Cal Thomas, Nukes, & Afghanistan

[skywalker]

Whoa...Is this guy fo real?

Cal Thomas

November 2, 2001

The nuclear option

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told The London Telegraph last week that Britain and the United States should expect a large-scale chemical and biological weapons assault on civilian targets by Osama bin Laden's terrorist group. The objective, said Wolfowitz, is to cause tens of thousands of casualties.

If such a forecast is based on sound intelligence, President Bush should consider emulating his predecessor, Harry Truman, and employ the use of at least tactical nuclear weapons against the Taliban should it be concluded that such a weapon might produce better results than the current bombing campaign. If this is war, why pull any punches?

There are similarities between Japan in 1945 - the first and only time any nation has employed nuclear weapons in warfare - and Afghanistan now. Then, Japanese troops frequently hid in caves and pillboxes and fought with a religious fervor inspired by their Emperor in whom they vested divine power. Now, the Taliban use caves as protective cover and are inspired by religious zeal.

Gen. George C. Marshall recounted Japanese resistance and the willingness of Japanese soldiers to fight to the death during World War II. "We had one hundred thousand people killed in Tokyo in one night of bombs, and it had seemingly no effect whatsoever," Marshall is quoted in "Truman," David McCullough's 1992 biography of the president. "It destroyed the Japanese cities, yes, but their morale was affected, so far as we could tell, not at all. So it seemed quite necessary, if we could, to shock them into action...We had to end the war; we had to save American lives."

That was Truman's main concern - saving American lives. As recounted in McCullough's book, the president took no delight in wiping out entire cities and thousands of civilians, but Japan, like the Taliban today, had started the war and would not give up. The Japanese, like the Taliban, promised more American dead, and Truman's first obligation, like that of President Bush, was to protect America and Americans. "It occurred to me," McCullough quotes Truman, "that a quarter of a million of the flower of our young manhood were worth a couple of Japanese cities, and I still think they were and are."

"Remember Pearl Harbor" served as a rallying cry for a previous generation that taught warmongers the consequences of attacking the United States. "Remember the World Trade Center and the Pentagon" should serve as a contemporary rallying cry. The Taliban fight with the weapons of terror, determined to kill every man, woman and child they can. The United States should spare no effort in wiping out the Taliban and all terrorists who would follow in their sandal-steps. If there is collateral civilian damage, that's war.

America's willingness to use nuclear weapons during World War II preserved the peace and struck fear into the hearts of our adversaries. It's time for another demonstration of our resolve. Perhaps nothing short of nuclear weapons will deter for another generation the enemies of freedom. Like the fanatical Japanese of Truman's day, the fanatical Taliban will not be dissuaded from murdering as many Americans as they can. This is not a time for diplomatic or political niceties. It is a time to wipe them out before they wipe any more of us out.

Harry Truman was not afraid to use the power he had to save America and the lives of its citizens. As David McCullough writes, "Japan had some 2.5 million regular troops on the home islands, but every male between the ages of 15 and 60; every female from 17 to 45, was being conscripted and armed with everything from ancient brass cannon to bamboo spears, taught to strap explosives to their bodies and throw themselves at advancing tanks."

That's the kind of fanaticism the United States faces in Afghanistan and in countries like Iraq. If we show them that our sword is bigger than theirs and, more importantly, that we will not shrink from using it to defend our people and our values, the likelihood we will have to do so again in the near future will be diminished.

There is a psychological and political downside to deploying even tactical nuclear weapons. But there's a bigger downside should Wolfowitz's forecast come true. Americans and Britons who would die in such a terrorist attack - and their loved ones - deserve to know that their countries are doing all they can to defend them.


©2001 Tribune Media Services

townhall.com

I hope no one listens to him!

[skywalker]

Oh! And BTW, Truman opened a Pandora's Box by dropping the Bombs. It has become something people worldwide live in fear of. I hope no Government official feels the time is ripe for Nukes. If so, may God have mercy on their souls.

Just my 2 cents!

[Silver Cheetah]

quote:

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Originally posted by skywalker:
Oh! And BTW, Truman opened a Pandora's Box by dropping the Bombs. It has become something people worldwide live in fear of. I hope no Government official feels the time is ripe for Nukes. If so, may God have mercy on their souls.

Just my 2 cents!

---

This is just completely potty. I see that Bush has started yapping on about nukes and chemical and biological weapons - lordy me, twas only a few days ago that the defense dept said the anthrax was domestic in origin, in their view.

As for the nuke threat - Bush has come out with this right now to justify everything they ever have done or will do in that poor beleagured country we now know as Afghanistan, but soon, if some cartoonists have their way, to be referred to as Lake America.

Given the quality of American and British intelligence so far, I really do have to take this with an extremely large and cynical grain of salt.

[Ronn_Bman]

quote:

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Originally posted by Silver Cheetah:


This is just completely potty. I see that Bush has started yapping on about nukes and chemical and biological weapons - lordy me, twas only a few days ago that the defense dept said the anthrax was domestic in origin, in their view.

As for the nuke threat - Bush has come out with this right now to justify everything they ever have done or will do in that poor beleagured country we now know as Afghanistan, but soon, if some cartoonists have their way, to be referred to as Lake America.

Given the quality of American and British intelligence so far, I really do have to take this with an extremely large and cynical grain of salt.

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Skywalker this article is "over the top" from the pro-war point of view, but no more so than anti-war articles also found in this forum posted by others. Both types of articles are extreme and meant to be read as such. I hope anti-war advocates don't take this one to seriously, just as I hope pro-warsters don't take the others too seriously. They are extreme points of view.

Also sky, Truman may have opened the "box", but he wasn't the only one with a key. If Truman hadn't used the bomb, someone else would have. At least Truman used it to end the war. Hitler was working on the bomb before we ever started. The technology was there, and when technology can be applied to weapons of war, it will be done by anyone with the ability.

SC, yes they think the Anthrax is from a strain from US labs, but that doesn't mean it is being used by Americans on Americans. People in the facilities can be "bought off", just like everywhere else in the world.

The nuclear threat is real! Even more real today than during the Cold War because then nation states knew the cost of using nuclear weapons and only used them as deterents once their devastating results were seen.

The Afghan refuges don't have them, but please don't discount the idea that there are those who would love to use them against civilians. Terrorist use every weapon at their disposal and would love nothing more than to use a nuke.

I would love to see everything possible done to stop them from getting one, because if they detonate a nuke, it will make September 11th, pale by comparision in both effect and consequences.

[ 11-07-2001: Message edited by: Ronn_Bman ]

[Chewbacca]

Nukes. My worst nightmare, literally about three weeks ago.

Only in my dream it was desperate terrorists countering an American ground invasion somewhere in the middle east.

I wonder why anyone would be pro-nuke. I know they are a "deterent". That doesnt justify the ethical implicationss of having such weapons on hand. They kill the same numberandmore than bio/chem weapons and the radiation is killa.