CIA's 1985 list of vulnerable Third World leaders: 27 of 38 were ousted through coups, revolts, or death

CIA hit list on Third World leaders discovered

Virtually gone unnoticed in the millions of pages of declassified CIA files is an August 1985 report prepared by the agency's Directorate of Intelligence on the survivability of 38 Third World leaders. When compared to the historical record of what befell these leaders, a whopping 73.6 percent, 27 leaders on the CIA list, lost power as a result of assassinations, coups, untimely deaths, and mass popular revolts engineered from abroad.

CIA's 1985 list of vulnerable Third World leaders: 27 of 38 were ousted through coups, revolts, or death

Bahrain	Isa bin Sulman al Khalifa. Died of heart attack, 1999, after meeting U.S. Secretary of Defense William Cohen
Benin	Mathieu Kerekou. Ousted in civilian coup, 1990
Bhutan	Jigme Singye Wangchuck. Abdicated 2006
Burma	U Ne Win. Ousted, internal coup, 1988
Chile	Gen. Augusto Pinochet. Stepped down in negotiated agreement, 1988
Cuba	Fidel Castro. Resigned in 2006 during grave illness
Gambia	Dawda K. Jawara. Ousted, CIA coup, 1994
Guyana	Forbes Burnham. Died after throat surgery at Georgetown Hospital, Washington, DC, 1985. Originally inserted by CIA after coup against British Guiana's Marxist prime minister Cheddi Jagan
Haiti	Jean-Claude Duvalier. Ousted in CIA coup, 1986
Indonesia	Suharto. Resigned during mass demonstrations, 2003. Originally inserted into power by CIA coup in 1965
Lesotho	Leabua Jonathan. Ousted in military coup in 1986
Libya	Muammar Qaddafi. Executed in 2011 by CIA-supported rebels
Malawi	H. Kamuzu Banda. Ousted by popular revolt 1993
Mali	Moussa Traore. Ousted by popular revolt 1991
Nepal	Birendra Bir Bikram. Assassinated in CIA-backed coup 2001
Niger	Seyni Kountche. Died in Paris hospital of brain tumor, 1987
Paraguay	Alfredo Stroessner. Ousted in coup, 1989
Philippines	Ferdinand E. Marcos. Ousted in popular revolt, 1986
Qatar	Khalifa bin Hamad al Thani. Ousted in palace coup, 1995

Rwanda	Juvenal Habyarimana. Assassinated in CIA-linked aircraft shoot down, along with Burundi President Cyprien Ntaryamira, 1994
Somalia	Mohammed Siad Barre. Ousted in revolt in 1991
Sudan	Gaafar al Nimeiry. Ousted in coup in 1985
Syria	Hafez al Assad. Died in 2000. His son, Bashar al Assad, faced CIA-backed civil war in 2011
Vietnam	Le Duan. Died of heart attack suffered during 27th Communist Party Congress during party schism
Zaire	Mobutu Sese Seko.  Ousted in CIA-led foreign invasion in 1997

Zambia

Forced from office by international pressure in 1991

The CIA even ranked the vulnerability of the above leaders. The leaders of Burma, Morocco, and Tunisia were considered among the most vulnerable in 1985, with those of the Philippines, Somalia, Sudan, and Zambia closely following. The least vulnerable leaders were those of Qatar, Rwanda, Togo, Oman, Bhutan, Benin, and Nepal.
 
Gambian President Dawda Jawara was overthrown in a 1994 U.S.-backed military coup while he was on board the visiting U.S. Navy ship, the USS Lamoure County, docked in Banjul harbor.

The CIA report concluded that "U.S. interests are substantial in about two-thirds of these high-risk cases -- Chile, Indonesia, Morocco, the Philippines, Somalia, Syria, and Tunisia." The report strongly suggests that whether a Third World regime was "friendly or antagonistic to U.S. interests" any political instability that would affect U.S. strategic or economic interests would be grounds for the U.S. to seek the removal from power of friend or foe. In this regard, the CIA report cited "Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, and Zaire as "important to the United States."



Perhaps in what was an early recognition of the power of civil society organizations to create political instability, something that was later employed by the CIA, George Soros, and Gene Sharp against governments in Serbia, Georgia, Ukraine, Egypt, Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tunisia, the CIA report states: "Greater instability occurred in countries where social organizations were able to mobilize their constituents -- South Korea, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, and the Dominican Republic."

The CIA considered Tunisia under President Habib Bourguiba ripe for post-succession turmoil. Bourguiba was a special target because of his links to "revolutionary regimes dominated by longstanding charismatic leaders like Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam, Mao Zedong of China . . . Tito of Yugoslavia." All except Bourguiba were Communists. Marcos pf the Philippines was likened to one of aging oligarchs who, in their older years, became problems for the United States. In addition to Marcos, these leaders cited by the CIA included Franco of Spain and Hafez al Assad of Syria.

The CIA interest in fomenting insurrections against world leaders, which, in some cases, would lead to assassination, was in direct violation of three presidential executive orders barring the CIA from involvement in any way with political assassinations. The orders were EO 11905 signed by Gerald Ford; EO 12036signed by Jimmy Carter, which barred even indirect CIA involvement in political assassinations; and EO 12333, signed by Ronald Reagan. In 1998, Bill Clinton reinterpreted the assassination ban and permitted assassinations as long as there was a  counter-terrorism predicate. After 9/11, George W. Bush authorized the CIA to kill anyone the CIA placed on its Worldwide Attack Matrix. Barack Obama has done nothing to change the Bush policy on political assassinations.

Mossad's (almost) forgotten journalist assassination victim, David Holden

Mossad's (almost) forgotten journalist victim

In the archives of the CIA can be found the smallest of news clippings with some of the most revealing information. Take one small clipping from the New Times "Overseas Bulletins," preceded by "Bee-bee-beep, Bee-bee-beep," on February 20, 1978.

The item concerns the professional assassination of the London Sunday Times' top foreign correspondent, David Holden, in Cairo on December 7, 1977. Holden had just returned to Cairo airport from a trip to Damascus, east Jerusalem, and Amman where he was trying to size up reaction to the upcoming peace talks between Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Holden was always considered pro-Arab by the Israelis, mainly because of his close connections to top Palestinian leaders and his sympathy for their plight. After landing at Cairo airport, Holden never made it to his hotel room at the Cairo Hilton. Holden's body had been discovered on a Cairo roadside with a single bullet fired from a silencer-enabled 9 mm automatic pistol. The bullet pierced Holden's heart and exited through his chest.

Holden had, like many British and American Middle East correspondents, including ABC News' Peter Jennings and John Cooley, developed a close working relationship with a number of Arab leaders and diplomats. With much of the Arab world rejecting Sadat's peace offering to Israel following the Egyptian President's landmark November 1978 visit to Jerusalem, Holden was in a position to act as a back channel between Egypt, Britain and the United States -- Holden also enjoyed close contact with MI-6 and CIA personnel -- Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the Palestinian leadership. If Holden was acting as a high-level courier, certain parties opposed to any Middle East peace deal may have wanted him dead and the contents of his briefcase secured.

The CIA's interest in the New Times item, published a little over two months after Holden's assassination, may be the following: "It seems that Holden, who had strong ties to moderate Palestinian factions in Jordan, was attempting to act as an 'honest broker between them and Egyptian officials, with the ultimate goal of facilitating an Israeli-Egyptian agreement for the West Bank. Some CIA Mideast officials believe the Mossad (the Israeli intelligence organization) had Holden killed . . ."

The assassination of Holden was followed by a carefully scripted character assassination. It was suggested that Holden, who was married, had a pre-marital homosexual relationship with a German Jewish communist-turned-Zionist-turned anti-Zionist named Leo Silberman. Holden, who was 53 when he was killed, was known as a lady's man by his family and colleagues.

In stories about Holden that appeared in The Times as recently as September 6, 2009, and other newspapers, there was scant attention paid to the CIA clipping that Holden was, in fact, assassinated by the Mossad. The most recent Times story actually suggests that Holden was murdered by the CIA. Of course, The Times of today scarcely resembles the broadsheet of 1977, having been turned by the neocon/Zionist media mogul Rupert Murdoch into a tabloid largely devoid of independent investigative journalism.

To further absolve Mossad of Holden's assassination, the Soviet news agency TASS reported on June 19, 1979, that the satirical London bi-weekly magazine, Private Eye, identified Holden as himself a Mossad agent. Private Eye had paid hundreds of thousands of pounds in libel claims over the years and The Times and Sunday Times were always high on its target list.

In July 1977, Holden's paper reported on the torture of Palestinian prisoners, described as the "ugliest forms" of torture. Meir Vilner, the Secretary General of the Israeli Communist Party, issued the following statement on January 27, 1979, "The London 'Sunday Times' talked about this torture in July 1977. Of the 49 former prisoners in Israeli jails questioned by the paper's correspondents, 44 had been tortured. The publication of these facts gave rise to hysteria in Zionist circles, and barely a few months later the dead body of the leading special correspondent of the 'Sunday Times', David Holden, was found." Vilner appeared to have been suggesting a quid pro quo in Holden's assassination by the Israelis.

Blowback in Lebanon on Cheney-Rove-Abrams hit team

Word from Lebanon is that WMR's report on the Bush-Cheney White House operating a hit team that was behind the assassinations of Lebanese political leaders was featured on Lebanese television today.

This article also appeared on a Lebanese news site.

Excerpts:

"Dick Cheney, the name that always pops up whenever there is talk about a serious crime someplace in the world. Well, Cheney had his own death squad CIA unit which he ran from the white house. By Cheney’s orders, the assassinations unit killed former Lebanese minister and Lebanese Forces chief Elie Hobeika on the 24th of January 2002 and former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on the 14th of March 2005, prominent investigative journalist Wayne Madsen said.

Madsen who is known for his close ties with active circles in the CIA, was speaking to the Russia Today television when he revealed that the same squad that had assassinated Hobeika in coordination with former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s office, had also assassinated Hariri.

“This is something that I have heard about five years ago from CIA sources,” Madsen said. “I reported in 2004-2005 that the CIA unit linked to the White House was responsible for coordinating the assassinations in Lebanon of former Christian leader Elie Hobeika and also the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, and that this was done in close coordination with a similar unit operated by then Israeli PM Ariel Sharon’s office in Jerusalem,” Madsen said. . .

What Madsen had revealed has drawn storms of reactions that demand Cheney be prosecuted . . .

In 2005, Madsen cited one “key source’ in his report and said that “a number of intelligence sources have reported that assassinations of foreign leaders like Hariri and Hobeika are ultimately authorized by two key White House officials, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliot Abrams. In addition, Abrams is the key liaison between the White House and Sharon’s office for such covert operations, including political assassinations and Abrams is the guy the Israelis go to for a wink and a nod for such ops.”