Two widely praised successes-the 1953 Iranian coup that placed the Shah on the throne and the overthrow of a leftist Guatemalan government in 1954-are now considered mistakes. Clumsy attempts to overthrow unfriendly (i.e. Thousands of potential insurgents or saboteurs sent into Russia and its satellites, North Korea, China and Vietnam were quickly eliminated. Aided by an avalanche of documents declassified since 2000, Weiner offers a dismal litany of failed operations the agency did its best to cover up. The agency devotes most of its budget to covert operations, most of them bungled.
Presidents Truman and Eisenhower believed intelligence could prevent another Pearl Harbor by uncovering Soviet intentions, but the CIA never predicted an important Soviet or terrorist move, the author avers.
The CIA started off on the wrong foot in 1947 and never regained it, maintains Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Weiner ( Blank Check, 1990, etc.).
0 kommentar(er)
