Missiles of October

[Chuckiechan]

Warren Kozak: The Missiles of October - WSJ.com

Quote:

That's because the wily Soviet premier suckered the young American President, John F. Kennedy, by an exchange of messages that year. In an outright lie, Khrushchev promised Kennedy that he would not place any menacing weapons outside of the Soviet Union and Kennedy believed him. At the same time, Khrushchev stepped up the heat in Berlin—the other hot spot in the Cold War—focusing Kennedy's attention away from Cuba.

I'm sure Obama is all the rage in Tehran...

[tony_j15]

Quote:

Today, the client state may be slightly further to the south in Venezuela. The missiles could be deadlier. And the man on the other end of the phone won't be Nikita Khrushchev. Next time a U.S. president could be dealing with the mullahs in Iran.

There are so many "ifs" and conjecture here that it's ridiculous.
IF Iran develops a testable nuclear warhead
IF it tests successfully
IF the Israeli's don't bomb the ever-loving shit out of them
IF Iran decides they want to sell off the nukes
IF Venezuela decides to bid
IF Venezuela wins the bid
IF the missiles aren't seized during shipping (or the Israeli's bomb the ever loving shit out of the ship carrying them)
IF Venezuela has the capacity to utilize the warheads
THEN we may have a small problem and have to use our own warplanes to neutralize the threat.

Now can we stop pretending Kennedy and the Russians is anything remotely similar to Obama and the Iranians?

[MTAtech]

Quote:

In spite of numerous warning signs, the secret operation went undetected by Washington. That's because the wily Soviet premier suckered the young American President, John F. Kennedy, by an exchange of messages that year. In an outright lie, Khrushchev promised Kennedy that he would not place any menacing weapons outside of the Soviet Union and Kennedy believed him. At the same time, Khrushchev stepped up the heat in Berlin—the other hot spot in the Cold War—focusing Kennedy's attention away from Cuba.

...
McCone pressed Kennedy for U-2 flights over Cuba to see if he was right. Kennedy refused. He worried that the U-2 flights might be seen as a provocation.

It went undetected not because Kennedy refused flights but because of an intra-government squabble between the CIA and the Air Force about who was to conduct U2 flights above Cuba.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tony_j15

Now can we stop pretending Kennedy and the Russians is anything remotely similar to Obama and the Iranians?

[Chuckiechan]

The thread isn't really about Kennedy, but what happens when naiveté trumps good intelligence and good sense.

Rather than worry about Kenndey, just what do you think Iran wants nukes for?

[MTAtech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckiechan

The thread isn't really about Kennedy, but what happens when naiveté trumps good intelligence and good sense.

Rather than worry about Kenndey, just what do you think Iran wants nukes for?

Yes indeed, naiveté trumps good sense. Iran was in the world audience in 2003 and what did they see? They saw a non-nuclear Iraq attacked, invaded and occupied. What else did they see? They saw a nuclear Korea receiving nothing more than strong language from the U.S.?

What do you think that they may have learned from that world theater? That if a nation has nukes, they don't get invaded.

Thus, a naivé American president (and arguably one with limited sense) invaded Iraq thinking that he could defeat it within a few weeks, with little understanding that it neither was going to be that easy or there would be other fallout (bad pun.)

All-in-all, the world needs to convince Iran that it's in their best interests not to be nuclear. Let's also remember that former naive president wouldn't even sit down and talk to Iran.

[surreal]

Quote:

naiveté trumps good intelligence and good sense

What good intelligence? What happened with Cuba and Kennedy was a joke, it was also a result of modern day Yellow Journalism... The press called the shots feeding the public bs...

Oh wait...

[Chuckiechan]

As I remember, Kennedy backed out when the invasion was underway. Does anyone know why? Aside from it being a dumb idea. And needing Florida's votes.

[MTAtech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckiechan

As I remember, Kennedy backed out when the invasion was underway. Does anyone know why? Aside from it being a dumb idea. And needing Florida's votes.

Are you discussing the Missile Crisis or the Bay of Pigs invasion?

If you're now discussing the Bay of Pigs invasion, the CIA talked Kennedy into approving the action. After the embarrassment of that complete failure, Kennedy learned that the so-called experts usually don't know what they're talking about. I don't know what you mean by "backing away" when the invasion was underway.

[surreal]

Let's not forget he was taking heavy narcotics for his back during that time too.

[Black*Dragon]

Well this thread is good comedy all around.

As far as Kennedy is concerned, several people failed him. He had a plan by one of the foremost military minds of all time and thought he knew better.

Nukes are my primary concern. Unlike the majority of the military I am tasked with hunting them down and making sure they do not go off. Since it is obviously rare that we have had to deal with non-nation state nuclear weapons my people are tasked to deal with terror groups.

2 grand mistakes pf our nation right now is how we have handled Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons and the mass curtailing of missile defense programs.