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Originally posted by Surfacing:
Doug!
don't u think the u.s should be concentrating more on getting reed of there own nukes b 4 getting other nations off nukes?
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1. The US
is working on reducing its stockpiles of nuclear weapons. However, if you think the US will get rid of
all of them while other countries still have them, you're not being realistic.
2. It's not a matter of getting other nations "off nukes" -- it's a matter of keeping nations that don't have nukes now from ever getting them. Especially rogue nations like Iraq, which has already demonstrated its readiness to use chemical weapons by killing its own people (Kurds) with them.
3. Having nuclear weapons presents a deterrent to other countries from using them. If the only thing keeping Saddam or some other idiot from lobbing one over here is the fear that we will level them in response, then so be it.
While some people will call me naive, I believe that deterrence is the
only reason that the US has held onto its nukes. We used nukes offensively once when the technology was brand new, and while some believe it brought an earlier end to WWII and saved lives, there is much, much regret over the fact. There are very few people, if any, that believe it's the way to conduct warfare.
So, as I said, I am all for getting rid of all nukes, but the fact remains that the nuclear genie is out of the bottle. The US isn't going to get rid of all of its nukes while other countries that might very possibly use them against the US are trying to build them.