My thoughts;
The former Belgian Colony of Congo, now known as Zaire, was granted independence in 1960, and almost immediately became the site of chaos.
What were folks still doing there in 1964. I wonder how many were warned (if it wasn't obvious) that they should leave.
A few days later, in response to political pressure from the Third World, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the force ouf of Africa.
Go figure. Knowing Johnson's failures in the execution of the war in Vietnam it doesn't surprise me that he was worried about third world reaction, what a worthless POS.
World reaction was predictable. Demonstrations were held in Moscow, Prague, Nairobi, and Cairo, denouncing "American imperialism." The mob in Cairo managed to burn the JFK Library (all 270,000 volumes) to the ground in a brilliant display of self indulgence.
Why is/was there a JFK library in Cairo? Jeez. And why do we continue to give a hoot about what these countries think about us. Arrrghh.
Of course the soldiers did what they were commanded to do and did so honorably, but the politics of the whole mess just seems so predicitable and idiotic.
/rant
Sure sounds like a familiar, repeating pattern, just substitute any turd world country and year and the story never changes.
I agree with your rant, Snippy. Isn't it amazing that forty years later the same usual suspects are still demonstrating in support of terrorism, killing civilians, and totalitarianism? And Western weenies like LBJ and John F'ing Kerry (did you know he served in Vietnam?) are still giving in to them.
The JFK library in Cairo reminds me of a book I read a few months ago. Seems in the days before the alliance with Israel, when we were basically still following Ike's foreign policy in the region, JFK made a run at courting Nasser, then the darling of the Arab nationalist socialist crowd. Sent lots of aid and love letters to Nasser. What Nasser was really interested in was arms, so he threw in with the Sov's anyway. Then he went to war with Saudi Arabia in the proxy war in Yemen. The U.S. went through with a Hawk missile sale to Israel and later became their main arms supplier. A Nasser aide, Anwar Sadat, years later flipped Egypt's alliances and moved to the U.S. side (in exchange for billions in "aid").
<What were folks still doing there in 1964. I wonder how many were warned (if it wasn't obvious) that they should leave.
I was in Elisabethville at the time of the rescue mission (I was 3). I asked my parents why we didn't leave sooner. They told me that they were both born in the Congo and that they considered it their home. Their family and friends were in the Congo and they got along well with the local population. They never had any proplems right up until they left in 1965. My aunt and uncle did get got caught up in the rioting in Leopoldville right after independence. (My uncle witnessed the sword being wrested away from King Bouduin...serves him right). Like the thousands of white Congolese who stayed, they hoped that things would settle down and that their lives would continue as they did under the Belgians (of course that didn't happen and they emigrated to Rhodesia and finally to the US).
There wasn't any "official" warning from any governmental source that my parents remembered. Belgium made it difficult for the white Congolese to leave in 1960...there weren't enough flights out and the banking system was shut down prior to independence.