Of course, I thought (and still think) assets should have been brought to bear to give the Pueblo a chance. Though I don't agree with the decision to be slow to send support, it is understandable, as things could have escalated fast, especially with nuclear weapons on aircraft most readily available to provide support.
No way was potential escalation to WWIII the case in Benghazi, so I can't see there was any excuse.
IIRC, two of the crewmen were murdered, and the rest were indeed ill-treated. DPRK is not bound by the Geneva Convention. Revenge is a dish best served cold. They’ll get get theirs one day.
I concur with the first part, but not the rest.
In the aftermath of the Pueblo episode, when the crew was finally returned, 4 books about the incident were produced. The most insightful of the 4 was written by an admiral who directly addressed the slow-to-nonresponse by the military services overall.
We think it desirable to have our military controlled by civilians. Thus the Army, Navy, Air Force all have civilian "secretaries" at their head to direct their military branch. According to the admiral, it was the civilian control that caused the slow or non-response.
The civilians were all concerned that if any assistance were given or any fire returned, it would cause "an international incident". An international incident might cause to U.S. to appear to be a bully to the rest of the world so, without presidential approval, aid wasn't coming.
The irony is that Nixon sent the USS Enterprise to Korea and it was there the day after the Pueblo was captured. Had I been POTUS, I would have parked 5 F-4s on the flight deck and invited the NORKS to come out and take a look. I would then advise North Korea that either my ship and crew were released in the next two hours or one of their cities would disappear. And, one of their cities would disappear every two hours afterward until we either got our ship and crew back, or there was nothing left to destroy.
That's probably why I will never be POTUS. I won't take any crap from any other nation and if you want to screw with the U.S, you won't like the consequences!