Intelligence Officer's Bookshelf
Compiled and Reviewed by Hayden B. Peake
Curator of the CIA's Historical Intelligence Collection
May 30, 2006
In 1970, John
MacGregor, better known to some at the time as CIA officer John Waller,
published a book on the early history of Tibet. In 1997, retired CIA
officer Roger E. McCarthy published his book, which describes his role
in support of the CIA's assistance to the Tibetan resistance to China's
occupation of Tibet, which began in 1950. Now author-artist Mikel
Dunham has told another side of the Tibetan resistance story, for the
first time from the point of view of the Tibetan participants...
The Chinese occupation of Tibet was gradual. By
1957, the CIA was training and supplying the resistance. But the
Chinese kept increasing the number of their troops and in 1959 the
Dalai Lama was forced to flee. The CIA program came to an end when
Nixon and Mao agreed to establish diplomatic relations in the early
1970s. China made cessation of the Tibetan support a condition of
recognition. Today there are more Chinese in Tibet than Tibetans.
The
story of what happened in between is well told by Dunham. The
resistance fighters he interviewed recall their reaction to the
American training and assistance program. They also address, if not
explain, how they could take up arms when their religion, Buddhism, the
ultimate advocate of nonviolence, prohibits such behavior. The impetus,
in part, was practical: "How could the Dalai Lama be protected if we
had no weapons...?" The warriors the CIA trained were parachuted back
into Tibet to help the resistance on the ground. The American weapons
and supplies were much needed, but fighting tactics remained Tibetan,
including the custom of never taking prisoners. As a consequence of
possible Chinese retaliation, they all agreed to accept poison capsules
that could be used in the event of capture. Even after 1970, a
resistance element operated out of a base in Nepal near the Tibetan
border until the Nepalese government was pressured by the Chinese into
closing it down, too.
The CIA pullout was disheartening to
Americans and Tibetans alike--they did not think a diplomatic solution
was possible. Despite the diplomatic complications created by dealing
with the various nations involved with the Dalai Lama's fate--India,
China, Nepal, Bangladesh, and the United States--the politicians had
won the day. Dunham ends the book with his interview of the Dalai Lama.
When asked why he thought America agreed to help, the Dalai Lama
replied: "I do not think that they came to help out of genuine sympathy
or genuine concern...." But when it came to individuals, he added,
"they developed some kind of genuine feeling. That I appreciate."
Buddha's
Warriors is a valuable work for several reasons. First, it makes clear
how difficult opposing China can be, on both military and political
fronts. Second, it demonstrates that an inadequately supported overt
action cannot succeed. Third, it provides a seldom seen example of the
human side of the covert action operation in Tibet. Finally, it shows
the dedication and bravery of the CIA officers who worked long and hard
to accomplish a difficult mission under perilous circumstances.
