Mini-Nukes Receive Green Light

[ClubMed]

Senate Scraps Low-Yield Nuke Weapons Ban

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003May21.html

[fufiter9246]

darn

[SickPup404]

You know, I'm ALL FOR defense, but nuclear weapons are...well, nuclear - NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL!

What a loss for mankind....

[willy_ph]

Definitely an unfortunate state of affairs when politicians believe that more nuclear weapons are the answer to the world's problems.

[CERuppel]

All this does is undermine our international position against the development of nukes, give commanders an easier option of "nuke 'em", and make money for the military weapons development special interests.

This sucks.

How many military field commanders are going to want this option? All it does is give the enemy a reason to use its nukes...first!

And just how long will this "secret" remain secret? Last time I checked the Russians did it in four years (instead of the estimated twenty). And that doesn't go into spys and the "oops" factor...

This sucks.

[crouse]

usually I am sitting on the republican side of the bench........ but on this issue...... I have to say the Democrats are correct.

Unless of course there is an alterior motive for this research..... perhaps as a means to eliminate bioweapons facilities that are underground.... :?

You know, in an event where people start throwing nukes around, I'd much rather it were a tac-nuke than a couple thousand megaton bomb.

[osprey4]

Short-term memory loss problems here.

Nuclear weapons have served us well for sixty years. They kept the Commies under control. Yes, it's a new world and the threats are no longer conventional, but let's not forget the wars that were never fought because of nuclear weapons.

Keep in mind that our nuclear build-up was accomplished primarily under the Democrats, and much of the conventional wisdom that prevails today was developed under Johnson in the 60s.

The whole idea was to bargain from a position of strength, so you'd never have to use them at all. This philosophy has worked for nearly 60 years.

[caddmannq]

Democrats have argued that any step toward developing low-yield weapons would undermine U.S. efforts to persuade other countries not to develop their own nuclear weapons. They also say it would blur the line between nuclear and conventional weapons and make it more likely that a nuclear weapon might be used.

Like those "efforts" are gonna do a single bit of good against certain countries, or any organization that just wants to buy one off the shelf.

In any event, we already have low-yield nukes. This whole business is just about building better ones.

As for "blurring the line" that's a buncha whitewash.

Evrybody's gonna know that they're nukes, and we'll make sure they do.

[crouse]

http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/when-nuke.cfm

informative reading