I just ran across this government memo from 1962 entitled “Justification for US Military Intervention in Cuba.” It was a set of recommendations that made its way up the military chain of command until Kennedy squashed it. All of the options recommended involve staging some sort of fake attack by Cuba against some US asset. They mention painting an F16 to look like a Mig, highjacking a plane and filling the passenger manifest completely with fake people then “conduct funeral for ‘mock’ victims.”
Here’s some quotes from the memo:
- “We could blow up a US ship in Guantanamo Bay and blame Cuba.”
- “We could sink a boatload of Cubans enroute to Florida (real or simulated).”
- “Exploding a few plastic bombs in carefully chosen spots, the arrest of Cuban agents and the release of prepared documents substantiating Cuban involvement would also be helpful in projecting the idea of an irresponsible government.”
- “We could develop a Communist Cuban terror campaign…”
I particularly liked either “real or simulated” Cubans work just as well for purposes of being blown up. Wikipedia has some more info including links to the full text. I found it on infowars.com. The pdf is on the National Security Archives servers.
True these are only “suggestions,” but open and honest government was definitely not something its signed author, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lyman Louis Lemnitzer, believed in. Deceiving the American people is the only solution he offers. Certainly it shows that faking terrorist events by blowing up remote controlled airliners to create justification for a military intervention is something the US government has considered before.