September, 1997 marked the 50th year of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operations. The news of the Mossad's (the Israeli style CIA) blunder in Jordan reminds us of the operation in the Congo 37 years ago when the CIA was assigned to poison Patrice Lumumba, the legitimate leader of the Congo. As the Mossad recently botched their operation in killing the leader of Hamas in Jordan so the CIA botched their dirty trick scheme in the Congo. Many former directors and writers have commented in major publications about the service of the CIA to the United States government over the last 50 years. The constant theme was how the CIA's failures have been trumpeted while their successes are necessarily secret. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the intelligence services from the East Bloc countries as well as the KGB coming forward to reveal its innermost secrets, then perhaps the American public should be privy to what were called the "successes" of the CIA which have been kept secret.

By this time the world knows that the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana was a CIA operation, the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, again, by CIA operatives; the overthrow of Mohammed Mosaddeq of Iran, another CIA operation. (A success for whom?) The CIA has been involved in many campaigns almost as a private army all over the world. But in this particular article let us focus here on the CIA and its dirty tricks in Africa. There are four things on the African continent that the CIA has been involved in that cannot leave the memory of many Africans, regardless how much time has passed.

The February 1996, overthrow of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was an evil idea of the CIA, hatched in Washington and executed in Accra, Ghana. The tragedy of this particular coup was the trust factor of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah (he trusted Americans). Dr. Kwame Nkrumah chose to embark on a humanitarian trip. Africa has always suffered on the lower end on the "aid pole" from the West, but because of the war in Vietnam, there was even less aid for Africa. He was concerned for the human destruction that was going on in this unjust and imbalanced war against the people of Vietnam.

Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was seen as a threat because he chose to establish relations with Russia and China. He allowed the Chinese to open their first embassy on the African continent. Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was someone who the Americans did not want to see remain in power. As a part of this CIA-planned coup, according to Seymour Hersch's writings, the CIA had planned to attack the embassy of China in Accra, kill everyone in the embassy, steal their documents and bum the embassy. The dirty tricks part of this was that those men that were to be used would paint their faces black, giving the impression that Black men had taken this course of action.

When, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah departed from Accra on February 21, 1966, one year to the very day that Malcolm X was assassinated, little did he know as he waved goodbye at the Accra International Airport, that it would be the last time he would see his beloved country of' Ghana. He was embarking on a mission to try to stop a conflict (war) that was now affecting the whole world. By the time his plane touched down in Beijing, China on his way to North Vietnam, the coup had taken place in Ghana with the assistance and direction of the CIA. The truth was revealed in the US Senate testimonies of 1978. Before Dr. Kwame Nkrumah had departed from Ghana, he phoned President Lyndon Johnson to ask if America could hold or discontinue the bombing of North Vietnam (Hanoi in particular) while he was there to meet with Ho Chi Min. When he finished in North Vietnam, his plan was to journey to the US. He telegraphed his moves to the American government. The United States government saw his Pan Africanist views as a threat. The fact was that he was using Ghana as the base to help other struggling revolutionaries in Africa. In addition to developing Ghana, he used his countries resources to aid in these legitimate struggles for independence. This history will never be forgotten by those who know the true story. Nor can the impact of the loss of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in his former position of power to help Africa, ever be measured.

Another painful episode in many of the 'dirty tricks' plots in Africa was the killing of Patrice Lumumba. Patrice Lumumba's death was determined after he spoke at the Congo's independence day celebration. He was marked as one whom America could not trust or rely on to lead the Congo in the way that it will benefit the western world. So it was the CIA that used the same kind of dirty tricks that their partners the Israelis have been executing all over the world. The plot which was attempted against one of the Hamas leaders, was an example of what they used in the Congo against Patrice Lumumba. Using a diplomatic pouch, a deadly virus was sent to the Congo to be used on Patrice Lumumba. For some reason, the plan failed and the CIA assisted in the capture of Lumumba as he escaped from Leopoldville now Kinshasa. It was the CIA that assisted Mobutu (who was then a key military figure) in pointing out how to block the road and eventually, capture Patrice Lumumba. It was the CIA that encouraged Mobutu to turn him over to Tshombe who was in opposition to Patrice Lumumba.. It was the CIA that said that he should be executed. After the execution of Patrice Lumumba, according to one book written on the CIA -- it was a CIA agent who drove around with Lumumba's body in the trunk of his car while trying to figure out how to dispose of it. Until this day, the body of Lumumba has not been found.

Another of many of the CIA's dirty trick operations in Africa was the "Target Qathafi" attempt. Lebanese newspapers reported that their first attempt was to use Terry Waite to take in the device that would allow an exact hit on Brother Qathafi. According to writings after the attack on Tripoli, it was the CIA and their Libyan dissidents that wanted at that time of the bombing of Tripoli to have the Egyptians attack Libya from the east They believed that the bombing of April 14, 1986, would result in Qathafi's death. Alter they would have succeeded in killing Qathafi, the country would be in chaos and the Egyptians would attack. They would then install an American puppet regime in Libya. This would give the West access to the Libyan crude oil which is one of the finest in the world, and also stop the spending of Libyan money to support legitimate liberation struggles throughout the world.

Other incidents revealed from newspaper reports which cannot be forgotten are the assistance of the CIA in aiding the South African apartheid government to arrest the now President Nelson Mandela. Also, the war in Angola, the CIA used Zaire as a base in the financing of the UNITA army with the help of Mobutu. This brought about the killing and destruction of the people of Angola. These are just a few painful episodes in the CIA's 50 years of dirty tricks.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters has brought some of these terrible operations of the CIA "all the way home." Those who have read Bob Woodward's book, Veil, can see how desperate the Reagan Administration was to arm the Contras to fight against the legitimate Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega. Congresswoman, Maxine Waters in March of this year, questioned the need of the CIA, since the cold war has ended. When one considers the story, it becomes clear how the CIA involves itself in the drug trade in order to support the Contras, and how it orchestrated the spread of one of the most deadly and addictive drugs (crack cocaine) ever known in the Black communities of America. The CIA used its position, private air bases, money and clout to facilitate the movement of drugs from Central America into Southern California. Eventually, these drugs spread across America in order to support their wicked actions. The sale and use of crack cocaine has destroyed millions of Black families in America. It is painful to see our young men and women being victimized by use and abuse of these drugs. What is more painful is that this drug problem originates from the CIA's dirty tricks.

Many of the books on the CIA state clearly that some of the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) officers are former CIA agents. This gives credibility to the premise of the movement of drugs to support the Contras. Writers have commented in major publications about the service of the CIA to the United States government over the last 50 years, and the constant theme was that its failures have been trumpeted whiles its successes are "necessarily" secret. The press should let us know about the successes so that the public can weigh whether their successes had good results or tragic endings.

Africa is like a child who is crippled. As Africa was emerging into the light of independence after many dark days under colonial and imperialist masters. They robbed, crippled, and polluted the culture of the continent. Africans were not left to develop on their own. They were pulled by the east and then the west. The coups that were engineered, the assassinations that took place, the governments that were changed at the hands of the CIA and others, were all factors that never allowed the Africans to develop on their own. So we have been robbed. As we go into the next century we hope to see how Africa will develop on its own. Africa's finest leaders were killed, assassinated and overthrown under the pretexts that they were communists or capitalists.

These leaders were not capitalists or communists, but people who wanted to look out for the best interests of their countries. They did not want to be tied to the east or the west, but wanted to be tied to the struggle of their people for freedom, justice and equality.

When reading about such dirty tricks of the CIA, it is no wonder that people question their integrity. The CIA is purported to be the "protector of the security of America." it paid over $70 million of the taxpayer's money to Israel to help support Israel's foreign program in Africa. When most African nations closed down Israeli embassies after the 1967 war, the CIA helped to finance their reestablishment all over Africa. They were very instrumental in "persuading" Africans to accept Israel again. We are justified m exposing the dirty tricks of the CIA

Send all enquires relating to the above article to Brother Akbar Muhammad at Nation of Islam headquarters in Chicago or at http://www.noi.org.

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