The New Phoenix Program; Operation Northwoods

Operation Northwoods:
The Joint Chiefs of Staff was the source of the plan known as Operation Northwoods. General Lemnitzer, who was considered a master planner, was upset with Kennedy Administrations stance towards Communism
in general, and Cuba in particular. In the name of anti-communism they proposed launching a secret and bloody war of terrorism against their own country in order to trik the American public into supporting an ill-conceived war they intended to launch against Cuba. The plan which had the written approval of every member of the JC's, called for innocent people to be shot down on American streets in a sniper campaign, people would be framed for bombings they didn't commit, civilian airliners would be hijacked, and much more (doesn't this sound familiar btw?). Lemnitzer and the other Chiefs knew that there was only one option left that would ensure their war. They would have to trick the American public and world opinion into hatin Cuba so much that they would not only go along, but would insist that he and his generals launch their war against Castro."World opinion and the United States forum", said a secret JCS document, "Should be favorbly affected by developing the international image of the Cuban government as rash, irresponsible, and as an alarming and unpredictable threat to the peace of the Western Hemisphere." This was one of the most
corrupt plans ever created by the US government. Lemnitzer and the JCS were heavily politicized, joining Far Right Wing political organizations and holding seminars on bases. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a report on the problem of right-wing extermism in the military, warned that there was "considerable danger" in the "education and propaganda activities of military personnel." "Running through all of them is a central theme that the primary, if not exclusive, danger to this country is internal Communist Infiltration." The "thesis of the nature of the Communist threat often is developed by equating social legislation with socialism, and the latter with Communism...much of the administration's (Kennedy) domestic legislative programs, including graduated income tax, social security, Federal aid to education, etc. under this philosphy would be characterized as steps towards Communism." Finally the committee specifically pointed to General Lemnitzer and called for an examination of the relationship between him, his Chiefs, and the extreme right groups. McNamara demoted Lemnitzer and transferred him to Europe as chief of NATO, Gerald Ford promoted the darling of the Republic right to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, while his Cuba chief, General Craig, became chief of NSA's military arm, the Army Security Agency.