February 16, 1989 http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.... Watch the full program: http://thefilmarchived.blogspot.com/2010/08/john-stockwell-on-cia-and-angolan...
The Angolan Civil War began in Angola after the end of the war for independence from Portugal in 1975. The war featured conflict between two primary Angolan factions, the Communist MPLA and the anti-Communist UNITA. Yet a third movement, the FLEC, an association of separatist militant groups, fought for the independence of Cabinda.
Formally brought to an end in 2002, an estimated 500,000 people were killed in the 27-year war. The Angolan Civil War was one of the largest, longest and most prominent armed conflicts of the Cold War. Both the Soviet Union and the U.S. considered it critical to the global balance of power and to the outcome of the Cold War.
In addition to the war's two primary factions (the MPLA and UNITA), several other factions also were engaged in the conflict. The Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola's (MPLA) base is among the Kimbundu people and the multiracial intelligentsia of Luanda. The MPLA, supported by the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc, fought against the National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA), an organization based in the Bakongo region of the north and allied with the United States, the People's Republic of China and the Mobutu government in Zaïre. The United States, apartheid South Africa, and several other African nations also supported Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), whose ethnic and regional base lies in the Ovimbundu heartland of central Angola.
President Gerald Ford approved covert aid to UNITA and the FNLA through Operation IA Feature on July 18, 1975, despite strong opposition from officials in the State Department and the CIA. Ford told William Colby, the Director of Central Intelligence, to establish the operation, providing an initial US$6 million. He granted an additional $8 million on July 27 and another $25 million in August.
Two days before the program's approval, Nathaniel Davis, the Assistant Secretary of State, told Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State, that he believed maintaining the secrecy of IA Feature would be impossible. Davis correctly predicted the Soviet Union would respond by increasing involvement in the Angolan conflict, leading to more violence and negative publicity for the United States. When Ford approved the program, Davis resigned. John Stockwell, the CIA's station chief in Angola, echoed Davis' criticism saying the success required the expansion of the program, but its size already exceeded what could be hidden from the public eye. Davis' deputy, former U.S. ambassador to Chile Edward Mulcahy, also opposed direct involvement. Mulcahy presented three options for U.S. policy towards Angola on May 13, 1975. Mulcahy believed the Ford administration could use diplomacy to campaign against foreign aid to the Communist MPLA, refuse to take sides in factional fighting, or increase support for the FNLA and UNITA. He warned however that supporting UNITA would not sit well with Mobutu Sese Seko, the ruler of Zaire.
Dick Clark, a Democratic Senator from Iowa, discovered the operation during a fact-finding mission in Africa, but Seymour Hersh, a reporter for The New York Times, revealed IA Feature to the public on December 13, 1975. Clark proposed an amendment to the Arms Export Control Act, barring aid to private groups engaged in military or paramilitary operations in Angola. The Senate passed the bill, voting 5422 on December 19, 1975 and the House passed the bill, voting 32399 on January 27, 1976. Ford signed the bill into law on February 9, 1976. Even after the Clark Amendment became law, then-Director of Central Intelligence, George H. W. Bush, refused to concede that all U.S. aid to Angola had ceased. According to foreign affairs analyst Jane Hunter, Israel stepped in as a proxy arms supplier for the United States after the Clark Amendment took effect.
The U.S. government vetoed Angolan entry into the United Nations on June 23, 1976. Zambia forbid UNITA from launching attacks from its territory on December 28, 1976 after Angola became a member of the United Nations.
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How the CIA's Covert Operations Workby thefilmarchive27,331 views
@mamba701 Thats a nice glob of text but it wont change that fact that africans caused their own problems civil wars were happening LONG before the west sent aid, Its not because of any one person its because of poverty and conflicting ideals
Trolleymctrolltrolls 1 year ago
@mamba701 which would bring me to the conclusion (and im not alone) that world powers like america and russia and the european nations (yes there are other world powers in the world , not just america) are the cause of this debacle...yes the blacks in africa are not all civilized BUT im not black AND i have many black friends who are quite mature and civilized...but dont worry , once the dollar collapses you will know what its like...(no offence but take a look at the facts)...
mamba701 1 year ago
@Trolleymctrolltrolls thats true , but if u arm barbarians thats whats going to happen , ever heard of the phrase "give a man a fish and he dies of starvation , teach him how to fish and he feeds his family"???think about it for a second...also you armed those men because they would have opposed communism (just like you did for the so called taliban)...SO in your mission to oppose anything communist you have harmed yourself AND your allies...
mamba701 1 year ago
@mamba701 African nations are warzones because african leaders use their nations money on corrupt policies and supporting their own dictatorships the only thing the west did was sell arms and give money to african leaders and rebels the leadership of african nations is the africans fault not the wests civil wars can be solved peacefully but african leaders enjoy keeping their dictatorships its your own fault not the wests
Trolleymctrolltrolls 1 year ago
thanks to "the world powers" , my homeland is a warzone with deathtolls passing that of the iraq war on some days...well done you "civilized" nations...
mamba701 1 year ago
great vid, my class LOVED IT!
jonmats24 1 year ago