Stranger Than Fiction

October 21, 1998

Walter LeFeber, in his book THE AMERICAN AGE, described some of the proposed activities of the C.I.A. to overthrow Fidel Castro. If the author was not a respected historian, one could conclude that he took imaginative trips.

The C.I.A., in its covert war, planned to kill Castro. How? One plan (p. 560) was to give Castro exploding cigars! Another plan: “Spread word in Cuba that the Lord’s Second Coming was about to occur, but the Lord hated Castro. On the day of the Lord’s supposed appearance, a U.S. submarine would surface along the coast, set off fireworks, and so frighten Cubans who would then overthrow Castro. One C.I.A. agent labeled the plan ‘Elimination by Illumination.’”

If what LeFeber wrote is true, or largely true, C.I.A. could be an acronym for Congenital Idiots Association. Or, alternatively, [the C.I.A. could serve as] scriptwriters for slapstick comedies.