Kennedy and Congo: The Battle for Africa

[Steve Thomas]

6 hours ago, James DiEugenio said:

Gene:

 The 2 Americans on the scene who he blames most for the death of Lumumba are Paul Hofmann a reporter for the NY TImes who wrote many biased stories about him when he was caught, and Larry  Devlin CIA station chief, who aided and guided his capture. Devlin went on to run the CIA Africa Division and pursued a career in the Congo's very rich diamond industry.

Jim,

It seems to me that Devlin's name has come up before.

Maybe in connection to Gottlieb perhaps?

Steve Thomas

[James DiEugenio]

Gottlieb actually came to Leopoldville.

He was there to drop off poison toothpaste to kill Lumumba.

But that one got called off as being too risky. (Talbot, p. 380)

About this time Devlin and Justin O'Donnell decided it would be better simply to allow Lumumba to escape and then deliver him into the hands of his enemies.  So they helped track him, and blocked some of his escape routes.   But still, he almost made it.  Even with the American ambassador's helicopter tracking him down.

[James DiEugenio]

Surprised no one commented on this quote, I mean the NY Times quoting someone saying there was a high profile conspiracy?

But way before this, former president Harry Truman said about the death of Hammarskjold: “Dag Hammarskjold was on the point of getting something done when they killed him. Notice that I said, “When they killed him”. (NY Times, 9/20/61).

 

[Robert Morrow]

On 9/7/2024 at 5:58 PM, James DiEugenio said:

To this day, as many times as I have written about it and read about it, this story is still shocking.

In my opinion, it does not get nearly enough attention considering the horror of the crime, what the CIA did, and the immense aftermath of its impact.

I quotes a very able writer on the subject, Jonathan Kwitny on the last.  If we had supported Lumumba, which Kennedy wanted to do, the fate of Africa and Congo could have been much different.

 

https://jamesanthonydieugenio.substack.com/p/kennedy-and-the-congo-the-battle

And like you say, if John Kennedy had remained president, and not been replace by Ultra Zionist Tool Lyndon Johnson, the Six Day War would never have occurred because JFK would not have tolerated that and would not have planned the war with Israel and would not have tried to intentionally sink an American ship the USS Liberty so the USA would have a pretext to bomb, attack and remove Nasser from power.

We almost had nuclear war during the Six Day War and Lyndon Johnson was a big reason for that.

[Ron Bulman]

30 minutes ago, Robert Morrow said:

true,And like you say, if John Kennedy had remained president, and not been replace by Ultra Zionist Tool Lyndon Johnson, the Six Day War would never have occurred because JFK would not have tolerated that and would not have planned the war with Israel and would not have tried to intentionally sink an American ship the USS Liberty so the USA would have a pretext to bomb, attack and remove Nasser from power.

We almost had nuclear war during the Six Day War and Lyndon Johnson was a big reason for that.

 

True, but not at the behest of LBJ, but the MIC and CIA behind him.

 

[Robert Morrow]

36 minutes ago, Ron Bulman said:

 

True, but not at the behest of LBJ, but the MIC and CIA behind him.

 

Lyndon Johnson was a longtime and well known complete and utter tool/political partner of scores of Zionist Jews, dating to when he was first elected to Congress. I prefer Judy Morris' take on the USS Liberty.

Judy Morris article on why LBJ and Israel tried to murder everyone on the USS Liberty https://peacelibertyprosperity.substack.com/p/the-most-incredible-story-never-told

Archive of original Judy Morris article on the USS Liberty

https://web.archive.org/web/20140704030539/http://judymorrisreport.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-most-incredible-story-never-told.html

Judy Morris’ original USS Liberty blogpost has been removed from her blog!! http://judymorrisreport.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-most-incredible-story-never-told.html

[Karl Kinaski]

Gruesome details of Lumumba's end are revealed around 40 minutes into the video. It is a very insightful video. We learn how a country can be ruined for dark reasons by foreign bad actors at the beginning of its democracy.

Edited Sunday at 07:29 AM by Karl Kinaski

[Ron Bulman]

After skimming though it the other night I just re-read part III and noted a few things.  

I did not know JFK sent Averill Harriman to the Congo in the summer of 1960.  That could have well alerted the CIA to JFK's interest and intentions if elected.  I.E., if that happened get Lumumba before his inauguration.  Nor did I know JFK took action after taking office to have political prisoners freed (Lumumba) and to block Katanga's secession through the UN, not knowing yet that Lumumba was already dead.  Were Dulles and associates laughing about this?

I think the details of the Hammerskjold murder are overwhelming that it was a CIA action.  Considering in hindsight they had sent in QJWIN, WIROUGE and Sidney Gottlieb to get Lumumba.  This was a natural follow-up after JFK's reaction.

Why is there so much suspicion about Hammarskjold’s demise? Let us look at some of the evidence. Seven witnesses testified that they saw another plane in the sky at the time the Albertina was descending. That plane moved away once the Albertina was downed. (Lisa Pease, “Midnight in the Congo”, Probe Magazine, Vol. 6 No. 3) Two police officers also saw a flash of light in the sky. Another witness, who refused to speak to the Rhodesian Commission, also said he saw another plane above and behind the Albertina. Further, he saw two Land Rover type vehicles immediately set out at high speed to the site of the crash. (Ibid)

No alarm was sounded at the Ndola Airport when the Albertina did not make its scheduled landing. In fact, the man in charge, Lord Alport, sent his employees home. Two American Dakota planes were on the airstrip  with engines running, which means their communications were working. Oddly, no search and rescue operation was started until about ten hours afterwards. One of the most curious aspects of the crime scene is that although everyone else on the plane was badly burned, Hammarskjold’s body was not. (ibid) But, as Susan Williams proved in her book on the subject, perhaps the most bizarre aspect of the crime scene is this: when his body was discovered, there was an ace of spades playing card inserted into Hammarskjold’s collar.

JFK made Gullion Ambassador, Ball special WH Advisor on the Congo and supported a UN Resolution on use of force on Katanga.  His message was clear.  Knives up.

I feel that JFK had to know or strongly suspect the CIA was behind the deaths of Lumumba and Hammerskjold.

Then on 9/28/1963 he went to the UN in NYC to ask them to extend their military presence in the Congo another year, against opposition to doing so.  Which they passed.  Another one of the final nails in JFK's coffin for some? 

[James DiEugenio]

Thanks for those comments Ron.

Isn't that interesting about Harriman? As you will notice in Part 4.  The CIA had to know about  the meeting, you are correct.

And i agree with you that JFK had to suspect both foul play and probably Agency involvement in both murders.

In fact, in the case of Lumumba, I think this contributed to him firing Dulles.

Recall that quote by Smathers, to the effect that JFK said the CIA did things behind his back, and he wanted to get control of what they were doing.

 

Edited Monday at 06:54 AM by James DiEugenio

[James DiEugenio]

I was just thinking that Truman must have had a troubling old age.

First there was Hammarskjold in 1961 where he seems to know the plane was sabotaged.

Then in 1963, he does the editorial about the CIA operating way beyond what he imagined it would.  And he gets the visit from Dulles on that, while Dulles in on the Warren Commission.

I think he had some hard nights sleeping.

[Gene Kelly]

Jim

There's an interesting account of Larry Devlin's role and his interactions with Sidney Gottlieb in a February 2023 article entitled "True Men, Liars, and the Failures That Worked - Part 1 Locked in the Trunk of a Car" published in a substack called "The Memory Hole".   

In his memoir, Devlin goes to great lengths to explain his disapproval of the idea of assassinating Lumumba; however, this didn't prevent the plans from proceeding. As the article explains, dissatisfied with Devlin’s lack of progress in assassinating Lumumba, the Agency sent in Justin O’Donnell, an officer several grades senior to Devlin, to complete the work. CIA Headquarters thought Devlin was too distracted, and claimed that Devlin “as a devout Catholic” rejected the proposal,

A Belgian investigation in 2005 found no conclusive evidence linking the CIA to Lumumba’s death. In the 2022 edition of the The Assassination of Lumumba, Ludo De Witte concludes that the CIA played no role in the death of Lumumba. Devlin testified before the Church Committee in 1975.  Gottlieb successfully maneuvered the U.S. Senate and, through his immunity deals, never faced punishment for his actions at the Agency. Much like his Project MKULTRA files, any mention of the infamous "Health Alteration Committee" was completely wiped from the Agency’s documentary record.

Gene
 

[James DiEugenio]

The CIA had no role in Lumumba's death?

They sent three guys there to kill him.  Gottlieb, WI Rogue and QJ Win.

Newman then clearly states that they monitored his escape, and blocked certain river passages to be sure he would be caught.  And they were going to send WI Rogue to Stanleyville if Lumumba had made it.

I mean whew.

[Gene Kelly]

Jim

The article makes it clear that CIA (and Larry Devlin) had a role ... 

While Larry Devlin claimed he was “not a major assistance” in tracking and capturing Lumumba - and that efforts to assassinate Lumumba had stalled during the previous year - a financial record shows otherwise, as noted by author Susan Williams in "White Malice: The CIA and the Covert Recolonization of Africa".  She states that “Devlin was lying. He sent WIROGUE to Thysville in January 1961.” All of the major CIA players backed away from any complicity, and dissembled when later questioned.  JFK was really up against it when he took office. The U.S. Under Secretary of State Douglas Dillon at the time under Eisenhower had found Lumumba to be an irrational, almost psychotic personality ... impossible to work with:

“You had a feeling that he was a person that was gripped by this fervor that I can only characterize as messianic ...  just not a rational being.”

The Belgian government whitewashed any complicity in their "Parliamentary Committee of enquiry in charge of determining the exact circumstances of the assassination of Patrice Lumumba and the possible  involvement of Belgian politicians" authored by Marie-Thérèse Coenen. This in spite of the fact that Lumumba was driven away into a clearing in the woods, and shot dead by a Katangian firing squad, under the command of Belgian officers.  And then, three days later, Kennedy was inaugurated. A Belgian writer and political activist, Ludo De Witte, wrote "De Moord op Lumumba" (1999).  As one review states, one has to read De Witte’s study carefully to figure out who is actually responsible for killing Lumumba because:

" ... it assigns guilt variously at different points. Early on he pins blame on the Belgian government, the United Nations, the British, the Congolese who killed Lumumba, and the United States (the CIA). Later he says that it was the Belgians along with the CIA (and others) who forced Katanga to take Lumumba.  

The CIA showed questionable ethics in the whole affair.  CIA's Justin O’Donnell argued that as a Catholic, he was opposed to murder.  And then he and Richard Bissell rationalize  Lumumba being captured and handed over to the Mobutu government and tried.  And they conclude that’s acceptable (i.e., as capital punishment).  According to the author of "The Lumumba Plot" (Stuart Reid), the CIA has an internal history of its anti-Lumumba operations that’s still classified. Reid writes that Larry Devlin learns from someone in Mobutu’s circle that his transfer is about to happen, which will certainly mean Lumumba’s death, but he doesn’t tell Mobutu to stop this to save Lumumba’s life.  Reid concludes:

"While the actual trigger pullers were not a CIA, there were multiple things that had to happen for Lumumba to die. But the role that Devin played was one of those key things".

Gene

[James DiEugenio]

Nice one Gene.

The CIA still has a secret internal history that is classified?

Lumumba's assassination preceded Kennedy's!