A history lesson for Bush, Cheney and Rummy

Ted Sorensen and Adam Frankel are not impressed with the Bush administration's seriousness about a diplomatic resolution of Iran's nuclear issues: Another Missile Crisis? What Bush could learn about Iran from JFK The American Prospect Online 05/31/06.

They write, "President Bush reportedly wants war with Iran over its nuclear weapons to be his legacy."

But they do offer some constructive suggestions from the experience of the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962:

If President Bush wishes to emulate President Kennedy’s success in terminating that overwhelming threat in 1962, it is essential for him to remember what President Kennedy did not do, as well as what he did.

1. JFK did not listen to the “bombers” like General LeMay, who always recommend bombing regardless of the consequences, but preferred to listen instead to the soft-spoken experienced diplomats like Tommy Thompson, who understood Chairman Khrushchev’s mind and could predict his reactions. A wise President knows that the quality of answer he gets to a tough question depends upon the quality of person he asks.

2. JFK did not violate international law or ignore multilateral global and regional organizations, but wooed and won world opinion so successfully that Khrushchev became internationally isolated, realizing that his reckless gamble was a failure when two friendly West African states refused refueling and landing rights to Soviet cargo planes bound for Cuba. In time, a nuclear Iran can also be isolated without our firing a shot.

3. JFK did not launch a nuclear war through a unilateral pre-emptive strike or ultimatum, even though those more aggressive actions would have been more politically popular at home than the seemingly more passive “quarantine” option. Instead he chose the latter, realizing that a military response would have driven his adversary into a harsh choice between escalation and humiliation. Kennedy, a decorated World War II combat veteran, would say later that he had “seen enough of war.” Not all Presidents have.

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