Saddam is Evil, but Using Nukes Would be a Greater Evil
Published in The Universe
(March 23, 2003)
MANY years ago, when the Philippines was a logistics and jumping off point for US forces preparing for Desert Storm, that first invasion of Iraq led by George Bush senior, there was much unease about the possibility that tactical nuclear weapons might be used in certain circumstances.
“Backpack nukes” are small nuclear weapons that can be carried into battle by ground troops and used against the enemy – at a safe distance of course. Then it was the unthinkable that was being though and planned for. Use of any nuclear bombs was immoral as they kill thousands of civilians indiscriminately. There was no hard evidence that such weapons would ever have been used and they never were.
However, anti-tank shells tipped with spent uranium were widely used by US forces with devastating effect. Years later it was claimed by sufferers of Gulf War Syndrome, that the uranium was the cause of their various sicknesses. The Iraq civilian population were said to be seriously affected too and a huge increase in childhood leukemia was attributed to the use of the low-level radioactive substances.
Today as another Gulf War looms there are worrisome reports that US military has actively contemplated use of tactical nuclear weapons against Iraq.
Last January, a former US Army intelligence officer revealed in a stunning article in the New York Times the existence of a US war preparation plan named as the Theatre Nuclear Planning Document.
This proposes use of such tactical nuclear weapons against deep underground bunkers that re believed to house weapons of mass destruction such as chemical or biological devices. Such bunkers, the document says, are hardened against conventional bombs but could be destroyed by a nuke.
We have to be astounded that such a thing would even be on the tables as an option, even as a threat to Saddam Hussein and a warning to him that a nuclear counterstrike would follow if he uses biological or chemical weapons.
Even if he has the above, using nuclear weapons to try to destroy them staggers the imagination and defies common sense, besides being immoral.
Imagine the aftermath of such a strike. Apart from the radioactive fallout. What if all the biological chemicals were not totally incinerated – perhaps another more deadly chemical would result with even more serious consequences for the young American soldiers and innocent Iraq civilians?
The threat is real, set out in the National Security Directive 17, signed by President Bush on September 14, 2002 which said that America would “resort to all options”. These include the option of nuclear weapons. While the possibility is small, we have to realize that the United States is the only power that has ever actually used nuclear bombs and appeared ready to use them again.
Saddam is an evil dictator and must be removed – but war, and especially was with nuclear weapons is an even greater evil.
