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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (237324)	3/13/2002 12:45:07 PM
From: MSI	Respond to of 769670

The problem in stating intentions to use nukes is escalation. MAD worked on a singular national enemy with more to lose. But it applied to nation-states, not individuals without any sense self-preservation. Sure, escalation from macro-nukes to mini-nukes could be a threat to tunnel-builders. It could also be a massive threat to civilians in the US. If there is any pseudo-morality to terrorism it may include "well, you are planning to do the same thing", a moral relatavism we hear constantly in bin Laden's tapes accusing the US of terrorism. Using nukes ratchets up the stakes for the US, as well. As an engineer, I appreciate the niceties of a well-placed 1500-foot deep 10 kiloton explosion as well as the next guy. It would give a nice glaze for a thousand feet and shake to the surrounding tunnels for a diameter of several miles, and impress a lot of bad guys throughout the world. (Might even cause a 7.1 earthquake...) Who would immediately start looking for allies to nuke cities, and find more than they have now. But also as an engineer I know there are technical ways to accomplish anything you want, once you set the constraints. The American people have a say in this one, and the constraint here is no first-use nukes.