Win Everett devises his plot to start a conflict between Cuba and the US by staging a fake assassination attempt on Kennedy, which he will blame on Castro. One thing to note about Win's plan is that it is rather extreme. While an attempted assassination on the president is more certain to provoke anti-Cuban anger than less extreme plots, it is also much more dangerous: if there is any slip-up, it is bound to be noticed by one of the hundreds of investigators who would be working on discovering the culprit. Why would he want to take such a risk? Another point is that, from the very beginning, he planned to cause casualties. Though there was supposed to be no risk to the Kennedy, someone had to be blamed for what investigators would see as a true attempt on his life, and that someone would undoubtedly face severe consequences. That man, in Win's plot, is just some guy who would believably have tried to kill Kennedy and who could be framed cleanly. In other words, Win plans to cause casualties of innocent people (or at least one innocent person) in order to start a war in which there would undoubtedly be deaths of innocent people.
What all this looks like is a war. Not a war against Cuba and America, no, that's just a part of it. Instead it's what Win, Parmenter, and Mackey see as a war between pro-Castro and anti-Castro forces. This is a war which has already started, which resulted in the Bay of Pigs when the anti-Castros were winning, and which made the Bay of Pigs fail to put the pro-Castros ahead. Both of these events caused real fighting and real deaths: the consequences of war. Now that the anti-Castros are trailing, Win devises a plot causing someone to take the blame for an attempted assassination. This sounds an awful lot like an officer ordering suicide mission. Just like the officer would see the casualties as unfortunate but necessary, because they died in the name of something greater [cringe], Win sees the Bay of Pigs, his shooter's arrest, and the fighting that will result as unfortunate casualties of war which are necessary to out Castro, which is somehow more important.
I think that you are right in saying that this isn't about the US versus Castro, but is more about anti-Castro people trying to force the hand of pro-Castro people. This could be a reason why the staged event needs to be so extreme. To completely reverse somebodies opinion on something or to stir up massive unrest about an issue could require a big event.
ReplyDeleteThis also fits into the context of the Communism vs Capitalism conflict that "justified" US involvement in numerous countries/wars around the world that the US had no place intervening in. Win sees Kennedy as being too "soft" on Communist regimes (Cuba, USSR, Vietnam), and thinks the assassination plot will force a crack-down by pro-Communist forces.
DeleteWhile Win's message is certainly political, we have to remember that he equally wants to expose more of the CIA's sketchy behavior and Kennedy's wish to have Castro out of the picture. In the first few chapters, Win tells us he's categorized as a "true believer" and has to be taken out of operations, but he counters that his belief isn't so much a strong political conviction as a feeling that the agency "done him wrong". I think his aim is more to cause internal turbulence in the US political system--undermine everyone's love of President Kennedy.
ReplyDeleteWin's motive in part certainly seems to be to want to oust Castro, and this is a cause for which he is willing to take innocent lives (he also wants to expose the CIA, an organization he feels wronged by). I think Win is painted by DeLillo as a pretty decent guy (definitely not someone we can completely despise) and I think he is a genuine believer in the anti-Castro cause. Whether or not this was a cause worth starting a war over is and was up for debate, but there were certainly people like Win who truly believed in the cause.
ReplyDeleteI think its interesting that Win definitely isn't trying to start a war between the US and Cuba as he is not all on the US's side, he is releasing CIA information in his plan. This is more of an effort to help the US rally against Castro, not necessarily just Cuba.
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ReplyDeleteIts interesting how Win and his small team are just a small number of men who hold strong ideas huddling secretively as ex-CIA agents, yet they can change the course of history. It shows how fragile history can be, yet how immense it can be. With a few men, hundred of people can lose their life.
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