Chirac says France will hit back if nuked by terrorists
France said on Thursday it would be ready to use nuclear weapons against any state that carried out a terrorist attack against it, reaffirming the need for its nuclear deterrent.
While we applaud the tough tone of Chirac, it would seem that a deterent works better when you are not dealing with people accustom to strapping bombs to their bellies to get their point across. A better plan would be to stop the nuclear attacks before they are launched but that means sometimes doing unpopular things in the Middle East–something that France generally prefers to not do. Chirac is likely hoping that moderate influences in Middle East countries who would prefer to not see their cities turned to nuclear ash might get involved to stave off an attack. That’s assuming that there are indeed moderate influences in these countries with the power to effect change–something that is not always the case.
At a minimum the U.S. should support Chirac’s warning and better yet second it with our own.
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January 21st, 2006 at 10:04 am
I agree, the US should second France’s warning. The PAX Romana was based on the knowledge that an attack on Roman interests would bring about retaliation with the weight of the entire Roman empire behind it. We should adopt a similar stance. An attack using WMD against any state will bring back massive retaliation against those states known to be trafficing in WMD, namely Pakistan, Iran, and North Korea currently.
In addition I would put up a big billboard right outside the White House showing which country is currently where on the list and how many nukes are aimed at it.
January 21st, 2006 at 11:29 am
“In addition I would put up a big billboard right outside the White House showing which country is currently where on the list and how many nukes are aimed at it.”
I see a Kuru post in there somewhere (w/graphic!).
January 21st, 2006 at 12:09 pm
I was just thinking the same