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Rumsfeld Draws Lessons From Cuban Missile Crisis to Today
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

"The missile shipments to Cuba took the U.S. completely by surprise. There was a failure to appreciate that even with the best intelligence, we will not have, we have not had, we cannot have everything that is necessary to provide for perfect protection of our country."

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the United States must move on all fronts -- diplomatic, economic, military -- to make sure there's no repeat of the Cuban Missile Crisis, but this time with a terrorist state. "President Bush is determined to do just that," he said.

Rumsfeld used a Pentagon news conference to draw parallels between the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 and the situation facing America today.

Rumsfeld said President Kennedy "pre-empted" the Soviet Union's placement of offensive nuclear weapons in Cuba in 1961. Kennedy placed a naval blockade around the communist nation and stopped Soviet ships carrying the weapons.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

Dan