RadioBanter - OT USA To Use Nuclear Weapons In Preemptive Strikes

We really are doomed now:

''Preemptive Nuclear Strikes - Now Only A Matter of Time

By D.L. McCracken
Sep 12, 2005, 16:37
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Have you been paying close attention to the horror that is New Orleans
after Hurricane Katrina? Have you found yourself not really following
other news items of significant importance because first, Katrina has
pushed everything else to the back burner by mainstream media and
second, what is happening in New Orleans is all the bad news you can
handle at the moment?

There is at least one piece of information released to the media
recently that deserves much more attention than it's receiving. Have
you by chance skimmed over headlines or caught the back end of a news
item with contain phrases such as, "revised doctrine for the use of
nuclear weapons"? How about "preemption strategies"?

It's time to start paying close attention because something else is
happening in the United States that is pretty damn scary.

It's called The Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations and the Pentagon
has drafted certain revisions to the original 1995 document which
simply put, describes the role of U.S. nuclear deterrence, force
posturing and deployment considerations. In a nutshell, the doctrine
specifies definite rules for the use by the U.S. of nuclear weapons.
The newly revised doctrine provides more options and reasons for using
nuclear devices as well as other weapons of mass destruction against
nations and/or terrorist groups and furthermore, includes an option
for preemptive use of said weapons.

In other words, the revised doctrine includes the option for the
United States to fire off the first nuclear missile - a preemptive
strike, an idea that was initially announced by U.S. President George
W. Bush in 2002.

Along with the newly revised preemption clause, the doctrine also
incorporates:

- a reduction in the level of hostilities where a nuclear weapon could
be utilized;

- a support for the utilization of nuclear weapons against all forms
of weapons of mass destruction including chemical and biological;

- a support for deploying nuclear weapons against terrorists and
terror factions;

- support for protection of nuclear forces over protecting people.

The revised doctrine contains over 20 additional pages devoted to
various nuclear options including the use of nulcear devices in
theatre operations or in an active combat zone. The new chapter
devoted to theater nuclear operations was added as a direct result of
the emergence of dangerous 'rogue states' and organized terrorist
factions especially if those entities had been successful in obtaining
weapons of mass destruction.

Critics of the revised doctrine warn that the added options for
deployment of a nuclear device "threaten to make nuclear weapons just
another tool in the toolbox". The revised document also includes at
least four scenarios where commanders in a combat theatre situation
request Presidential approval for use of nuclear weapons first.

According to The Nuclear Information Project, "in nuclear preemption,
the objective no longer is deterrence through threatened retaliation
but battlefield destruction of targets with nuclear weapons first in
anticipation that deterrence will fail."

Th revised docrine also takes into consideration the inevitable
collateral damage caused by a nuclear device, even weapons with a
"lower yield". One paragraph from the revised doctrine
states,"Specific techniques for reducing nuclear collateral damage may
include lower yield weapons, improving accuracy, employing multiple
smaller weapons, adjusting the height of burst, and offsetting the
desired ground zero."

So there you have it. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate killing
machines. Deterrence has worked for decades but suddenly the Bush
administration wants to scrap deterrence and incorporate preemptive
strike capability when that administration or a commander in a ground
combat situation feels that it would be appropriate.

We all are deeply aware of the destruction that one small nuclear bomb
can create, not only in the immediate aftermath of a strike but in the
weeks, months, years and decades to come. At a time when we would hope
that our world leaders would be doing their utmost to decrease the
nuclear threat, the world's most powerful nation is writing doctrines
that will allow them to strike first - anywhere on this planet.

It's now only a matter of time.''

http://www.halifaxlive.com/artman/pu...905_6619.shtml