"Kakki" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >As for Bush throwing around threats, >he did not do that - he and Congress reviewed that Pentagon report to >*discuss* all their weaponry options but there have been no reports that >everyone privy to it had agreed or voted on nuking a number of countries >ad hoc. Once the discussion was leaked, what was he supposed to say, other >than "if you nuke us, we will leave our options open" which has been the >policy of all the administrations I can remember. >That said, most of us here have thankfully lived our lives without the >deployment of a nuclear weapon. Let's pray that continues.
Yes, it has long been the stated public policy of each President and his Secretary of State that the USA will never strike first with nuclear weapons, and only use them in retaliation to another state's nuclear attack. But within the Pentagon it's a different story. There has always been a plan to attack the USSR/Russia with nukes if deemed necessary, and this new study commissioned by the Bush administration asks the Pentagon "to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria. It says the weapons could be used in three types of situations: 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.'" This is from an article in the LA Times reporting on the secret report given to congress in January, and can be read in full here: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-030902bombs.story -Fred
