◆ SpookStack

Furies in the Castro inventory had been principally responsible for sinking both the Rio Escondido and the Houston. As with the other ~itnesses, General Lemnitzer accepted the story that the Brigade B-26s could not have operated off the Trinidad airfield--a1though as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs it is easier to excuse his lack of knowledge on this particular point than it is to excuse either General Gray of the Joint Staff or General White of the Air Force for not knowing better. General Lemnitzer's comment that the T-33s could not be a decisive element, like his remark that a couple of MIGs "would have pretty well complicated the operation," indicated a cavalier attitude about the importance 134/ of opposing jet-powered aircraft with piston-engined B-26s. General Lemnitzer's testimony supported that of previous military witne.sses who had testified that the D-2 strike had originated outside of the Department of Defense and that the Department of Defense representatives learned of the cancellation of the D-Day strike only after the fact. As with previous witnesses whose opposition--after General Cabell and Mr. Bissell had received word that the President had cancelled the D-Day air strike--might have caused the President to reconsider his decision, Lemnitzer, too, was unchallenged on this point.* As with the * General Lemnitzer said the Generals Gray and Wheeler informed him about the D-Day cancellation at approximately 2:00 A.M. (Washington and Cuban time) on 17 April 1961, and General Gray .. noted that he had received the word of the cancellation at approximately 1100 A.M. (Washington and Cuban time) on the 17th.