WHY LEE BLEW WHISTLE ON U.S.

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP67B00446R000500010019-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 1, 2004
• Sequence Number: 19
• Publication Date: September 2, 1965
• Content Type: NSPR

0
~ 4p rt?ved or-Releatse 004/04/08: CIA-RDP67BOO446ROO05
Paco f Page P096
CHICAGO, ILL.
!NEWS
BY PETER Lf5AC0It ing from a serious' but tin- gtlected the offer .He told'U.S.t-
specitied.ailment. The Amer' !t officials that it
was. too fate"
Our Wa.chirt Eton Bureau Chief can doctor was recommended and that lie :would rely. upon;
WASHINGTON -- Behind: by Lee's Qwn physician, ibis 'own dpetor, 'a: Itritish
i the Singapore. -prime minister's The State Department. 'toll" citizen
critter outburst against the : [acted the American doctor; A SHU1tT whila later, 'Lt,,
c1
United States is the story of who was retired and will), as- chose to exhume an. old CIA,
an emotionally distressed nran, ,!t happened, was about to dell 1~Iun.ler nr a long . drsjointcl
who blames Washington, for'part for Europe. His reaction
o
r
(failure to help his des crate( interview with five foreign c-'?+
p y :was, a negative one, and he ? respondents. During the ram-k
sick wife. , tolrl U.S. authorities that man bJbin
Lee Kuan Yew blew the;: Y " discussion, he charged'
e
th
other doctors were available that Washington did not under-
W lri on a 1960 Cent !
In-
d
bl
a
e to handle Mrs. Lee's stand the, Chinese, and added: i
J tcllin
clice_A cncy plot' to pen-, particular condition. He rec. And they don't understan
ctrate Singapores intelligence nnimended several. d
the' Vietnamese. That is why-~
service in an interview pub- The' Slate Department re_ Viet Nam is in such a mess"
lished Monday,,angrily'accus rayed: these names, to Lee, Ironically, Lee had indicateding the United States of it whose response was'hitter. He his support of the American
crud
b
ib
r
o
i
e
r
e
y attempt t
s
.prlvtldh1 effort i Vi N?
-;ae, accu'c te dcEarl- 1.net .am but be-. fence him.. i ?-) cause of pressures on hitn
V meat of. lacking col'rpassion from Indonesia and Red China
Lee's attack uliou the United and of being indifferent to his' he has Indonesia
expressions of
States, .which he accused of -I wife's plight. Only the origin- .
support to prit'
vae converxa-
y iG ally recommended doctor tions?
a lack of "depth and
ud
woufdd
l
g
0
.,
ment or wisdom that comes Because Lee 'is reg,irded as, Since Singapore's break with,
out of an . accumulation of a promising Asian leader with hffalaee the 4.t-year-old Lee,
s some privately held ym ath has been under some emo
knowledge of human bein
g
g p Y b(
? .ona stress, according to in
and human situations over . a, !,.for U.S. polio in ,southeast formauts here. He has felt"
long period of time, was As t a, department officials more vulnerable and lias'tried
triggered by an intensely per-,? made another attempt to per. to show hims
lf
b
e
to
g as va
?
red doctor, who; sonar grievance, according to I w sd then ill, trG ieva. to take early anti-American in, public'?
informants hone.
as Sukarno. '.A U.S.' 'offtctal
the case, _I, wit' hard sell in described Lee's reaction this A FEW weeps agog Lee the extreiue, but the doctor
asked U.S. authorities to help , finally agreed., ; WI I We re the best Afro-
him get an American medical But when Lee was uiformed Asian fall guy'in the,businehe
L spcclah~ _ t~l~ 1_ ,:.wife suircr .1 lie had become; so enlotco ally and Lee was doin g 'what he;
} 4 00ught necessa r'
idist{auehE lttt"'.be:flatly 1e- ~~.,....,-ry....,,
Gv~nt:n~re:~
Approved For Release 2004/04/08 : CIA=RDP67B00446R000500010019-6
 Approved For Release 2004/04/08: CIA-RDP67B00446R000500010019-6
neither the CIA nor many',
;t
BUT WASHINGTON con- in the State Department knew'
tinned to look upon ' Lee'.as a the letter 'had . been sent. It
I dynamic leader who would be
co-operative wjth ' the British,
t as he confirmed id his ' inter-
!;view, 'and would, not carry his
occasional blasts' at the United
States ,too., far.' ?
Then 'the . illness of his wife
ti intervcied,`-and he turned to
the United"States `for: the one!
specialist he ' was `told', could;
help her..
Some sources'.liere?.say Lee
felt Washington was ;treating
him somewhat cavalierly in
saying that the doctor'was.re-I
.tired, unwilling. and unable to
take the case, Ond that there
were' other ' doctors equally
capable of treating her.
When the' United States 'in
squired - more fully into Mrs.
L, ee's'con'dition,' they found it
..to ,be more 'sophisticated than
they imagined. and realized
,
ay.
that perhaps Lee's'-own doctor
Lee' told 'about the CIA case
hadgood_C,ause'tarecommend'.~..to a group of American bus-
A
l
e: e:
rocricau .specia
ist: It was incssmen touring Asia tinder
thee, that they moved to 'per- the auspices, of 'l'ime-Life Inc.;
s'uade the doctor to'see Mrs.
So little was thoughtf itt
o a LCe
that time, thQ -disclosure went
' 1JIVIBAl212ASSMJEI`r"1r over unreported. As one `;source
'
s part of the CIA's:
the CIA goof was compounded notes! "it
'
mandate
here by the belated disclosure e'to do what they.tried
that Sec. of State Rusl4;.shortly to (lo in Singapore. They -just
,ater taking office 1961' I got caught there.", ii
What the State Department$
wrote Lee Wh that' the "United 1 can ' now
do to placate. the~1
.
!!States regretted any "improper emotionally: trj set Iree, whose)
`
action" by an American rn'; wife -cautinues desperately ill;
:1
L5mo ig causing a,? krngtsizedt heads
re
0
SEP 2 1965
Approved For Release' 2004/04/08 : CIA-RDP67B00446R000500010019-6
was at a?. time when President