Article

2008-02-10 India-Pakistan

A Pakistani view of U.S. nuclear weapons

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by john frum 2008-02-10 12:48|| || Front Page|| [14 views ] Top

#1 "In Pakistan, we store nuclear warheads separately from their delivery systems, and a nuclear warhead can only be activated if three separate officers agree"
Right now that's about all that separates you from a date with the U.S. Marine Corps.

"In the United States... nuclear weapons still sit atop missiles, on hair-trigger alert"
Please keep reminding Iran of that at every opportunity.

"Russia helped China. And China," he added coyly, "is said by Western media sources to have helped Pakistan"
And where do you think that leaves you with Putin reving up the Cold War?

"Their leaders lecture us on the sanctity of life, and their president believes that every embryo is sacred, but they are the only country to have used these terrible weapons"
Let he who has not acquired them cast the first stone. What did you get them for -- paperweights?

"Here in Pakistan, alcohol is haram"
But Pakistan has no problem enabling opium trade.

"the U.S. commander-in-chief has confessed to having been an alcoholic"
Past tense. Want to put some of your leaders' pasts under close scrutiny? There are worse things than having been an alcoholic.

"You have a president who describes Jesus as his favorite philosopher" -- and we all know what a nasty guy Jesus was compared to sweet Mo.

"Many Pakistanis worry that the United States is being taken over by religious extremists"
So your approach is to further antagonize us and semi-covertly support your extremists? Brilliant. Suicidally brilliant.

Way to go, guys. You just succeeded in antagonizing us even more.

Posted by Darrell 2008-02-10 15:07|| 2008-02-10 15:07|| Front Page Top

#2 I think the good general has almost made the definitive case for being scared witless of the US of A, but he did miss a few points:

1- We have a lousy understanding of world geography. Islamabad is the capital of Iran, isn't it?

2- The Declaration of Independence does not actually contain the phrase "peace through fire superiority", but Jefferson later wished he had included it.

3- We invented the term "collateral damage."

4- We are heavily armed. The Pakistani army would most assuredly lose a gunfight with the female population of Tupelo, Mississippi, and would be slaughtered to a man in an assault on any mid-sized city in Texas.

5- All the polls show that we're carrying around a lot of anger right now.

And last but not least: with Hillary and Obama on deck, we may think we are in a "use it or lose it" situation.

Posted by Matt 2008-02-10 15:32|| 2008-02-10 15:32|| Front Page Top

#3 Pakistanis need a closer view of US nuclear weapons. Very close up.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2008-02-10 15:50|| 2008-02-10 15:50|| Front Page Top

#4 I look forward to the day a Pakistani's argumentative skills advance beyond Tu Coque. It will be a post muslim Pakistan, so I look forward to it soon.

Posted by ed 2008-02-10 19:35|| 2008-02-10 19:35|| Front Page Top

#5 The upcoming pakiwaki view of US nukes can be seen here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Peacekeeper-missile-testing.jpg

We'll Castle Bravo their ass..

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2008-02-10 21:56|| 2008-02-10 21:56|| Front Page Top

#6 Castle Bravo? Although after seeing the photo, I have an idea of the general area of meaning.

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2008-02-10 22:02|| 2008-02-10 22:02|| Front Page Top

#7 Castle Bravo was a US H-bomb test that had almost 2x the anticipated yield. If we end up having to nuke the middle east, I expect the total megatonnage dropped will be a bit more than was originally estimated...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2008-02-10 23:24|| 2008-02-10 23:24|| Front Page Top

#8 Thank you, M.Murcek. Twice anticipated yield? Goodness! (There's so much history I don't know yet)

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2008-02-10 23:40|| 2008-02-10 23:40|| Front Page Top

#9 Yes, when you're expecting 4 to 5 megatons yield, 15+ comes as a bit of a surprise. Unanticipated neutron production from the Lithium-6...

Posted by M. Murcek">M. Murcek 2008-02-10 23:54|| 2008-02-10 23:54|| Front Page Top

23:55 Xenophon
23:54 M. Murcek
23:49 KBK
23:48 Helmuth, Speaking for Spusoling6019
23:40 trailing wife
23:35 KBK
23:34 M. Murcek
23:34 trailing wife
23:25 marc
23:24 M. Murcek
23:22 JosephMendiola
23:21 Throger Thains8048
23:19 3dc
23:16 Redneck Jim
23:15 JosephMendiola
23:13 Redneck Jim
23:10 Kojo Omeans9930
23:09 JosephMendiola
23:08 trailing wife
23:07 JosephMendiola
23:07 marc
23:07 M. Murcek
23:04 Redneck Jim
23:03 JosephMendiola