This reminds me of the Wonga Coup (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Wonga-Coup-Ruthless-Determination/dp/1586485008" rel="nofollow">http://www.amazon.com/The-Wonga-Coup-Ruthless-Determination/...</a>), the Mark Thatcher operation to try to "regime change" Equatorial Guinea, a small, oil-rich country with a non-democratic government.<p>I'm kind of surprised these kind of operations aren't more frequently attempted. Plus, it would be relatively easy to "succeed" in the very short term -- the problem is in few cases would there be long term better governance as a result.
I'm not exactly <i>surprised</i> that the CIA informed their torture-buddy Yahya Jammeh of the coup plans, but I am still sickened by it. If you fight evil African dictators, never talk on the phone, never post on social networks.
It wasn't "doomed to fail" except in retrospect. The regime was tipped off as part of the continuing US policy to make sure that the dictators of the world die of old age.