Kissinger, Limited War, Iraq, 1958

A classic Mike Wallace interview: Henry Kissinger's 1958 support of the concept of "limited war" against the Soviet Union. This passage can't help but leap out fifty years later:

We must have the capability to react to Soviet threats at the same level of intensity at which they present it so that we don't always have to choose between the destruction of the United States and the defense of the countries which may be threatened but rather that we can defend the areas which are threatened at the place where the threat occurs ... It is a policy that we are ready to engage in a limited war that we have troop transports that ... enable us to get into position quickly, that we have the forces to engage in a limited war which we do not now have ...  At the moment we have 13 divisions where the Soviet Union has 175 divisions. If we had more divisions, and if we had air transport, then in case of a Soviet attack, say on Iraq, we could airlift a few divisions into the area and, together with local forces, attempt a defense.

Notice that Kissinger is very clear that he would not countenance launching such a limited war, merely acting if the Soviets attacked. Notice that his first thought of a place for a limited war was ... Iraq.