Pentagon Considering Use of Nuclear Weapons: LA Times

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Pentagon Considering Use of Nuclear Weapons: LA Times

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The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the Pentagon is preparing contingency plans for possibly using nuclear weapons against seven nations: China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria.

"We will not discuss classified details of military planning or contingencies, nor will we comment on selective and misleading leaks," Army Lt. Col. Catherine Abbott said Saturday in the Defense Department's specific response to details in the article.

But she noted that the nuclear posture review is required by law and said "it does not provide operational guidance on nuclear targeting or planning."

Pentagon officials have said publicly they are also exploring ways to modify existing nuclear warheads to destroy underground bunkers and other "hardened" targets that countries such as Iraq might use to hide chemical, biological or nuclear arms.

Past U.S. policy has relied mainly on the threat of conventional military force to deter the production and spread of weapons of mass destruction.

"By targeting these seven countries, some of which are new targets, the U.S. is increasing, not decreasing, the possibility of using nuclear weapons in its policy," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association.

A senior U.S. official said Saturday that the posture review is a statement of strategy, and neither represents a change in policy on using nuclear weapons nor makes their use more likely. It also reflects that "there are threats out there" and there long have been contingencies for dealing with those threats, the official said.

The classified report is not a plan for action, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The posture review also includes President Bush's plans to slash the United States' ready nuclear stockpiles by about two-thirds over the next decade.

The top Pentagon arms control official declined to discuss the contents or details of the report. But Douglas J. Feith, the undersecretary of defense, told The Associated Press that "the purpose and the effect of the administration's nuclear policy as embodied in the nuclear policy review to make the use of nuclear weapons less likely."

Feith said the administration intended to accomplish this by developing a missile defense, conventional weapons that can be used over longer ranges and with more precision, and better intelligence.

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