Johnny Roselli of the Chicago La Cosa Nostra family hired two hitmen, "Sam Gold" and "Joe." The monikers belonged to men on the top ten Mafia boss list-Sam Giancana, Al Capone's successor in Chicago, and his right-hand man Santos Trafficante. They spent several months in vain attempts to slip six poison pills from the CIA into Castro's food and drinks through Cuban contacts. The operation was given up after the Bay of Pigs invasion failed.
This sinister story was disclosed to the public in the 693 pages of CIA files declassified this week. President Ford's Rockefeller Commission, the Senate's Church Committee, and Congress' Pike Committee investigated it in the mid-1970s among other cloak-and-dagger trespasses to make many unsavory sensations.
Now ordinary people have their first opportunity to look at genuine CIA archive papers, which intelligence men ironically refer to as "family jewels." Even with many passages stricken out by censors, they are shocking with the secret service's disdain of the law.
The files concern many ignoble things. The CIA was behind the scene as Lumumba, Trujillo and other foreign leaders were killed. Mood changers were tested on unsuspecting Americans. Human rights activists, anti-Vietnam War campaigners and famous journalists were shadowed, and had their telephones bugged and homes secretly searched. Private correspondence from the U.S.S.R. and China was opened for inspection.
American extremists were planted abroad in a prelude to international terrorism. None other than Osama bin Laden is rumored to have started as an agent. Langley people were working their fingers to the bone. As many as 240,000 letters were opened and 1.5 million people had their files in a database on only one of the 12 CIA and FBI correspondence inspection programs in 1940-1973.
Project CHAOS envisaged the use of extremists. Its computers stored 300,000 personal files, 7,200 of them concerning Americans, and 100 peace and human rights group files.
All those old scandalizing stories are now made public evidently with the CIS' blessing. As I see it, they mean this ostentatious act of penitence to say to America and the world that bygones are bygones, and the ignoble things will not happen again. In fact, the CIA is drawing a blind over its present-day sins.
Guantanamo inmates are tortured-kept in the heat or in the fetal position for long hours. There is the "submarine" torture, when the victim is kept underwater. It is no wonder that 34 attempted suicides have been reported.
Utter lawlessness reigns in CIA secret jails in Afghanistan, Thailand, Poland and Romania.
In an essay of June 25, Fidel Castro once again accuses President George Bush of "authorizing and ordering" his assassination.
Many other acts which blatantly trample the law and human rights will surface someday. The CIA public penitence leads one to draw suggestive parallels.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
