http://www.easternecho.com A lot of speculation has been made about the president’s recent announcement regarding the American nuclear strategy en-us Gryphon 2.3.1-dsw (pewabic)/Foundry5 Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:36:01 -0400 webmaster@easternecho.com http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/801 Reagan wanted a world without nuclear weapons too. I would think you of all people would like it for that reason Neil. Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:07:58 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/801 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/802 that is an irrelevant point. everything brought up here was the God’s honest…to expect the U.S. to cede nuclear weaponry is at best an exercise is a trip to never never land. once that pandoras box is opened it is not to be closed again. to expect or hope or enact a policy that eradicates nuclear weaponry is irresponsible and leaves us as vulnerable as we were in the revolutionary days. removing our warheads by a third means we can only blow up the world 7-12 times over. it will always boil down to we gotta hope our elected or appointed officials world wide are not stupid enough to hit the proverbial red button Sun, 11 Apr 2010 21:31:22 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/802 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/803 “Getting it” is correct though… Neil is off in conservative land basically upset Obama is trying to do so much good. It a pretty regular thing for him. I can’t wait til he talks about how much the banking system doesn’t need reforming lol. Neil basically doesn’t like anything Obama does and that’s what he writes about. Of course, the Echo will let anyone write if they have an opinion, no matter how wrong it is. Ts: What panadora’s box? What are you talking about? Whats the harm in reducing them? I will agree with you that I thank goodness every day that someone like Palin or McCain does not have their hands over the red button. The only other people in the world crazy enough to use nuclear weapons that have them might be in Israel. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 03:28:24 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/803 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/810 After being in briefings held by the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force, and former STRATCOM Commander General Butler all within the past 4 months regarding the topic of our past and present nuclear strategy, I feel that my opinion on the topic ought to have some weight in this argument. First off, “Getting it” is right that Reagan wanted a world without nuclear weapons. I want a world without poverty, AIDS, and religious radicalism, but like Neil said, “it is entirely impossible.” We already have far too many nuclear weapons to properly dispose of. You are out of your mind to believe that there will ever be a day in which the United States has no nuclear arsenal. Second, “ts,” I had a little trouble following your comment but I think I get what you’re saying and it sounds right. Even if we did eradicate our nuclear arsenal, there are still multiple countries with nuclear weapons and/or nuclear capability who are NOT big fans of the United States (China, North Korea, Iran, and Syria) and would not follow suit with eradication. I also like your statement that we need to hope officials WORLD WIDE are not stupid enough to hit the red button. American officials are not the ones we need to be worried about regarding using nuclear weapons… but that’s for a later point. And now, time to address the post which originally caused me to begin spending my time typing this post rather than retiring to my bed early. To begin, “JS,” if you’ve really read many of Neil’s articles, you’d realize that he does not oppose everything Obama does. I will, however, agree that it’s apparent that Neil generally has a conservative opinion, but does that make it wrong? No. Is Neil accusing you of being wrong for blindly following anything Obama does as being good? No. Next, if you honestly believe that the President has final say over whether the “red button” is pushed, you need to stop watching The Sum of All Fears. Even if McCain or Palin were in office, and became as radical as you believe them to be, there are many other people who have say in whether a nuclear weapon is used or not, some of whom are not appointed by the President. Finally, your last statement truly shows how misinformed your post is. Although Israel may be crazy enough to use a WMD, have you heard of these guys named Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Kim Jong-il? Yeah, they’re just two of the most radical leaders currently in charge of nations with nuclear capability. There’s also this other country called Syria that is nuclear capable, and they like Iran, but not so much America. And if you don’t think China would LOVE to see America go nuclear-free, you’re either using a substance which your beloved Obama has yet to legalize or you’re still in middle school. In the end, I would recommend that you all read up on American nuclear strategy. The whole point behind our nuclear arsenal is deterrence, much like it was in the Cold War. It’s to show countries like North Korea and Iran that our “manhood” is larger than theirs. Do we ever want or plan to use our nuclear weapons? No. But we need them so other countries don’t get the idea to pop one off at someone they don’t like. Whether you agree or not, it is America’s job as the most influential and powerful nation in the world to be a deterring and coercive force against the proliferation and use of nuclear weapons. Unfortunately, this task requires us to have a nuclear arsenal. Deal with it. Tue, 13 Apr 2010 02:36:01 -0400 http://www.easternecho.com/index.php/comment/view/810