 |
| The three leaders involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis. |
 |
| The Iranian Nuclear Threat |
The Cuban Missile Crisis and the Iranian Threat are two very dangerous
threats, out of the several threats launched against the United States,
involving weapons of mass destruction, especially the atomic bomb. The Cuban
Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis (1962), is a thirteen day
confrontation between the Soviet Union and Cuba against the United States of
America. The Iranian Nuclear Threat is an ongoing threat that everyone is
assuming up to date, financed by the Iranian Government. Even though the
Iranian government hasn’t announced the threat of them launching nuclear
weapons to the United States, which will of course include Canada, everyone in
the White House, especially the Pentagon, is being very cautious with Iran’s
moves involving there nuclear resources. On the other hand, the Cuban Missile
Crisis really shook the Kennedy administration by a storm because the crisis
involved two mighty communist countries under two tyrant leaders.
The Cuban Missile Crisis and the
Iranian Nuclear Program are similar in several ways, but the weapons involved
and their threat not only towards the United States but also Canada stand out
of the list. The weapons involved are the same, which is nuclear weapons, often
called as “weapons of mass destruction”. Today, the United States of America
possesses nuclear weapons as do other countries as well. It was known in the
1969s that the USSR was installing ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads in
Cuba. That is why on April 17, 1961, backed by the U.S., a group of Cuban
exiles invades Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in an attempt to trigger an anti-Castro
rebellion. The invasion fails and more than a thousand Cuban rebels are
captured by Castro's forces. After this another attempt to overthrow the
Castro-regime was executed, which was called the Cuban Project, or Operation
Mongoose. Both these attempts failed, leaving the United States no choice but
to wait until further developments happened between the Soviet Union and Cuba. This
incident can be considered as part of the long battled Cold War. Things started
when on December 19, 1962, when Cuba allied itself openly with the Soviet Union
and agreed to follow its policies, which the United States found really
unacceptable. This is why on January 3, 1961, the United States of America
terminates diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba. This action itself got
the whole world in a bang. Today, people might have been shocked by what they
heard of as an “Iranian Nuclear Threat”.
It is really something to worry about even though Iran and the United
States are known to have signed a treaty part of the ‘U.S Atoms for Peace’
program back in 1957. Even today, Iran is not known, or hasn’t been proved, to
be possessing weapons of mass destruction, or at least they haven’t announced
it yet. They have also more signed treaties declining the assumptions of them
possessing such weapons. The Iranian Government itself declined things that
involve them with this nuclear program. The only reason Iran has been assumed
to be having nuclear weapons is because they failed to report/ declare
sensitive enrichment and reprocessing activities to the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), which is the agency trying to implement the peaceful use
of nuclear technology around the world.
 |
| North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) |
Canada is affected by both the
Cuban Missile Crisis and the Iranian Threat. Back in the days, Canada was put
to test during World War One, then on World War Two, then during the days of
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, is Canada being tested again on this ongoing
speculation of an Iranian nuclear threat? Canada responded to threats like
these two by being cohorts with the United States under the North Atlantic
Treaty (NATO) and building the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)
which is able to detect any aircraft pursuing North America. NORAD was
established on May 2, 1958, mainly because of the Cold War and later on became
useful for protection the premises during the Cuban Missile Crisis, under the
joint command of the governments of Canada and the United States of America. Since
the start of the Cold War and especially since the Cuban Missile Crisis,
Canada’s National Defense has been on high alert on any airstrike targeting
Canada. This also applies to the U.S’ National Defense as well. Both countries
have to be on high alert since then for upcoming threats, like the Iranian
Nuclear Threat, because if any of these two nations gets attacked with weapons
of mass destruction, it doesn’t matter which country gets attacked first
because they both are getting affected.
There are several ways United
States and Canada could have dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis and the
Iranian Threat. On 1961, under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, to deal with
the Cuban Missile Crisis, the United States attempted to help start a
revolution to overthrow the Cuban government, often called the Bay of Pigs.
Months later and under the same leadership, U.S launched Operation Mongoose,
which is another attempt to overthrow the Cuban government. With several other
possible ways of dealing with the crisis, like: a) use diplomatic pressure to
get the Soviets to remove the missile; b) Threaten Castro by warning him of the
grave danger he and Cuba were in if he continues the project; c) Use the US
Navy to block missiles from arriving from Cuba; d) Use NORAD and the US Air
Force to attack all known missile sites; e) Full force invasion of Cuba. All
these options were of course ignored for the US chose to sign an agreement to
ban nuclear testing in the atmosphere. This marked the beginning of what seemed
to be a new willingness to cooperate and communicate. However, on November
22nd, 1963, President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Eleven months later,
Premier Khrushchev was removed from office by Communist hard liners. One can't
help but wonder what would have happened if these two men had stayed in power.
Perhaps the same two people who had brought us so close to nuclear war, changed
by that experience, could have brought us far from it. Compared to how the US dealt with the Cuban
Missile Crisis, dealing with the Iranian Threat is a tricky one because of all
the denials. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a tricky one two because two
communist nations allied, but the Iranian issue is a trickier one. The Iranians
never admitted that they have possessed nuclear weapons. According to a Toronto
Star article, “A drawing based on information from inside an Iranian military
site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear
arms-related tests that UN inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted there.
 |
| The containment chamber assumed to be in Tehran. |
Iran
denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such
a chamber” (George Jahn, Toronto Star).
Is it now proven that Iran has nuclear weapons? If they don’t, then why
would they possess such container? The
United States isn’t the only one threatened by Iran’s nuclear development.
Israel too is threatened, and so are other countries because nuclear weapons
are enough to destroy a nation, and with the possibility of Iran possessing it
and still denying it, everyone right now is under great threat.
The Cuban Missile Crisis and the
Iranian Threat are just two of the several threats concerning the destruction
of North America that has been known in history. Everyone knows North America
has two of the world’s powerhouses, Canada and the United States of America.
Their destruction would be a great ‘booya’ to everyone in the world. Canada and
the United States are capable of dealing with things the diplomatic way, and
they surely could have done that with the Cuban Missile Crisis. They also could
have not harassed Iran when asking simply asking them properly is an option to
getting information about the country’s nuclear plans. Canada has always been
sticking with the United States ever since, and the destruction of either
Canada or the US would affect the other. Because of this bond, NORAD was
created to ensure that both countries are secured from threats of destruction.
We can conclude that the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Iranian threats are just
two of the several more tests to the great nations of Canada and the United
States. Both countries should be prepared to deal with more threats to come and
should be able to deal with the threats peacefully.
