The CIA's Secret War in Tibet

[Better Believe It]

The CIA's Secret War in Tibet by
Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison
April 2002

Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison reveal how America's Central Intelligence Agency encouraged Tibet's revolt against China--and eventually came to control its fledgling resistance movement. They provide the first comprehensive, as well as most compelling account of this little known agency enterprise.

The CIA's Secret War in Tibet takes readers from training camps in the Colorado Rockies to the scene of clandestine operations in the Himalayas, chronicling the agency's help in securing the Dalai Lama's safe passage to India and subsequent initiation of one of the most remote covert campaigns of the Cold War. Conboy and Morrison provide previously unreported details about secret missions undertaken in extraordinarily harsh conditions. Their book greatly expands on previous memoirs by CIA officials by putting virtually every major agency participant on record with details of clandestine operations. It also calls as witnesses the people who managed and fought in the program--including Tibetan and Nepalese agents, Indian intelligence officers, and even mission aircrews.

Conboy and Morrison take pains to tell the story from all perspectives, particularly that of the former Tibetan guerrillas, many of whom have gone on record here for the first time. The authors also tell how Tibet led America and India to become secret partners over the course of several presidential administrations and cite dozens of Indian and Tibetan intelligence documents directly related to these covert operations.

http://www.kansaspress.ku.edu/concia.html

[Vilis Veritas]

1. Really? I wonder why our CIA would do something like that?

I mean, we have never done anything remotely like this in the past, right?

NTR

(no tag required)

[Better Believe It]

2. Because They Love Freedom?

Because they want to spread freedom and democracy around the world .... from Iraq to Tibet .... and of course all of Latin America, Africa, Europe and Asia.

Will any groups be organizing a demonstration in support of the CIA's operations in Tibet?

[Vilis Veritas]

3. Oh yea, thanks for reminding me...

Freedom.

I hear it is on a march of some kind...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Our wonderful, humanitarian, CIA? Perish the thought.

Why, they have a long and glorious history of aiding the underdogs in:

Vietnam
Laos
Guatemala
Honduras
Chile
South Africa
Congo
Mozambique
Angola
Cambodia
Afghanistan

and many more places that needed our "help".

:sarcasm:

[Orwellian_Ghost]

5. From 1959 to 1964, Tibetan guerrillas were secretly trained at Camp Hale by the CIA

Camp Hale, between Red Cliff and Leadville in the Eagle River valley in Colorado, was a United States Army training facility constructed in 1942 for what became the 10th Mountain Division. It was named in honor of General Irving Hale. Soldiers were trained in mountain climbing, skiing and cold-weather survival. When it was in full operation, approximately 16,000 soldiers were housed there.

From 1959 to 1964, Tibetan guerrillas were secretly trained at Camp Hale by the CIA. The site was chosen because of the similarities of the Rocky Mountains with the Himalayan Plateau. The Tibetans loved the surroundings so much that they nicknamed the camp, "Dhumra", the Garden. The CIA circulated a story in the local press that Camp Hale was to be the site of atomic tests and would be a high security zone. Until its closure in 1964, the entire area was cordoned off and its perimeter patrolled by military police. In the nearby mining town of Leadville, where instructors from Camp Hale occasionally went for rest and recreation, numerous rumors spread about the camp but no one guessed its real function.

The Tibetan project was codenamed ST Circus, and it was similar to the CIA operation that trained dissident Cubans in what later became the Bay of Pigs Invasion. In all, around 259 Tibetans were trained at Camp Hale. Some were parachuted back into Tibet to link up with local resistance groups (most perished); others were sent overland into Tibet on intelligence gathering missions; and yet others were instrumental in setting up the CIA-funded Tibetan resistance force that operated out of Mustang, in northern Nepal (1959-1974). After Camp Hale was dismantled in 1964, no Tibetans remained in Colorado.
From 1958 to 1960 Anthony Poshepny trained various special missions teams, including Tibetan Khambas and Hui Muslims, for operations in China against the Communist government. Poshepny sometimes claimed that he personally escorted the 14th Dalai Lama out of Tibet, but this has been denied, both by former CIA officers involved in the Tibet operation, and by the Tibetan Government-in-exile (Central Tibetan Administration).

...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Hale

[Richard Steele]

6. Spam spam spam, spammity spaaaaaaaaaaam........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6N5m8FpVg&feature=related

[Wilber_Stool]

7. So now we know why China isn't

particularly fond of Tibetans. Not as simple a story as I thought. It never is.

[Zynx]

8. While true, it certainly does not excuse China's actions.

[Better Believe It]

9. Nor Does It Excuse Violent Actions Against Ethnic Chinese

No one has excused the Chinese governments actions.

I just wonder if any of these "Tibet freedom" groups have condemned the fire bombing of small Chinese shops and physical attacks against ethnic Chinese in Tibet. Do you think such violent actions are to be excused?