Link: Memories of a C.I.A. Officer Resonate in a New Era - New York Times.
Mr. Devlin had no problems with bribery, blackmail or other varieties of skulduggery — “all part of the game” for the C.I.A. under Allen Dulles at the height of the cold war, he said. But he thought the order to kill Patrice Lumumba, the charismatic Congolese politician the Eisenhower administration feared would become an African Fidel Castro, was both wrong and stupid, a desperate plan that could easily go awry and devastate American influence in Africa.
Mr. Devlin says that he did not take part in disappearance of Lumumba. That's between him, the CIA, and ultimately God. I will not dwell on whether the US was involved, and if so, was it justifiable act? BUT, I will say that the US is culpable of all the corruption and irresponsibility by Mobutu during his 32-year rule. In a twist to the old joke frequently told by Bill Cosby and my mother, we brought him (Mobutu) into power and we could have taken him out of power.
Looking at the past and present deaths and violence in Congo, was a second disappearance needed and justifiable?
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