The American Spectator

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Are You MAD?

11.15.06 @ 12:01AM

JOIN THE CLUB
Re: William Tucker's How About a Nuclear Standoff?:

I disagree with your premise that the American manpower necessary to fight the wars against radical Islam is not available. During the first Gulf War a little over fifteen years ago, the U.S. Army was almost twice its present size. Eight of our Eighteen active duty divisions were eliminated during the 1990's due to budget cuts, not lack of volunteers.

The Bush Administration missed the opportunity to re-activate several of these lost division during the months after 9-11. Congress probably would have supplied the funding and a national call for volunteers would have been answered -- both by young recruits and discharged veteran NCOs like myself. While that opportunity has passed, the armed services continue to meet or exceed their recruiting and retention goals.

The limiting factor in the size of our forces is political and financial willpower, not volunteers. The Republicans are now out of power in Congress because they decided to spend on pet projects in their districts rather than the military.

I hope nuclear deterrence is enough to control the growing nuclear club. If not, just ask for volunteers and pay up.
-- Chris B.
New Jersey

Williams Tucker's thinking on using nuclear deferent or MAD against one or more of the Islamist States seeking nuclear arms is flawed on several levels.

First and foremost, the reason rouge States like Iran or North Korea want nuclear weapons is not to simply drop one unannounced into the backyard of one of their imaginary enemies via long range ballistic missile. The long range ballistic missile and H-bombs required to make them truly effective as a strategic weapon are more of a blackmail weapon or trump card to prevent the very thing you say will deter them in reverse. Simply stated it isn't the nuke they will put on top of some missile that is the threat but the small one they will give to some proxy to deliver up close and personal to some place like Haifa or New York City that gets top security expert's attention. The phrase "plausible deniability" comes to mind.

The second flaw and the one that greases the skid for the first is that the people we deterred with MAD were on the whole rational people and their leaders for the most part were the same. This can not be said of Islam in general and Iran in particular. The Islamic fundamentalism we are fighting is at it most basic level a culture of death and destruction and embraces suicidal brutality as a means to an end. That end, a better life with their GOD isn't subject to our concept of rationality. To put it in pop culture terms, they believe it better to "die well" rather than "live well". Your belief they wouldn't destroy a holy Islamic symbol isn't supported by the facts on the ground in Iraq or anywhere else Muslins fight. If you seriously believe Islamists won't destroy their holy sites to obtain their goals then all Israel has to do to be safe is threaten to destroy Mecca, Medina and the Rock of the Dome and the problem is solved. Right? Sell that to the Shiites in Iraq.

The third flaw is in thinking that the producer and thus the source of a nuclear device can be determined and thus the ones responsible for its use held accountable. Please explain how a small nuclear explosion in Haifa tomorrow delivered by unknown means can be attributed to anyone after the fact? The radioactive signatures of all known quantities of such material are limited to those countries that play by the rules and register their materials. If Iran does not register its material or the signature of the exploded device can not be traced to a "known" producer then what? Does Israel just wack Iran with 100 warheads for the hell of it? What if some alphabet terrorist group claims credit for the device then what? Who gets wacked? Such devices require the manufacturing base of a Nation State to produce, particularly the small portable types.

The fourth flaw in your thinking is not listening to what the leader of Iran keeps saying. His rhetoric regarding the destruction of Israel keeps shortening the time Israel has left. When did Israel threaten the destruction of Iran in the last 58 years? What has he to gain by saying this and not caring through on his veiled threat? Israel has limited means to attack Iran in mass. We are in the way. Neither the leadership of Iran or North Korea may be as nuts as they sound but the people that surround them and support them are and have demonstrated their willingness to go to any depths to meet their GOD on equal terms. You are asking us to put our faith in people who have demonstrated they will go to brutal means to achieve minimal political results.

MAD is not the basis to deter nuclear terrorism but it will be deemed madness to believe that if you are wrong.
-- Thom Bateman
Newport News, Virginia

Just read Tucker perspective of 11/14/06. It's about time someone besides me advocated this line. What good has years of threats of one kind or another against both Iran and North Korea done. They know we won't do anything and the constant unspecified threats just grow old. We have become the boy who cried wolf on this issue.

What we need to say is;

You want the bomb, go right ahead. You want to test the bomb, knock yourself out, so long as it is contained in your own country. You want to build a delivery system, have at it. BUT, if any weapon goes off any where on the globe outside your borders we will incinerate your pitiful country.

And we have to mean it. All political parties regardless of who is in power have to sign on. If a bomb goes off we will launch until there is nothing left to launch at. No question, no quarter,

Letter to the Editor

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Trade, Islam, Abortion, Environment, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Russia, Israel, NATO, North Korea, Nuclear Weapons