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2002-03-10 07:06 MSK - Pentagon to prepare nuclear weapons
WASHINGTON
- Citing a classified Pentagon report, the Los Angeles Times reported on
Saturday that the Bush administration has told the Defense Department to
prepare, on a contingency basis, plans to use nuclear weapons against at least
seven countries. The military was also directed to build smaller nuclear weapons
for use in certain battlefield situations, the newspaper reported. The countries
named in the secret report - provided to Congress Jan. 8 - were China, Russia,
Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria, the Times reported. The three
contingencies listed for possible use of the weapons were "against targets able
to withstand nonnuclear attack; in retaliation for attack with nuclear,
biological or chemical weapons; or "in the event of surprising military
developments," according to the newspaper. "The report says the Pentagon should
be prepared to use nuclear weapons in an Arab-Israeli conflict, in a war between
China and Taiwan, or in an attack from North Korea on the south. They might also
become necessary in an attack by Iraq on Israel or another neighbor," The Times
said. "Officials have long acknowledged that they had detailed nuclear plans for
an attack on Russia. However, this "Nuclear Posture Review" apparently marks the
first time that an official list of potential target countries has come to
light," analysts told the Times. "This is dynamite," said Joseph Cirincione, a
nuclear arms expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in
Washington. "I can imagine what these countries are going to be saying at the
U.N.," he told the newspaper. Arms control advocates told the Times "the
report's directives on development of smaller nuclear weapons could signal that
the Bush administration is more willing to overlook a long-standing taboo
against the use of nuclear weapons except as a last resort. However,
conservative analysts said that the Pentagon must prepare for all possibilities
as other countries, and some terrorist groups, are engaged in weapons
development programs. Their position was that smaller weapons have a deterrent
role because rogue nations or terrorists might not believe that the United
States would use more destructive multi-kiloton weapons, the Times reported.
Jack Spencer, a defense analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, told
the newspaper the contents of the report did not surprise him and represent "the
right way to develop a nuclear posture for a post-Cold War world." The Times
reported that a copy of the report was obtained by defense analyst and Times
contributor William Arkin. The Pentagon refused to comment. -Reuters
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