Half the Story on the Intel Community

For John, BLUF:  Globe OpEd Writer James Carroll is over the top in his dislike for the US Intelligence Community.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In the Monday edition of The Boston Globe is an opinion piece by Writer James Carroll.  The headline is "The poisonous legacy of the CIA starts with who we are".  Let us be frank.  Mr Carroll is no Carla Seaquist. But, for the first half of the article it works OK.

Then we get into our relationship with Cuba, which has been bad, per Mr Carroll, because of the Bay of Pigs and the CIA.  No mention of the fact that it was Cubans who were the soldiers involved.  No mention of the decision of CIA's superiors to withhold air support.  No mention of how property of people and corporations were seized, which is OK I guess, given that Cuba became a Communist regime, dedicated to the eradication of Capitalism at home and abroad.  No mention of the willingness of Cuba to allow the stationing of nuclear weapons on its soil,♠ the weapons pointed at the United States.  No mention of Cuba harboring people we think of as criminals.  No mention of Cuban meddling in Africa.

Put another way, Cuba is not pure and we are not all evil here in the US.

But, moving along, Mr Carroll then looks to Korea.

But Cuba’s is not the longest and sorriest saga of the Cold War. That distinction belongs to North Korea, whose 1950 aggression across the 38th parallel was entirely unforeseen by the CIA. Yet the US intervention in the Korean civil war was a foundational mistake (a dress rehearsal for Vietnam), haunting the world to this day. Can there be a surprise that, competing with the story of peace with Cuba last week, was a story about rage ignited by a comic Hollywood depiction of, yes, a fictional CIA assassination plot aimed at North Korean leader Kim Jong Un? Having had its computers hacked and threats against them made general, Sony canceled the release of the film in dispute,“The Interview,” which the Wall Street Journal had called “comedy gold.” In truth, we Americans love our CIA caper films and cliffhanger TV shows, but might one ask a dumb question? Who thinks a movie about the CIA-sponsored assassination of a named and sitting leader of another nation could possibly be funny?

Intervention in Korea in the Summer of 1950 was a mistake?  We should have allowed Kim Il Song to conquer the Republic of Korea?  Think in terms of population.  In 1970 South Korea had grown to 30 million.  By 2013 it had grown to 50 million.  Do you think that South Korea under the Kim dynasty would have experienced such population growth?  Don't you think the mismanagement of the economy south of the 38th Parallel would have resulted in either a quicker die-off or a lower birth rate.  At any rate, not the ROK of today.  And looking at the economy in 1950, which was below 40 billion dollars (1990 dollars), by 2014 it was $1.4 Trillion (14th in the world).  Pretty steep climb.  In contrast, the DPRK (NorKs) is number 125, at $40 Billion GDP.

Money isn't everything.  There is also the issue of human rights.  In South Korea a human rights movement emerged and helped move the nation toward a more democratic approach.  In particular, in May of 1980, college students in the city of Gwangju began protesting, leading, eventually, a decade later, to democracy.  North Korea not so much—but a lot of Juche,♥ and Songun, and a desire to keep the leadership in the Kim Dynasty.

And then, from the Canadian TV Network we have this item:  "UN Security Council takes up North Korea's human rights for 1st time".  The UN looking into the human rights situation in North Korea?

The U.N. Security Council placed North Korea's bleak human rights situation on its agenda Monday, a groundbreaking step toward possibly holding the nuclear-armed but desperately poor country and leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity.

But we, and the UN, should have ignored North Korea in June of 1950s.

Perhaps Writer James Carroll should again read the original book by Ruth Carter Stapleton, the late Sister of former President Jimmy Carter, The Gift of Inner Healing.  Maybe a trip to his Father's gravesite to offer his Father forgiveness and to ask forgiveness from him would help heal the hurt he is feeling.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The condemned Intelligence Community was able to work that problem in a way that contributed to a successful conclusion—withdrawal of Soviet Nuclear Weapons and the only loss of life being Major Rudolf Anderson, Jr.
♥  As a result, Kim Il Sung developed a theory of self-reliance, or Juche in Korean, that remains the country's official ideology today. He laid out three principles: political independence, economic self-reliance and military autonomy.