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details. Hello

1:08

everyone, Sakuri here. And I'm Gabi. And welcome back to

1:10

the podcast, my hoes. My friends, before it is that

1:13

we begin today's episode, I would just like to thank

1:15

each and every one of you for listening. And I

1:17

would like to ask that if you do enjoy the

1:19

show, to please make sure to go ahead and leave

1:21

us a review, whether on Spotify or Apple or wherever

1:23

it is that you get your podcasts. It really is

1:26

something that helps us out. Also,

1:28

our next Trova trip launches on March

1:30

1st. And guys, we only plan on

1:32

doing two per year, but everybody wanted

1:35

to do German Christmas markets. So

1:37

we are doing Munich,

1:39

Salzburg and Vienna. For

1:42

German Christmas markets, the trip is going to be from

1:44

November 25th to December 1st. And yeah, make

1:48

sure you sign up because it was in high demand. And

1:51

in addition to that trip that we are doing,

1:54

Italy and Peru are still available due to an

1:56

unfortunate cancellation. There are a couple spots left for

1:58

Italy. So I know it's last minute but

2:00

if you want to get on all that action then by all

2:02

means go ahead and click the links down in the description and

2:04

sign up. But without further ado let's

2:06

go ahead and get into today's episode. So

2:09

I'm sure that many of you before even clicking

2:11

on this episode in the first place have already

2:14

seen the title of it. We're talking about spies

2:16

in the CIA and as for

2:18

what inspired that Gabby okay so for anyone

2:20

who is listening right now and I don't

2:22

know if you've actually seen this we went

2:24

and saw the movie Argyle this past week

2:26

and I don't

2:28

think that I have been that thoroughly

2:30

entertained by a movie since I went

2:33

and saw Barbie like

2:35

just this sheer wild ride from beginning

2:37

to end even with the things that

2:40

I could predict and twist there were

2:42

so many more that were just fun.

2:46

Modern movies just in general are

2:48

not really very fun and

2:51

so that was just so refreshing but

2:53

it got me thinking okay here's

2:56

this thing it's this super spy

2:59

this spy that is like

3:01

the greatest thing in the world has ever seen

3:03

and fighting a secret shadow organization that is hellbent

3:06

on honestly I don't even know what the whole

3:08

point of what they were trying to do in

3:10

the first place was but naturally talking about spies

3:12

made me think about the CIA. So

3:15

fun fact for anyone who is actually unaware of

3:17

this that we're definitely gonna mention this in the

3:19

first place. Gabby did you know that for many

3:21

years the CIA sucked. Yeah

3:25

I mean you can see that

3:27

from all of their declassified documents

3:30

listen I am obsessed with reading

3:32

declassified CIA documents because it's like

3:34

oh I wonder who did this

3:37

absolutely fucking unhinged thing oh wait

3:39

it was the CIA right. Unhinged

3:42

shit yeah unhinged shit is probably the

3:44

best way that you could possibly ever

3:46

phrase that that is absolutely true and

3:50

when we were going and looking at this right I

3:52

was thinking about all the different assassinations I

3:54

was thinking about all the varying different plots

3:56

that they've been involved in and there is

3:59

one in that kind of stood

4:01

out to me because even to this day it is all

4:03

something that is a little bit questionable. Like

4:05

everyone knows of the CIA

4:07

and like you know Cuba, Fidel Castro, all

4:09

of that right? But what

4:12

about the Congo? Not

4:14

nearly as many people are aware of what was going on

4:17

with this year. Our story that we're gonna be talking about

4:19

today is something that goes all the way back to the

4:21

1960s but the

4:23

CIA is something that has been

4:26

around and fumbling around since 1947

4:28

and oh my god what fun

4:30

stories do we have to tell

4:32

thanks to as you said all

4:34

of those declassified documents that they

4:36

have. Like look if this

4:38

wasn't founded we would not get a

4:40

new declassified document every few years telling

4:42

us about some absolutely unhinged program or

4:45

operation that was carried out that just

4:47

really does seem too unreal to believe.

4:49

Exactly as you said it is the

4:51

gift that keeps on giving. So

4:55

first things first then a short history of

4:57

the CIA. As I'm sure that many people

5:00

are aware the 1940s were not

5:02

exactly great for the majority of people in the world

5:04

as World War II was going to break

5:06

the balance of power in the world and

5:09

in the end would leave two major powers

5:11

to influence the rest. You had

5:13

the United States and of course the Soviet

5:15

Union and of course both

5:17

sides wanted to keep an eye on the

5:19

other as well as make sure that their

5:21

influence was the one that was going to

5:23

take a hold of countries that were arising

5:25

out of the ashes of the previous colonial

5:28

empires. The way that you would

5:30

do this typically was with large

5:32

amounts of money and simultaneously

5:34

with intelligence services. You

5:37

know doing the things like trying to

5:39

support your kinds of candidates making sure

5:41

that the ones that possibly were more

5:44

hostile to you did not perhaps have

5:46

a chance to achieve power things like

5:48

this. And in the case

5:50

of the United States the National Security Act of

5:52

1947 mandated a major reorganization

5:55

of the foreign policy and military

5:57

establishments of the US government. The

6:00

act is actually the thing to go

6:02

and create many of the institutions that

6:05

presidents would find useful when formulating and

6:07

implementing foreign policy. One

6:09

of these things being the CIA. And

6:12

the reason for that is that at the

6:15

end of the 40s and going into the 50s, the

6:18

Cold War had begun. Now,

6:21

interestingly enough, when we're talking about this, for

6:23

the first few years of the early Cold

6:25

War, that being between 1945 and

6:28

1948, the conflict that is

6:30

going on here, like, okay, you know how

6:32

we have Vietnam, we have the Korean War,

6:34

we have all that. Well, in

6:37

this case, it's not really

6:40

conflict yet. Everything

6:42

was more political than actual military,

6:44

if that makes sense. Both

6:46

sides were squabbling with each other at

6:48

the UN. They were trying to get

6:51

closer relations with nations that weren't committed

6:53

to either side. And

6:55

both were trying to present

6:57

their differing visions of a

6:59

post war world in which,

7:01

can you guess, they

7:03

were, it was the

7:05

one in which they were in charge. And

7:08

by that, I mean each respective

7:10

one. By 1950, though, certain factors

7:12

had made the Cold War

7:14

an increasingly militarized struggle. As

7:18

an example, one of the key things

7:20

that happens, like, okay, Deb, you know

7:22

how with the UN Security Council, how,

7:24

like, China is a permanent member on

7:26

it? So

7:28

the thing with that is that that

7:31

was a highly contentious thing, because the

7:33

China of today that is in there

7:35

is not the China that was awarded

7:37

a seat at the UN Council. Like,

7:40

that was something that was supposed to

7:42

be noticed today, Taiwan, with the

7:44

Republic of China, back when

7:46

the previous government controlled it. So

7:48

it's something that really, really

7:51

screwed things over, because initially, when the United

7:53

States and like the Western powers, when they

7:55

were setting up things with the UN, they're

7:57

like, okay, this is awesome. We're going

7:59

to have it. Britain, we're gonna have

8:01

France, we're gonna have us, and

8:04

because we totally helped and saved China,

8:06

we're going to have China on our

8:08

side as well to make sure that

8:10

the Soviets, which are also in power

8:12

in here, are not going to

8:14

be able to do nearly as much because it's

8:16

gonna be four versus one. Then

8:19

the Republic of China fell

8:22

and the people for public

8:25

growth. So

8:27

yeah, the whole 4v1 thing very

8:29

quickly became 3v2 and it was way

8:31

closer and that wasn't

8:34

very comfortable odds. All

8:36

kinds of different efforts were put

8:38

in to try and gain as

8:40

many allies as possible, especially

8:42

with what was going on around the

8:45

rest of the world. Okay,

8:47

so the pronouncement

8:49

of the Truman Doctrine, the

8:52

development of Soviet nuclear weapons,

8:55

all these varying things were building up tensions

8:58

all over the world and in the

9:00

occupied region of Germany, how everything was

9:02

split up between the different powers, this

9:04

was not a good situation. You

9:06

had the outbreak of the Korean War, you

9:08

had the formulation of the Warsaw Pact, and

9:11

the North Atlantic Treaty

9:13

Organization, you know rivals

9:15

like NATO's. So you had

9:17

Warsaw and you had NATO and

9:20

these were the rival alliances

9:22

that essentially that

9:25

is what composed, that is what built, that is

9:27

what made the Cold War's military

9:29

aspect, the whole dimension of it. US

9:32

foreign policy reflected this transition when

9:35

it adopted a position that sought

9:37

to contain the Soviet Union

9:39

from further expansion and by

9:41

and large through a variety of

9:44

different incarnations, the containment policy would

9:46

effectively be the central strategy that

9:48

the US would utilize over

9:51

the course of 1952 all the way to the end

9:54

of the Soviet Union in 1991 with containment

9:58

signifying exactly as the

10:00

name implies. The

10:03

purpose was to contain

10:05

the Soviet Union, to not

10:07

allow its influence, to not

10:09

allow communism to spread.

10:13

And so it's that issue of

10:15

containment that the Congo

10:18

comes into play. So

10:20

okay then, the Democratic Republic of

10:23

the Congo, oftentimes referred to as

10:25

the DRC or Congo, and formerly

10:27

as Zaire, that is the

10:29

second largest country by area on

10:32

the African continent, and it is

10:34

the richest in mineral wealth. I

10:36

mean, I cannot exaggerate to you

10:39

just how fabulously wealthy this region

10:41

is, at least

10:44

on paper, for like what it has

10:46

in natural wealth. European

10:48

Exploration Administration would take place over the

10:50

course of the 1870s to 1920s, as

10:54

the region was fairly rapidly colonized

10:56

during that time. Prior

10:59

to that, pretty much only trading

11:01

posts and things had existed, but

11:03

the Congo territory was formally acquired

11:05

by Leopold, who was the king

11:07

of Belgium at the Conference of

11:09

Berlin in 1885. I know

11:13

that this is going to be going up onto

11:15

YouTube, and so I know that I am limited

11:17

in what exactly it is that I can say,

11:19

because like, do you remember that

11:21

one conversation that we had quite a

11:23

while back, Gabby, where you learned exactly

11:26

what went down in the Congo, and

11:28

you were just mad that day? Gabby

11:30

Gonta I started yelling at

11:32

him, and it's so funny, because he just

11:34

walks into the room, and he's like, what are you

11:36

yelling about? And he's like, oh, that's Belgium, Belgium?

11:38

Paul Jay Belgium, yes. Gabby Gonta And I'm

11:41

like, I was so mad at him, he's like, I'm not from

11:43

Belgium, like, but you could be. Paul

11:45

Jay No, I'm not. I'm

11:48

not from Belgium. Gabby Gonta It

11:50

was an interesting time. Paul Jay Oh, But

11:52

yes, that whole thing happened. And The reaction,

11:54

though, is completely understandable, because for anyone who

11:56

is not aware of what was going down

11:58

in their history. I'm.

12:01

Not. The Belgium of the day in

12:04

their ownership and running of the

12:06

Congo as a private system. Oh

12:08

the King of Belgium men's that he

12:10

could do basically whatever does that he

12:12

wanted and this resulted in. Horrible.

12:16

Abuses. Of the population. Like.

12:19

Leopold would begin very different development

12:21

projects through the region, such as

12:23

railways that would run from the

12:25

coast of Leopold Vale, which is

12:27

now modern day. I eat like

12:29

conscience offer. I know, I'm probably

12:31

butchering that, but. That. Is

12:33

weird is going and from. Their.

12:36

You. Would have all these different

12:38

projects they were ain't dead, not

12:40

improving the country, Not. At

12:43

helping the people. Know. That

12:45

this whole colony be entire reason

12:47

or it's existence was that it

12:49

was designed to extract as much

12:51

capital as possible from the call

12:53

It. The. The big

12:55

export that was going on during this time

12:58

a would continue for many years. Or

13:00

the robber. And Leopold

13:02

would make a fortune. From.

13:04

This rather. But. It would

13:06

come agree costs money. If

13:08

you're wondering as you how. Big.

13:11

Of a cost I'm talking about here

13:13

to understand the scope of how dangerous

13:15

this rigid Africa would eventually become and

13:17

why. To this day there are many

13:19

hard feelings. Between two

13:21

years eighteen, Eighty Five, and nineteen. Oh

13:23

wait, it is estimated that around ten.

13:26

Million. The Congolese people would

13:28

die as a result of exploitation

13:30

and diseases. Which. Yes,

13:32

that is. of course That's a very big

13:34

grouping, especially when you say exploitation and disease

13:37

because you know you could have the majority

13:39

people die off from disease and that did

13:41

not mean that they were abused. But.

13:43

Simultaneously what ends up happening from this

13:45

is that the way that was all

13:47

structured and crammed together and a disease

13:49

want to be think include malnutrition, That

13:52

is a disease that has registered hear.

13:55

A government commission would later conclude

13:57

that the population of the Congo.

14:00

Had been reduced. By. Half

14:02

during this time period. And

14:05

so to enforce a rubber quote us

14:07

as an example the Force Publique B

14:09

S P would be called the in

14:11

to maintain order. The army

14:13

was created not to you know.

14:16

Defend the country, But.

14:18

To control and effectively to

14:20

terrorize the population. The

14:22

Of Peep as an example would

14:25

cut off the hands of individuals

14:27

who did not feel their rubber

14:29

potus. Big. Weird thing

14:31

is that the Congo still has

14:33

modern day slavery that guess. But

14:35

now it's fair. rechargeable batteries. Debbie.

14:40

This is quite literally one of

14:42

the most mineral rich provinces. In.

14:44

The entire world. Session the people who

14:46

live there and have the well.

14:49

They. Kind of do. And

14:51

they but the kind of do By virtue the

14:53

way that the government and everything is rough this

14:55

is working. Wow. Apparently. There's modern day

14:57

slavery, Human trafficking, child labor.

15:00

Yes. Over.

15:02

Cobalt. Just. One

15:04

of the most crucial elements, the necessary

15:06

for those batteries. Things.

15:08

That the state of the myths of people understand what

15:11

haven't. In Nineteen Sixty Nine,

15:13

fourteen black student athletes were kicked

15:15

off their universities American football team

15:18

for planning a show of support

15:20

against racism. We were really

15:22

protests that are treatment on

15:24

amazing sports stories. From the Bbc

15:26

World Service Tell their. Story is

15:28

a brothers that they will visit

15:31

to the made a change fight

15:33

was we deserve. Search for amazing

15:35

for stories wherever you get your

15:37

Bbc podcast. Stuff.

15:44

into the hidden corridors of

15:46

the past with hometown history

15:49

for every episode uncovers the

15:51

untold stories and secrets nestled

15:53

in the streets and hours

15:55

our own backyards we bring

15:57

history to mars revealing be

15:59

a extraordinary in the

16:01

ordinary from local legends to forgotten

16:04

tales that shape the communities we

16:06

know today. Tune into

16:08

hometown history and embark on a journey

16:10

through time right from where you

16:13

are. Yeah. Also

16:15

for smartphones. Yeah. Also, you

16:17

know, this toxic to touch and breathe.

16:19

Yeah. Hundreds of thousands of

16:21

people who mine it are touching

16:23

it and breathing it in day and out

16:26

there's mothers with babies strapped to their backs

16:28

all breathing in the toxic cobalt dust. Oh,

16:31

yeah. Yeah. I correct me

16:33

if I'm wrong on this because I know that you're looking at it right now. This is the case.

16:36

What they end up doing is

16:39

that there are like the mining companies that

16:41

own this stuff in here and it's like

16:43

it's not foreign companies. It is the companies

16:45

that are actually within that region that control

16:47

the things. But what they end up doing

16:49

is that by international law, they are not

16:52

supposed to be employing people to be harvesting

16:54

with like pickaxes and stuff by

16:56

hand. They're supposed to be using proper procedures.

16:58

And this is something that is tested. But

17:01

the companies illegally under the

17:04

table end up paying pennies

17:06

on the dollar for that cheap

17:08

labor to be able to do stuff. So

17:11

it's not quite slavery, but it's they have

17:13

literally no other options. Industrial

17:15

excavator derived cobalt and cobalt dug by

17:17

women and children with their bare hands.

17:20

Yes. And they are paid next

17:23

to nothing. So to the point that

17:25

it's almost tantamount to slavery because there's nothing

17:27

else because many of the people in the region

17:30

were farmers and the

17:32

land effectively got destroyed by heavy

17:34

industrialized mining, which

17:37

poisoned the land. They couldn't do much. At

17:39

least, okay, I know I need to do a whole video on that.

17:42

That's probably something that's going to be coming out here in the future

17:44

on the history of everything YouTube page. But that

17:46

is just awful.

17:49

Anyway, going back more into

17:51

the history of how it kind of got to that

17:53

point in the first place is that

17:55

it was awful. There was very

17:57

a lot of exploitation. It was not good. the

18:00

Belgian Parliament didn't

18:02

want to do anything, but they

18:05

were forced to actually bow to

18:07

international pressure and free

18:09

the country there. Like not free

18:11

entirely is for independence, but change

18:13

it to be not a private

18:15

typhdom of the king, but actually

18:18

a proper, like properly

18:20

maintained colony. And from then

18:22

on, it would become the

18:24

Belgian Congo, not just

18:26

the free state, as it was called. The

18:29

thing about this is that initially Belgium

18:31

was completely unprepared to actually govern a

18:33

colony, much less one that was as

18:35

huge as the Congo. Remember,

18:38

we're talking about a territory that

18:40

is the second biggest country in

18:42

all of Africa. And

18:44

eventually Belgium would bench to

18:46

institute some reforms. But

18:50

there's a little bit of an issue. You

18:53

know how there's that whole thing with colonies and how

18:55

expensive they are to actually maintain? So

18:58

they have valuable products, they have valuable things.

19:01

The problem is, is that they're still very

19:03

expensive to build from the ground up, because

19:05

it's not like you're taking over a country

19:08

that is fully developed and modernized and you

19:10

can just adopt all of its systems or

19:12

take its systems and extract the wealth from

19:14

it. You have to build every

19:17

school, every road, every mining facility

19:19

from the ground up, and that's

19:21

expensive. And so what Belgium

19:23

wanted the Congo to do was

19:26

to pay for itself. So

19:29

that cycle of exploitation for

19:31

minerals and agricultural goods, that

19:34

is something that would only continue during that time period.

19:36

Not as bad, mind you, as it had

19:38

been under the king, but it was still

19:41

not great. Railways,

19:43

ports, roads, mines, plantations,

19:45

industries, all of this had

19:47

to be constructed, and many of the things were

19:50

constructed with forced labor, you

19:53

could say, especially in places

19:55

that were particularly rich in certain

19:57

minerals, like katanga, which were gonna

19:59

be... talking about here later but that is

20:01

incredibly rich in copper. Europeans would

20:04

flock to the urban areas that were

20:06

rapidly developing and getting rich off of

20:08

this stuff, but the

20:10

majority of the people, the Congolese, the

20:12

natives, they still largely

20:15

lived in traditional rural villages.

20:18

Even the educated Congolese, they

20:21

couldn't really do much in comparison

20:23

to the Europeans that were there.

20:25

They lacked the political power and

20:27

ended up living in an almost

20:29

apartheid-like society where the Belgians had

20:31

absolute power and they couldn't

20:33

really do anything about it. Resistance

20:36

against this lack of democracy would over

20:38

time grow and in 1955 the westernized

20:40

mission educated

20:44

Africans called Iulis, which I'm

20:46

probably butchering the pronunciation of in

20:48

the first place, initiated a

20:50

campaign to end this inequality. And

20:53

one of them was an individual

20:56

by the name of Patrice Namumba.

20:59

Now we're going to be talking about him later but we're

21:02

not exactly talking about it right now

21:05

and a lot of people are going to wonder, okay we spent all

21:07

this time talking about the Belgian Congo and its background, what

21:09

about the CIA? When did they get

21:12

involved? So

21:14

okay, in the early

21:16

1960s, right, well not in the 1960s, it

21:18

is literally the year of 1960, the

21:21

very beginning of the whole

21:23

decade. Belgium has finally

21:25

agreed to independence for its

21:27

colony. Shortly before independence

21:30

in May of 1960, the

21:32

Movement National Congolé, which is

21:34

the MNC, that is

21:36

the party that advocated national unity

21:38

and was led by Patrice Namumba,

21:40

who was an extremely fiery orator.

21:42

He would just rally massive amounts

21:44

of crowds and build, I don't

21:46

even know what the word is

21:48

that I'm using here at this

21:50

point, fervor, excitement,

21:53

zeal. He was hugely

21:56

frenzy. Yes, that's

21:58

a great word actually. He would... instill a

22:01

frenzy or no, you know, he would inspire

22:03

to frenzy. He basically

22:05

got people really excited. He got the

22:07

people going. Yeah, literally. That's exactly what

22:10

would happen. And this was

22:12

something that was quite scary for Belgian

22:14

authorities. Even if at first

22:16

for a long time, he was actually

22:18

quite friendly towards Belgium before eventually being

22:22

very anti Belgian, anti

22:25

colonial force. It's

22:27

a little bit complex. He ends up getting thrown in prison. And

22:30

that's where he kind of becomes radicalized because it's

22:32

a whole other story behind that. Anyway, they

22:35

end up winning the election,

22:38

right? The parliamentary election. And

22:40

Lumumba gets appointed as Prime

22:42

Minister and Joseph Hasavubu gets

22:44

chosen to serve as president. The

22:47

funny thing about this is that neither of

22:49

these guys despite the fact that, you know,

22:51

Lumumba was a very skilled orator had any

22:53

skill or not skill experience

22:56

in politics. Do you know

22:58

what Lumumba was the longest time you just hazard

23:00

a guess at his job? What

23:02

Lumumba was? Yes, literally to pick any kind of

23:04

job of a standard job that you are, you

23:08

know, in terms of categories, not too far

23:10

off. So I guess some people are gonna

23:13

wonder when I say that he was a mailman. What

23:17

I mean is like an everyday job. It's not like he was,

23:19

you know, it's not

23:21

like he was a investor or anything

23:23

like that. He didn't work for a bank.

23:26

He wasn't part of like any kind of

23:28

city council or anything like that. Next time

23:30

a pipe burst in the house, guess who I'm calling?

23:32

A mailman. Okay,

23:35

I realized I sucked really dumbly

23:38

at that there. Okay, okay. It's

23:40

funny because I thought when I said plumber you

23:43

were gonna say like, electric. Yeah, no, okay,

23:45

there's a very clear reason for anyone who

23:47

is wondering as to why this could

23:49

possibly be so funny. I'm now imagining a mailman coming

23:51

to our house when our pipe burst in our house

23:53

this previous two weeks

23:56

and completely flooded our downstairs. You

23:58

know, Maybe they could have stuffed it. Just.

24:00

After with many, many unanswered

24:02

letters. They could have

24:04

a lot of that spilling out

24:07

all over it is. why wouldn't

24:09

ruining like downstairs? Anyway, I'm not

24:11

angry. I'm not angry. know? spent?

24:13

The past three days during flooring so he

24:15

gets up early, work during the day and

24:17

then until like two? a yeah we've been

24:20

laying down flooring. Yeah. It's one

24:22

forty three am in the morning. Right now I'm

24:24

recording is so strange. So it's it's

24:26

been real, that tongue or had it

24:28

worse. Oh no apps all got our

24:30

our tonight deliberation after that eight so. Just.

24:34

The. Issue that would happen here is

24:37

that the not only did not

24:39

really have any experience but simultaneously

24:41

the Belgian authorities were not very

24:43

happy about them are taking power

24:45

because they were a lot too

24:47

radical for Belgium's ace to the

24:49

arm that the the wanted to

24:51

his suit many different forms and

24:53

Belgium feared that these individuals would

24:55

or a party I guess. End

24:58

up becoming hostile. Towards

25:00

the Europeans and others. So

25:02

while the Belgian Congo would achieve

25:04

independence on June Thirtieth, Nineteen sixty.

25:07

Within. Days. Of this

25:09

occurring the provinces of could Tonga

25:11

led by Guy called like moist

25:13

Show me. And. South

25:15

Side. V. Has the

25:18

seat it. And violence

25:20

in this area erupted against

25:22

Europeans. United. Nations troops

25:24

were very quickly rushed into stop the

25:26

violence. Or it. When.

25:29

The Mamba. Right to

25:31

order to use the United

25:33

Nations troops. The peacekeepers against

25:36

the Qatargas separate like separatists

25:38

or illegal. Almost had his

25:40

own private force. The.

25:42

Un withdrew it's military and economic

25:45

support. The regime. And.

25:47

With nowhere else to go. Guess.

25:50

Who the boom bust for? help? The.

25:52

U S. No. Worse.

25:56

Is. That he only union. and

25:59

that's where because the

26:01

US knows that he asked for help from

26:03

the Soviet Union. So now they're gonna get

26:06

involved to overthrow him, right? Ah,

26:08

see. Are they gonna go assassinate or overthrow?

26:10

Because they have like two moves and they

26:12

use it every time. No, see, see,

26:14

see, see, there's many different ways to begin to say it. There's

26:17

a bunch of different things. They actually tried

26:19

multiple different things and others they even planned

26:22

for but never got around to. I like

26:24

to picture them as like, you know when

26:26

you go out to a bar and there's this guy

26:28

who very obviously is always at that bar trying to

26:30

pick like a girl up. And

26:34

I feel like if you watch that guy every

26:36

single weekend, you'll see him do the same like

26:38

two moves. Like he probably will do one move

26:40

one day and the other move the other day.

26:42

So like, you know, fresh enough. Exactly.

26:45

That's kind of like the CIA. I

26:47

feel like with their little government overthrows.

26:50

Looking for the slightest hint of

26:52

communism, the hint of desperation, of

26:55

like needing attention. Yeah, are we

26:57

gonna go in there and like work them up

26:59

with our little assassination? Or are we gonna just do...

27:03

Just a little... Sorry, I don't know how to word

27:06

it. Just a little cyanide

27:08

capsule for spice, you know? You

27:11

know, you know. So,

27:14

all right. Here's the

27:16

state of the US at this time. By

27:18

August of 1960, right, at

27:20

the exact time that all this is going

27:23

down, US President Eisenhower was 69 years old.

27:26

Nice. There we go. And

27:29

he was nearing the end of the second term. He

27:32

was running out of steam. And at this point didn't

27:35

really shit about what was going on. You know that

27:37

term of like a lame duck presidency? Like

27:40

that whole thing where they just don't really do anything? I don't know anything about

27:42

it. Okay. That was basically him

27:45

at this time. Like,

27:47

look, everything that had been going on with

27:49

the Cold War, like the crisis in Cuba,

27:51

Korea, all the stuff that happened in Hungary,

27:54

the Suez, everything. He dealt

27:56

with all of it. All right. He had

27:58

to deal with all these varying things. Not to mention- at

28:00

the time, he'd already had a heart attack,

28:02

he had a stroke, he had an intestinal

28:05

surgery, the man was old, he

28:07

was tired, and he just didn't want

28:09

to do anything anymore. And so after

28:11

the U2 spy plane

28:13

was shot down over Russia in that

28:16

year's May, this ended up

28:18

completely ruining an East-West peace summit

28:20

in Paris, and the president just

28:22

didn't care anymore. He resigned himself

28:25

from his duties, not like literally,

28:27

but just mentally, you know, he

28:29

checked out and just went off

28:31

to play golf. And he

28:33

did this quite literally almost

28:36

every day. He is so real

28:38

for that, because genuinely,

28:40

that's what I would do if I could

28:42

just mentally check out. I'd be like, I won't

28:44

be playing golf, though, I'll be playing The Sims

28:47

4, or reading

28:49

spicy romance books. But, you

28:51

know, I think of all people, you can probably relate this

28:53

like to the most when I was doing the research for

28:55

finding the stuff for this episode, I found this quote from

28:57

him. Imagine

29:00

your president said this to you, quote,

29:03

I wish someone would take me

29:05

out and shoot me in the

29:07

head, so I wouldn't have to

29:09

go through this stuff. This is

29:12

a direct quote that he huffed

29:14

in July, after a National Security

29:16

Council meeting brought him bad news

29:18

about like Cuba in the Congo.

29:21

Oh my god, he's me. So

29:24

the man was like

29:26

he's the definition of an like an old

29:29

crotchety man like he was grumpy. He didn't

29:31

want to do anything anymore. Only 69 years

29:33

old. I'm so sorry. One of his nicknames

29:35

that he got was the

29:37

terrible tempered Mr. Bang.

29:40

He once launched a golf club at

29:42

his doctor so forcefully it nearly broke

29:44

the man's leg. Why

29:46

was that golf club near his doctor? Because

29:49

he threw it at him. Yeah, but

29:51

did he take the golf club to the

29:53

doctor's appointment? That's a great question. Like

29:55

was he getting seen by a private doctor in the White

29:57

House? So he just had his golf clubs next to whatever

30:00

bed he was on, I don't know, it's

30:02

all strange. Considering that he was golfing almost

30:04

daily, he probably brought him with him. He

30:06

stayed strapped. He stayed

30:08

strapped. So

30:12

yeah, he basically was. So you

30:14

have this ill-tempered, crabby, grouchy old

30:16

man who doesn't wanna do anything

30:18

anymore. And into all of this,

30:20

you have all these issues that

30:22

are going down in Africa, in

30:24

Latin America, and everything else, and

30:26

he does not like the changes

30:28

that are occurring in Africa, because

30:30

you could describe this on one

30:32

hand as being winds of change,

30:34

but to him, these were not

30:36

simple winds. This was

30:38

a storm that was brewing. It was a

30:40

hurricane, it was a typhoon, it was something

30:43

that was going to create many more problems.

30:46

Because look, even

30:49

before independence, and everything that was going

30:51

down in Katanga, and all of the

30:53

stuff at the Congo, Eisenhower

30:55

didn't think much of

30:57

the Congo. He

31:00

thought that it didn't really have much of a chance

31:02

to be able to develop. He

31:04

thought it was just a backwater, and

31:07

a trip that the prime minister,

31:09

remember Lumumba? That

31:11

he made a surprise trip to

31:13

America in July of 1960, and

31:16

this thing was, oh my God, it was a complete disaster, holy

31:18

crap. I don't even know if I put in all the details

31:20

of it here of what happened. Okay,

31:22

he wasn't afforded a high-level reception,

31:25

right? He failed to garner any

31:27

kind of military assistance that he sought, because

31:29

the whole time when all this was going

31:31

down in Katanga, and all this, the first

31:33

person, it's like, Lumumba did not go to

31:35

the Soviet Union first. He went

31:38

to the United States to ask for help,

31:41

and was just straight up ignored. Now

31:43

you may think, from the get-go, like, oh my God,

31:45

wait, this sounds like a horrible faux pas, why would

31:47

you do that? Why would you ignore ahead of state?

31:49

Why would you do anything like that? There's

31:51

a very key reason. He

31:54

showed up, and

31:56

you're gonna wonder, what do I mean? He

31:58

showed up unannounced. State

32:01

visits usually work. You

32:03

have all these big important things that president or prime

32:06

minister of a country is going to travel to someplace.

32:10

They don't just do that. They can just pop

32:12

by? No, they don't just go by. I was

32:14

in the area and I just thought Hong Kong

32:16

looked beautiful this time of year. No, unless there's

32:18

some kind of major event or something that goes

32:20

down and they have to do something, that is

32:23

no, they don't. Generally speaking, state

32:25

visits are things that are planned months

32:27

in advance. So when he showed up

32:29

off the plane in the first place,

32:31

they had no preparation for whatsoever. The

32:33

president had no meetings scheduled with them whatsoever.

32:35

They had no hotel accommodations that were

32:37

scheduled for whatsoever. When he

32:39

showed up, I remember reading this thing on it here,

32:41

that they had, so the Congo is a newly founded

32:43

country, right? You know what

32:45

happens when a person shows up

32:48

at a, or like not even a person, but

32:50

like a head of state shows up at a

32:52

place, how they have a band out in front

32:54

of their plane or whatever and they're playing the

32:56

national anthem. No. And then they do that. Not

32:58

like the American one. Okay, they do that. That's

33:00

the thing that they do for international politics is

33:02

that like they'll typically, so this is one

33:05

of the things for big state visits that they can do that to

33:07

honor the country they're coming from. The conquest

33:09

rate did not have a national anthem yet, so

33:11

they were just playing random music when

33:13

he showed up because they had no idea what

33:15

to actually do. It'd

33:18

be like that sometimes. Literally.

33:20

So anyway, that visit

33:22

that he had launched in there

33:25

was an absolute disaster and the

33:27

president just thought he was uncouth.

33:31

Didn't think of him as being anything

33:33

really special, right? And so,

33:36

Lumumba could mobilize crowds

33:38

with his radio speeches, but

33:41

his efforts at face-to-face diplomacy tended

33:43

to alienate people because he

33:45

just didn't actually prepare to do

33:47

anything with them whatsoever. He was

33:49

a mailman, not a politician.

33:52

He didn't know how to speak to

33:55

other politicians. And

33:57

so in the meantime, the American ambassador to

33:59

the Congo was known to

34:01

make jokes about Lumumba being

34:03

a cannibal. Just imagine

34:05

that you're saying about these kinds of things here to

34:07

another head of state, or not to them directly, but

34:10

you're talking about them. Maybe they

34:12

were joking. Yes, they were kind of

34:14

joking, but also at the same time they heavily looked

34:16

down upon Africans and the region. There

34:19

is a real element of racism that is involved

34:21

in that. They are actually looking down on people.

34:24

And so he looked down upon

34:26

Lumumba as being a possible cannibal. The

34:28

CIA sees everything that is going on in

34:30

there in the Congo, and they think, okay,

34:33

there are some serious concerns about kami

34:35

influence in the country that could be

34:37

happening here. Now, Lumumba,

34:41

I'm going to tell you this right now. He

34:43

was not a communist. At least there

34:45

never was any proof that he was. But

34:50

generally speaking, politicians regarded him as being

34:52

a useful pawn for the Soviets and

34:55

communist forces. And this

34:57

time then, that we are getting into the

34:59

situation, Lumumba goes

35:01

and gives a go-ahead to

35:04

put down the second secession

35:06

in South Kasai, another

35:08

mineral-heavy province that we first mentioned

35:10

earlier. Congolese

35:12

troops went on a rampage

35:14

during this time. They

35:17

murdered many different South Kasai civilians. Europe

35:20

– many Europeans were killed during

35:22

this fighting. Many innocents were lost,

35:24

further entrenching the idea that the

35:26

central government could not be trusted

35:28

and was going to be

35:30

more dangerous to themselves and the people

35:33

than in any actual enemies. And

35:36

so feeling abandoned by both the United States

35:38

and the United Nations, Lumumba

35:40

at this point made

35:43

the appeal to the Soviets for military aid,

35:45

and they eventually did agree. They

35:48

did send him aid, but what they

35:50

sent was barely anything. Like, yeah,

35:52

some equipment, yeah, a little bit of money, but

35:55

no overwhelming force. The Soviet Union did not want

35:57

to get involved in this mess. they

36:00

got involved in all. Oh

36:03

no, that was gonna be a problem. And

36:05

so it is then that in August of 1960, the

36:08

White House galvanized by Lumumba's

36:11

turn to the Soviets has

36:13

authorized a secret CIA scheme

36:15

to quote, replace the Lumumba

36:17

government by constitutional means. Whatever

36:20

that actually means, literally the CIA getting

36:22

involved in the government. So when they

36:24

say by constitutional means, you know, that

36:27

could literally be anything because even if

36:29

you're rigged in election, guess what? What?

36:32

There was still an election. No,

36:35

I mean, constitutional. Yeah, yeah. I've

36:40

never rigged an election. But if I

36:42

do, you know, you know what?

36:45

Fair enough. Let me know when that

36:47

happens. We can document it. We can cover it. I'm

36:50

sure that makes a great episode. Don't worry, you'll be

36:52

well aware of which election I rigged because you would

36:54

be pregnant. I even worried about that. You

36:57

knew what I said. Did you? No, Gabby, that's against

36:59

your will. I would be worried about

37:04

that. That's the thing. Like if I somehow

37:07

bumbled my way into office. At

37:11

some point, I will run for politics in the future here. And I know that there's

37:13

going to be a clip

37:16

of this exact clip of there will also

37:18

be a picture of me in a made

37:20

outfit. Because remember from what I've done here

37:23

earlier, that'd be a few pictures of

37:25

you in questionable outfits. Yeah,

37:28

you're the source of

37:30

like, I

37:32

just say I was rigging it for you

37:34

to win. No, wait a minute. No, you

37:37

didn't hold up. So

37:41

okay, that same month at a

37:43

cabinet meeting, Eisenhower made comments that

37:45

some would interpret as a call

37:47

for assassination. Now at this

37:49

point, I am directly pulling this from a

37:51

political article that wrote about this exact secret

37:53

event. And I'm going to be reading this

37:55

aloud because this whole thing is talking about

37:58

it's not even paraphrasing. It's just The

38:01

writing about the note-taking that was going

38:03

down during this meeting. At

38:06

9am on Thursday, August 18, the President walked

38:08

into the Cabinet Room of the White House,

38:11

a high ceiling chamber off of the Oval

38:13

Office and with a fireplace, a portrait of

38:15

George Washington, and views of the Rose Garden

38:17

through arched windows. He sat

38:19

down in the leather chair designated for him,

38:21

slightly taller than everyone else, and

38:24

called to order the weekly meeting of the

38:26

National Security Council. Meeting

38:28

him around the massive mahogany table were 20

38:30

other men, including the Director

38:32

of the CIA and the Secretaries

38:34

of Defense, the Treasury, and Commerce.

38:37

The agenda that day was Africa. Each

38:40

participant was given a map of the continent and

38:42

a bulk of the meeting was devoted to the

38:44

Congo. The Undersecretary of State

38:47

Douglas Dillon, the only man in the

38:49

room who had actually met Lumumba, led

38:51

the discussion. The deterioration

38:53

in Lumumba's relation with the UN

38:56

pretended disaster. The UN

38:58

was the vehicle for US policy in the

39:00

Congo and if the organization was forced out

39:02

of the country, the Soviets might swoop in.

39:06

Dillon considered the prospect altogether

39:08

too ghastly to contemplate. This

39:11

coming from Maurice Stans, the

39:13

Director of the Bureau of the Budget, would

39:15

weigh in next. By virtue

39:18

of his big game hunting habit and

39:20

his Belgian-born father, Stans was what passed

39:22

for a Congo expert at the White

39:25

House. After declaring that independence

39:27

had come to Africa 50 years

39:29

too soon, which mind you,

39:31

the fact that this happened in 1960, right? That

39:34

means that they're thinking, hey, the

39:36

African countries should not have been independent

39:39

until 2010, basically. You

39:42

realize, 1960 was only 64 years ago. I

39:48

can't see that big of a mess. Like

39:50

that's not a long time. After

39:53

declaring that independence had come to Africa 50 years

39:56

too soon, as I said, he argued

39:58

that Lumumba's true goal was to be independent. was to

40:00

drive out the whites and seize their

40:03

property. What? Some

40:05

people did that. Well, I mean, some actually did.

40:07

It really depends upon the region of where they

40:09

were. But it varies. That wasn't really the case

40:11

here. But there were many people that argued that

40:13

that could potentially happen. Alan

40:15

Dool, the director of the CIA,

40:18

jumped in to allege that Lumumba

40:20

was already in the payroll of

40:22

the Soviets. He wasn't, but they

40:24

alleged this. The

40:27

notes from that meeting would barely conceal

40:29

Eisenhower's anger. It was simply

40:31

inconceivable that the UN would be forced

40:33

out. And when Dylan Meekly suggested

40:35

that it would be hard to keep UN

40:37

troops from the Congo without the permission of

40:39

the Congolese, Eisenhower shot him

40:41

down. What the world

40:43

was contending with was, quote, one man

40:46

forcing us out of the Congo, Lumumba,

40:49

supported by the Soviets. And

40:52

it's at this point that everything

40:54

gets really questionable. Even

40:57

though nothing that I was talking about at this point

40:59

was already questionable. The

41:02

president may have, at

41:04

this point, made a fateful utterance. Robert

41:07

Johnson, the official note taker for the

41:09

meeting, would notice the president's turn towards

41:12

Dools. Then he would

41:14

recall, quote, President Eisenhower said

41:16

something. I can no longer

41:18

remember his words that came across to

41:21

me as an order for the assassination

41:24

of Lumumba. 15

41:26

seconds of stunned silence would follow Eisenhower's

41:28

remark as the room digested the apparent

41:31

directive. It was one

41:33

sentence and a somewhat euphemistically phrased

41:35

one at that. But

41:37

Johnson would never forget the

41:40

shock that he felt at that moment.

41:43

When Johnson returned to his desk to type up his

41:45

notes, he asked his boss what to do with the

41:47

comment and was told not to mention it. The

41:50

only written record of that order

41:52

that appears to survive comes

41:54

from the notes of Jared Smith, the

41:57

State Department's director of policy planning, and

41:59

in it, He

42:01

admitted that this was an inconclusive

42:03

piece of evidence because in margins

42:05

of his legal pad, he would

42:08

write, Lumumba, and

42:10

besides that, a big bold

42:12

X. That's

42:15

it. This entire conversation of everything

42:17

that we're talking about here at this point, Gabby, literally

42:19

all of this is why, to

42:22

this day, there is no actual

42:24

definitive proof, it seems, that

42:26

Eisenhower ever actually ordered Lumumba to

42:29

be assassinated. But

42:32

CIA doesn't really need

42:34

orders to kind of start messing around and doing

42:36

things now, do they? What? Yeah.

42:41

See, many historians to this day still debate

42:43

as to what exactly would mean. Dylan would

42:45

claim that to this day there is no

42:47

clear-cut order at the meeting, but he would

42:49

admit that there was a general feeling of

42:52

the U.S. government at the time that all

42:55

Lumumba had to be gotten rid of. So

42:59

the CIA does what the CIA

43:01

does best, and they start

43:03

to meddle. And

43:05

boy, do they do such a great, great

43:08

job meddling. Exactly. CIA-sponsored

43:11

protests start disrupting Lumumba's speeches,

43:14

and the entire time that this is

43:16

happening, the agency begins preparations to kill

43:18

him. Wait, how do you sponsor

43:20

a protest? Do they just pay people to go

43:22

protest? Basically. Or you

43:25

pay things that are organizations, political organizations.

43:27

Imagine this. You know how there's a

43:29

lot of different things for like climate

43:31

activists, animal rights activists, etc. And

43:34

how a number of those things require you

43:37

have signs, you have megaphones, you have all these different

43:39

kinds of things that are used? Well,

43:41

you don't necessarily need to pay directly

43:43

those people, but you can sponsor a

43:45

protest by paying for all of these

43:47

signs to be made. You can pay

43:49

for all this equipment or material that

43:51

the protest is using. You can

43:53

pay for trucks that would transport them to

43:56

locations. There's many

43:58

different ways that you can actually do. these kinds

44:00

of things. And the CIA

44:02

would get involved doing stuff like

44:04

that. You see, it's

44:07

not just the protest stuff. They also

44:09

were trying to prove to kill him, which

44:12

was the bigger thing that was going on. And

44:14

it's at this point that the CIA's top

44:17

scientist is brought into play. His

44:19

name was Sidney Gottlieb,

44:22

and he was asked to prepare biological

44:24

materials and have them ready

44:27

on short notice for the

44:29

possible use of an assassination of

44:31

a, and here's the part that really kills

44:33

me, unspecified African

44:35

leader. Unspecified, open-ended.

44:38

It hadn't been decided really yet. It's what was gonna

44:40

happen. No, no. And it was in

44:42

case it was decided to go ahead with the

44:44

mission. Yeah. Just

44:46

if they felt like it. If they felt like, no, literally, if

44:49

they felt like it at the whole point. Like

44:51

I'm laughing with it right now, but the whole thing is

44:53

just kind of ridiculous, but that's what it was. The

44:57

scientist would go and check with the Army

44:59

Chemical Corps at Fort Detrick, and there

45:02

he would go and find substances

45:04

that would, quote, either kill the

45:06

individual or incapacitate them so severely

45:08

that he would be out of

45:10

action. And he chose one

45:12

that was supposed to produce a disease

45:14

that was indigenous to that area, meaning

45:16

of Africa, that could be fatal. He

45:19

also assembled some accessory materials like

45:22

hypodermic needle, needles, rubber gloves, gauze

45:24

masks, simple stuff like that. And

45:27

about that time, he was told that

45:29

the leader in question that he possibly

45:31

was gonna be ordered to assassinate was

45:34

going to be Lumumba. It

45:37

had been decided to go ahead, and

45:39

he was now supposed to take all of these

45:42

poisons that he had to Leopoldville.

45:45

By the time that he ended up arriving there

45:47

in September, the situation in the Congo, though, had

45:50

changed. Lumumba

45:53

was no longer in charge, disgusted

45:57

by his disastrous military

45:59

campaign. which would degenerate

46:01

into a massacre of more than

46:03

a thousand civilians and alarmed by

46:05

the use of Soviet planes, trucks,

46:08

weapons, and military advisors, the

46:10

president, Kasavubu, dismissed

46:13

Lumumba as Prime Minister.

46:16

When Lumumba persuaded Parliament to reverse the

46:18

dismissal, the Americans and their allies persuaded

46:20

a young colonel by the name of

46:23

Joseph Mobutu, the number two man in

46:25

the army, to take control

46:27

of the country instead. Colonel

46:30

Mobutu would then promptly oust all

46:32

of the politicians and expel the

46:34

Soviet and Czechoslovak diplomats along with

46:36

the military advisors and their equipment.

46:39

But the USA didn't really think

46:42

that the new regime was actually going to be

46:44

able to hold up. They didn't put much stock in them. They

46:46

feared that the situation at any

46:49

moment could reverse and

46:51

that Lumumba would be able to return to power

46:53

with the backing of the Russians. That

46:56

the Soviets were going to try to put him into

46:58

power as a puppet. Five

47:01

days later, Gottlieb was going to

47:03

arrive in Leopoldville with his poison

47:05

kit and ironically it's at this

47:07

moment after Lumumba is out

47:09

of power after he has already been kicked

47:11

out. 12 days after

47:13

Mobutu seized his power and nine days

47:15

after the Soviets were expelled, that

47:18

the order to assassinate seems to come about. He's

47:21

no longer in charge but they're like,

47:24

shit, we need to kill him so

47:26

that he doesn't potentially get back in

47:28

charge. This is what?

47:32

No, right? Yes,

47:34

so the really ironic thing

47:36

about this though is even if the

47:38

order actually did go through, the

47:41

poisoning was never going to take place. It

47:44

didn't happen. The United

47:46

Nations Security Council was called into

47:48

session on December 7, 1960 to

47:50

consider Soviet demand that the

47:52

UN seek Lumumba's immediate release because

47:54

he'd been arrested at this point.

47:57

The immediate restoration of Lumumba as the... head

48:00

of the Congo government, the disarming of

48:02

the forces of Mobutu, and the

48:04

immediate evacuation of the Belgians from the

48:06

Congo. Soviet

48:08

Representative Valerian Zorin refused U.S.

48:10

demands that he disqualify himself

48:12

as Security Council president during

48:15

the debate. The

48:17

Mumbai would flee house

48:19

arrest in the capital in late November of

48:21

1960. He

48:23

would leave the capital in the convoy of nine

48:25

cars with his wife Pauline and his youngest child,

48:28

but instead of fleeing as fast

48:30

as possible to the Oriental Province

48:33

border where soldiers

48:36

were waiting to receive him, he

48:38

delayed. You know what this

48:40

man did? He went on

48:43

a goddamn campaign trail.

48:46

He acted as though he was running

48:48

for election and started going to all

48:51

these little villages along the way, stopping

48:53

by them, touring them, and having conversations

48:55

with the locals. He was a real

48:57

man of the people, which

49:00

in one aspect is admirable. It

49:03

also could be said to be extremely stupid

49:06

when you are running for your life with

49:08

your family and armed men are

49:11

chasing you. And

49:13

so on the first of December, Mobutu's

49:15

troops would catch up to his party

49:17

as it crossed the Sankuru River. Lumumba

49:21

with his advisors had made it to the

49:23

far side, but his wife and child were

49:25

captured. They had still been

49:27

left on the other side and hadn't been able to

49:30

make it across. Fearing

49:32

for their safety, Lumumba would take the

49:34

ferry back against the advice

49:36

of his advisors, who both fearing that

49:38

they would never see him again, did

49:40

him farewell. Mobutu's

49:43

men would arrest him, and he would be moved

49:45

to Port Frankouille the next day, and

49:47

from there flown back to Leopoldville. Mobutu

49:50

would claim Lumumba would be tried for

49:52

inciting the army to rebellion and other

49:55

crimes, but there

49:57

was never really a good time. to

50:00

be a trial. Following

50:02

a UN report that Lumumba had been

50:04

mistreated by his captors, his

50:07

followers threatened on 7-9 1960

50:09

to seize all Belgians and

50:11

start cutting off the heads

50:13

of some of them unless

50:16

Lumumba was released within 48 hours.

50:19

On January 14, 1961, Larry Delvin, who was a Central Intelligence

50:23

Agency, so CIA field officer,

50:25

he was informed of Lumumba's

50:27

escape from house arrest and

50:29

then ultimate capture by Muut'j's

50:32

forces. Lumumba was

50:34

then transferred to South Kasai, whose

50:36

leader was intent on murdering him,

50:39

and he was then supposed to

50:41

be transferred back from South Kasai

50:43

to Ksanga because the leader there

50:45

had vowed that, guess what, he

50:48

was going to murder him. This

50:51

wasn't going to happen, because

50:53

Khutangan soldiers and a

50:56

Belgian officer would end up executing

50:58

him along the way only

51:00

a few days later. And when

51:02

I say execute him, I mean beat him,

51:06

drag him out into a field, and

51:08

just shoot him right there. There

51:10

was no ceremony, there was no fancy things,

51:13

there was no crazy, there was no drawing him up

51:15

in front of a crowd and then executing him that

51:17

way. Nope, just dragged

51:19

out into a field and shot.

51:22

And that is it. Larry

51:25

Delvin's cable informing Washington that the

51:27

transfer was not reached in time. So

51:30

it didn't matter if they were going to try and poison him or

51:32

get him along the way, the Belgians and

51:35

the Congolese people already took

51:37

him out first. The CIA did

51:39

not have to do a thing, but

51:44

now they were going to end up being more involved in the Congo than

51:46

ever. And you're going to wonder at

51:48

this point, okay, we're 50 minutes into this podcast,

51:50

what the hell, what is going on? Why is

51:52

the CIA only just now really getting involved? Well,

51:54

here is the thing. The

51:56

CIA was going to provide the new government

51:58

with covert funds. All being part

52:01

of a general programs covert sport using

52:03

the previously established not a trivial to

52:05

the United States channel. In.

52:08

Addition. The. Covert program would include organizing

52:10

mass demonstrations as they talk about from the

52:12

very beginning with the whole thing for the

52:14

protest they were trying to sponsor. Distributing.

52:17

Anti Communists pamphlets and

52:19

providing propaganda material for

52:21

broadcasts. You. Know simple things to

52:23

bridge a message that sort of. This.

52:27

Was. Called the special group. Initially

52:30

been dad's what was in and

52:32

leader ought to be called. the

52:34

three or three committee and the

52:36

high level inter departmental group set

52:38

up to prove and supervise covert

52:40

operations had made it's first approval

52:42

of major funding to strengthen Maputo's

52:44

de facto government after he'd taken

52:46

everything over in order to stop

52:49

them. But when you still live,

52:51

Of coming back in and taking over. So.

52:54

The Cia is at this point

52:56

supplying money to the government. Directly.

53:00

At all these other will or not, it's

53:02

technically indirectly, but they are directly giving funds

53:04

in order to be will, try and prop

53:06

up and support the government that is currently

53:09

experiencing a lot of difficulties and a potential

53:11

civil war the could break out. And

53:14

this would start on October twenty seventh.

53:17

Nineteen. Sixty. That. Would

53:19

continue. For. The next, like

53:22

seven or eight years. This

53:24

would be com. And your organ here by the end of

53:26

this. Fetal. What one

53:28

of the longest and most

53:31

expensive Cia operations. In

53:33

history. The after

53:35

the Special groups authorization in October

53:37

nineteen sixty there was a certain

53:39

hatter. The. Came about from this. One.

53:42

Of the Congolese leaders would urgently asked

53:44

the Station for funds to avert some

53:46

kind of imminent crisis there was about

53:48

to break out such as the establishment

53:50

pilot members, supporters of a rival government

53:52

and Stanley Bill. Or. Maybe an

53:54

army mutiny? Baby. There was a

53:57

terrorist organization that was trying to overthrow the

53:59

government. Something would happen.

54:02

And expenditure of at least some of

54:04

the request ones. Was almost.

54:07

Always. Authorized.

54:10

Periodically. Discussion group would meet and

54:12

approved the overall funding. A direction to

54:14

covert operations in on February Fourteenth, nineteen

54:16

Sixty One following the a mere mutiny

54:18

of the country's army pleased the Special

54:20

group would approve an even larger requested

54:23

the Congolese government through Plant Is T

54:25

channels. President. Kennedy

54:27

Special Assistant For National Security Affairs

54:29

Mcgeorge Bundy. We report to the

54:32

Special Group on June Twenty first,

54:34

Nineteen Sixty One that the President

54:36

had approved with a Cia recommendation,

54:39

but the Department of State concurrence

54:41

for a substantial contingency fund. Which.

54:44

For anyone who doesn't understand political speak at

54:46

that point means hey, You've.

54:48

Basically been given a blank check.

54:51

You spend whatever it is that

54:53

you need or feel like you

54:55

need. And Gabby.

54:58

If. The government's feel like it needs to

55:00

spend money. You know what it's

55:02

gonna do? Spend a lot of money is

55:04

gonna spend on lot of money. Which.

55:06

Is basically what it ends up doing. The.

55:09

Fund was going to be used

55:11

for covert legal action programs to

55:13

help elect pro U S Prime

55:15

ministers and government's during the upcoming

55:17

parliamentary session at the University of

55:20

Lavigne. I'm scheduled to convene in

55:22

late July. On. August Second.

55:24

Nineteen Sixty one. The Congolese parliament

55:26

wouldn't approve a predominantly moderate governments

55:28

that was headed by Prime Minister

55:31

Surreal. A dual up. On.

55:33

November twenty second sentenced to one be

55:36

special group would approve of additional funding

55:38

to strengthen the a dual the government

55:40

as a moderate forth and eventually build

55:42

a new cohesive national policy party. This.

55:45

Would carry the funding through fiscal

55:47

year of places to to and

55:50

avert to parliamentary crises. A

55:52

proposed censure of the then for Mister

55:54

Bomb book go in June and a

55:56

vote of no confidence. In that,

55:59

governments in. November. In

56:01

1962 as well, the CIA

56:03

would also begin supporting and supplying

56:06

air operations as a propaganda tactic

56:08

to show the potential of the

56:10

Congolese military to its citizens, to

56:12

secessionist leaders, and to rebel factors.

56:15

The United Nations' peacekeepers would provide

56:17

tactical support to Congolese forces and

56:19

mercenaries fighting the insurgents. The

56:22

Congolese Air Force would only exist

56:24

because of US support and assistance.

56:27

The Congolese Air Force had a variety

56:29

of aircraft and manpower that, honestly, if

56:32

it wasn't for the United States, they

56:34

wouldn't have had in the first place. Like,

56:37

there's the crazy thing. Like, okay, so what we're talking

56:39

about right there, Gap, is that literally the only reason

56:41

that the Congo had any kind of real Air Force

56:43

because it was being supplied essentially by the United States.

56:46

And the whole reason they gave it is because, oh

56:48

man, there's all these people that are fighting on the

56:50

ground, right? There's all these, like, they're

56:52

fighting from village to village. This is terrible. What

56:54

can we do to show them it's useless to

56:56

fight? What if we just show

56:59

them that we absolutely dominate the skies and could blow them

57:01

up at literally any second? That

57:03

could work. So they started

57:05

supplying them planes so they'd be able to show

57:07

that they had air, like, air superiority so that

57:09

way people would be less likely to rebel against

57:11

the government. So they just gave them a

57:13

bunch of giant planes? Oh

57:15

yeah, pretty much. Yeah, there was a variety of different

57:18

things that were going into it. I'm pretty sure I

57:20

even had the numbers in here later on for exactly

57:22

what it is that they did. It really is insane.

57:25

In March of 1963, the embassy would

57:27

warn that terminating U.S. financial support

57:29

would probably result in the fall

57:32

of the government. And

57:34

so responding to that warning, the special

57:36

group on April 25th would approve funding

57:38

for fiscal year 1964 for the continuation

57:42

of covert action programs supporting the

57:44

government. The Congolese were

57:47

then subsequently warned, that the

57:49

United States would not continue to crash ad

57:51

hoc funding that it had provided in the

57:53

past. And once it instead an organized program

57:55

that would actually allow the formation of a

57:58

national political party that would act. as

58:00

a political instrument in the election. Basically,

58:03

again, to explain political speak,

58:06

yeah, guys, listen, we're

58:09

happy to give you money to support,

58:11

you know, the building of a national

58:13

party that could actually govern the country.

58:16

But it's been three years since we've been

58:18

doing this, and we can't keep bailing you

58:21

out with more money. You're

58:23

gonna need to actually form a government and

58:25

stop the bullshit. Like

58:29

you're smiling at me right now here because now that's

58:31

basically how governments operate in there for just ad hoc

58:33

things. That's really what it is that they end up

58:35

doing. And so they

58:38

would need further support, but

58:40

they weren't going to be getting any more,

58:42

at least not to that same kind of

58:44

degree. On November 6th, 1963,

58:46

the station and Leopold Bill would submit

58:49

an additional budget to support the establishment

58:51

of a national political party, and this

58:53

would be approved on November 8th. On

58:56

April 24th, 1964, President Johnson would

58:59

authorize the Department of Defense to

59:01

provide the Congolese Air Force with

59:03

six T-28s, 10 C-47s, and six

59:05

H-21 aircraft, plus a

59:07

six-month supply

59:13

of parts and ammunition. The

59:15

special group would approve a proposal on

59:18

May 28th, 1964, to

59:20

provide covert support to the Congolese

59:22

Air Force for maintaining the six

59:25

US-provided T-28 aircraft and

59:27

a minimal helicopter rescue capability.

59:31

In addition to continuing the operation of

59:33

the current six T-6 aircraft, the program

59:35

would be further expanded with the 303

59:37

Committee approval on August 24th, 1964, when

59:39

the rebellion throughout

59:45

the eastern half of the Congo threatened the

59:47

government's survival. So they gave it even

59:50

more stuff. And

59:52

this, I think, is going to reach

59:54

the point that is arguably one

59:56

of the most, not most, but

59:59

one of the more embarrassing things. moments in U.S. history. You

1:00:03

know those moments where you're

1:00:05

seeing a politician that is

1:00:07

blatantly lying on national television

1:00:11

and you know that they're lying, they know

1:00:13

that they're lying, and it's going to come

1:00:15

out later, that they're lying, but they're just

1:00:17

trying to cover up or maintain or do

1:00:19

damage control? No.

1:00:21

Okay. Lying

1:00:25

on national television sounds like the worst

1:00:28

possible decision. I think there's been way too many

1:00:30

YouTube compilations of different things here than for all

1:00:32

the different moments. Like it's not even something

1:00:34

that would occur to me that someone would do

1:00:37

because lying

1:00:39

on the internet would be terrifying.

1:00:41

Lying on national news. What?

1:00:44

Yeah. In this case, it's not

1:00:46

necessarily their fault because again remember this is

1:00:48

the CIA that has involved in a lot

1:00:50

of this shit and so so much stuff

1:00:52

gets not reported that it creates a

1:00:55

little bit of a problem. So two

1:00:57

U.S. civilian pilots managed the operation

1:00:59

and training and they would not

1:01:02

just do that. They also managed

1:01:04

some reconnaissance and combat missions in

1:01:06

Quilu, which is in that eastern

1:01:09

region during the spring of 1964

1:01:12

or not quite into the eastern region,

1:01:14

but it's around the area. The

1:01:16

thing about the Congolese Air Force is that

1:01:19

they really wanted these pilots to participate in

1:01:21

the actual combat and

1:01:23

their support would actually

1:01:26

really help Kivu. Like this was a

1:01:28

hugely important region in the Congo and

1:01:31

they were very valuable. But

1:01:33

when the State Department received

1:01:35

questions about what

1:01:38

was going on, they answered because

1:01:40

it's the State Department. They were like,

1:01:42

no, we didn't have any U.S. American

1:01:45

civilian pilots flying in combat positions. That's

1:01:47

insane. It's ridiculous. The

1:01:50

conversation with the press

1:01:53

before actually confirming the

1:01:55

facts ended up being

1:01:57

a massive point of controversy. Because

1:02:01

look, the information

1:02:04

was incorrect, right? The State Department had

1:02:06

to act quickly to correct themselves because

1:02:08

you have this person – the CIA

1:02:10

is obviously not telling the State Department

1:02:13

everything that they're doing. So the

1:02:15

State Department is up there saying, like, yeah, no,

1:02:17

no, we don't have any people there. And then

1:02:20

it's almost immediately proven that that

1:02:22

is false. And you think, okay,

1:02:24

they should have done something quickly to

1:02:26

alleviate this, to reveal that, okay, they do know kind

1:02:28

of what is going on now is a misspeak. It

1:02:30

was like some kind of accident, right? Instead,

1:02:36

they laughed. They didn't say anything.

1:02:39

And the next day released information

1:02:41

that the state now knew that

1:02:44

some American civilians had flown combat but

1:02:46

had violated no U.S. laws. The

1:02:49

press would portray the incident as a quarrel

1:02:51

between the State Department and the CIA, and

1:02:53

this led to an agreement between the U.S.

1:02:55

and Congo that there was going to be

1:02:57

no more American pilots flying in operational missions

1:03:00

in the Congo. On

1:03:02

June 1, 1964, a revised budget was approved

1:03:04

for the project for fiscal year 1964. Following

1:03:08

former Katanga Premier Moisej Tsome's appointment

1:03:10

as Prime Minister in July

1:03:12

of 1964 and the

1:03:14

fall of Stanleyville to rebel forces

1:03:16

in early August, the

1:03:18

program would continue to provide

1:03:21

limited support for selected Congolese

1:03:23

leaders. On

1:03:25

June 30, 1966, the program

1:03:28

would be formally

1:03:30

terminated on the recommendation

1:03:32

of the CIA and the Department

1:03:34

of State Officials as it was

1:03:36

no longer necessary to engage in

1:03:38

large-scale political funding in the Congo.

1:03:40

However, limited funding

1:03:43

would continue into 1968. Essentially,

1:03:47

it wasn't necessary any longer for

1:03:49

them to do as much as it was

1:03:51

that they had been doing. But

1:03:54

I went and pulled the numbers from this. This

1:03:57

was one of the longest and one of the most

1:03:59

exciting things in the world. Expensive CIA operations in

1:04:01

history and so to that end I'm going to

1:04:03

list out the numbers here for you So you

1:04:05

understand this for anyone who is listening The

1:04:08

special group or the 303 committee

1:04:11

they approved an aggregate budget for covert

1:04:13

action in the Congo for the years

1:04:15

1960 to 1968 and this totaled approximately

1:04:17

11 million 702

1:04:23

thousand dollars with political action being 5.8

1:04:25

million the air program 3.2

1:04:29

the maritime program 2.5

1:04:31

and when you account for

1:04:33

all of that together that

1:04:36

is approximately adjusted for inflation 80

1:04:40

million dollars today making it one

1:04:42

of the most expensive and

1:04:45

expensive covert operations in all of

1:04:47

American history Mind

1:04:49

you there have been more expensive and I think gabby What

1:04:51

do you think about this idea here at the end? And

1:04:53

I'm sure that for anyone that is listening to this in

1:04:55

the comments right now if they lasted this long into the

1:04:58

video or podcast What do

1:05:00

you think about the idea of

1:05:02

covering the most expensive or or

1:05:04

longest? covert actions in

1:05:07

history, I don't know I

1:05:11

Don't know how big that would be I need to

1:05:13

do some research because I'm wondering right now this when

1:05:15

I was doing the research said it was one of

1:05:17

the most If this was 80

1:05:19

million dollars, you're not talking about waging

1:05:22

war. That's a covert

1:05:24

operation Those are way lower

1:05:26

scale. How the hell does something cost that much?

1:05:29

So what is the most

1:05:31

expensive covert operation? I? Should

1:05:35

probably look into that and I should probably

1:05:37

do a video or something on it Anyway,

1:05:40

my friends that is the end of the

1:05:42

story of the CIA in the Congo with

1:05:45

all of its absolute bullshit They

1:05:48

meant to go in and an assassinated dude

1:05:50

did not get to assassinate that dude Instead

1:05:52

had to support the government afterwards and

1:05:55

effectively serve as a piggy bank trying

1:05:57

to stabilize the country for many years

1:05:59

until the States would actually be able

1:06:01

to support itself. But that

1:06:03

is really it. My friends, thank you very much

1:06:05

for listening. I appreciate all of you and we

1:06:07

will see you next time. Goodbye.