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Those of you who might happen to be Americans (or Russians) surely recall the Cuban Missile Crises, which occurred in October, 1962. This event which came within a hair’s breadth of causing WWIII, was the subject of a popular movie, 13 Days, starring Kevin Kostiner, among others. The crises, in which Soviet Russia, led by Nitika Khrushchev, made a deal with Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro to install ballistic missiles containing nuclear warheads on the Island, situated less than two hundred miles off the U.S. Florida Coast.
Had it not been for the determination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy to stand up to the Soviets, and demand that the missiles be removed at once, we might not all be sitting in our homes today (of those who would have survived might have died off years ago from the combined effects of nuclear fallout and nuclear winter). I was a high school sophomore then, and I still vividly remember the drills we had to go through at school which would have been put into effect in the event of an actual nuclear attack. Living in Oklahoma City, a mere ten miles from one of the largest Strategic Air Command (SAC) maintenance bases, Tinker Field, those ‘drills’ would have been completely ineffective; as the entire Metro Oklahoma Area would have been turned into a nuclear wasteland – and us along with it.
Why does this event now come to mind? One might compare the Cuban crises with Israel’s most recent war in Lebanon.
During the 1963 crises, JFK ordered a complete air and naval blockade of Cuban ports, preventing Russian ships from bringing anything into Cuba, especially of a military nature. Kennedy stated clearly that any attack by Cuba upon America would be considered as an attack by the Soviet Union. Only when the Soviets agreed to remove their missiles, did the U.S. end the blockade.
In the recent Lebanese conflict, in which Israeli P.M. Ehud Olmert ordered a complete blockade of Lebanon, now in the process of being lifted, one very crucial aspect was left out. Olmert did not include Damascus in his directive against the Hezbollah (and against Lebanon as well). In fact, the Prime Minister was very careful not to threaten going to war against Syria, even though Bashar Assad was supplying missiles and other weapons to the Hezbollah! By not standing up to Syria, as Kennedy did to Russia, Israel lost a very important deterrent card; and both Syria and the Hezbollah came out on the plus side in this conflict.
Now, Hezbollah leader Narsrallah is saying that Israel’s military is “as weak as a spider’s web”. And Bashar Assad is saying that his army will not have any problems retaking the Golan Heights; if not the entire Galilee Panhandle as well. By agreeing to remove the air and naval blockade of Lebanon, despite Hezbollah literally terrorizing more than a million Israelis and destroying millions of dollars in property, as well as the two captured Israeli soldiers still being held in captivity, the Israeli government has lost a very important pressuring element; and now has to literally go back ‘to square one’ in its negotiations with the Hezbollah.
We in Israel desperately need a leader of the likes of John F. Kennedy. Unfortunately, we don’t have such a person at the helm.
One Comment
Indeed, Israel does not have a man like JFK leading
at this time (neither does the USA for that matter).
Both Syria and Iran came out well in this war, not to
mention Narsralla and the Hezbolla. With the air and
naval blockade of Lebanon lifted, who’s going to say
that crates of ‘construction’ and ‘agricultutal’
equipment are not actually something else. And who’s
going to check up on this? The French? Non! The Italians?
No! Israelis beware! The “Saracens” are getting closer;
and will soon be scaling the castle walls! And for the
captured ones, they may languish in the dungeons of the
Saracens - forever!
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