"US joint chiefs of staff posted then removed paper that suggests nuclear weapons could ‘create conditions for decisive results"
Nuclear weapons: experts alarmed by new Pentagon 'war-fighting' doctrine
The Pentagon believes using nuclear weapons
could “create conditions for decisive results and the restoration of
strategic stability”, according to a new nuclear doctrine adopted by the
US joint chiefs of staff last week.
The document, entitled Nuclear Operations,
was published on 11 June, and was the first such doctrine paper for 14
years. Arms control experts say it marks a shift in US military thinking
towards the idea of fighting and winning a nuclear war – which they
believe is a highly dangerous mindset.
“Using nuclear weapons could create conditions for decisive results
and the restoration of strategic stability,” the joint chiefs’ document
says. “Specifically, the use of a nuclear weapon will fundamentally
change the scope of a battle and create conditions that affect how
commanders will prevail in conflict.”
At the start of a chapter on nuclear planning and targeting, the
document quotes a cold war theorist, Herman Kahn, as saying: “My guess
is that nuclear weapons will be used sometime in the next hundred years,
but that their use is much more likely to be small and limited than
widespread and unconstrained.”
Kahn was a controversial figure. He argued that a nuclear war could
be “winnable” and is reported to have provided part of the inspiration
for Stanley Kubrick’s film Dr Strangelove.
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