Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
[B]Frying Adm. Moorer is NOT justified by the facts. He acted in accord with the NCA policy setting the strategic basis for the mission. That NCA policy happened in this instance to be sound.
... and so the Moorer defense team rests it case.

(Those who want to believe that will do so without even bothering to read your sources. Blind loyalty can be taken for granted in many cases.)

Where in any of the quotes you provided did it prove that Moorer acted in accordance with the applicable NCA policy and if so how does absolve him from his duty as the top advisor to the White House and his duty of care towards his troops?

The key to the Amidon article was the confirmation from Admiral Train, Executive Assistant to Admiral Moorer:

In a 1993 book, Admiral Train admitted: “Twelve hours before the raid we had fairly high confidence that [Son Tay] was empty. The photography showed the grass had not been walked on in ten days. On the basis of the photographic evidence alone we knew that it was empty.”
Moorer, at the interface between the Pentagon and the White House, failed to display the moral courage to tell he White House that the camp was empty and to insist that the raid was called off. Moorer has no place to hide, the man was a moral coward.

I hope this matter is now settled (which it will be all other than for the blindly loyal).

Blackburn and Bennet should of course not be allowed to get off scott free either.

And as far as the White House one (sadly) expects no better from politicians.

Another very tragic aspect to this is that the very same Groupthink which had led to the Bay of Pigs fiasco was still alive and well in the US system.

The Son Tay Raid together with the Bay of Pigs and Operation Eagles Claw (and others) should be studied in detail at staff colleges around the world as case studies in command disfunction at the highest levels.