NORTHWOODS Documents always cited as evidence of US faking Cuban attacks on US Citizens... BIG Fact omitted:

[Polish3d]

The Northwoods Documents are supposed declassified US military documents showing a US military plan to manufacture support for a Cuban invasion.


Conspiracy theorists (most who probably haven't actually read the documents) always cite these as evidence that the US govt. is willing to kill to manufacture evidence for war.



Well... I just finished reading the entire set of documents, and in each theorized event they always speak of using unnmanned planes, blowing up empty ships and making up fake passenger lists, etc.

ie, THEY WERENT GOING TO KILL ANY AMERICANS.



Given that t his was the cold war I can understand their desire to remove Castro, especially with what happened during Oct. with the Cuban Missile Crisis.


The critical point of these documents is that the govt. was NOT GOING TO KILL U.S. citizens...


Convientently omitted facts by the conspiracy nuts.


Anyway, this is rather important IMO because this thing is constantly drug up as evidence that the US govt. is willing to kill its own citizens when in fact they speak of going out of their way to avoid US civilian casualities if they decide to do this. And moreover, it was nixed by our elected officials.

 

[eraser]

Regardless of the fact that the Goverment would take steps to prevent the death of United States citizens, the strategy outlined in the documents were deceiving. The were nothing more than a pack of lies to drum up support for an invasion.

Some of use also might find it important for our elected officals to be honest with us. In the case of this document, and many other instances they have been dishonest with the people of this country. Whether or not lying to your citizens is as bad as killing them intentionally is subject to one's opinion.

R. Larabee

 

[Polish3d]

Not really. I expect honesty too but I also understand the situation of the time. The entire world was almost annhiliated because of Castro's alliance with the Soviet Union... seriously, we were " " < that close, thanks to Kennedy for his wisdom there.


I think it is even more telling that the govt. would go out of its way to avoid civilian casualties, faking deaths etc rather than just blowing up a passenger plane full of US citzens. They weren't just ambivalent, they chose the harder way to avoid hurting US civilians.


Anyway, it was just a proposed plan. IT NEVER HAPPENED.


And finally, don't obfuscate the main point of my post:


Conspiracy theorists say:

"US Govt. planned to kill US Citizens for war before! Look at the NORTHWOOD PAPERS!!!111"


When that flat untrue, the actual documents they cite make that clear. It's like me saying your post above here says that you support government deception when you've said the opposite.

That, is propaganda.

 

[eraser]

The term "Conspiracy theorists" is subject to one's opinion.

To label one as a "Conspiracy theorists" in a case such as this might be a bit extreme considering the documents do exist.

Have A Nice Day.

R. Larabee

 

[dahunan]

For Reference

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/20010430/northwoods.pdf
http://www.state.gov/www/about_state/history/frusX/index.html

 

[TRUMPHENT]

Critical points:

You did not link or even quote a single utterance to support your claim.
Conspiracy nuts are today are at the very top levels of government. They have killed Americans, nearly 2000 of them.

Although "Northwoods" was never employed, all it would have taken was a phone call. Relying on conspiracy nuts such as Judith Miller can have spectacularly catastrophic effects. Take Iraq

 

[TRUMPHENT]

Critical points:

You did not link or even quote a single utterance to support your claim.
Conspiracy nuts are today are at the very top levels of government. They have killed Americans, nearly 2000 of them.

Although "Northwoods" was never employed, all it would have taken was a phone call. Relying on conspiracy nuts such as Judith Miller can have spectacularly catastrophic effects. Take Iraq for example. Please!

When the conspiracy nuts start to get out of control, we wind up watching news filled with names such as Chalabi, Feith, Wolowitz, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Plame, Libby, Wilson, Hussein, Bush, Rove, Russert, Rice, Rove and the names of nearly 2000 dead Americans and 14000 wounded.

Who sez conspiracy nuts don't kill Americans?

 

[Rainsford]

Am I the only one who doesn't find this all that impressive? I'm not exactly one of the conspiracy people, and I don't think I've ever suggested that these papers are evidence of anything, but starting a war based on a big lie is still pretty bad. Not "killing a bunch of innocent civlians" bad, but if this had been carried out, I think those at the top should have gone to prison at the very least. We still execute traitors, don't we?

Oh, but it was a different time. Castro was dangerous...and so on. Yes, but the American people aren't morons, if Cuba really was a threat, it should have been pretty easy to convince the American people of that fact. Why bother with a fake attack? But I also judge this with the benefit of hindsight, because as it turned out, no war (based on lies or not) was necessary. Our leaders back then actually seemed to remember that diplomacy, backed up by the threat of force, is in many ways a more powerful tool than force itself.