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| Home Front: Politix |
| McCain to minimize US nuke arsenal |
| 2008-05-29 |
| Our highest priority must be to reduce the danger that nuclear weapons will ever be used. Such weapons, while still important to deter an attack with weapons of mass destruction against us and our allies, represent the most abhorrent and indiscriminate form of warfare known to man. We do, quite literally, possess the means to destroy all of mankind. We must seek to do all we can to ensure that nuclear weapons will never again be used. While working closely with allies who rely on our nuclear umbrella for their security, I would ask the Joint Chiefs of Staff to engage in a comprehensive review of all aspects of our nuclear strategy and policy. I would keep an open mind on all responsible proposals. At the same time, we must continue to deploy a safe and reliable nuclear deterrent, robust missile defenses and superior conventional forces that are capable of defending the United States and our allies. But I will seek to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements and global commitments. Today we deploy thousands of nuclear warheads. It is my hope to move as rapidly as possible to a significantly smaller force. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #14 Tryano - you hit the nail on the head. Some of our arsenal is simply going to be unmaintainable. So he gets credit for "reducing" arms. Never mind that we will take the fissile mataerial and reprocess it for updated versions of the wweapons we keep. And it is smart politics - he sheds the "warmonger" face that the Dems are trying to pin on him, and cuts Obama off at the knees by boxing him out on this issue. The best Obama can do is a weak "me too". And remember - he didn't say he will, he said he will SEEK to... nice weasel wording. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2008-05-29 18:19 |
| #13 How many Cold War-era nuclear warheads are going to reach the their freshness date and have to be rebuilt in the near future? McCain gets a Win-Win by saving the associated costs to the budget and donning a saintly halo by saying it is "...for the children." |
| Posted by: Tyranysaurus Thineger1966 2008-05-29 16:47 |
| #12 Nuke the oil-fields---build 1000 nuclear power stations. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2008-05-29 13:32 |
| #11 The best way to guarantee nukes with never be used is to retake the oilfields from the Muslims. Bankrupt them and send them back to the Dark Ages they love so much and keep the wealth we earned for ourselves. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-05-29 11:49 |
| #10 Personally I think it is a great move from the mccain camp - called out bo and in the same week opened the discussion of a nuclear peace. Keeps him in the news, he has his own talking point now, and continues to kick bo in the teeth. Not that I agree with the policy. Only a handful of nations have the capability to withstand an undeclared first strike and still retaliate but there are plenty of nations which could cause havoc with just a couple of nukes, those are the ones to be concerned about. I will seek to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal to the lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements and global commitments. His security stance would presume that this means not too few. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2008-05-29 11:46 |
| #9 I'd settle for just educating some of these muslim leaders in the dangers of radioactive fallout. |
| Posted by: Abu Uluque 2008-05-29 11:33 |
| #8 I don't see why "out of the box" McCain even mention this. We don't need to disarm our nuclear capability. Islamic countries that are trying to develop a WMD capability would enjoy a seeing us reduce our nuclear stockpiles. Granted we would have plenty even if we reduced our numbers. There are other issues that are more important at this time such as addressing energy our problems. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2008-05-29 10:38 |
| #7 Or monkeying with an inferior spell checker :) |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-05-29 10:31 |
| #6 Procopius: Is the human "gnome" the result of from monkeying with the genome? |
| Posted by: mom 2008-05-29 09:50 |
| #5 We do, quite literally, possess the means to destroy all of mankind. Yeah, but its not nukes. It's screwing around intentionally or by error with the human gnome. A designer plague is a far more effective final solution [which the enviro-wiennies seem to have a thing for]. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-05-29 08:42 |
| #4 Ah yes, TW, that too is of great pertinence. Must look into it. Appoint a committee. Consult with allies. Oh wait, that one phone number Kissinger wanted when he wanted to talk to "Europe" isn't connected yet, is it? Yes, yes. Must ponder. Ponder much, we must. |
| Posted by: Ptah 2008-05-29 08:23 |
| #3 We must seek... a comprehensive review... an open mine on responsible proposals...lowest number possible consistent with our security requirements... It is my hope... Lots of words signifying nothing much in particular, but which will make the anti-nuke crowd, both here and abroad, happy. Comprehensive reviews can take an awfully long time, if they're to be truly comprehensive. Then proposals must be drawn up, pondered and sifted to retain only those truly responsible under all possible conditions, which then must be compared to find the best one. In the meantime, our security requirements vis a vis our nuclear arsenal must be evaluated, especially given the various possible mixes of size, type, and delivery systems... This sounds like the script for an entire season of Yes, Prime Minister on BBC. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-05-29 07:50 |
| #2 *shakes head* A stupid move on McCain's part to curry favor with the Left. A far better approach is this: propose making a multi-lateral treaty with the Soviets and the Chinese to reduce nuclear weapons inventories. Make a magnanamous gesture to reduce inventories and challenge them to match. Make a necessity a virtue. This guy has no REAL sense of opportunism... |
| Posted by: Ptah 2008-05-29 07:06 |
| #1 Let's deal with proliferation first. Unilateralism is not warranted in the current state of affairs. |
| Posted by: McZoid 2008-05-29 00:34 |