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Obama Unveils New Nuclear Doctrine
Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that under Obama's new 'Nuclear Posture Review,' released today, the US will foreswear the use of the nuclear weapons against nonnuclear countries, in contrast to previous administrations, which indicated they might use nuclear arms against nonnuclear states in retaliation for a biological or chemical attack. But the new policy included a major caveat: The countries must be in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations under international treaties. The problem for Iran and North Korea is that the pledge does not cover them because the US regards them as in non-compliance with the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The new policy will also describe the purpose of US weapons as being fundamentally for deterrence. Some Democratic legislators had urged Obama to go further and declare that the United States would not use nuclear weapons first in a conflict, but officials worried that such a change could unnerve allies protected by the US nuclear 'umbrella.' The president of the Ploughshares Fund said of the new stance, 'It orients US policy towards dramatically fewer weapons and greatly reduced roles.'"
If you (my next door neighbor) kill my family by purposefully spreading rat poison in our fresh vegetable garden, I promise to only shoot back at you with my pellet gun. But only if you don't own a gun.
We've got the MOAB system of conventional explosives to take out terrorist camps... nukes are much stronger weapons. 2 hits and a promise for more got Japan to surrender.
The U.S. can change its mind and policy at any time. The U.S. can ignore this unilateral declartion at any time. Or the U.S. can just violate it without any legal consequences because there is no authority that can force the U.S. to comply with it.
I don't know how many man-years of time were spent developing this new policy or how it was paid for, but I'm gonna guess "lots" and "my taxes".
You are kidding yourself if you believe the US doesn't have an arsenal of chemical weapons. These are the people who invented VX gas, remember.
Scientists point out problems, engineers fix them
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Now, if we could get him to forswear any kind of preemptive attack, we might begin to repair the damage to our reputation done by the G. W. Bush Administration.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
George Bush Center for Intelligence does not approve.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
Obama has what, less than 3 more years in the office? And then all the options will be back on the table again, reinstated by the next president. But even that is beside the point. The reason why this is such a pile of bovine manure is because if push comes to shove, this will be the first thing to fly out of the window. Reminds me of ABM systems in Poland. Suure we're not going to use them against Russia right now, but in case when they step on our toes all of a sudden this becomes a distinct possibility. Otherwise we'd have built those systems in Iraq, where they'd be closer to Iran, strikes from which we're supposedly trying to prevent.
US politicians should understand, first and foremost, that other countries are not stupid, and they've learned their lesson several times already, so they assume the worst. Which most of the time turns out to be the right thing to assume.
... are exempted, along with Iraq and Iran...
but Isreal has more nukes than everyone except USA/former USSR, and they aren't even mentioned.
Yet another example of US foreign policy that will go down very badly in the arab / muslim world.
Hell, it doesn't go down very well in Europe.
http://slashdot.org/~GuyFawkes/journal
The US created the triad to keep the USN and USAF from nuking each other over the budgets.
Put all the strategic nukes in the bomber fleet, keep some tactical weapons on the carriers and fast attack as cruise missiles along with the USAF and Army having some tactical weapons in the form of B-61s and 155mm artillery shells.
Thats enough of a triad to ensure the US can strike back at Russia or the PRC.
They are not an "investment". War production isn't wealth.
Regardless of the morals and ethics, the bottom line is its good skilled and technical jobs for America that include retirement packages and healthcare. Get rid of the nukes and we put 10s of thousands of people out of work.
Oh, jesus christ. read and learn
(This is definitely putting my dad out of work.)
Your dad is an example of a misallocated worker.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
They don't dare use nuclear weapons against nuclear nations out of fear of retaliation.
Now they won't use it against non-nuclear nations.
Pussies. Thanks for making our nuclear "arsenal" utterly pointless.
E