Fidel Castro Suggested Nuclear Strike On U.S.: Documents

nytimes.com:

In the early 1980s, according to newly released documents, Fidel Castro was suggesting a Soviet nuclear strike against the United States, until Moscow dissuaded him by patiently explaining how the radioactive cloud resulting from such a strike would also devastate Cuba.

Read the whole story: nytimes.com

Comments

[Ergon]

After a while you develop an ear for propaganda. This little article is smellier than most..

[mtracy9]

"Looking back on that whole Cuban mess, one of the things that appalled me most was the lack of broad judgment by some of the heads of the military services. When you think of the long competitive selection process that they have to weather to end up the number one man of their particular service, it is certainly not unreasonable to expect that they would also be bright, with good broad judgment. For years I've been looking at those rows of ribbons and those four stars, and conceding a certain higher qualification not obtained in civilian life. Well, if ------- and ------- are the best the services can produce, a lot more attention is going to be given their advice in the future before any action is taken as a result of it." --President Kennedy, speaking to Assistant Navy Secretary Paul (Red) Fay, The Pleasure of His Company

[mtracy9]

"Restraint! Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to k!ll the bastards! At the end of the w@r, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!" --Thomas Power, commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command from 1957 to 1964, speaking to William Kaufmann of the RAND Corporation in 1960, quoted by Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon

"At a Georgetown dinner party recently, the wife of a leading senator sat next to Gen. Curtis LeMay, chief of staff of the Air Force. He told her a nuclear w@r was inevitable. It would begin in December and be all over by the first of the year. In that interval, every major American city -- Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles -- would be reduced to rubble. Similarly, the principal cities of the Soviet Union would be des.troyed. The lady, as she tells it, asked if there were any place where she could take her children and grandchildren to safety; the general would, of course, at the first alert be inside the top-secret underground hideout near Washington from which the retaliatory strike would be directed. He told her that certain unpopulated areas in the far west would be safest." --Marquis Childs, nationally syndicated columnist, Washington Post, 19 July 1961

[MajorKong]

The Sterling Hayden character in Dr. Strangelove was a composite of General Power and Geeral LeMay.

[mtracy9]

It was the Joint Chiefs of Staff who urged President Kennedy to bo.mb Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Kennedy wisely rejected their recommendation.

[ancientmarinader]

Castro also tried to get the Russians to fire the missiles during the Cuban missile crisis. They thought he was nuts then too..

[mtracy9]

"Restraint! Why are you so concerned with saving their lives? The whole idea is to kill the bastards! At the end of the war, if there are two Americans and one Russian, we win!" --Thomas Power, commander in chief of the Strategic Air Command from 1957 to 1964, speaking to William Kaufmann of the RAND Corporation in 1960, quoted by Fred Kaplan, The Wizards of Armageddon

"At a Georgetown dinner party recently, the wife of a leading senator sat next to Gen. Curtis LeMay, chief of staff of the Air Force. He told her a nuclear war was inevitable. It would begin in December and be all over by the first of the year. In that interval, every major American city -- Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles -- would be reduced to rubble. Similarly, the principal cities of the Soviet Union would be destroyed. The lady, as she tells it, asked if there were any place where she could take her children and grandchildren to safety; the general would, of course, at the first alert be inside the top-secret underground hideout near Washington from which the retaliatory strike would be directed. He told her that certain unpopulated areas in the far west would be safest." --Marquis Childs, nationally syndicated columnist, Washington Post, 19 July 1961

[PrimusElijah]

Where again does Castro advocate a nuclear strike? I see where it says he wanted a tougher stance, but I don't see a strike anywhere in there. Sensationalist head-line indeed.

[ancientmarinader]

it says, "up to and including nuclear strikes".

Which he also advocated during the missile crisis in the 60s. I don't think the Russians have taken him seriously for a long time.

[mtracy9]

This is obviously just CIA disinformation and propaganda.

[RightWingMarine]

This isn't new, McNamara spoke about this in the documentary he made. Mao urged Stalin to nuke the US because he believed that more Russians and Chinese would survive than Americans.
It is because of our "peace through strength" policy that this war never came to pass.
The Soviets were a peace loving people? Is that why Kruschev put first strike nuke missiles in Cuba when he perceived Kennedy as being a wimp? Or did the Sovs become peace loving after that and all the uprisings they put down?

[MajorKong]

The Soviets put first-strike missiles in Cuba partly because we had first-strike Jupiter missiles in Turkey. We also had nuclear armed bombers continuously orbiting within a short distance of Russian airpsace. And we had been conducting regular overflights of Soviet territory.

Kruschev never knew if he should try to scare us or be nice to us.

He greatly feared that if the hawks in the Pentagon found out just how weak the USSR was, that we would attack them.

He also preferred Eisenhower to Kennedy - however, not because he thought Kennedy was a wimp.

Because he felt Eisenhower had a better chance of keeping the Pentagon under control.

[Saganslegacy]

Castro, in a sense, is a loon.

But look at the last paragraph: "The study includes a sharp critique of American analyses of Soviet intentions, saying the Pentagon tended to err “on the side of overestimating Soviet aggressiveness.”

Yes, sure, politics of fear, we experience that every day.

If it hadn't been for Kennedy's cool head, there would be just cockroaches around.
Nowadays there are the folks stating that Kennedy provoked the Cuban crisis because he appeared so weak, C.Thomas today. Laughable, the bay of pigs intervention was a major cause for Castro to seek the USSR missiles. This document adds to the scenario, Castro's paranoia (paranoia?).

[ancientmarinader]

And they were doing the same thing.

It wasnt until Gorbachev that a soviet leader decided that an american first strike wasnt likely to happen.

[BigAl72]

So he changed his strategy to beating us at Baseball?

[SlimPickins79]

you saying it didnt work?

[BigAl72]

What, beating us at Baseball? They did.

[gascelebrations]

Cuba is such a frustrated country. All that heat and humidity... the cigars... the missiles... so much Freudian intensity, you think at any moment that it's just going to blow and release itself.

[pollister]

I wonder how many times you Americans have discussed bombing Cuba? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Daily? Weekly? Almost constantly since 1959? Still?
Give me a break, you pompus morons.

[MetalMelissa]

Poor Castro.
He gets no love from anyone.

[mathme]

OMG!
Now that we're all calm again-- how many times has the US proposed strikes on Cuba? How many plans to we have on file to strike any number of countries? I would guess that there is a plan in the Pentagon to strike Western Europe should the need arise.

[SlimPickins79]

Well those certainly sound like things that deserve their own articles. Same as this since its newly released information... But thanks for your insight.

[leftcoastindy]

How does this information make a direrence? What else did any world leader 'say' 25 years ago that I should be interested in. The idea that the US ever 'appeared weak' regardless of leadership is laughable.

[mathme]

The point is that many/most/all countries have contingencies for striking their neighbors, enemies and allies, should the need arise.