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Operation Northwoods, or '''Northwoods''', was a 1962 plan to generate U.S. public support for military action against the Cuba n government of Fidel Castro as part of the U.S. government's Operation Mongoose anti-Castro initiative. The plan, which was not implemented, called for various False Flag actions, including simulated or real state sponsored Terrorism (such as hijacked planes) on U.S. and Cuban soil. The plan was proposed by senior U.S. Department Of Defense leaders, including the highest ranking member of the U.S. military, the Chairman Of The Joint Chiefs Of Staff Lyman Louis Lemnitzer . The proposal was presented in a document entitled "Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba," a collection of draft (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs Of Staff (JCS) representative to the Caribbean Survey Group . The document was presented by the JCS to Secretary Of Defense Robert McNamara on March 13 with one paragraph approved, as a preliminary submission for planning purposes. The previously by said Review Board. "Appendix to Enclosure A" and "Annex to Appendix to Enclosure A" of the Northwoods document were first published . The Northwoods document was published Online in a more complete form (i.e., including cover Memoranda ) by the National Security Archive on April 30, 2001. {Link without Title} CONTENT In response to a request for pretexts for military intervention by the Chief of Operations, Cuba Project (Col. Edward Lansdale ), the document lists methods (with, in some cases, outline plans) the author believed would garner public and international support for US military intervention in Cuba . These are staged attacks purporting to be of Cuban origin, with a number of them having real casualties. Central to the plan was the use of "friendly Cubans"— Cuban Exile s seeking to oust Fidel Castro. The suggestions included:
According to James Bamford in ''Body of Secrets'': :Operation Northwoods, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving Lemnitzer and his cabal the excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to launch their war. RELATED OPERATION MONGOOSE PROPOSALS In addition to Operation Northwoods, under the Operation Mongoose program the Department Of Defense had a number of similar proposals to be taken against the Cuba n regime of Fidel Castro . Twelve of these proposals come from a February 2, 1962 memorandum entitled "Possible Actions to Provoke, Harass or Disrupt Cuba," written by Brig. Gen. William H. Craig and submitted to Brig. Gen. Edward Lansdale , the commander of the Operation Mongoose project. {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} {Link without Title} The memorandum outlines Operation Bingo, a plan to, in its words, "create an incident which has the appearance of an attack on U.S. Facilities (GMO) In Cuba , thus providing an excuse for use of U.S. military might to overthrow the current government of Cuba." It also includes Operation Dirty Trick, a plot to blame Castro if the 1962 Mercury manned space flight carrying John Glenn crashed, saying "The objective is to provide irrevocable proof that, should the MERCURY manned orbit flight fail, the fault lies with the Communists et al Cuba {Link without Title} ." It continues, "This to be accomplished by manufacturing various pieces of evidence which would prove electronic interference on the part of the Cubans." Even after General (OAS) so that the United States could retaliate. The Pentagon document says of one of the scenarios, "A contrived 'Cuban' attack on an OAS member could be set up, and the attacked state could be urged to take measures of self-defense and request assistance from the U.S. and OAS." The plan expresses confidence that by this action "the U.S. could almost certainly obtain the necessary two-thirds support among OAS members for collective action against Cuba." Included in the nations the Joint Chiefs suggested that the United States covertly attack were Jamaica and Trinidad-Tobago . Since both were members of the British Commonwealth , the Joint Chiefs hoped that by secretly attacking them and then falsely blaming Cuba, the United States could incite the people of England into supporting a war against Castro. As the Pentagon report noted, "Any of the contrived situations described above are inherently, extremely risky in our democratic system in which security can be maintained, after the fact, with very great difficulty. If the decision should be made to set up a contrived situation it should be one in which participation by U.S. personnel is limited only to the most highly trusted covert personnel. This suggests the infeasibility of the use of military units for any aspect of the contrived situation." The base at] Guantanamo ." REACTION It has been reported that John F. Kennedy personally rejected the Northwoods proposal, but no official record of this exists. The proposal was sent for approval to the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, but was not implemented. President Kennedy removed General Lyman Lemnitzer as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff shortly afterward, although he became Supreme Allied Commander of NATO in January 1963. The continuing push against the Cuban government by internal elements of the U.S. military and intelligence community (the failed Bay Of Pigs Invasion , The Cuban Project , etc.) prompted President John F. Kennedy to attempt to rein in burgeoning hardline anti-Communist sentiment that was intent on proactive, aggressive action against communist movements around the globe. After the Bay of Pigs, John F. Kennedy fired then CIA director Allen W. Dulles , Deputy Director Charles P. Cabell , as well as Deputy Director Richard Bissell , and turned his attention towards Vietnam . Kennedy also took steps to bring discipline to the CIA's Cold War and Paramilitary operations by drafting a National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) which called for the shift of Cold War operations to the Joint Chiefs of Staff and The Pentagon as well as a major change in the role of the CIA to exclusively deal in intelligence gathering. Since its declassification, the document has often been cited as evidence of historical precedent for a number of claimed contemporary Conspiracies relating to government manipulation of public sentiment surrounding foreign policy through violent acts, including the suggestion that the U.S. Government Was Responsible for the September 11, 2001 Attacks . SEE ALSO
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