Reply #14: What would we have to lose?

[krispos42]

Massive population loss, massive wounded, radiation run amok. So now the 'enemy' can occupy us at their leisure? Maybe wait a few years until a few million more Americans had died of cancer, until we had started to repair and rebuild, then move in. After all, the longer they wait, the weaker we are as the effects of food shortages and radioactive soil are felt. Maybe even some sort of nuclear winter, depending on how many nukes are used.

Returning fire would at least take out the enemy as well, leaving us safe from invasion and able to rebuild and recivilize ourselves.

And, again, it's setting the precedent. By NOT nuking back, we're justifying using first-strike nuclear weapons for the rest of human civilization. It may not matter at the time, it may not matter a century after the time. But it will matter.