G. Edward Griffin - The Fearful Master - PDF Archive

It did not take very long. A few days after independence, the Congolese army mutinied
against its Belgian officers. Lumumba reacted immediately by discharging the officers and
expelling them from the country. He promoted every one of the mutinous soldiers at least
one rank and moved up several to the level of general. All men received a substantial pay
raise. The lowest paid soldier was getting about twice that of an American GI of equivalent
rank. Devoid of professional military command and whipped up by Lumumba and his
followers, the Congolese army went on a spree of plunder, murder and rape. European
residents fled in terror by the thousands leaving behind their homes, their possessions,
their businesses, and everything they had worked for. Currency was frozen and most of
them left with only a hastily packed suitcase.
Few Americans understood what was going on. Their news sources did not help them
much. All attention was focused on the pictures of crying women being helped off planes
and the sensational accounts of widespread rape. We were not given any insight into why
this chaos had happened or who had triggered it. It was made to appear as something
that just happened. Editors by the droves speculated, "Well what can you expect? After all
those years of exploiting the natives, the Belgians are just reaping the harvest that they
themselves have sown."
Newswoman Philippa Schuyler shed a little light on how it "just happened" when she
reported:
They had been maliciously egged on to start the disorder. In the wee
hours of July 9, someone rushed into the barracks shouting, "Come and
fight! The whites are about to attack you! You're about to be killed!"
No one was attacking the soldiers. It was a deliberate lie, with frightful
consequences." 22
The Reverend Mark Poole of the Luluabourg Presbyterian Mission and other missionaries
in the Congo confirmed that the outbreaks of violence were undoubtedly Communist
inspired and that they were too widespread and well coordinated to have just happened by
cbance. 23
As soon as word of the chaos reached Brussels, Belgium ordered its troops back to the
Congo to protect the lives and property of its citizens there. In a fit of rage Lumumba
officially declared war on Belgium and called on the United Nations for military help
against Belgian intervention. The United Nations complied, as we shall see. At the outset,
however, Belgium called on its NATO friend, the United States, for help so that it could not
be accused of trying to perpetuate its influence in its former possession. Washington
refused, saving it would rather act through the United Nations. Khrushchev lashed out
against the Belgians, calling them "criminal aggressors." The very same day, July 14,
1960, the United States delegation at the United Nations sided with the Soviets in a
resolution stoutly condemning Belgium, demanding immediate withdrawal of her troops,
and authorizing the United Nations to send troops of its own to assist Lumumba. 24 Within
four days, the first four thousand United Nations troops were flown into the Congo by U.S.
Air Force planes. Many additional thousands were on the way. By July 23 most of the
Belgian troops had withdrawn. The territory was now in the hands of Lumumba's mutinous
army and the United Nations "peace-keeping" forces.
The plunder and rape continued and spread. Smith Hempstone reported: