Pentagon's Wider Nuclear Scenario
by Editorial, SF Chronicle

AS THE UNITED STATES grapples with emerging security threats around the world while our conventional armed forces are stretched to the limit in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon is honing an ominous nuclear solution.

In proposed revisions of its doctrine for the use of nuclear weapons, our military leadership is contemplating a greatly expanded list of occasions when adversaries could be buried under mushroom clouds.

The danger of a loosened nuclear option is that it may offer a tempting shortcut for a future commander in chief during a time of war.

This nation's defense policy should be grounded on firm moral and strategic pillars. Global leadership comes not only from fear of a nation's overpowering weaponry, but respect for its restraint in using it. A policy that raises prospects of pre-emptive nuclear strikes does not make this world any safer or this nation any more secure.

Full story here.