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I truly believe that that was a truly glorious page in American history.

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<font color="brown"> It was now a few minutes after 10:00 o'clock. Secretary McNamara announced that two Russian ships, the Gagarin and the Komiles, were within a few miles of our quarantine barrier. The interception of both ships would probably be before noon Washington time. Indeed, the expectation was that at least one of the vessels would be stopped and bearded between 10:30 and 11:00 o'clock.

Then came the disturbing Navy report that a Russian submarine had moved into position between the two ships.

It had originally been planned to have a cruiser make the first interception, but, because of the increased danger, it was decided in the past few hours to send in an aircraft carrier supported by helicopters, carrying antisubmarine equipment, hovering overhead. The carrier Essex was to signal the submarine by sonar to surface and identify itself. If it refused, said Secretary McNamara, depth charges with a small explosive would be used until the submarine surfaced.

I think these few minutes were the time of gravest concern for the President. Was the world on the brink of a holocaust? Was it our error? A mistake? Was there something further that should have been done? Or not done? His hand went up to his face and covered his mouth. He opened and closed his fist. His face seemed drawn, his eyes pained, almost gray. We stared at each other across the table. For a few fleeting seconds, it was almost as though no one else was there and he was no longer the President.

Then it was 10:25 -- a messenger brought in a note to John McCone. "Mr. President, we have a preliminary report which seems to indicate that some of the Russian ships have stopped dead in the water."

Stopped dead in the water? Which ships? Are they checking the accuracy of the report? Is it true? I looked at the clock. 10:32 "The report is accurate, Mr. President. Six ships previously on their way to Cuba at the edge of the quarantine line have stopped or have turned back toward the Soviet Union. A representative from the Office of Naval Intelligence is on his way over with the full report." A short time later, the report came that the twenty Russian ships closest to the barrier had stopped and were dead in the water or had turned around.</font>

There's always perspectives - there are times when lines in the sand need to be drawn.

It's one thing to look at situations from an objective perspective, whether philosophical or political, but that's a luxury that the people who take an oath to protect and serve the interest of the United States of America are not given. Idealistic and democratic ideals for the rest of the world are nice, but they really don't factor into the equation.

The cold facts are that the United States is dependant on the free-flow of oil from the Middle East. And not just so we can chug around in our SUV's - but for our national defense. In the event of an attack on our country, we simply cannot defend ourselves without the unimpinged oil supply from the Mid-East. To do so would render the U.S. defenseless, in a conventional manner, and it would be a literal act of treason for a sworn-in government employee to aid and abet in this scenario.

From the context of your posts, I'm assuming you have an adequate understanding of history to grasp the reality and gravity of the situation. Japan didn't just wake up one day and decide to attack Pearl Harbor - the attack was a direct (90 day) response to the United States' cut off-of their oil supply.

I'm not saying it's pretty, ethical, good, or right - but it is reality.

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Why did you include Mickey's quote about the Skokie Nazi march? If this was a response to Mickey's post I'm totally confused. [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

EDIT: Maybe you're making a point about both incidents being glorious pages in American history, one in a feel-good kind of way, the other in a realpolitik kind of way. Am I close?