To: Richnorth who wrote (70492 ) 11/21/2005 5:43:15 PM From: Lazarus_Long Respond to You're referring to the Pueblo, I assume. A bit more complicated: Operation Clickbeetle missions required a minimal risk environment. The planners' low-risk assessment hinged on the fact that the Pueblo would be operating in international waters. This was the core of the problem. While the US and Soviet Union conducted such operations off each other's coasts and reached a tacit understanding, there was no such consensus with other communist states. The US intelligence community assumed that the understanding between the US and the Soviet Union extended to the greater communist bloc. The Pueblo failed all of the criteria for low risk status, including political sensitivity, weather, scope of operation, ability to perform, and degree of support. Furthermore, the US intelligence community ignored warning signs emanating from the Korean peninsula in 1967 and 68. In 1966, North Korea violated the armistice agreements 60 times, yet the next year, it would violate it 543 times. In January, 1968 not only did the communist country violate the agreement 40 times, but specifically attempted to assassinate the South Korean president. web.mit.edu he Pueblo, a tiny World War II-vintage supply ship newly reconditioned for spy service, sailed out of its home port of Yokosuka, Japan, on Jan. 5, 1968. After a brief stop at Sasebo Naval Base, Japan, the ship braved frigid temperatures and stormy seas for its maiden mission in the Sea of Japan, in international water about 15 miles off the coast of North Korea. globalsecurity.org Ever since the day the ship was captured, U.S. and North Korean officials have differed fiercely over the USS Pueblo's position when it was captured. The United States has maintained that the ship was in international waters; the North Koreans insist that the Americans had illegally entered their territory. pbs.org Did you know that during the Vietnam War, a US naval vessel pounded North Vietnam positions from 20 miles out at sea, taking advantage that no North Vietnamese guns could retaliate at that range. What happened was that the North Vietnamese blew the US ship out of the water! How? Unbeknownst to US surveillance, the North Vietnamese bodily carried dismantled long-range guns into the battle area and reassembled them just as they did way back in 1954 at Dien Bien-Phu against the French, and fired deadly salvos on the doomed American vessel. Of course, everyone knows the full Vietnam story, eh?
