ATTENTION!

The NUCLEAR OPTION or which option should be taken OFF the table.

SITREP follows:

It is often said that a military commander should leave all options for military action on the table until the final decision is made. In fact, I’ve stated many times that in warfare, the best plan provides the most options right up until the last moment. This strategy has the benefit of keeping the enemy off balance, not knowing what to expect.  

Yet this strategy also has drawbacks, and I want to address why I believe that at this historic moment in the war between Isreal and Iran, the drawbacks far exceed the benefits, for one of those options.  

First, I am deeply concerned by today’s article in Newsweek entitled “Is Donald Trump Considering Tactical Nukes Against Iran?”  

This issue has been raised because some former military officials have speculated on Cable News shows that only through the use of tactical nuclear weapons would we be able to successfully penetrate underground enrichment facilities in Iran. The Newsweek article quoted a Fox News report that a White House official said that the Trump Administration has “not taken anything ‘off the table’ including the use of tactical nuclear weapons.”

It deserves restating that tactical nuclear weapons ARE nuclear weapons.
 
This type of reporting was taken very seriously by Russia, causing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to state the obvious — that any use of tactical nuclear weapons by the United States in Iran would be a catastrophic development.  

A few days ago, Pakistan, a well-armed nuclear power, threatened to drop nuclear weapons on Israel if Israel used nuclear weapons on Iran. I believe Pakistan is not making an idle threat, and I do not want our country to be responsible for the destruction of Israel.

This type of talk must end.  

Tensions in the world are already high enough, and leaving the use of nuclear weapons “on the table” is preserving an option that I believe the United States would never employ. But, allowing such open discussion about the US initiating the use of nuclear weapons puts everyone at risk. As long as this possibility exists, other countries will be developing plans to counter-strike — using nuclear weapons.

When nuclear weapons are in play, even as a matter of speculation, the possibility of mistake and miscalculation exists. The first casualties of a mistake or miscalculation would be American troops on Middle East bases and American ships in the region -- but it would not end there.

Nuclear weapons have not been employed since World War II (I recognize they were atomic, but smart readers will get the point), and we cannot afford for this conflict to move the world “up the nuclear escalation ladder.”    

If I were advising the President, I would recommend in the strongest possible terms that he declare that the United States will not initiate the use of nuclear weapons against Iran.

I would not recommend waiting two weeks to make that announcement; I would urge him to do this now.

It is time to slam shut and nail down the top on the Pandora’s box that contains dreaded nuclear weapons.