James R. Schlesinger
Secretary of Defense under Nixon and Ford who observed Kissinger's strategy during the 1973 Yom Kippur War of wanting Israel to succeed but bleed.
James R. Schlesinger served as the Secretary of Defense under President Richard Nixon and later President Gerald R. Ford. During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Henry A. Kissinger told Schlesinger that his goal was to "let Israel come out ahead, but bleed." Schlesinger noted that Israel's ammunition consumption rate was gauged for a seven-day war, reflecting Washington, D.C.'s confidence in the Israeli military. However, Kissinger's sudden and massive push for resupply led Schlesinger to conclude that Israeli use of a nuclear weapon was not out of the question, and that there was an assumption that Israel had a few nukes and might use them if there was a collapse.1
Sources
- Hersh, Seymour M. The Samson Option: Israel's Nuclear Arsenal and American Foreign Policy. Random House, 1991. Chapter 17. ↩
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