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One Minute To Midnight, by Michael Dobbs


Mark Knight

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My wife gave me some new books for my collection over the holidays, and I have to say that her selections were very good. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America," by Thurston Clarke. But the one I'm reading now is Michael Dobbs' "One Minute To Midnight," a narrative of the Cuban Missile Crisis that includes more recently released information from both US and Soviet files.

According to Dobbs, had JFK allowed General LeMay's viewpoint to prevail, and had the US landed troops in Cuba, the Soviets already had tactical nukes on the island, and were prepared to use them on any landing invasionary force...as well as turning Gitmo into a smoldering radioactive crater, and launching missiles that were--according to Dobbs--capable of reaching New York City, among other US locations. JFK was unaware, apparently, that the nukes had actually reached Cuba, and yet he managed somehow to NOT begin what surely would have resulted in the mutual destruction of the US and the USSR, as well as Cuba.

At this point, I'm only about halfway through the book. But what I've read to this point leaves me amazed.

So...how many other presidents have saved the world by accident?

[On another level, it appears the US intelligence gathering apparatus hasn't gained much ground between 1962 and 2003, as far as WMD's are concerned...despite the what, TRILLIONS? of dollars spent in that area.]

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My wife gave me some new books for my collection over the holidays, and I have to say that her selections were very good. I thoroughly enjoyed "The Last Campaign: Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America," by Thurston Clarke. But the one I'm reading now is Michael Dobbs' "One Minute To Midnight," a narrative of the Cuban Missile Crisis that includes more recently released information from both US and Soviet files.

According to Dobbs, had JFK allowed General LeMay's viewpoint to prevail, and had the US landed troops in Cuba, the Soviets already had tactical nukes on the island, and were prepared to use them on any landing invasionary force...as well as turning Gitmo into a smoldering radioactive crater, and launching missiles that were--according to Dobbs--capable of reaching New York City, among other US locations. JFK was unaware, apparently, that the nukes had actually reached Cuba, and yet he managed somehow to NOT begin what surely would have resulted in the mutual destruction of the US and the USSR, as well as Cuba.

At this point, I'm only about halfway through the book. But what I've read to this point leaves me amazed.

So...how many other presidents have saved the world by accident?

[On another level, it appears the US intelligence gathering apparatus hasn't gained much ground between 1962 and 2003, as far as WMD's are concerned...despite the what, TRILLIONS? of dollars spent in that area.]

Mark,

Consider for a moment, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) during the Cuban Missile Crisis, to a man, called for military intervention in Cuba, which would have triggered the tactical nuclear weapons already introduced into Cuba unknown to US intelligence not only at the time, but until the 1990s, when we learned of this at a conference in Cuba.

On top of that, when JFK recognized he was totally out of touch with his JCS, brought in Gen. Taylor to ensure the military knew JFK's specific requirements, Taylor was immediately preoccupied with Vietnam. And after Northwoods was rejected by JFK, and Gen. Leimeister gone, the military assistance to the CIA covert maritime operations was assumed by temporary chair of the JCS, LeMay.

LeMay assigns responsiblity for the military association with CIA/JMWAVE to Gen. Krulak, Special Assistant for Counter-Insurgency and Special Activity (SACISA), whose assistnat Col. Higgins was the only non-JCS in the room when the CIA's Des Fitz briefed the JCS (sas Taylor, and Adml.?). Col. Fletcher Prouty (USAF) also attached to Krulak's staff.

At some point, JFK said he didn't want to see LeMay again, but here, in September 63, LeMay is taking over the miliary support for the very CIA covert ops we can connect to Dealey Plaza.

At the time of the assassination, LeMay is at a SAC base in Canada, and returns to DC and may have been present at the Bathesda autopsy.

One must wonder if RFK, who immediately asked the CIA and the anti-Castro Cubans if the assassin "was one of your guys," knew that LeMay was in charge of the tactical operations?

BK

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