jackola | Sep. 12th, 2005

WMD threat could spark American nuclear strike

A PRESIDENT of the United States would be able to launch pre-emptive nuclear strikes against enemies planning to use weapons of mass destruction under a revised “nuclear operations” doctrine to be signed in the next few weeks.

In a significant shift after half a century of nuclear deterrence based on the threat of massive retaliation, the revised doctrine would allow pre-emptive strikes against states or terror groups, and to destroy chemical and biological weapons stockpiles.

Presidential approval would still be required for any nuclear strike, but the updated document, the existence of which was confirmed by the Pentagon at the weekend, emphasises the need for the US to adapt to a world of worsening proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in which deterrence might fail. In that event, it states, “the United States must be prepared to use nuclear weapons if necessary”.

The Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations, last revised ten years ago, extends President Bush’s doctrine of pre-emptive war to cover a US nuclear arsenal that is expected to shrink to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads by 2012.

It was drafted by the Pentagon in March and posted on the internet, but did not attract widespread attention until a report on it in The Washington Post yesterday. It has since been removed from the Department of Defence website.

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What the fuck is this world coming to? Can we make the world hate us any more?

All of the work of intillectuals and believers in peace have gone down the drain over the past few years, and this really puts icing on the cake.

When will we learn that killing people doesn't help anything? We've learned that in history time and time again. This makes it so that at any time, the President can say "hey, you have weapons of mass destruction*, and only we're allowed to have them. So get rid of them now or we're nuking you."

Debate: Should we be the World Police?

Given the power of the U.S. (aka, unlimited power), we could easily take out a country we don't like by planting weapons or by simply lying about them to the media (hmmm, Iraq?).

*aka nuclear, if that particular president can say that word