Thread: What is the role of nuclear arsenals ?

I heard a nuclear strategist argue that if Saddam had nukes in 1991, he wouldn't have invaded Iraq. The theory being is that having nukes makes people somewhat more cautious when it comes to conventional escalation.

If Saddam had nukes in 2003, he'd probably be sitting around annoying the Iranians instead. Sounds a bit like doing our homework for us.

Nukes guarantee world power status for Russia.

For us and others, it also guarantees national survival against attack by other world powers (or at least ensure that attacks of that nature will come at a very very heavy cost).

For Israel, it's insurance against catastrophic defeat of its conventional forces.

Also, if the US was in danger of losing an entire division or some similar catastrophe in a conventional conflict, would we resort to tactical nukes? I'm guessing yes.

Originally Posted by citanon

Nukes guarantee world power status for Russia.

For us and others, it also guarantees national survival against attack by other world powers (or at least ensure that attacks of that nature will come at a very very heavy cost).

For Israel, it's insurance against catastrophic defeat of its conventional forces.

Also, if the US was in danger of losing an entire division or some similar catastrophe in a conventional conflict, would we resort to tactical nukes? I'm guessing yes.

I hope not, I'd rather lose a division than let the genie out of the bottle- we didn't do it before. But there is always the chance that a president will avoid 10,000 grieving mothers now and put millions of future mothers at risk.

Originally Posted by zraver

I hope not, I'd rather lose a division than let the genie out of the bottle- we didn't do it before. But there is always the chance that a president will avoid 10,000 grieving mothers now and put millions of future mothers at risk.

When was the last time we nearly had a division overrun and we had nuclear weapons? The Battle of Chosin Reservoir?

Originally Posted by citanon

When was the last time we nearly had a division overrun and we had nuclear weapons? The Battle of Chosin Reservoir?

Or maybe retreat and evacuation of the US 8th Army in Nov and Dec 1950 (same time period). However, wasn't the Air Force logitistically unprepared for delivery of nuclear weapons in Korea at that time?

Citanon,

We did not throw a nuke at Tora Bora.

Originally Posted by citanon

Or maybe retreat and evacuation of the US 8th Army in Nov and Dec 1950 (same time period). However, wasn't the Air Force logitistically unprepared for delivery of nuclear weapons in Korea at that time?

I am not sure if the USAF was prepared or not, they should have been. But we didn't do. Conventional weapons, hard fighting and some badass Turks saved the day.