Bush and the cuban missile crisis...

[Freddie Spencer]

What do you all think whould have happend if Bush, Rumsfelt and Cheney (who BTW avoided military service in Vietnam with education and then marriage deferments, Five (5) total!!!), would have been in "The Office" during that time?

 

[Capt. Tex]

we'd be dead

 

[RightPedal]

There would be a ninety mile bridge between Key West and Cuba with a Super Walmart at each end now.
The speed limit signs would say; MAX SPEED, minimum speed 90. Hovercraft service would be nice. More job's for Pilots. Casinos out the kazoo, whale tails year-round.
In other words ""BOOM""

 

[jarhead]

Why stop there?

Why stop there with your un-provable speculation? How about “what if Harry S. Truman would have been president during the Cuban missile crisis”? Would he have ‘nuked’ Havana as he did with Japan? What if we had time travel? What if Queen Isabella had not funded Christopher Columbus? Would the world still be flat, and the new world still be waiting to be discovered? A mind game that can go nowhere.

As Don Meredith used to say to Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football; “If ands’ and buts’, were candy and nuts, what a Merry Christmas we’d all have”.

 

[DoinTime]

Why stop there with your un-provable speculation? How about “what if Harry S. Truman would have been president during the Cuban missile crisis”? Would he have ‘nuked’ Havana as he did with Japan? What if we had time travel? What if Queen Isabella had not funded Christopher Columbus? Would the world still be flat, and the new world still be waiting to be discovered? A mind game that can go nowhere.

There was no speculation involved with the originating post. The only speculation would have been from the responses. You pose valid questions yourself, however, this is not your thread. Perhaps you could speculate on what you think would have happened if Bush, and co., were in power during this crisis instead of trying to hijack this thread into another direction to try to shelter your leader from his own weaknesses.

 

[jarhead]

The original post asks for speculation. I responded by pointing out that that is a futile excersize. BTW, GWB is NOT my leader. That dog won't hunt!

 

[mar]

An eXerciSe of different styles

God what is happening to the literacy of this country?

Is it just lack of attention to detail (failure to proof read)?

Or don't people care about language anymore?

The original post is an interesting question because it's really about different leadership styles.

The Cuban Missle Crisis was an exercise in *brinksmanship*.

How does one play that game? With measured judgement; with diplomacy; with timing; with cautious moves.

The War on Terror or Persian Gulf War II or The Iraq War or whatever it will come to be known as is a pre-emptive war.

How does one win a *pre-emptive* war? With Shock and Awe; with superior fire power; with quick decision making; with an uncompromising sense of righteousness; with unrelenting committment.

To re-state the original question, How would the Bush administration handle a threat that could seriously result in our (American) demise?

Let's be honest: The Iraq War isn't even a war in the classic sense of the word. It's an invasion of a third rate country that posed a minimal threat to the sovereignty of the United States.

The Cuban Missle Crisis was a demonstration of statesmanship.
The Iraq War is a demonstration of technology.

I don't believe Rumfeld, Cheney or Bush have the slightest inclination towards diplomacy. "You're either with us or against us."

I'm sickened by their leadership so far; I shiver at the thought of them facing a nuclear threat.

And this is where the question turns less theoretical and more practical as they deal with North Korea.

A strategy of Shock and Awe would be the wrong tack with the North Koreans.

 

[jarhead]

Mar

It is a failure to proof read.............

Sorry.

 

[wil]

The Cuba people would have democracy and a vibrant tourism business!

Freddie- Where was Clinton during Vietnam? How about the letter to the ROTC Colonel? Must make you proud that we had two WWII decorated heros defeated by that sack of spunk who protested his country on foreign soil.

 

[bart]

The Cuban Missile Crisis never would have happened... you idiot. The Cuban Missile Crisis was the direct result of Kennedy's failed policy. It was unnecessary. Had proper decisions been made earlier in Kennedy's Administration, it would have never occurred.

Remember that Kennedy chose not to support the Bay of Pigs Invasion with Air Support like he had promised. There is no doubt that Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld would have given the Free Cubans air support, so the Soviet Union would have had no presence and therefore no misslies in Cuba in 1962.

No problem. See what preempting a problem before it occurs can do?

 

[wil]

Nice post Bart!!

 

[jarhead]

Playing the devils advocate....

The Soviets no longer are around. Why not take Castro out now, if it would have been a such a good idea back then, with the Bay of Pigs fiasco?

 

[Freddie Spencer]

Wil,

Where was Clinton during Vietnam?

Just like Dennis Hastert, Tom Delay, Roy Blunt, Mitch McConnell, Trent Lott, John Ashcroft, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, and Phil Gramm, he avoided the draft. Anything else you would like to know?

 

[jarhead]

Yes.

Why no list of Democrats?

 

[bart]

I know that you can only stuff so many clowns into one of those little cars;

Is there a limit to how many can be put on your ignore list?

 

[mar]

Bart, I'm sorry, really...

Hey, Bart, really I'm sorry that your dad used to beat you up when you were just a boy.

That was wrong.

Am I on your ignore list yet?

How about now?

Now?

Yeah, pre-emption, crude but effective, I know. But it also contravenes all NATO precepts.

As a member of NATO....ah crap, why bother....?

I know how you guys think anyway.

NATO: Screw 'em!
UN: Screw 'em!
Kyoto: Screw 'em!

"Me: Big American. You: Little Dark Man"

 

[Kingairrick]

Bart is correct in that the "crisis" probably wouln't have happened. However, to indulge in the thread, if it had, the exact same thing would have happened. The result had almost nothing to do with which party had the sitting president.

Kennedy had the information in his hands throughout the entire "crisis" that verified that the missles already in Cuba were nowhere near being flight ready. The whole thing was sabre rattling by both sides with the outcome pretty much decided before it started. The Russians knew that they couldn't push it too far, and we knew that they couldn't.

All of this is verifyable by taking a 1000 level forign policy class at a decent university.

 

[sqwkvfr]

Hey Freddie!!

That avatar is an unfair advantage on these political threads...One look and I can't remember my own name, much less stand up for conservative ideals.

Who is that??

 

[Freddie Spencer]

She's my wife (10 years ago).

 

[Dubya]

Yo mar?

This administration does face a nuclear threat. Every day. Check your nuclear powers map. I for one am glad Bush doesn't cower to the wimpy, whiney peacenicks that don't understand how peace is afforded to us. I'm also glad he doesn't allow the UN and the rest of the ungrateful, jealous eurowussies to dictate our policy. The rest of the UN gave an ultimatum to Iraq years ago...ignored...time and time again. So they are a respectable organization? We can debate right or wrong 'til death...and theres alot of right and wrong about this whole issue....but I respect someone who makes a decision and doesn't allow the media, polls and world opinion to change it or affect it.

What's wrong with Big American?
You must have been beat up for your lunch money every day at school.

W