[extropy-chat] In Fond Remembrence of Curtis LeMay

[Lee Corbin]

Stathis writes

> > It was at this time that Curtis LeMay uttered the immortal words:
> > "If I see 'em massing for an attack, I'm going to knock the shit out
> > of 'em."

I only regret having said that for the same reason that the wikipedia
article on LeMay is shockingly incomplete.  There is no picture of
him brandishing his cigar or even clenching one in his teeth.  The
above quote loses much of its force without the cigar, and the
proper flourish before and after the statement.


> > Notice that he did not say "we", or "the U.S.", but rather "I will
> > knock" said shit out of the Soviets.
> > It was the cold knowledge on the other side that there were a number
> > of Americans in very high places  that very probably staved off 
> > total war. 
> 
> Do you think that the existence of similarly motivated loose cannons on
> the Soviet side would also have been a good thing?

Evidently not;  because when the U.S.S.R. collapsed, it only did so because
they perceived (correctly) that the U.S. was not going to take undue 
advantage of the situation.  And they were right.  If we had *true* war-
mongers in charge in America in the 80's, the Soviets could never have
braved such reorganization.

And of course they *did* have such "loose cannons" in place. The Russians
are no dummies and they were (and evidently still are) extremely brutal.
Andropov was a KGB guy, after all, and so is Putin.  

Lee