Using Nuclear WeaponsNY Times
To the Editor:
Re “What if Trump Ordered Nuclear Strike on China? I’d Comply, Admiral Says” (news article, July 28):
Would you willingly initiate the indiscriminate slaughter of hundreds of thousands or millions of people, risking a massive nuclear exchange that could end human civilization as we know it? That is the deeper meaning of the question that Adm. Scott Swift answered in the affirmative.
The premise of the question is not “ridiculous,” despite what Capt. Charlie Brown claims, in an attempt to put a neutral face on his superior’s response. In fact, the question is all too realistic. The United States maintains a policy of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict in order to “defend the vital interests of the United States or its allies and partners.”
There are currently no restrictions on the president’s single-handedly deciding to use nuclear weapons for whatever reason in such a conflict. That is dangerous, undemocratic and definitely “ridiculous.”
RICK WAYMANSANTA BARBARA, CALIF.
The writer is director of programs for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.
