I keep reading about Senator Obama saying nukes are off the table to strike terror targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The press and all these idiot Democrats who responded are showing their stupidity, especially Hillary Clinton. You don't threaten terrorist with nukes, that's giving them exactly what they want. Nothing would be a better recruiting poster for al Qaida than an American President threatening to nuke Mecca in response to terrorism. Also, to respond to terrorism with a nuke...is ludicrous, bordering on a crime against humanity, it's a monumental over-reaction. Using a nuke against terrorists would be like using a .357 to kill a mosquito.
Now, saying you would use a nuclear weapon to retaliate against a state, that you can prove KNOWINGLY had something to do with a nuclear attack ON THE UNITED STATES, is one thing. Quite frankly, I have no problem with that threat. It's that threat that maintained an unstable, and albeit horrible, status quo during the Cold War, and it is a threat that reflects the world in which we unfortunately live.
But to say that the threat of using nuclear weapons against just terrorists? That is beyond the pale.
You'd be hurting thousands, if not millions, of people who had nothing to do with the terrorists. I honestly hope that Senator Clinton was still confused about what Obama said when she made her statement. If not, then it is unbelievably telling. It would mean that she and her advisors have lost their goddamn minds. The threat of using nukes to punish terrorism is not a show a strength, it's a show of psychopathy.
Please, I'd like to hear from you. Post lots of comments!
Let make this clear: I am not advocating the use of nuclear weapons for first strike, but I AM saying that a nuclear deterrent is very necessary. If you don't understand that, that's fine, but you're not living in reality. China has nuclear weapons, and our economic competiveness with them could one day become something much worse. (We all pray that it does not.) Pakistan, India, Russia, not to mention Iran (or they will) and the DPRK have nukes, we must maintain a deterrent. Maybe one day one won't be necessary, but today is not that day.