Anniversary: USS Mayaguez, Bungled by a Bunch of Bunglers...

The mission of the USS Mayaguez was to ferry US weapons to certain Southeast
Asian (SEA) allies in Cambodia who would stage search-and-destroy,
kill-and-retreat jungle assaults against North Vietnamese Communists (NVA)
attacking on a widespread front against the South Vietnamese government (GVN).

The operation was hatched by Henry Kissinger and approved by Gerald Ford but
opposed by dozens of generals including William Westmoreland (Retired) who felt
American military aid should be direct and upfront regardless of the UN regs
that prohibited members states from engaging in Mayaguez type ops.

Unfortunately, the Mayaguez operation failed because the right hand failed to
tell the left hand what it was doing...

The Operational Plan (Oplan) was to convey tons of munitions to anti-Communist
jungle operatives run by the CIA in Cambodia and Laos. The overt and published
version was to convey tons of munitions to the GVN (that neither needed them nor
possessed the capability at that time to receive or distribute them.)