In Search of Enemies - A CIA Story - John Stockwell

CIA "· Congress [235)
had signed the Tunney Amendment into law, the White House and
Kissinger were still seeking a miracle to reverse the tide of defeats,
and they were casting about for public support for a major, overt
escalation of the war. While discussions were being held in Washington,
UNIT A lost six hundred soldiers in a crushing defeat at
Huambo.
When Washington finally answered, it encouraged Savimbi to
continue fighting. On February n the CIA spokesman promised
Savimbi another million dollars in arms and money. On February 18,
1976, Secretary Kissinger sent the American charge in Kinshasa a
cable, instructing him to tell UNITA leaders that the United States
would continue to support UNIT A as long as it demonstrated the
capacity for effective resistance to the MPLA. By that late date
Kissinger knew full well that we could provide no more support to
UNIT A. His message was perhaps an example of being "tough, even
brutal . . . " As he had said in Senate testimony about his callous
misuse of the Kurds: "One must not confuse the intelligence business
with missionary work."*
While Kissinger was drafting his cable, Savimbi was sending a message
of quite another kind to President Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia:
UNIT A lost 600 men in the battle for Huambo. The machine of wu
that Cuba and the Soviet Union have assembled in Angola is beyond
the imagination. To prevent the total destruction of our forces we have
decided to revert immediately to guerrilla warfare. The friends (the
CIA and United States) that have promised to help us did not fulfill
their promises and we must face our own fate with courage and
determination.
I have two requests for Your Excellency: (1) No one is responsible
for this disaster but the big powers. This is why with my humble and
limited understanding I beg your excellency that my brother for years,
Zambian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rupiah Banda, be spared so
that UNITA can be sacrificed (i.e., at UNITA's expense). Rupiah is
*In 1974 and 1975, the CIA, under orders from Kissinger, had mounted a program
to arm and encourage the Kurdish people to revolt against the Iraqi government.
This was done at the request of the shah of Iran, who was contending with the Iraqis.
When the shah had reached a satisfactory understanding with the Iraqis, the CIA
was called off and it abruptly abandoned the Kurds, leaving them helpless, unable
to defend themselves against bloody reprisals from the Iraqi army. Explaining this
to the Church Committee, Kissinger made his now-famous statement.