John Kenneth Knaus was the chief of CIA Tibetan Task Force from 1958 to 1965 insurgents. He shared some thoughts with me.

The 50th anniversary of the Revolt is a time for sober reflection on the motivation, merits and results of those involved. It is especially relevant to note that the revolt was initiated and launched by the Tibetan people themselves in both protest against a system of rule that was being imposed on them and for the freedom to practice both a religion embodied by the Dalai Lama one of whose titles in Kundun meaning "presence" and a way of life marked by self sufficiency and responsibility.

It is also relevant to note that it was the Tibetans who came to representatives of the US Government asking only for the weapons and means to carry on their own revolt. It was not the Americans seeking to foment a revolt in a remote area far removed from their sphere of familiarity and accessibility. You may recall that this contact began in the period following the failure of the Hungarian Revolt where the US Government's failure or incapability to intervene on behalf of those rebelling was a matter of grave regret and serious evaluation of the covert capabilities to make a positive intervention in like situations. The initial operation finally agreed on was to train a small group to Tibetans who were to be dropped back into the areas of the resistance fighters to determine that they existed in sufficient numbers and were in a situation to conduct meaningful resistance activities that merited support.

It should also be noted that it was the Dalai Lama and his handful of close associates who made the decision on their own -and certainly not with any consultation with CIA or any other US Government organization to flee Lhasa. It was only after they had left Lhasa and were well on their way that they were joined by two of the men that the CIA had trained to carry out the guerrilla evaluation mission who had been provided with both radios and the ability to transmit messages to Washington as the escape party made its way to the Indian border. This capability to keep the President informed on the Dalai Lama's progress on his escape journey was an intelligence coup, but the initiative for the escape like the revolt then in progress was purely Tibetan.

The subsequent continued operations which the US supported were valiant failures, but the determination of the Tibetans to carry them out provided added substance to the pledges of support for Tibetan self determination that first the USG and then United Nations eventually made and that has enhanced their cause for the past half century and makes it still vibrant today.