Re: A giant of a man

["Joseph S. Bermudez Jr." <jbermudez@qwest.net>]

Title: Re: A giant of a man

> John,
>
> > MacArthur never intended to use atomic weapons in Korea. Perhaps along the Yalu to create a buffer zone...
>
> Hmmmm. To quote Mac himself,
>
> “The enemy’s [DPRK and PRC] airpower would first have been taken out.  I would have dropped between 30 and 50 atomic bombs on his airbases and other depots strung across the neck of Manchuria from just across the Yalu River from Antung to Hunchun.  Between 30 and 50 atomic bombs would have more then done the job.  Dropped under cover of darkness they would have destroyed the enemy’s air force on the ground, wiped out his maintenance and his airmen.”
>
> “It was my plan as our amphibious forces moved south to spread behind us - from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow Sea - a belt of radioactive cobalt.  It could have been spread from wagons, carts, trucks and planes.  It is not an expensive material.  It has an active life of between 60 and 120 years.  For at least 60 years there could have been no land invasion of Korea from the north.  The enemy could not have marched across the radiated belt.” 
>
> Source:  “Text of Accounts by Lucas and Considine on Interviews With MacArthur in 1954,” New York Times, April 9, 1964, p. 16.
>
> Commenting on Mac’s statement the New York Times wrote,
>
> “Since the border, even disregarding its kinks, is more than 400 miles long, it would have required an enormous amount of material to create a five-mile zone across the Korean Peninsula.  The area to be covered would have exceeded 2,000 square miles.  It is thought that stocks of radioactive cobalt, even today [1964], would be grossly inadequate for such a plan.  However the word “cobalt” was reportedly used loosely at the time to refer to a variety of materials suitable for such radiological warfare.” 
>
> Source: “Pentagon Weighed Plan to Use Cobolt in Korea,” New York Times, April 9, 1964, p. 17.