By
M.
Richard Maxson
This
series of articles continues to examine what the shadow government
and the deep state are and how they have gained so much control over
the U.S. government and society in general.
In
Truman’s view, misuse of the CIA began in February 1953, when his
successor, Dwight Eisenhower, named Allen Dulles as CIA director.
EISENHOWER
After
their successful coup in Iran, Dulles and his cohorts had allowed
themselves no restraints. Along with his brother Secretary of State,
John Foster Dulles, they partnered up with those who comprised the
Shadow Government, and working in concert they began launching
violent campaigns against foreign leaders they saw as threats to the
United States. President Eisenhower, relying on the brothers, was
kept partially in the dark and was not given all the details of their
operations but with
a glance, a nod, and a few words, to the president, the brothers
could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the
world as it suited them.
The Deep State had exploded.
The
major covert campaigns under the Eisenhower administration were:
- 1953 - Iran –
CIA overthrows the democratically elected Mohammed Mossadegh in a
military coup, after he threatened to nationalize British oil. The
CIA replaces him with a dictator, the Shah of Iran, whose secret
police, SAVAK, is as brutal as the Gestapo.
- 1954 -
Guatemala — CIA overthrows the democratically elected Jacob Arbenz
in a military coup. Arbenz has threatened to nationalize the
Rockefeller-owned United Fruit Company, in which CIA Director Allen
Dulles also owns stock. Arbenz is replaced with a series of
right-wing dictators whose bloodthirsty policies will kill over
100,000 Guatemalans in the next 40 years.
1954-1958
- North Vietnam — CIA officer Edward Lansdale spends four years
trying to overthrow the communist government of North Vietnam, using
all the usual dirty tricks. The CIA also attempts to legitimize a
tyrannical puppet regime in South Vietnam, headed by Ngo Dinh Diem.
These efforts fail to win the hearts and minds of the South
Vietnamese because the Diem government is opposed to true democracy,
land reform and poverty reduction measures. The CIA’s continuing
failure results in escalating American intervention, culminating in
the Vietnam War.
1957-
Laos — The CIA carries out approximately one coup per year trying
to nullify Laos’ democratic elections. The problem is the Pathet
Lao, a leftist group with enough popular support to be a member of
any coalition government. In the late 50s, the CIA even creates an
"Armee Clandestine" of Asian mercenaries to attack the
Pathet Lao.
These campaigns helped
push countries from Guatemala to the Congo into long spirals of
violence, led the United States into the Vietnam War, and laid the
foundation for decades of hostility between the United States and
countries from Cuba to Iran. The Deep State was formed and it's forte
became overthrowing governments (in current parlance, “regime
change”) and they were quite good at it.
Towards
the end of his term, after battling health problems which allowed
Richard Nixon to run the country for a while, President Eisenhower
grew extremely wary of what he was seeing develop inside the
government. On
January 17, 1961, President Dwight D. Eisenhower closed out his
second term and delivered his farewell speech on live TV and warned
Americans of a threat far more deadly than the Soviets and the
Chinese. He issued an unprecedented warning that almost no one paid
attention to at the time. He warned of a behind-the-scenes shift in
Washington DC that had “grave implications ” for America. He
revealed the dark side of American power…a shadow government… a
group of unelected insiders that threatened to take full control of
the U.S.
He
revealed to the American public that because of our previous wars -
“We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of
vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and
women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually
spend on military security alone more than the net income of all
United States corporations.” Now
this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large
arms industry is new in the American experience. The total
influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every
city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We
recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not
fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and
livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our
society.”
“In
the councils of government, we must guard against the
acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought
or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for
the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We
must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties
or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an
alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of
the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our
peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper
together.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United
States, January 1961
He
warned us although of the danger that was becoming, although he did
not fully comprehend the size and scope of the monster that had been
created. Eisenhower did not fully realize
that the Dulles' brothers “Deep State”had all but taken clandestine control of US foreign
policy. It was as an adolescent, and
with it's success at undermining regimes around the world and working
together, with the elitist shadow government it was growing at a rapid rate - as a cancer would.
The new government within a government spurred on more covert
activities in order to intercept possible challenges to, in the Dulles' brothers mind, and maintain
dominance of, the United States – without congressional or the
public's ability to regulate or approve of their actions. Cuba was the next big prize on the brothers agenda. America did not realize that it's elected representatives had
lost control over their own foreign policy.