Obama's Nuke Plan Is 'Insane'

Obama's new approach to nukes is fundamentally flawed, writes Charles Krauthammer. Under the old doctrine, would-be aggressors faced the threat of a cataclysmic nuclear response. Now, even if America is attacked by bio-weapons, we can't use nukes unless the attacker failed to comply with treaty obligations. The plan is "morally bankrupt," "strategically loopy," and "quite insane," writes Krauthammer in the Washington Post.

"It's like saying that if a terrorist deliberately uses his car to mow down a hundred people waiting at a bus stop, the decision as to whether he gets (a) hanged or (b) 100 hours of community service hinges entirely on whether his car had passed emissions inspections." By taking the moral high ground, America will not convince other countries to abandon nuclear weapons. In fact, when small nations see "America retreat," they will arm, he writes. "There is no greater spur to hyper-proliferation than the furling of the American nuclear umbrella."

(More denuclearisation stories.)