From the Editor's Desk
Nukes in the wrong hands
Arthur
McLean

Fashion plate Kim Jong-Il now has a nuclear bomb. Man, that just makes my day.

So now China, Pakistan, and India all have nukes in that part of the world.

And I don't care what they say, Iran's trying like crazy to get one. And if you don't think Israel has had them for years, might I suggest living in a place some call the real world for a change.

Slowly but surely, we're putting the assured back into mutually assured destruction.

If you've never seen the movie "Dr. Strangelove," now wouldn't be a bad time.

If you haven't been keeping score, the other members of what's known as the nuclear club include the U.S.A., Russia, the U.K. and France.

Now, back before I could even drive, I might have qualified as the world's youngest hawk (a political stand that advocates a strong, some might say aggressive defense posture).

Back then, I just didn't get the the anti-nuke people.

For me back then, if those pinko commies had one nuke, then by goody, we needed two, and we had better be ready to use them. If I remember correctly, I think the slogan was "peace through strength."

Now, I haven't converted into some Greenpeacer who's going to strap himself on top of a missile silo, but the world was very different then. There were two sides who had the nuke, us and them. It wasn't too hard to keep score about who had what.

Both side also had a whole lot to lose by taking the nuclear option. In the end, both sides were bluffing, but you still had to show enough cards to stay in the game.

Now, things are a lot less clear cut.

And with the confusion stemming from the fall of the former Soviet Union, only God knows who might be sitting on a warhead, working how to arm and deliver it to strike a fatal blow to their sworn enemy.

It could be us or someone else. And as time goes by, there will only be more players in the game, but they won't all be sitting at the table where we can see them.

The real problem now for the U.S.A. is retaliation. What do we do if a nuke goes off in Iraq? A large portion of our military will be wiped out. Don't you think Islamic fascists would hail that as a great victory and declare all the dead Iraqis martyrs?

Do we respond in kind? And who do we hit? And what happens if we do respond in kind? Who else might get involved? It gets very sticky very quickly.

We may have been the first nation to use a nuclear weapon, but it looks more and more like we won't be the last.

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