Shades of the 1950's

And now, from the Administration that allowed an August, 2001 PDB memo alerting them to the threat of a terrorist attack to be ignored, that brought us lies to drag us to war in Iraq, that did nothing to assist in the rescue of hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast residents in the face of Hurricane Katrina, we have word of its latest folly: nuclear pre-emption.

From the Washington Post:


The Pentagon has drafted a revised doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons that envisions commanders requesting presidential approval to use them to preempt an attack by a nation or a terrorist group using weapons of mass destruction. The draft also includes the option of using nuclear arms to destroy known enemy stockpiles of nuclear, biological or chemical weapons.

The document, written by the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs staff but not yet finally approved by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, would update rules and procedures governing use of nuclear weapons to reflect a preemption strategy first announced by the Bush White House in December 2002. The strategy was outlined in more detail at the time in classified national security directives.

A "summary of changes" included in the draft identifies differences from the 1995 doctrine, and says the new document "revises the discussion of nuclear weapons use across the range of military operations."

The first example for potential nuclear weapon use listed in the draft is against an enemy that is using "or intending to use WMD" against U.S. or allied, multinational military forces or civilian populations.

Another scenario for a possible nuclear preemptive strike is in case of an "imminent attack from adversary biological weapons that only effects from nuclear weapons can safely destroy."

That and other provisions in the document appear to refer to nuclear initiatives proposed by the administration that Congress has thus far declined to fully support.

To deter the use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States, the Pentagon paper says preparations must be made to use nuclear weapons and show determination to use them "if necessary to prevent or retaliate against WMD use."

Remember, the invasion of Iraq was premised on the Administration's new theory of pre-emptive war. That debacle still bleeds this country to the tune of at least one US soldier's life per day and billions of dollars per month. The clusterfuck that is Iraq is one of the many reasons that a reasonable and timely federal response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina was not possible. Now, these same yahoos want to be able to nuke anyone who just might have the weapons of mass destruction never found in Iraq?

Isn't there anybody in Washinton DC with the brains to realize that these nimrods can't justify having access to janitorial keys, much less the keys to our nuclear arsenal? If there isn't, 2006 can't come early enough.