off that M.A.D. tip

" [...] What is at stake with pre-emption, as tied to the "axis of evil"
imagery, is more hidden and sinister. What is feared in Washington, I
think, is not aggressive moves by these countries but their acquisition of
weapons of mass destruction that might give them a deterrent capability
with respect to the United States and other nations. Since the end of the
cold war the United States has enjoyed the luxury of being undeterred in
world politics. It is this circumstance that makes Bush's "unilateralism"
particularly disturbing to other countries, and it must be understood in
relation to the moves of the Pentagon, contained in a report leaked last
December, to increase US reliance on nuclear weapons in a variety of
strategic circumstances. At West Point, Bush declared with moral fervor
that "our enemies...have been caught seeking these terrible weapons." It
never occurs to our leaders that these weapons are no less terrible when in
the hands of the United States, especially when their use is explicitly
contemplated as a sensible policy option. There is every reason for others
to fear that when the United States is undeterred it will again become
subject to "the Hiroshima temptation," in which it might threaten and use
such weapons in the absence of any prospect of retaliation. [...] "

The New Bush Doctrine
by Richard Falk
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020715&s=falk


MB DRO
  ROSHI

(GR 693)