Handling Madmen

Posted by Dr. Gopal Unnikrishna Kurup

 

Obama can learn john F. Kennedy's lesson  that in nuclear confrontation pre-delegating power to generals can be a big mistake. Obama reportedly as Wall Street Journal says has abandoned a pre-approved "play book" suggesting a show of force against saber rattling North Korea.  Instead the Obama administration is now focusing on de-escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and in that context is reportedly unhappy with the Navy for publicizing the deployment of two missile-guided destroyers off South Korea.

The hint of civilian-military disagreement is reminiscent of the well known confrontation during the Cuban missile crisis between the secretary of defense, Robert S. McNamara, and the chief of naval operations, Admiral George Anderson. When the president John F Kennedy declared a naval blockade, Admiral Anderson wanted to use the option to stop soviet ships by force from crossing the quarantine line, but the option was stoutly opposed by McNamara. Waving  his well-thumped copy of the 'Laws of Military Warfare' at McNamara Anderson reportedly told him 'We know how to do this", at which McNamara literally exploded: "note a shot will be fired without my express permission". Thus was averted what could have been a catastrophe. A few months later Anderson was dispatched to exile as U.S. ambassador to Portugal. The episode marked a significant turning point in civilian-military relations and ended the huge amount of autonomy enjoyed by military commanders during and since  world war two.

Nuclear era spelled an end to  what little autonomy left with the commanders as it is evident that a single misstep could lead to a chain of cataclysmic consequences. There is no margin of error here. Obviously, with just enough  material for  half a dozen nuclear weapons, Kim Jong Un can hardly play Nikita Khrushchev to Kenndy, when in 1962 , the Soviet Union had 300 nuclear weapons capable of reaching U.S. territory, including 32 in Cuba. Nevertheless, the second-tier bad guy Kim can play the "madman card" and reduce the South Korean capital Seoul into a pile of ashes tomorrow. Like Kennedy before him, Obama must be concerned about the possibility of miscalculation that could trigger "a spasm response'" from Kim.