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A New Biography Traces Allen Dulles and His Cabal

13 points by pavornyoh 11y ago

cryoshon 11y ago
"And today we’ve largely returned to the balance of power Dulles set up in the 1950s. As Jay Rockefeller said in 2007 when he was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “Don’t you understand the way intelligence works? Do you think that because I’m chairman of the Intelligence Committee that I just say ‘I want it, give it to me’? They control it. All of it. All of it. All the time.”" I get the feeling that things are probably worse today than in 07 regarding secrecy. If this tidbit is true, it effectively means that the intelligence agencies are far beyond any kind of political oversight. EDIT: "Whatever its funding sources, the evidence suggests the Safari Club was largely the initiative of these powerful Americans. According to Heikal, its real origin was when Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, “talked a number of rich Arab oil countries into bankrolling operations against growing communist influence on their doorstep” in Africa. Alexandre de Marenches, a right-wing aristocrat who headed France’s version of the CIA, eagerly formalized the project and assumed operational leadership. But, Heikal writes, “The United States directed the whole operation,” and “giant U.S. and European corporations with vital interests in Africa” leant a hand. As John K. Cooley, the Christian Science Monitor’s longtime Mideast correspondent, put it, the setup strongly appealed to the U.S. executive branch: “Get others to do what you want done, while avoiding the onus or blame if the operation fails.”" This is a way that the world really works, in plain text. The governments ask their buddies in the oil companies for geopolitical actions, then get a policy kickback later on after the dirty work is done. Disgraceful.
ddp 11y ago
There's a good interview with the author on Democracy Now (make sure you watch both parts): http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/13/the_rise_of_americas_secret_government http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/13/the_rise_of_americas_...
- pavornyoh 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing this.

13 points by pavornyoh 11y ago

"And today we’ve largely returned to the balance of power Dulles set up in the 1950s. As Jay Rockefeller said in 2007 when he was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, “Don’t you understand the way intelligence works? Do you think that because I’m chairman of the Intelligence Committee that I just say ‘I want it, give it to me’? They control it. All of it. All of it. All the time.”" I get the feeling that things are probably worse today than in 07 regarding secrecy. If this tidbit is true, it effectively means that the intelligence agencies are far beyond any kind of political oversight. EDIT: "Whatever its funding sources, the evidence suggests the Safari Club was largely the initiative of these powerful Americans. According to Heikal, its real origin was when Henry Kissinger, then secretary of state, “talked a number of rich Arab oil countries into bankrolling operations against growing communist influence on their doorstep” in Africa. Alexandre de Marenches, a right-wing aristocrat who headed France’s version of the CIA, eagerly formalized the project and assumed operational leadership. But, Heikal writes, “The United States directed the whole operation,” and “giant U.S. and European corporations with vital interests in Africa” leant a hand. As John K. Cooley, the Christian Science Monitor’s longtime Mideast correspondent, put it, the setup strongly appealed to the U.S. executive branch: “Get others to do what you want done, while avoiding the onus or blame if the operation fails.”" This is a way that the world really works, in plain text. The governments ask their buddies in the oil companies for geopolitical actions, then get a policy kickback later on after the dirty work is done. Disgraceful.

ddp 11y ago

There's a good interview with the author on Democracy Now (make sure you watch both parts): http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/13/the_rise_of_americas_secret_government http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/13/the_rise_of_americas_...

pavornyoh 11y ago
Thanks for sharing this.