Summary of Chapters 3 and 4 of “Rollback! Right-wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy” by Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould

I. What is Rollback?

At the end of World War II, U.S. foreign policy began to take a new form. Having once taken a stance of isolationism, the end of the war brought forth a right-wing insurgence to wipe out communism all across the globe. Those who had been critics of American entry into the war were the same ones who were now called for U.S. military actions against Red China and pushed for an atomic war against the Soviet Union. This movement has been more accurately depicted as global rollback network, or Rollnet, for short.

II. The People and Parties Involved

The heart of the Rollnet begins and ends with CIA and ex-CIA operatives running the show as the specialists in covert activities. The headlining names include retired Maj. Gen. Richard Second, Theodore Shackley, and Thomas Clines, as well as retired Gen. John Singlaub. Motives of the participating individuals in each operation are sometimes blurred between the removal of an “evil” government and private agendas of making a personal profit. Beyond the CIA link, it branches out towards the military-industrial sector, who are represented wholly by three entwined organizations: American Security Council, Coalition for Peace Through Strength, and the Committee on the Present Danger. Those who lead these organizations have all had military experience from having served as a high ranking official, or defensive contractors, or even ex operatives with covert careers.

Without the help of particular governments, Rollnet activities would cease to exist. In particular, a country like Taiwan favors a rollback government in attempts to keep the Chinese Revolution at bay. Other countries such as South Korea, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, and Israel have also taken an interest in rollback participation. However, not all participation comes in a direct form. Many times, a country will assist in a rollback operation through funding or information in exchange for beneficial trades, as in the case with Saudi Arabia providing money to particular operations outside of their own borders in exchange for high-tech U.S. military weaponry.

Among the first of the Rollnet operations were directed towards the Soviet Union and the neighboring satellites. People of all backgrounds and affiliations from all over the region were recruited, including the native fascists who had worked with the Nazis during the war as well as the incorporation of German Nazi leaders. An anti-Soviet block was formed called the Anti-Bolshevik Nations (ABN). Combining with the Asian People’s Anti-Communist League (APACL), formed by Chiang Kai-shek and South Korean intelligence agents, the World Anti-Communist League (WACL) was created. In close affiliation with the WACL and the Korean CIA, the Unification Church, headed by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, set up campuses to promote right-wing causes to students to counter the anti-militarist radical movement prevalent at the time.

Much of the Rollnet recruitment comes from revolutions that have displaced individuals, who hope to gain back some of their previous power and standing. However, when the insurgency fails again, they become prime candidates for counterrevolutionary operations world wide. Such is the case with the failed Bay of Pigs operation. Many of the anti-Castro players were taken in by the CIA for operations in other South American countries, Africa, and Asia.

Covert dealings with organized crime and chief crime figures along with the dealings of arms and drugs have played important roles in gaining the necessary funds for operatives all over the world. In the case of World War II, the dealings with organized crime lords allowed Allied access to ports in Italy. The dealing of arms provides more than just funding, but the actual arming of insurgent mercenaries. To transport these “goods,” Rollnet utilizes a network of shady banks as well as CIA-operated airlines. Money is laundered from country to country through these banks to support operatives located elsewhere (usually outside of the country’s borders). The airlines are used to bring arms into a country and then in exchange, fly out a cargo of drugs elsewhere.

III. Rollnet’s affect on foreign policy, prior to the Reagan years

As the Cold War settled in, a wide-spread mentality of keeping the Soviet power bloc at bay dominated the views of foreign policy. Covert dealings with Corsica and the Italian mafia (leading back to the relationship established during World War II) allowed successful operations to take place against Communist-led charges, both on the battlefield (Marseilles) and at the voting booths (Italy). With the economic assistance from the Marshall Plan and successful covert stings, Western Europe remained wholly on the U.S. side. However, Eastern Europe had a completely different complexion. The failed Albania venture caused hesitation as well as recognition of dangers in abetting countries like Hungary, East Germany, and Poland from the Soviets.

Expansion towards China took a long and arduous path. Beginning with a “wait and see” attitude, the Korean War prevented any actions to be taken during the 40s, but opened the door for the 50s. Although the operations of the 50s were rather insignificant and lacking in success, they established the groundwork for covert rollback activities in China for the next 40 years.

The support provided to the CIA by Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Chinese Army allowed the infiltration of the “complex world of Eastern Asian transactions.” Field agents of all kinds, ranging from saboteurs to smugglers to “businessmen,” were provided by the Chinese to the operatives being carried out in East Asia.

Other countries in the region participated in rollback activities as well, but not all were dedicated to a direct intervention. Taiwan established schools that provided warfare training. South Korea, with the help of Chiang Kai-shek, formed the APACL. Closely tied to the APACL was the Unification Church of Rev. Moon, who received financial support from fascist Japanese like Sasakawa and Kodama.

The flow of drugs in East Asia played a vital role in the acquisition of knowledge and information, as well as establishing a side business. A “guns in drugs out” policy was used in Burma, Laos, and Vietnam, to name a few of the countries. The use of the CIA’s Civil Air Transport (CAT), later renamed “Air America,” armed operatives located in those countries, while buying the support of informants and the locals with opium and the shipment of the same to other outlying countries and customers. The drug trade blossomed but at the same time, festered a heroin in addiction within U.S. troops as well, a figure that at one point exceeded five percent.

Along side the China front in rollback foreign policy was the dealings in Latin America. The eight major rollback operations involved Guatemala, Cuba, Brazil, Dominican Republic, Chile, Jamaica, Grenada, and Nicaragua. Each operation showed some signs of global rollback. It ranged from the overthrowing of an existing government, as in the case with Guatemala, to the training of numerous anti-Castro Cubans and others in Taiwan to assist with covert operations both locally and globally. The use of death squads and assassinations were also prevalent at the time, used to take down oppositions and potential threats to Rollnet.

IV. Reagan Doctrine

Reagan Doctrine was the name given to the policies of rollback towards Third World countries. Up until the late 70s, the method of attack towards the Soviets was that of containment. However, with the relentless expansion efforts of the Soviets, the plan of attack was quickly shifted from a defensive containment to an offensive rollback. Since an attack of an offensive nature against the Soviet powerhouse was completely infeasible, the focus shifted toward the Soviet satellites in the Third World countries.

Jeanne Kirkpatrick played a vital role in making rollback politically acceptable by arguing that “revolutions” were spawned not by the imposed dictatorships but that of Soviet expansion. With her Dictatorships and Double Standards, she explains how it is reasonable to overthrow left-wing governments in place of right-wing dictatorship, saying that the dictatorship is a step in the right direction of democracy.

In March of 1981, implementation of the Heritage plan, a solidified rollback policy, began towards Afghanistan, Laos, Cambodia, and others. Covert actions were set in motion and old legislation, such as the Clark Amendment, were appealed to pave the way for even more funding and operations. Despite efforts by the Reagan government to keep things quiet, leaks in Washington quickly erased that notion. Despite making the Nicaraguan front open to the public, the actual rollback goals were still kept under wraps.

With everything seemingly under control and running smoothly, obstructions appeared in the form of unearthed covert activities in Nicaragua and the support of death squads in El Salvador. In order to legitimize the situation, the administration promoted the idea of democracy by having a “moderate” elected as president, who’s theology would be acceptable to Congress, which had grown sour on providing military aid. Jose Napoleon Duarte was chosen to be the “answer for democracy in Central America.” Shortly thereafter, a military and economic aid package was approved of by Congress.

Government interventions in rollback policies have gone hand in hand since Rollnet’s inception. However, post-Vietnam war put a damper on support. Whereas prior to the war, the only justification needed for foreign intervention was anti-communism. But the bitterness left by the war caused that support to dissipate. The Reagan Doctrine masked the same rollback policies as before, but under the new moniker of democracy, which was more widely accepted.

With the change in focus to the “democratic revolution,” Reagan was able to gain a considerable amount of support from the center Democrats all the way to almost the far right-wing. Congress, which had overwhelmingly denied aid prior to the change, came around as well with new legislation in 1985 and 1986 which generated aid and support to the rollback countries like Nicaragua and El Salvador. However, many of the far-right players, including members of the WACL, which was comprised of “ex-Nazis, death squad organizers, and right-wind dictators,” were opposed because their stance conflicted with that of democracy.

As democracy prevailed, many were left wondering whether the government and Reagan’s administration had pulled the wool over everyone’s eyes. The uncertainty was over whether or not foreign policy had actually changed in practice, or in name only. However, with the removal of support from El Salvador, Haiti, and the Philippines, all under the rule of right-wing dictatorships in some form or another, the administration looked to have changed their goals to be of a more democratic nature, whether by choice, or by chance.

The “freedom fighters” of Nicaragua were the poster-child of the democratic foreign policy. Their actions, as well as collected reports from contra leaders, seemed to suggest otherwise. Arturo Cruz and Edgar Chamorro, both of high ranking positions in the contra army, resigned under the clout that the contras were only puppets to the right-wing CIA and that under those conditions, there was no way to transform their contra movement in to one of democracy.

The contras were taught and trained in the U.S. to use “implicit and explicit terror” when needing to “neutralize” Sandinistas. Oliver North and his men plowed through Nicaragua killing numerous innocent civilians under the scope that they were pro-Sandinistas, and that their elimination was necessary to prevent them from reporting back the army’s whereabouts. They justified that this brutality “was necessary for their survival.” When Congress granted financial aid in 1986, a portion of the funds were set aside to assist the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights. Again, on the surface, this seemed like the logical thing to do, but a further look showed that Association, too, murdered and kidnapped civilians, and even forced many into the contra army. The range of these heinous actions were not limited to just that of Nicaragua, but to global operations as well, like the ones in Mozambique. Rather than be considered “freedom fighters,” as they were so quickly dubbed, these armed contrabands acted more as terrorists under U.S. control.

The most appropriate tactic in dealing with Third World rollback was called “low intensity conflict.” This included the use of psychological warfare to manipulate “opinions, attitudes, emotions, and behavior of friendly, neutral, or hostile groups.” The Pentagon’s Special Ops Forces (SOF) trained commandos who specialized in the covert operations of LIC. To see that this doctrine was being carried out, a look at the funding can quickly support that stance. Having once had a budget of well over $1 billion, the military failures in the Vietnam War caused the budget to fall to $100 million in 1975. However, as suggested by the Heritage plan, peacetime expansion of the SOF was needed and their budget began to increase, eventually hitting $1.5 billion in 1986. One of the main aspects of LIC is the use of proxy military figures. This means intervening indirectly through the sale of weapons to governments and movements across the globe who are carrying out rollback operations. The U.S. spares itself the unpopular move of sending its own troops overseas. The most beneficial aspect of the LIC, when compared to the actions of the CIA, is that they have no need to directly report to Congress, therefore able to bypass oversights.

With the threat of domestic success in Nicaragua, in regards to the revolution, the contras did their best to ruin the government’s gains in health care and education. By attacking school and hospitals directly, the government was forced to divert funds out of the health and education departments and into the war budget. Although the contras were unable to overthrow the government (they weren’t really expected to anyways), the diversion of funds and resources was already victory in itself. The Nicaraguan conflict showed two stances: overthrow or ruin.

The use of LIC to rollback Libya took on a completely different look. With the intentions of overthrowing Muammar Qaddafi, the U.S. blamed any and all terrorists attack on Libya and the Qaddafi regime, although hindsight shows that they were most likely NOT behind the attacks. Any and all openings were used to attack Qaddafi and his headquarters in attempts to either kill him or garner support for a coup. The Berlin bombing incident prompted one such attack. Despite no proof that Qaddafi or his network were involved in the bombing, the U.S. used it as a pretext and attacked him anyways. With negative reactions from all over, escalation ceased.

The motives against Libya were not purely that of rollback. Libya had become the deceptive center linking the Soviets, Nicaraguans, and Cubans to the Middle East terrorist network. The use of terrorists by the Soviets was quite obvious: “to weaken democracy and undermine world stability.”

 Summary by Daniel Michael Chen