| . |  |
. |
| . | |
. |
1963 Kennedy Tape Debates Nuking China To Defend India
Boston MA (AFP) Aug 25, 2005 Senior defence aides warned president John F. Kennedy in 1963 that any guarantee to defend India against Chinese attack would require a commitment to use nuclear weapons. On a declassified tape recording, released Thursday, the then-defence secretary Robert McNamara and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff General Maxwell Taylor urge Kennedy to look beyond India and take a broader view of how to deal with any substantial Chinese aggression. In particular, they caution that before any substantial commitment is given to India, the United States should recognise that nuclear weapons would have to be used in a defense of the region. The tape, released by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, was a recording of a National Security Council Meeting from May 9, "Before any substantial commitment to defend India against China is given, we should recognize that in order to carry out that commitment against any substantial Chinese attack we would have to use nuclear weapons," McNamara says. "Any large Chinese Communist attack on any part of that area would require the use of nuclear weapons by the US, and this is to be preferred over the introduction of large numbers of US soldiers," he adds. The debate was triggered by Kennedy's proposal to provide a relatively newly-independent and democratic India with a security guarantee against attack from neighbouring, communist-ruled China. At one point during the discussion, undersecretary of state George Ball suggests using nuclear weapons in Asia, post-Hiroshima, might lay the United States open to charges of double standards. "We are going to inject into this whole world opinion the old bugaboo of being willing to use nuclear weapons against Asians when we are talking about a different kind of strategy in Europe," Ball says. "This is going to create great problems with the Japanese - with all the yellow people," he adds. Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963. Maura Porter, archivist for the Kennedy Library, said the release of the tape offered "a unique perspective as to the inner workings of the Kennedy White House." Related Links SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express
US And EU To Make No Early Move Over Iranian Nuclear Programme
Vienna (AFP) Aug 25, 2005The United States and the European Union have agreed not to seek an emergency meeting of the watchdog UN nuclear agency even if Iran fails to meet a September 3 UN deadline to suspend atomic fuel work that could be used to make nuclear weapons, diplomats said Thursday. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
