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Source: http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=78870
Pentagon recommends use of
nuclear weapons
Wednesday, September 19, 2001 at
09:30 JST
WASHINGTON - The Defense
Department has recommended to
President George W Bush the use of
tactical nuclear weapons as a military
option to retaliate for last week's
terrorist attacks in the United States,
diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
It is unknown whether Bush has made
any decision. But military analysts said
the president is unlikely to opt for the
use of nuclear weapons because doing
so would generate rebuke from the
international community and could
even trigger revenge from the enemy
involving weapons of mass destruction.
But the Pentagon's suggestion shows
the determination of U.S. officials to
retaliate for the first massive terrorist
attacks on the U.S. mainland, the
analysts said.
The recommendation appears intended
to deter terrorists, they said.
On ABC television's THIS WEEK
program Sunday, Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld refused to rule out the
use of tactical nuclear weapons. He
avoided clearly answering a simple
question on whether their use can be
ruled out. To a similar question, a
Pentagon official also replied, "We will
not discuss operational and intelligence
matters."
According to the diplomatic sources,
the Pentagon recommended using
tactical nuclear weapons shortly after it
became known that an unprecedented
number of civilian casualties resulted
from the terrorist attacks.
On Sept 11, hijackers seized four
commercial U.S. aircraft. Two of the
planes slammed into the twin towers of
New York's World Trade Center, while
a third hit the Pentagon near
Washington. The fourth plane crashed
outside Pittsburgh. More than 5,000
people were left dead or missing in the
attacks.
Tactical nuclear weapons have been
developed to attack very specific targets.
The military analysts said Pentagon
officials are apparently thinking of using
weapons that can reach and destroy
terrorists hiding in an underground
shelter, limiting damage to non-targets.
In 1986, the U.S. conducted an air raid
on Libya, attempting to target Col.
Muammar Qaddafi. In 1998,
Washington fired a cruise missile into
Afghanistan in an attempt to kill Osama
bin Laden, whom the U.S. sees as
behind last week's terrorist attacks.
The analysts said that since these
attempts failed, it may be assumed that
U.S. officials are mulling the use of
tactical nuclear weapons, which can
cause much greater destruction.
Declassified official documents show
that since the mid-1990s, the U.S. has
indicated that it does not rule out the
use of nuclear weapons if a country
attacks the U.S., its allies, or its forces
with chemical or biological weapons.
(Kyodo News)
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