ABSTRACT
Chapter 5 charts the evolution of US intervention throughout the autumn of 1975. It explores the increasing denial by Kissinger that covert US intervention in Angola was a mistake. Specifically, it delves deeper than previous publications into how opposition to the Angolan operation grew during this period. The objections of Sisco and Hyland were augmented by US chargé d’affaires to Zaire Lannon Walker and his staff, who argued that potential domestic political ramifications were certain to ensure that the US could not escalate as much as the Soviets could. The discussion subsequently develops the topic by illustrating the eventual realization by Kissinger that the Angolan operation was beyond winning after Cuban intervention and how he undertook a strategy designed to shift responsibility for the failure onto outgoing CIA director William Colby and the US Congress.
