In the middle of March, Nixon ordered the bombing of the sections of the Ho Chi Minh Trail that meandered through Cambodia, the beginning of a long-term plan called Operation Menu (its component parts were “Breakfast,” “Lunch,” “Snack,” “Dinner,” “Dessert,” and “Supper”). This scaled new peaks of deception: the bombings were recorded on a secret ledger, which was later destroyed. A half million tons of ordnance were eventually dropped on this neutral country, 3,875 sorties without congressional knowledge. “State is to be notified only after the point of no return,” he instructed on March 15.
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