Thinking The Unthinkable

Hiroshima, August 1945

Belmont Club has a long and excellent post that analyzes what should be U.S. policy when it comes to organizations, institutions, peoples, and governments who are directly or indirectly responsible for a WMD attack against the United States. The comments section is well worth the read also.

From Belmont Club:

One of the more embarrassing aspects of the Cold War, which we can acknowledge without undue shame in retrospect, was that the safety of both superpowers depended on collective punishment. The vast arsenals of nuclear warheads on both sides, especially in the early days of missile guidance, were aimed not at military bases or government centers. They were not aimed at the White House, the Capitol or the Kremlin. They were aimed at the cities in which millions of civilians lived. Another word for the sonorous term of "deterrence" was holding the enemy nation's population accountable for the actions of the leaders.

Read more ....

My Comment: In the event of a WMD attack on the United States, once the guilty parties are found (and they will be found) a response of overwhelming might will need to be done. Such a response may lead to the deaths of millions, but failure to respond leaves open the door to a disaster that can kill hundreds of millions in the future.

I have always believed that the problem among a good portion of the world is that they have very little if any sensitivity to the dangers of nuclear weapons or the concept of Total War. The United States, Russia, China, Japan, much of Europe .... we as a people know what all out war is and what are the consequences. Iran and much of the Middle East, Pakistan, Venezuela and their allies in Latin America .... these leaders and their populations are terrible ignorant on what Western War machines are capable of, and on what are the consequences of unrestrained warfare.

The Iraq - Iran War, Gulf Wars I and II, the Intifada, the Pakistan-India wars, while all of these conflicts killed many, they pale to what the killing fields produced in Europe and Asia during the Second World War. But the populations that support Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc., and their goals are completely oblivious to this.

This is why I am fearful that one day WMD's will be used by terrorist organizations from the Middle East .... and if not stopped they will continue to use them until their goals are reached. The only way that they can be stopped is if their civilian populations stop to support them. But they will only stop supporting these groups if they are aware that the consequences of their actions will be a price that will be unacceptable to them.

If a few American cities become empty because of a dirty bomb or a crude nuclear device, a lesson will have to be taught. Unfortunately, groups like Al Qaeda and their civilian facilitators are now running down this path. Confident in their goals and objectives .... they strongly believe that the West and their allies will not have the stomach to respond. That the West is like Barack Obama .... we do not want to kill the innocent. But history and reality are very different.