James DiEugenio Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 The Greg Poulgrain book on Indonesia provoked me to write the following piece. I think its important in understanding just who Kennedy really was and why he was killed. http://www.ctka.net/2016/jfk-hammarskjold/hammarskjold-and-kennedy-vs-power-elite.html Its kind of incredible that it has taken so long to equate the two men. But read on and you will see why. And also, as you will see, Dag did not die in a plane accident. He was murdered. There was a lot at stake in Congo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Andrews Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 (edited) From my early childhood, I remember that on his death and in his UN years, Hammarskjold had a popular/media reputation as one of the foremost humanitarians in public service. (My small town schoolteachers praised him upon his passing, and after.) It's not surprising that he didn't fit the neocolonialist age, and had to be removed from it. I'm sure that wasn't surprising to people in the know then, as it wasn't to Truman. But did Kennedy know? Edited August 8, 2016 by David Andrews Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 Well, according to Poulgrain, it was Kennedy who decided to open a back channel to Truman about the Hammarskjold/JFK agenda in Congo and Indonesia. If he did that, then he probably also informed Truman about some of the problems with the plane crash story. BTW, doing some surfing on this subject, I found a notice by the son of one of the diplomats who worked for the State Department under Kennedy. He said his father told him that JFK was literally beside himself when he heard of Lumumba's death. IMO, the murder most foul aspect of both men galvanized Kennedy into doing what he did in Congo afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 8, 2016 Author Share Posted August 8, 2016 (edited) In reading Fonzi's essay about Esclante I noted the following: "Finally, in London in 1966, Sirgado received a call from an executive in a Belgium business firm suggesting a meeting to discuss "trade questions." A tall, affably suave man who introduced himself as Harold Bensen showed up at Sirgado's hotel room and, after some preliminary probing, revealed he was with the CIA. (Bensen, says Escalante, was really David Atlee Phillips, the CIA officer then in charge of Cuban Operations.) Bensen offered Sirgado a salary if he began working for the CIA, paid in dollars deposited in a Chase Manhattan Bank account in New York. After his work was through, Bensen promised Sirgado, he would be resettled comfortably in the United States." Note Phillips was using a Belgian business firm as a cover. When he made this call in 1966 to Sirgado, the final embers of the war for Congo were ebbing out. The CIA and its Cuban exile pilots were finishing off the last of Lumumba's followers, and with Belgium, they were now installing Mobutu as military strongman. I have to wonder, was Phillips at least monitoring that situation, since he knew so many of the Cubans who had been sent over there to work out of the American Embassy? My source on this, a former CIA pilot, told me words to the effect: Jim, it wasn't an embassy anymore. It was a military annex from which the air war was being conducted and the ground war coordinated. And BTW, in itself that shows how Kennedy's policy was completely reversed. Because he had issued orders in 1961 that he wanted the American ambassador to have control over American policy in country, not the CIA. Edited August 8, 2016 by James DiEugenio Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 9, 2016 Author Share Posted August 9, 2016 I left out one other point. In 1960, when Phillips met Veciana, he said he was with a Belgian Construction firm. This, of course, was when the whole Congo strife was beginning. Coincidence? Maybe. But I kind of doubt it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 11, 2016 Author Share Posted August 11, 2016 More news on this story: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/01/u-n-to-probe-whether-iconic-secretary-general-was-assassinated/ They found the original documents concerning Allen Dulles, Previously they only had copies of the Operation Celeste documents. Desmond Tutu found them in service of the TRC after apartheid was overthrown in South Africa. People questioned whether they were genuine or not. If the originals are really that, then at the least Dulles knew about a plot to kill Hammarskjold. At the most he cooperated in it. Too bad Talbot did not include this in his book. Even though he did have a nice chapter on Lumumba. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Neal Posted August 11, 2016 Share Posted August 11, 2016 (edited) More news on this story: http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/08/01/u-n-to-probe-whether-iconic-secretary-general-was-assassinated/ They found the original documents concerning Allen Dulles, Previously they only had copies of the Operation Celeste documents. Desmond Tutu found them in service of the TRC after apartheid was overthrown in South Africa. People questioned whether they were genuine or not. If the originals are really that, then at the least Dulles knew about a plot to kill Hammarskjold. At the most he cooperated in it. Too bad Talbot did not include this in his book. Even though he did have a nice chapter on Lumumba. NICE find, Jim! Any idea who they suspected forged the documents, and why? "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will propose reopening an inquiry into allegations that Dag Hammarskjold, one of the most revered secretaries-general in the organizations history, was assassinated by an apartheid-era South African paramilitary organization that was backed by the CIA, British intelligence, and a Belgian mining company, according to several officials familiar with the case." Edited August 11, 2016 by Tom Neal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 12, 2016 Author Share Posted August 12, 2016 No, Tom, they could never decide on a credible source for forging the Operation Celeste documents. Just a lot of thrashing around, maybe it was them, maybe it was them. But if it turns out these are really genuine, IMO, its really important. Not just about Hammarskjold, but about Kennedy--since as one can see by my essay, JFK continued and, in some ways, led Hammarskjold's policies after the died. BTW, can anyone imagine LBJ, Nixon or Ike saying about Hammarskjold that he was the greatest statesmen of the century? I can't. But Kennedy did say it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 25, 2016 Share Posted August 25, 2016 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/dag-hammarskjold-crash-ban-ki-moon-un-investigator?CMP=share_btn_fb Dag Hammarskjöld: Ban Ki-moon seeks to appoint investigator for fatal crash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James DiEugenio Posted August 25, 2016 Author Share Posted August 25, 2016 I hope this works and they do find someone who is really intent on searching for the truth. The problem with the UN is that its a confederation of sovereign states, and therefore I don't think it can legally compel testimony or subpoena exhibits. They can only request things. And if you are like Britain and Belgium, with a lot to hide, you are not all that eager to comply. The third major suspect is the Union of South Africa, which because of the new leadership actually has tried to cooperate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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