Covert operations in Angola event
also: Project Feature, Angola operation, Angola project, covert action scheme
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
CIAintelligence service · 12Gerald Fordperson · 7South Africacountry · 6Henry Kissingerperson · 4Church Committeeorganization · 4Congocountry · 4Costa Giorgigoperson · 4Mobutu Sese Sekoperson · 3Holden Robertoperson · 3William Proxmireperson · 2Jimmy Carterperson · 2FNLAorganization · 2Ron Nessenperson · 2Dave Tompkinsperson · 2George Bacon IIIperson · 2John Stockwellperson · 1Pujo Committeeorganization · 1Gustavo Grilloperson · 1Gary Actorperson · 1The New York Timesorganization · 1MPLAorganization · 1William Colbyperson · 1Seymour Hershperson · 1Jonas Savimbiperson · 1
Claims (4)
Seymour Hersh exposed
Covert operations in Angola documented
“and abandoning, quote unquote, our responsibility in Angola. Ford's statement laid the groundwork for a counterattack when the bill came before the House. But on December 21st, a provocative article appeared on the front page of the New Yor…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 39 (41) @ 5:58
Gerald Ford funded
Covert operations in Angola documented
“The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence went on to do a year-long investigation of Project Feature. In the spring of 78, it concluded that the Ford administration had misled Congress on the scope of the operation, not revealing some act…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 39 (41) @ 14:47
John Stockwell exposed
Covert operations in Angola documented
“Thoroughly disillusioned, CIA officer John Stockwell resigned and went public. With the fiasco so recently revealed, it is not so surprising that Senator Church made strong charges on covert action in his committee's final report. Church al…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 39 (41) @ 13:18
Gerald Ford ordered_assassination_of
Covert operations in Angola host_asserted
“and abandoning, quote unquote, our responsibility in Angola. Ford's statement laid the groundwork for a counterattack when the bill came before the House. But on December 21st, a provocative article appeared on the front page of the New Yor…”
▶ The Colonel's Corner Safe for Democracy Part 39 (41) @ 5:58
Mentions (25)
▶ 4:55
If you know the stuff that we've covered over the last three plus years, you see it all unfolding right in front of us. It's like crazy tunes. Okay, back to our book. We're on page 452. We were talking yesterday about President Ford and the…
▶ 5:58
and abandoning, quote unquote, our responsibility in Angola. Ford's statement laid the groundwork for a counterattack when the bill came before the House. But on December 21st, a provocative article appeared on the front page of the New Yor…
▶ 6:24
He also had the story that Ambassador Davis's resignation was directly tied to it. Driven by more leaks, discussions of it in GOLA just kind of took on a life of its own. Ford simultaneously engaged in a very public fight with committees in…
▶ 6:54
a specific study of Angola from the Pike Committee. The church committee had recently released its report on CIA assassination plots, opening many eyes and increasing Ford's political difficulties on the issue of Angola. As the House bill m…
▶ 7:24
parsing of Angola questions and marching orders to reiterate Ford's position. On various occasions, Nissen's instructions were to claim that Washington knew nothing about South African troops being involved, that there had been no U.S. recr…
▶ 8:23
And that a delay of even a few days were considered helpful for the CIA to move arms and for the U.S. to explore alternative sources. So they're using a congressional delay to move the arms that are already in the pipeline. Ford got his del…
▶ 8:50
President Ford reluctantly signed it into law on February 9th, 1976. So intent is Kissinger on shifting blame that he argues, quote, with victory for the Cuban and Soviet forces in Angola, the geopolitical context for SALT was gone, unquote…
▶ 9:16
Calamity befall the FNLA mercenaries, generally an undisciplined lot. They arrived in buses, ragtag clothing, and old weapons. As Dave Tompkins said, there were no maps. The mercenaries were led by a self-styled colonel who was an enlisted …
▶ 9:43
of the British Parachute Regiment, who called himself Costa Giorgigo. Unbalanced, in the opinion of some, a good trooper, according to others, he had only 50 or 60 men. Tompkins understood that they, plus some black troops with them, were t…
▶ 10:15
millions of dollars of weapons to him. Well, not directly to them, to Zaire Mubatu and via South Africa. They never had a battle. He never saw a Cuban. Diakou cut a swath of murder and rampage across Zaire and Angola, culminating in the exe…
▶ 10:48
alleged desertion and misconduct of more than a dozen men in his own outfit. Others died as well. Among them was a real paramilitary expert, well regarded at Langley, George Bacon III, a Green Beret who had served in Vietnam and had done a …
▶ 11:20
Kayak. Bacon received an intelligence medal for Laos, but quit in disgust at what he perceived to be Americans' betrayal of South Vietnam. He was a quote-unquote cowboy in the CIA tradition. He was very enthusiastic about Angola. Because ag…
▶ 11:51
or not. The mercenaries' demise came when the MPLA decided to advance and Garu tried to ambush them. Many were captured, including the leader being wounded and three Americans. In Luanda, the Angola government put them on trial. The self-st…
▶ 12:21
and two others were condemned to death. Nine men received long prison sentences. With 16-year terms for Americans, Gustavo Grillo, a Marine Corps veteran of the Battle of Hue, and Gary Actor, who was also a Vietnam veteran. The State Depart…
▶ 12:49
A couple of attempts to secure their release, but no media attention, nothing. Gorillo, an actor, were finally freed in an Angola South African prisoner exchange in 1982. Mo Bato simply pocketed final payments given him for Roberto and Zebe…
▶ 13:18
Thoroughly disillusioned, CIA officer John Stockwell resigned and went public. With the fiasco so recently revealed, it is not so surprising that Senator Church made strong charges on covert action in his committee's final report. Church al…
▶ 13:48
Clark took a hand and proposed permanent legislation. It would be reported out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee unanimously. Highly unusual. It passed by a large majority in both houses of Congress, and in mid-1976, the Clark Amend…
▶ 14:18
Afterwards, the CIA director went to Senator Clark with a proposal to funnel the rebel weapons through France. Not to not do it, but to use a proxy. Clark would have none of it, and the episode embarrassed President Carter, who publicly cla…
▶ 14:47
The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence went on to do a year-long investigation of Project Feature. In the spring of 78, it concluded that the Ford administration had misled Congress on the scope of the operation, not revealing some act…
▶ 15:16
That despite standing orders, U.S. personnel had served inside Angola and that the CIA had been much closer to the South Africans than they admitted. The committee also singled out Henry Kissinger's November 21st, 1975 testimony to the chur…
▶ 15:44
Colby maintained that the CIA had not conducted Angola the way it had Laos. Kissinger dismissed the inquiry as a smear job. Project feature, a product of the White House determination, had been a dismal failure. Again, those who attributed …
▶ 16:15
to think that he could break up the unity coalition before independence. Apologists also fudged the timing. The attacks that broke up the coalition preceded any Cuban or Soviet involvement. Thus, they overplayed the Cold War aspect. U.S. in…
▶ 16:44
Posing the initial program would have no fallout. The major mistakes were of policy. Conceiving Mubato as an effective ally and siding with South Africans were decisions that undermined the entire project from the beginning. The CIA correct…
▶ 17:14
Those who argue the CIA would have won in Angola if only Congress had not cut off their money, could not get around the weaknesses of cooperating with Zaire and the deadliness of the alliance with the South African government. In addition, …
▶ 17:43
The U.S. lacked in infrastructure for a decisive intervention, and geography precluded backing Roberto in Zimbabwe, except through other proxy states. The scale of the program is not the real question. The proper comparison is between the $…