The Bush Administration is seriously contemplating the use of nuclear weapons to bomb Iran, according to Hersh's sources.
An excerpt from the story:
The attention given to the nuclear option has created serious misgivings inside the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he added, and some officers have talked about resigning. Late this winter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff sought to remove the nuclear option from the evolving war plans for Iran—without success, the former intelligence official said. "The White House said, 'Why are you challenging this? The option came from you.'"
The Pentagon adviser on the war on terror confirmed that some in the Administration were looking seriously at this option, which he linked to a resurgence of interest in tactical nuclear weapons among Pentagon civilians and in policy circles. He called it "a juggernaut that has to be stopped." He also confirmed that some senior officers and officials were considering resigning over the issue. "There are very strong sentiments within the military against brandishing nuclear weapons against other countries," the adviser told me. "This goes to high levels." The matter may soon reach a decisive point, he said, because the Joint Chiefs had agreed to give President Bush a formal recommendation stating that they are strongly opposed to considering the nuclear option for Iran. "The internal debate on this has hardened in recent weeks," the adviser said. "And, if senior Pentagon officers express their opposition to the use of offensive nuclear weapons, then it will never happen."
The adviser added, however, that the idea of using tactical nuclear weapons in such situations has gained support from the Defense Science Board, an advisory panel whose members are selected by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. "They're telling the Pentagon that we can build the B61 with more blast and less radiation," he said.
5 comments:
House members always worry. The fact is that either we choose to allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to develop the nuclear system that would allow for nuclear weapons or we don't. Bring on the apocalyptic rhetoric.
When you get right down to the nitty ... the only military option available are nukes. Wally Greer and I took a look at the maps and the sat photos of the site and reached the conclusion in about ten seconds that if we were asked to fly that mission we refuse and resign.
This is the scary thing ... that we do not have any options left. This administration has destroyed them all ....
The next move will be to send John Bolton to negotiate a peace.
We have absolutely no military credibility left in the world except for nukes, and when that is the only card in your hand and the big pot is on the table, you play it - win or lose.
The less said about our diplomatic credibility the better ... I will have up on my blog by this afternoon some clips from Simple Scotty McClellan
I might also add that if you really want to be worried, googleistimize "F-16 I" ... you don't have to be an aviation or military genius to figure out what this means ....
Here we go again with the neocon construct: perpetual war for perpetual peace.
After all, it has worked so well in Iraq.
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