Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Nukular preemption

While it's apparent to me that our paltry attempt at stopping the spread of WMDs has completely failed (that and the fact that I'm on the "Pakistan" chapter in Chain of Command, which is excellent), at least we have a new policy for CYA - nuclear preemption. From the Washington Post:
The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

[snip]

At a White House briefing that year, a spokesman said the United States would "respond with overwhelming force" to the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, its forces or allies, and said "all options" would be available to the president.
Ah, it's nice to see an attempt to breathe new life into the old theory of mutually assured destruction. I believe the slashdot headline said it best, "How About a Nice Game of Thermonuclear War?" Apologies, of course, to the wonderful 80's movie Wargames...

EDIT: Be sure to read this excellent article by Robert McNamara, former Secretary of Defense under JFK and LBJ...

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