Bay of Pigs and the limits of superpower

Fifty years ago Tuesday, a ragtag army of Cuban exiles — recruited, trained and armed by the United States — was scrambling across the Playa Giron on the southern coast of Cuba, retreating under fire in the wake of a badly botched invasion. In Washington, the CIA officials who had planned the operation gathered around a radio to hear a final message from the brigade commander, who had been pleading all day for supplies and air cover. "Tanks are in sight," he said. "I have nothing left to fight with. Am taking to the woods. I cannot, repeat, cannot wait for you." The radio went dead.

  

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