Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told

[Horse with no Name]

:scared:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/nato/story/0,,2244782,00.html

The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the "imminent" spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists.

Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a "grand strategy" to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a "first strike" nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world".


The manifesto has been written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, many of whom are unable or unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to the Pentagon in Washington and to Nato's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The proposals are likely to be discussed at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April.

"The risk of further proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible," the authors argued in the 150-page blueprint for urgent reform of western military strategy and structures. "The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

[krispos42]

1. Yanno...

I really did want to go my entire life without hearing a breathless newscaster breaking into the regularly-scheduled program with news of a nuclear bomb attack.

I really really did.

[POAS]

2. Prevent nuclear war

with nuclear war?

George Orwell, you bastard, why did you have to give them their playbook?

[rjones2818]

3. The idiots are going to get us all killed...

well, at least most of us.

But, then again, you don't build weapons without intending to use them.

[Echo In Light]

4. Astounding...the horror our species has wrought

And the real kicker is that most now still believe that the threat of nuclear war is remote when in fact the chances of it are likely greater than it was throughout much of the Cold War PR campaign.

...as an aside, has anyone else noticed how the use of mushroom clouds has been more prevalent in television/movies/commercials lately? ...a little "pre-conditioning?"

:shrug: