Douglas A-26 Invader the Cuban government. On 15 April 1961, crewed by Cuban exiles, eight B-26s of the FAL ("Fuerza Aérea de Liberación") attacked three Cuban airfields, in an attempt to destroy FAR combat aircraft on the ground. On 17 April 1961, FAL B-26s supported the seaborne Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. The conflict ended on 19 April, after the loss of nine FAL B-26s, 10 Cuban exiles and 4 American aircrew in combat. The FAR flew B-26Cs in the conflict, one of which was shot down by a CIA 'command ship' with the loss of 4 Cuban aircrew. The CIA contracted
CIA activities in Iraq that invaded Iraq in 2003. Funding Kurdish organizations, the CIA worked to create a new Kurdish-led intelligence agency in Iraq called Asayesh (Kurdish for "security"). After Saddam had been deposed in 2003, U.S. and Iraqi sources provided an account of the unsuccessful strategy of deposing Saddam by a coup d'état during the 1990s, an effort reportedly known within CIA by the cryptonym "DBACHILLES". According to the "Washington Post", the CIA appointed a new head of its Near East Division, Stephen Richter, who assumed that large parts of the Iraqi army might support a coup. A team met with Gen. Mohammed