Bethell, Nicholas. Betrayed. New York: Times Books, 1984. 206 pages.
The British and CIA involvement in Albania from 1949-1953 was not the
first covert operation of the Cold War. In Italy, for example, the CIA
passed out money to influence the 1948 elections. But Albania was the first
time that armed saboteurs were infiltrated into a sovereign country during
peacetime, without the approval of Congress, Parliament, Prime Minister
Clement Attlee, or President Harry Truman. This book by Nicholas Bethell, a
Conservative member of the House of Lords who lives in London, is the story
of this paramilitary operation, which was an unmitigated disaster.
The major problem was that Kim Philby, MI6's joint commander of the
mission based in Washington, was a Soviet mole who betrayed some of the
operations from the start. The CIA prefers that we believe this was the only
problem, and as of 1982 still refused to confirm that the invasion took
place. But Bethell makes a strong case that there were other difficulties:
"Poor planning, faulty equipment, ineptitude, the unforeseen strength and
violence of the Communist forces in Albania, and the decision to go ahead
with the operation despite the warning signals, led to the deaths of
thousands."
ISBN 0-8129-1188-1
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