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on the ironic use of hyperbole...,
2005-03-04 09:59:58
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'America's greatest fault, if ...,
2005-03-06 12:52:42
lebanon, 1957:
Juan Cole's allegation that the CIA intervened on behalf of Camille Chamoun's election campaign has been defended by the CIA operative in the field who intervened on behalf of Camille Chamoun's election campaign, Wilbur Crane Eveland, for about a quarter century:
[3/31/97 NYT, fulltext] In Lebanon in 1957, the CIA supported Christian parties with U.S. government money and donations by American oil companies that wanted to insure a friendly government in Lebanon, a pivotal Middle Eastern country.
Wilbur Crane Eveland, a CIA officer, later described driving his gold and white DeSoto onto the grounds of President Camille Chamoun's residence in Beirut and delivering political payoffs.
"Throughout the elections, I traveled regularly to the presidential palace with a briefcase full of Lebanese pounds, then returned late at night to the embassy with an empty twin case" to be replenished with CIA money, Eveland wrote in "Ropes of Sand" in 1980, a history of American policy failures in the Middle East.
For those surprised by this shocking revelation I offer my notes on the general subject.
update: More from Richard Parker, Iraq Desk Officer at State on 14 July 1958.
:: posted by buermann @ 2005-03-04 11:49:11 CST |
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