◆ SpookStack

~ET you can not to make this look like an invasion. Make it look like a guerrilla landing. Make it look more like Castro's original operation in Oriente. And I think it is a matter of record that his opposition or his recommendation was what led to the cancellation of the secohd air strike. I am sure that his opposition contributed to the cancellation of the original plan's second of three air strikes. I want to say also, though, that Rusk, after the fact, was always generous. He never said, "I told you so," at least to my knowledge or in any report that has ever reached me. 123/ Recognizing that it was in hindsight, Mr. Bissell has expressed regret that he did not take the opportun- ity to speak to President Kennedy at the time that Rusk offered him the chance on 16 April. 124/ While Bissell wondered whether he acted properly at the time that the second strike was being called off( both Jake Esterline, Chief, JMATE and George Gaines, who ran the JMATE operation for DPD, had different retrospective views concerning not only Bissell, but particularly General Cabell. Jake Esterline, in fact, holds Cabell principally responsible for the failure of the Bay of Pigs opera- tion, and he has stated as follows: [Cabell] was the guy ... he was the Air Force General. He was the fellow - 282 -