Sunday, September 11, 2005

This doesn't have disaster written all over it

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.

Can you imagine if this had been in place with Iraq?

The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the draft is against an enemy that is using "or intending to use WMD" against U.S. or allied, multinational military forces or civilian populations.

Another scenario for a possible nuclear preemptive strike is in case of an "imminent attack from adversary biological weapons that only effects from nuclear weapons can safely destroy."

This would almost be funny if nuclear weapons weren't so goddamn extreme. I am really just too tired to even make any kind of clever quips about this kind of shit anymore. I can see the annals of history 5000 years down the road, with the chapter heading "What were they thinking?"

I can only hope that in my bad mood today I am misunderstanding what this whole thing means.

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