-Caveat Lector- Saturday March 24 8:33 PM ET Bay of Pigs Foes Walk Battlefield Beaches Together By Andrew Cawthorne BAY OF PIGS, Cuba (Reuters) - Former adversaries from the 1961 U.S.-backed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba strolled together on Saturday along Caribbean beaches and swamp that were once one of the most emblematic Cold War battlefields. ``It was very sad because lives were lost, but I think we can lay it to rest now and build on new friendships in the interest of peace and reconciliation,'' Jean Kennedy Smith, the younger sister of former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, said as she walked along Playa Larga, the beach where most of the fighting took place. She was part of a large U.S. delegation, including former Kennedy aides and relatives, ex-CIA (news - web sites) agents and veterans from the ill-fated 2506 Brigade of invaders, who joined Cuban counterparts for a rare act of reconciliation between the two still-estranged nations. The trip to Playa Larga, and the nearby Playa Giron where fighting also took place, in the Bay of Pigs on Cuba's southern coast, was the culmination of an academic conference to reassess the conflict 40 years after it occurred. Emotions ran high as Cuban exile veterans, who formed the CIA-financed brigade, reached the beaches where more than 120 of their comrades died, in just 72 hours of fighting, at the hands of Cuban President Fidel Castro (news - web sites)'s defending troops. ``It is very intense to be standing here,'' said Alfredo Duran, a past president of the Miami-based Association of Brigade Veterans. Duran survived the battle, and was on the run for 10 days in inhospitable swampland, before he was captured and taken prisoner along with more than 1,000 other exiles. Castro's troops lost more than 150 men. The Cuban victory was an embarrassing debacle for Kennedy -- who authorized the invasion, but then crucially held back on giving direct U.S. military support -- and consolidated Castro's grip on power two years after his 1959 revolution. ``It is obvious that the invasion was a flawed plan. It looked great on paper, but the commitments didn't come through,'' Duran reflected as he stared out to sea where U.S. ships had not come in farther to help the exiles. As well as the nonappearance of direct U.S. air or sea support, the invaders were surprised by the unity and strength of Castro's soldiers, whom they had expected to find demoralized and ready to desert quickly or swap sides. Cia On Failed Battlefield The presence of Duran and five other veterans in Cuba has brought criticism from hard-liners in Cuban American circles in Florida, where, he said, ``there is still a hate they cannot overcome'' toward Castro. Just as remarkable perhaps as the presence of ex-invaders on the beaches, alongside senior communist leaders and veterans from the Cuban military, was the participation of CIA agents who had helped plan the operation. Robert Reynolds, a former CIA station chief in Miami, said he was a great admirer of Castro at the start of the Cuban revolution -- even though he went on to help recruit exiles for the Bay of Pigs invasion. ``We were all Fidelistas to start with. I always admired him personally,'' he told reporters outside a museum at Playa Giron. ``So it was a great experience, thrilling to meet him,'' Reynolds said of Castro's attendance at the two previous days of the academic conference, ``Giron: Forty Years After.'' Castro did not attend Saturday's event, perhaps saving his appearance at the Bay of Pigs for next month's actual anniversary of the April 17 to 19 conflict. His vice president, Jose Ramon Fernandez, who helped command troops at the Bay of Pigs, led the Cuban side, along with retired soldiers, scholars and other senior officials such as Ricardo Alarcon, Cuba's National Assembly president. ``Washington has learned nothing from the great defeat it suffered 40 years ago,'' Alarcon said, arguing that the new administration of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) was bent on the same mistaken aim against Cuba of crushing its independence. Most of the U.S. delegation for the Bay of Pigs conference have moderate views on Cuba, opposing Washington's long-running economic embargo, and favoring dialogue with Castro. ``My advice to the government today would be: lift the embargo,'' said Arthur Schlesinger, a former senior Kennedy aide and well-known historian. Sec. 107. 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