nota bene:
terlepas dari pro-kontra di kalangan elite Jakarte yang disebabkan "terjemahan"
buku Tim Weiner "Membongkar Kegagalan CIA" terbitan Gramedia Pustaka Utama
(2008) saat ini, resensi oleh William Blum di bawah menunjukkan betapa buku
"Membongkar Kegagalan CIA" tsb ternyata masih belum benar-benar membongkar
sepak-terjang CIA!!! masih banyak "seleksi informasi" dilakukan Tim Weiner,
entah demi tujuan apa. jadi, walo Gramedia membuat promosi di cover depan
bukunya itu "Buku yang Akan Mengubah Pandangan Anda Tentang CIA" dan segala
macam puja-puji atasnya di blurb cover belakang buku, sebenarnyalah luar biasa
miskin pengetahuan elite intelektual negeri ini atas apa itu sebenarnya monster
bernama "Central Intelligence Agency" dari negeri paling berdarah tangannya
dalam sejarah peradaban manusia!
============
CounterPunch, September 12, 2007
Parts of the CIA Story
Tim Weiner’s "Legacy of Ashes"
By WILLIAM BLUM
In 1971 the New York Times published its edition of the Pentagon Papers, based
on the government documents concerning Vietnam policy which had been borrowed
by Daniel Ellsberg. In its preface to the book, the Times commented about
certain omissions and distortions in the government's view of political and
historical realities as reflected in the papers: "Clandestine warfare against
North Vietnam, for example, is not seen ... as violating the Geneva Accords of
1954, which ended the French Indochina War, or as conflicting with the public
policy pronouncements of the various administrations. Clandestine warfare,
because it is covert, does not exist as far as treaties and public posture are
concerned. Further, secret commitments to other nations are not sensed as
infringing on the treaty-making powers of the Senate, because they are not
publicly acknowledged."
In his new book, "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA", New York Times
reporter Tim Weiner also relies heavily on government documents in deciding
what events to include and what not to, and the result is often equally
questionable. "This book," Weiner writes, "is on the record -- no anonymous
sources, no blind quotations, no hearsay. It is the first history of the CIA
compiled entirely from firsthand reporting and primary documents."(p.xvii)
Thus, if US government officials did not put something in writing or if someone
did not report their firsthand experience concerning a particular event, to Tim
Weiner the event doesn't exist, or at least is not worth recounting. British
journalist Stewart Steven has written: "If we believe that contemporary history
must be told on the basis of documentary evidence before it becomes credible,
then we must also accept that everything will either be written with the
government's seal of approval or not be written at all."
As to firsthand reporting, for Weiner it apparently has to be from someone
"reputable". Former CIA officer Philip Agee wrote a 1974 book, "Inside the
Company: CIA Diary", that provides more detail about CIA covert operations in
Latin America than any book ever written. And it was certainly firsthand. But
Agee and his revelations are not mentioned at all in Weiner's book. Could it be
because Agee, in the process of becoming the Agency's leading dissident, also
became a socialist radical and close ally of Cuba?
Former CIA officer John Stockwell also penned a memoir ("In Search of Enemies",
1978), revealing lots of CIA dirty laundry in Africa. He later also became a
serious Agency dissident, and the Weiner book ignores him as well.
Also ignored: Joseph Burkholder Smith, another Agency officer, not quite a
left-wing dissident like Agee or Stockwell but a heavy critic nonetheless,
entitled his memoir "Portrait of a Cold Warrior" (1976), in which he revealed
numerous instances of CIA illegality and immorality in the Philippines,
Indonesia and elsewhere in Asia.
There's also Cambodian leader Prince Sihanouk, who provided his firsthand
account in "My War With The CIA" (1974). Sihanouk is also a non-person in the
pages of "Legacy of Ashes".
Even worse, Weiner ignores a veritable mountain of impressive "circumstantial"
and other evidence of CIA misdeeds which doesn't meet his stated criteria,
which any thorough researcher/writer on the Agency should give serious
attention to, certainly at least mention for the record. Among the many CIA
transgressions and crimes left out of "Legacy of Ashes", or very significantly
played down, are:
* The extensive CIA role in the 1950s provocation and sabotage activities in
East Berlin/East Germany which contributed considerably to the communists'
decision to build the Berlin Wall is not mentioned, although the wall is
discussed.
* The US role in instigating and supporting the coup that overthrew Sihanouk
in 1970, which led directly to the rising up of the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, and
the infamous Cambodian "killing fields". Weiner, without providing any source,
writes: "The coup shocked the CIA and the rest of the American
government."(p.304) (See William Blum, "Killing Hope: US Military and CIA
Interventions Since World War II", p.137-8) Nor does the book make any mention
of the deliberate Washington policy to support Pol Pot in his subsequent war
with Vietnam. Pol Pot's name does not appear in the book.
* The criminal actions carried out by Operation Gladio, created by the CIA,
NATO, and several European intelligence services beginning in 1949. The
operation was responsible for numerous acts of terrorism in Europe, foremost of
which was the bombing of the Bologna railway station in 1980, claiming 86
lives. The purpose of the terrorism was to place the blame for these atrocities
on the left and thus heighten public concern about a Soviet invasion and keep
the left from electoral victory in Italy, France and elsewhere. In Weiner's
book this is all down the memory hole.
* A discussion of the alleged 1993 assassination attempt against former
president George H.W. Bush in Kuwait presents laughable evidence, yet states:
"But the CIA eventually concluded that Saddam Hussein had tried to kill
President Bush."(p.444) Weiner repeats this, apparently, solely because it
appears in a CIA memorandum. That qualifies it as a "primary document". But
what does this have to do with, y'know, the actual facts?
* Moreover, the book scarcely scratches the surface concerning the dozens of
foreign elections the CIA has seriously interfered in; the large number of
assassination attempts, successful or unsuccessful, against foreign political
leaders; the widespread planting of phoney stories in the international media,
stories that were at times picked up in the American press as a result;
manipulation and corruption of foreign labor movements; extensive book and
magazine publishing fronts; drug trafficking; and a virtual world atlas of
overthrown governments, or attempts at same.
"A Legacy of Ashes" is generally a good read even for someone familiar with the
world of the CIA, but it's actually often rather superficial, albeit 700 pages
long. Why has so much of importance and interest been omitted from a book which
has the subtitle: "The History of the CIA"; not, it must be noted, "A History
of the CIA"?
Whatever jaundiced eye Weiner focuses on the CIA, he still implicitly accepts
the two basic beliefs of the Cold War: 1)There existed out there something
called The International Communist Conspiracy, fueled by implacable Soviet
expansionism; 2)United States foreign policy meant well. It may have
frequently been bumbling and ineffective, but its intentions were noble. And
still are.***
William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions
Since World War II, Rogue State: a guide to the World's Only Super Power. and
West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir.
He Can be reached at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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CARILAH ILMU SAMPAI KE EROPA,
JANGAN KE AMERIKA UTARA!!!
