◆ SpookStack

. get that strike restored: "r did not say we would cancel the ope;ration be.cause at this time we did not have the ability to 45/ call it off." If this was intended to imply that Cabell and/or Bissell did not have the authority to cancel this operation at that late stage, that was an error in fact. If on the other hand it was intended to indicate that the operation was committed beyond recall, it was at best a protective statement. At the time that the meeting with Rusk had been concluded, the vessels carrying the brigade were still lying off shore of the invasion beaches--debarkation probably had not started, or, if started, could not have been so far along that reloading could not have been completed before daylight. Had Cabell or Bissell so decided, the operation could have been scrubbed at that ti~e. SU9gestions that bad an attempt been made to cancel the operation at that late stage of the game the Cubans would have commandeered the vessels and run the invasion themselves are difficult to accept. The brigade leaders, who were well aware of the need for air support if the invasion were to have a chance of success, probably would not have attempted any such take-over. Certainly in an attempt to cancel at the eleventh hour, the two highly regarded Americans aboard the invasion vessels--Gray Lynch 55