http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/10660-in-hiroshimas-shadow
In Hiroshima's Shadow
Noam Chomsky
Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate, 02 August 2012
August 6, the anniversary of Hiroshima, should be a day of somber
reflection, not only on the terrible events of that day in 1945, but also on
what they revealed: that humans, in their dedicated quest to extend their
capacities for destruction, had finally found a way to approach the ultimate
limit.
This year, Aug. 6 memorials have special significance. They take place
shortly before the 50th anniversary of, "the most dangerous moment in human
history," in the words of the historian and John F. Kennedy adviser Arthur
M. Schlesinger Jr., referring to the Cuban missile crisis.
Graham Allison writes in the current issue of Foreign Affairs that Kennedy,
"ordered actions that he knew would increase the risk not only of
conventional war but also nuclear war," with a likelihood of perhaps 50
percent, he believed, an estimate that Allison regards as realistic.
Kennedy declared a high-level nuclear alert that authorized, "NATO aircraft
with Turkish pilots ... (or others) ... to take off, fly to Moscow, and drop
a bomb."
None were more shocked by the discovery of missiles in Cuba than the men in
charge of the similar missiles that the U.S. had secretly deployed in
Okinawa six months earlier, surely aimed at China, at a moment of elevated
regional tensions.
Kennedy took Chairman Nikita Khrushchev, "right to the brink of nuclear war
and he looked over the edge and had no stomach for it," according to Gen.
David Burchinal, then a high-ranking official in the Pentagon planning
staff. One can hardly count on such sanity forever.
Khrushchev accepted a formula that Kennedy devised, ending the crisis just
short of war. The formula, boldest element, Allison writes, was, "a secret
sweetener that promised the withdrawal of U.S. missiles from Turkey within
six months after the crisis was resolved." These were obsolete missiles that
were being replaced by far more lethal, and invulnerable, Polaris
submarines.
In brief, even at high risk of war of unimaginable destruction, it was felt
necessary to reinforce the principle that U.S. has the unilateral right to
deploy nuclear missiles anywhere, some aimed at China or at the borders of
Russia, which had previously placed no missiles outside the USSR.
Justifications of course have been offered, but I do not think they
withstand analysis.
An accompanying principle is that Cuba had no right to have missiles for
defense against what appeared to be an imminent U.S. invasion. The plans for
Kennedy, terrorist programs, Operation Mongoose, called for, "open revolt
and overthrow of the Communist regime," in October 1962, the month of the
missile crisis, recognizing that, "final success will require decisive U.S.
military intervention."
The terrorist operations against Cuba are commonly dismissed by U.S.
commentators as insignificant CIA shenanigans. The victims, not
surprisingly, see matters rather differently. We can at last hear their
voices in Keith Bolender,, "Voices from the Other Side: An Oral History of
Terrorism Against Cuba."
The events of October 1962 are widely hailed as Kennedy, finest hour.
Allison offers them as, "a guide for how to defuse conflicts, manage
great-power relationships, and make sound decisions about foreign policy in
general." In particular, today, conflicts with Iran and China.
Disaster was perilously close in 1962, and there has been no shortage of
dangerous moments since. In 1973, in the last days of the Arab-Israeli war,
Henry Kissinger called a high-level nuclear alert. India and Pakistan have
come close to nuclear war. There have been innumerable cases when human
intervention aborted nuclear attack only moments before launch after false
reports by automated systems. There is much to think about on Aug. 6.
Allison joins many others in regarding Iran, nuclear programs as the most
severe current crisis, "an even more complex challenge for American
policymakers than the Cuban missile crisis," because of the threat of
Israeli bombing.
The war against Iran is already well underway, including assassination of
scientists and economic pressures that have reached the level of,
"undeclared war," in the judgment of the Iran specialist Gary Sick.
Great pride is taken in the sophisticated cyberwar directed against Iran.
The Pentagon regards cyberwar as, "an act of war," that authorizes the
target, "to respond using traditional military force," The Wall Street
Journal reports. With the usual exception: not when the U.S. or an ally is
the perpetrator.
The Iran threat has recently been outlined by Gen. Giora Eiland, one of
Israel, top military planners, described as, "one of the most ingenious and
prolific thinkers the (Israeli military) has ever produced."
Of the threats he outlines, the most credible is that, "any confrontation on
our borders will take place under an Iranian nuclear umbrella." Israel might
therefore be constrained in resorting to force. Eiland agrees with the
Pentagon and U.S. intelligence, which also regard deterrence as the major
threat that Iran poses.
The current escalation of the, "undeclared war," against Iran increases the
threat of accidental large-scale war. Some of the dangers were illustrated
last month when a U.S. naval vessel, part of the huge deployment in the
Gulf, fired on a small fishing boat, killing one Indian crew member and
wounding at least three others. It would not take much to set off a major
war.
One sensible way to avoid such dread consequences is to pursue, "the goal of
establishing in the Middle East a zone free from weapons of mass destruction
and all missiles for their delivery and the objective of a global ban on
chemical weapons," the wording of Security Council resolution 687 of April
1991, which the U.S. and U.K. invoked in their effort to provide a thin
legal cover for their invasion of Iraq 12 years later.
The goal has been an Arab-Iranian objective since 1974, regularly
re-endorsed, and by now it has near-unanimous global support, at least
formally. An international conference to consider ways to implement such a
treaty may take place in December.
Progress is unlikely unless there is mass public support in the West.
Failure to grasp the opportunity will, once again, lengthen the grim shadow
that has darkened the world since that fateful Aug. 6.
C 2011 Noam Chomsky
This piece was reprinted by Truthout with permission or license.
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