Lansdale’s involvement with Mongoose remains the most mystifying chapter in his career. The man who had always advocated policies designed to empower locals, who urged armies to engage in hearts-and-minds campaigns to win over the populace, and who argued that fostering democratic governments responsive to people’s needs was the best way to defeat communist insurgencies, was now running an operation designed to murder a foreign leader that Lansdale himself recognized had broad popular support. One explanation for this turnaround is that Lansdale was simply being “a good soldier,” that issued
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