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Great moments in embedded journalism

January 2, 1967: Project Nassau (AKA Operation Istanbul) was aborted. This was a failed attempt by a band of mercenaries to invade Haiti. US customs officers arrested about 80 people in a beach house at Florida Keys which contained a cache of arms.

Among the people arrested were three cameramen from CBS. It was later revealed that CBS had paid the mercenaries for exclusive rights to film the invasion.

It seems, also, that Haiti was to be used as a springboard for recapturing Cuba. What might have been: "Bay of Pigs 2, Sunday at 9 on CBS..."

The US House of Representatives later conducted a hearing to determine whether CBS was funding foreign revolutions. As we all know, that's the government's job, not private enterprise.

One can only wonder what Roone Arledge of ABC's Wide World of Sports would have made of the opportunity.

Cuban-Exile.com has a stack of resource material about Project Nassau.