Below we post a selection of letters on Patrick Martin’s March 11 article US plans widespread use of nuclear weapons in war: Bush orders Pentagon to target seven nations for attack.
Dear Editor of World Socialist Web Site:
The American ruling elites have discarded all pretense of defending themselves against aggression. In their arrogance and recklessness they are openly admitting they plan first-strike nuclear attacks against non-nuclear powers, endangering the very survival of humankind with their hegemonic attitude.
Now more than ever it is necessary for the workers of the world, and in particular for American workers, to raise their voice against this threat to humanity.
I want to thank your web site for its untiring efforts in raising the consciousness of the oppressed.
HG
12 March 2002
Dear Mr. Martin,
Many thanks for your informative article on the US government’s increasingly militaristic and aggressive stance on the global stage. I share your doubt about this “leak” to the press being an “indiscretion.” I believe the global grand strategy pursued by the current administration, which was installed by the oligarchs and which represents none but their own interests, is obvious. The idea of a “peace dividend,” which the previous administration tried—even if half-heartedly—to implement, has been scrapped altogether. The name of the game is now “unlimited profits through continuous wars.” The final aim is to give the oligarchs, propped up by their servant class, unlimited economic, military and political power over the globe in terms of human and natural resources and to institutionalize Darwinian hyper-capitalism throughout the world. This objective is to be achieved through a three-pronged strategy:
1. To engage putative opponents (arbitrarily picked) in an open-ended arms race which they have no chance of winning but which they must take part in lest they be so outpaced some day that their government policies would be subject to US government approval. This is in order to soak up any resources they would otherwise want to spend on social measures. This is the first reason the challenge was “indiscreetly leaked.”
2. To involve “allies” (i.e., all those who don’t want to be added to the bad guys list of seven) in the continuous US-led “war effort” (thereby draining them of their resources which they might otherwise want to use for public education, health, social welfare, foreign aid, etc.). Or, preferably, simply by making these “allies” foot the bill for this continuous US “war effort”, thereby, again, draining them of their resources and enabling the USA to continue developing its war machine, which must always be more powerful than that of any one or the sum of its “allies” (just to make sure that they don’t step out of line—the second reason for the “indiscreet leak”).
3. To reduce the mass of the global population to a state of perpetual pauperism whose sole preoccupation will be to keep body and soul together, thereby depriving it of the will to oppose the “brave new world order” being gradually imposed by the oligarchs.
I might add that with time, this oligarchy is bound to become increasingly repressive and to develop strong fascist tendencies (if not become an outright fascist regime) in order to keep this “brave new world order” of total inequality and injustice going at home and abroad. Even in the most repressive regimes there will always be stout-hearted men and women who will not be cowed or bribed into submission and who will refuse to be ruled by a superior race of men even if it consists of such select individuals as the current ruler.
This process of internal and global repression and erosion of the few democratic features that exist is already far advanced. The only way to reverse it while there’s still time is by spreading the truth—seldom if ever found in the corporate media—among the working people by such articles as yours.
Many thanks again from your grateful reader.
RT
11 March 2002
Although it received far less publicity, there was talk after 9-11 of using nuclear weapons in the war on terrorism, specifically for attacking caves and underground bunkers. The impression I formed was that there was a great desire to have a “war” to test new weapons, just as the Germans did in Spain.
The Arkin column [in the Washington Post] is a lot scarier then the Los Angeles Times article. Missing from both is any commentary on the past Bush administration. Bush the Elder believed we could fight a nuclear war and win it. Many of his advisors serve Bush the Younger. And of course he too advises his son. There has always been a group among the ideologues that believed in a first strike and a winnable nuclear war.
Since we are at the peak of our power, what better time than now to launch an all-out assault on our potential rivals. Russia is the only one that could retaliate. Now that we have her encircled with bases in Central Asia, we greatly reduce the time they would have to launch a response to a first strike. So if one were an optimistic Bush ideologue one could assume a minimum of damage to the Homeland if Russia were to be hit with a massive attack without any warning.
If I were Russian or Chinese I would be mulling the question of what steps I might need to take to ensure the survival of my country. That might lead me, particularly during a crisis, to consider a first strike of my own.
We live in interesting times.
RR
Florida
11 March 2002
The “leak” in the past week of the Bush administration’s plans for using nuclear weapons almost looks like a deliberate provocation. If you were a paranoid nut, as we are assured Kim Jong Il and Muammar Gaddafi are, or an egomaniac who only cares about his own survival (Saddam Hussein), and you heard the US had targeted you for nuclear annihilation (and that whether or not this happens depends on the whim of the political and military leadership of the US, which is what the protocol, as announced, for the use of these weapons boils down to), and you had “weapons of mass destruction” of your own, might you not want to strike first?
LG
11 March 2002
Dear WSWS,
I simply cannot believe it: this sociopathic warmonger is actually planning World War III. For the first time in the course of the recent political events I’m starting to be truly afraid. Imagine what the world would look like today if the Third Reich had been the first to possess a nuclear bomb. Exactly the same will happen with us all if we—socialists and simple peace-loving people of this planet alike—don’t stand up to the imperialist agenda of these war criminals. It’s high time that we took action.
CN
11 March 2002