Ian Traynor (Guardian Utd): Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (London)
Dated Tuesday, January 22

Pre-emptive nuclear strike a key option, Nato told
By Ian Traynor in Brussels

The west must be ready to resort to a pre-emptive nuclear attack to try to halt the "imminent" spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, according to a radical manifesto for a new Nato by five of the west's most senior military officers and strategists.

Calling for root-and-branch reform of Nato and a new pact drawing the US, Nato and the European Union together in a "grand strategy" to tackle the challenges of an increasingly brutal world, the former armed forces chiefs from the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands insist that a "first strike" nuclear option remains an "indispensable instrument" since there is "simply no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world".

The manifesto has been written following discussions with active commanders and policymakers, many of whom are unable or unwilling to publicly air their views. It has been presented to the Pentagon in Washington and to Nato's secretary general, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, over the past 10 days. The proposals are likely to be discussed at a Nato summit in Bucharest in April.

"The risk of further (nuclear) proliferation is imminent and, with it, the danger that nuclear war fighting, albeit limited in scope, might become possible," the authors argued in the 150-page blueprint for urgent reform of western military strategy and structures. "The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

Read more at the link.

This looks like something about which to be concerned.

[Vincardog]

1. Considering the *'s administration has been caught pedaling Nuclear technology to the highest bidde

I don't believe they have any interest in a nuclear-free world, I do believe they view a "first strike" nuclear option as one way to ushering in their goal of triking Bjesus into returning.

[Briar]

2. Quite a story to appear

the day after Martin Luther King day. We never learn.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Guess NATO should have thought about "no realistic prospect of a nuclear-free world" before they.

invested so heavily in nuclear weapons. I would be willing to join a revolution against anybody that orders a pre-emptive nuclear strike.

[14thColony]

4. Doublespeak at its best

"The first use of nuclear weapons must remain in the quiver of escalation as the ultimate instrument to prevent the use of weapons of mass destruction."

To translate: "we must be willing to use nuclear weapons to prevent the use of nuclear weapons."

We must destroy the village to save it.

We must take away freedoms in order to protect them.