The Missiles Of October -- A Commentary

FILE PHOTO 40th Anniversary Of Cuban Missile Crisis
WASHINGTON - OCTOBER 1962: (EDITORIAL USE ONLY) (FILE PHOTO) A spy photo of a medium range ballistic missile base in San Cristobal, Cuba, with labels detailing various parts of the base, is shown October 1962. Former Russian and U.S. officials attending a conference commemorating the 40th anniversary of the missile crisis October 2002 in Cuba said that the world was closer to a nuclear conflict during the 1962 standoff between Cuba and the U.S., than governments were aware of. Photo: Getty Images. Oct 14, 2002

From Wall Street Journal:

The next hemispheric crisis could involve Venezuela and Iran.

In the summer of 1962, the leader of the great Soviet empire, Nikita Khrushchev, faced a serious problem. His huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) didn't work. Their launchers were unreliable, their aim was off and the fuel used to rocket them skyward was so volatile that they had to be stored empty. In case of an attack, they would first have to be tanked up before being fired. The Soviet premier understood that since his ICBMs were a crucial part of his nuclear balance with the U.S., this put him at a major disadvantage.

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My Comment: I never knew that the NIE had made an assessment that there were no Russian missiles in Cuba in 1962. Talk about being wrong.

This commentary is a sober assessment of the past, and .... a hint that we may be repeating it again in our near future.