Ripples From The Pentagon Leaks

FIVE editions back Cross Currents carried a critique on the Al Jazeera report about the 400 000 documents that were leaked from the Pentagon files. These detail war atrocities by the forces involved in the war on Iraq.

Subsequently, debates ensued and even more, names of the suspects came to light. This exercise became so emotive that some called for the application of the death penalty on the suspected culprits.I recalled similar atrocities and espionage reports of the past as documented in a number of books and it occurred to me that the parallels were frightening. John Stockwell wrote a book titled ‘In Search of Enemies’, which gave some detail on the involvement of the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the Angolan civil war during the 1970s. This book made revealing reading with regard to the politics of that era and its global ramifications. Stockwell, who was a key CIA operative, concluded that the average American had to take responsibility for what transpired during the Angolan civil war.Doctor Madeline Kalb wrote a book titled ‘The Congo Cables’, in which she dealt with the war in the Congo circa 1960s. This war created problems, some of which the African continent still contends with. Two such events are the partition of the Congo into Congo Brazzaville and Zaire, latter renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during later political times. The other was the arrest, torture and death of Patrice Lumumba at the hands of Africa’s intruders of the time and like Namibia’s Hendrik Witbooi, whose grave was never discovered. Madeline Kalb concludes that while Belgium had to bear the brunt for the mess in the Congo, the fact is that they were not alone. And come to think of it, so many literary contributions were made by different writers about the role stronger nations played at times passing as saviours, more often than seldom leaving a mixed bag of devastations and benefits for the citizens of these political regions to pick the pieces.Closer to the Southern African Region, Ken Flower wrote a book called ‘Serving Secretly’. The book opens with Prime Minister-elect Robert Mugabe having a conversation with Ken at a British-organised reception on the eve of Zimbabwe’s independence. Mugabe is reported to have said to Ken Flower: ‘We know the role you played in the Ian Smith regime against our war of liberation. But I want you to serve the nation of Zimbabwe as head of our intelligence.’ Flower accepted the offer and that is when the true Ken Flower comes to light in his book. Another book was written by an author I forget and it is titled: ‘I see you in November’. These two books reveal much about the espionage and counter intelligence activities of the British and Americans during Zimbabwe’s war of liberation and like with ‘The Congo Cables’, they reveal the extent to which Ian Smith’s UDI regime was not alone. And much closer to home, somebody wrote a book called ‘Inside Boss’. This book reveals the activities of the Apartheid South African regime with regard to Namibia and the extent to which the South Africans were not alone in their resolve to preserve Apartheid in South Africa and Namibia.As I followed the debate with regard to the Pentagon leaks and their ripples, I thought to myself, but the cold war has returned, only that there is a paradigm shift with regard to political and economic interests and this shift carries with it the inclination for contemporary, strategic alliances.