Avoiding a Second Bay of Pigs: Lessons Relevant to the Liberation of Iraq
Abstract
The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 states that it is the sense of Congress that it should be the policy of the United States to support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq. Such an effort will require close coordination between the U.S. military and intelligence organizations. The U.S. government undertook a similar effort in the early 1960's against the Castro regime in Cuba. There are a number of valuable lessons in a study of that unsuccessful effort, popularly known as the Bay of Pigs. This paper, utilizing open source material, looks at the mistakes made in both the earlier Bay of Pigs and more recent Iraq liberation efforts. The paper emphasizes the operational perspective and provides suggestions concerning how the U.S. military and intelligence communities, working together, might avoid committing another national policy failure.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 17, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA370632
Entities
People
- John S. Holt
Organizations
- Naval War College