour specials, daily, for months and months.

[scarletwoman]

15. Did you look at the date? It's from May, 2001.

Remember, "Everything changed after 9/11."

sw

[LynnTheDem]

11. Funny thing, how so many Americans still think "we're #1"

and wonder why so much of the world despises us.

If we knew our own history, what has been -is currently being- done in our names, no one would have to wonder why they hate us.

[EFerrari]

23. No. We'd have to wonder why it took so long for New York

to be attacked. If it was attacked by someone else, that is.

Our foreign policy has been predatory ever since we started running out of "vast uninhabited continent" - or, since Day 1.

"Oh, brave new world that has such people in it."
"'Tis new to you."

[zeemike]

13. Doesn't surprise me at all

That was what the bay of pigs was all about, the overthrow of Castro and the return of Cuba to it's rightfully owners, the Mafia and the american sugar company.
But after the Cuban Missile crisis and the deal made with Russia to end it, we gave our word that we would not invade Cuba to get the nukes out of that country.
This is all part of the cold war mentality that is still alive in our government and is the source of the present Iraq problem.
I guess we can only hope that they will die off and not have any one to replace them with, if we are ever to end this unjust world view.

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. The BFEE, behind it all starting with Prescott bush, ending ........?

[zeemike]

18. Ending I guess when we revoke there dynastic privileges n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Good start.

[Jcrowley]

14. K & R n/t

[spillthebeans]

20. unfortunately the Kennedy's who could help are dead

where is my grammar

[Tiggeroshii]

21. I've read operation northwoods over and over...

can anybody show me where it outlines "terrorizing US. cities?" The closest I could get to that is when it talks about staging the hijacking of an airliner, and blowing up boatfuls of cuban refugees. None of what I saw explicitly proposed killing American citizens.

[spillthebeans]

25. Here is Northwoods

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf

http://www.911truth.dk/first/sources/NorthwoodsAnnex.htm here a highlighted version

3. A "Remember the Maine" incident could be arranged in several forms:

a. We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.

b. We could blow up a drone (unmanned) vessel anywhere in the Cuban waters. We could arrange to cause such incident in the vicinity of Havana or Santiago as a spectacular result of Cuban attack from the air or sea, or both. The presence of Cuban planes or ships merely investigating the intent of the vessel could be fairly compelling evidence that the ship was taken under attack. The nearness to Havana or Santiago would add credibility especially to those people that might have heard the blast or have seen the fire. The US could follow up with an air/sea rescue operation covered by US fighters to "evacuate" remaining members of the non-existent crew. Casualty lists in US newspapers would cause a helpful wave of national indignation.


4. 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 refugees seeking haven in the United States. We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute 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. 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.

[Tiggeroshii]

28. Thanks, I didn't catch that part....

I'll look at it again.

[Octafish]

22. Here's the document...

PDF: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/620219%20Memo%20for%20the%20Chief%20of%20Ops..pdf

Gen. Lyman Lemnitzer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, presented it to President Kennedy. The Pentagon and their toadies on Capitol Hill and the Press wanted war with Cuba and the USSR. Kennedy said, "No." A couple months later, he fired Lemnitzer. A year later, Kennedy was gone. Oh, and Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin, was painted as a "pro-Castro Cuban sympathizer."

Details on the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/nsa/cuba_mis_cri/index.htm

[nashville_brook]

26. "cover and deception" -- their term for false flag

cool link! thanks!

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. WOW they are unwrapping Northwoods,

does that mean it is no longer a "conspiracy theory?"

[mattclearing]

33. That article was dated May 2001.

No one is unwrapping anything, at least not until their holiday of choice.

[WilliamPitt]

30. Welcome to the fuckin' planet, ABC

What, did someone spike your research department's Blue Pills with caffeine or something?

Grr.

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. RLOL

boy I feel I can let go of my tin foil hat, Northwods edition

;-)

[spillthebeans]

32. they are on the planet, the date is may 2001

[raccoon]

42. Wonder if ABC would've printed it if W's was still popular and

Americans weren't so fed up with the Iraq war?

Somehow, I suspect they wouldn't have.

[BrotherBuzz]

36. A theme also covered in David Dionisi's book 'American Hiroshima'

“After a nuclear terrorist event, an independent blue ribbon commission's should fully investigate what happened before a military response, and by all means a nuclear response, is authorized.” David J. Dionisi

History has illustrated that internal attacks are sometimes planned as a catalyst for war. For this reason, a nuclear terrorist attack should not automatically be assumed to be the work of al Qaeda or Iran's Qods force.

Consider the 1962 recommendation to President John F. Kennedy that Americans be killed in terrorist attacks to justify an invasion of Cuba. The operation, code named Operation Northwoods, was part of the larger Operation Mongoose program. Operation Northwoods was submitted by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13, 1962.

The Top Secret Operation Northwoods plan called for "massive casualty producing events" that would justify a U.S. invasion of Cuba. The proposals included attacking a U.S. commercial passenger plane using a U.S. made reproduction of a Russian made MIG attack aircraft, blowing up a refugee boat, blowing up a U.S. ship, and implementing a series of terrorist attacks in the United States including the capitol. The objective of Operation Northwoods was to concoct a "Remember the Maine" incident and win mass support for an invasion of Cuba.

To read the now declassified Operation Northwoods plan, visit http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/doc1.pdf.

As historical background on the reference to the Maine, on February 15, 1898 the American battleship Maine exploded in Havana Harbor. Of the 350 men on the Maine, 266 died. This event motivated U.S. citizens to support a war with Spain. For more information about the Maine, visit http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues98/feb98/maine.html.

http://www.americanhiroshima.info/

[bleever]

37. "Operation Northwoods" story featured on MSM website

is a good title for this post about how history lies there in plain sight, for anyone to see.

[ConsAreLiars]

40. "America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people"

Hey, that's what they do everyday. Of course, this was a bit novel, since the victims were to be US citizens. ABC told a bit of truth in that article. Of course, all that changed after the successful events of 9/11.

[The Backlash Cometh]

41. Thanks for the evidence.

I think that since the 2000 election, we've all known that dark forces are behind a lot of our misery.

[No Exit]

43. Related topic: I recall when many here hadn't heard of PNAC

To give credit where credit is due, the paleocons on the web have been buzzing about this sort of thing--both Operation Northwoods and PNAC--for YEARS. Oftentimes, when such concepts were brought up in liberal company, one was dismissed as a "wingnut".

I realize that the rightwingers' reputation for believing in "black helicopters", or other paranoid ideas, has naturally hurt their credibility. But it appears that Operation Northwoods was a REAL plan. And now, what with the endless "terrorism" crap, we are apparently living it.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[mainer]

44. This is the first I've heard of it. I can't believe it slipped past me in '01

I think I'm pretty well-read, but it's news to me. It deserves another round of news coverage.

[alfredo]

47. James Bamford's "Body of Secrets" does a whole chapter on

Northwoods. They were willing to kill John Glenn to advance their cause.

I can vouch for some of Bambford's work. His description of the USS Liberty murders is right on the money.

[happydreams]

48. An American Reichstag fire! They

finally got it done on 9/11/01.

[Lilith Velkor]

53. mmhmmm

[Joanne98]

49. "We could blow up a U.S. ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba,"

Didn't we already do that. Remember the Maine!

[chimpymustgo]

51. K & R. nt

nt

[windbreeze]

52. When you add this information

together with the white paper by the PNAC...that was first published in 1997...and then (IIRC)re-published in 2000...calling for a new "Pearl Harbor"...The one that actually named Iraq/Iran/Syria/Lybia/N.Korea as the axis of evil...the whole 9/11 event doesn't seem quite so related to tin foil hats any longer...and when it's the same bunch of people/agencies involved today as back in the day of the Bay of Pigs/JFK/MLK/RFK assassinations...that's what should be frightening to us....because it infers they will stop at nothing to have their way...
windbreeze