Support for nuclear weapons

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There is a certain mythology that surrounds the B-29 and its combat actions against Japan in the Pacific War portion of World War Two.

Visit Amazon and get this book: Bringing the Thunder: The Missions of a World War II B-29 Pilot in the Pacific Paperback – May 6, 2016
by Gordon Bennett Robertson Jr. (Author)

There are other books as well, but this author was not writing a self-hagiography … not agrandizing himself.
 
There’s another thread running called “Catholic teaching on war” where we discuss the limitations of ‘just war theory’, spolier alert: nice idea in theory, largely useless in the real world.
 
AlNg said:
I believe that it is immoral to use nuclear weapons and it is immoral to have them.
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If you can figure out a way to get everyone to disarm at the same time then there are few people who don’t want a nuclear-free world. The evidence is overwhelming clear that the there are less deaths from warfare since the invention of nuclear weapons and furthermore, nuclear powers have been to war and not used them (e.g. India vrs Pakistan).

Ultimately this is the best example of why science and philosophy are seperate tools. Science tells you how to build a nuclear bomb but has nothing to say on whether you should ever use it. Only philosophy can truly answer whether you should use it and within the philosophical branch, only theology can claim moral credibility with its answer.
 
No, it’s not. Nuclear weapons by definition, cannot be used in conjunction with the just War Doctrine. If your purpose is to cause the largest amount of Destruction possible, that does not agree with the Church’s teaching on War. Why people agree with the use of nuclear weapons, and the wide-scale destruction of cities, and targeting of non-combatants, is beyond me. You can never Target innocent people. I’m not sure what part of this people don’t understand. There are legitimate uses of nuclear technology, but that’s something different.
 
To the best of my knowledge, the Church has never said that the use of nuclear weapons is never permitted, just that their use against civilian targets is forbidden (and this is equally true of conventional bombs). So there would be some very limited possibility for the just use of nuclear weapons.
 
I’m a member of the US military who works for US Strategic Command, the command that oversees the US nuclear mission. Here are a couple of thoughts on this matter.

The US nuclear deterrent is a great force for peace and stability in the world. Think about how easily conflicts like the Berlin blockade or the Korean War could have rapidly escalated into a 3rd world war, they didn’t because of nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons keep a lid on conflicts and help them to not escalate further. Our nuclear deterrent isn’t just focused on Russia but on other nations as well. The nuclear ‘cat’ is out of the bag, nations like North Korea, Pakistan and India have developed them, and others could too. If the US were to unilaterally disarm right now it would be incredibly destabilizing to the world. Nations would lose any confidence in alliance with us and would ally with our adversaries and/or develop their own nuclear capability, we would actually see more nuclear weapons in the hand of more actors than ever before. Finally, without our deterrent our adversaries would be free to attack us at will without any fear of reprisal.

Simply put, Curtis Lemay was right when he said “peace is our profession”, I work for the greatest peacekeeping force in the world.
 
‘Threads’ made by the BBC in 1984. I suggest you watch the whole film which is on YouTube. This is the bombing of Sheffield:

 
No sorry. I was in the Navy. THAT is the greatest peacekeeping force in the world!

Just kidding. Thanks for your service.
 
“…the largest amount of destruction possible” is not the nuclear strategy of the US and never has been. It may be for some other countries. From the “Nuclear Matters Handbook 2016” a publication of the DoD:

“The fundamental role of U.S. nuclear forces is to deter nuclear attack on the United States as well as its allies and partners. …our nuclear forces deter strategic attack on the homeland and provide the means for effective responses, should deterrence fail.”

My personal, direct experience with the deployment of nukes is consistent with that. Now you can argue about collateral damage, and that’s fair, but the quote above is the purpose of our nuclear forces. I believe based on experience with being nuclear delivery crew and later a military intel officer that not only can nukes be used in a just war context, but it has to be used in that context. The nuclear bell cannot be unrung. It is a part of our reality, whether we like it or not.

You want to invite a nuclear conflict? Just mess with that balance, that deterrence. That’s what you will get.
 
We have plenty of sailors here! Always appreciate what the Navy does, especially our ballistic missile submarine force.
 
The level of analysis here is poor. The first Hydrogen Bomb test in 1952 resulted in US military planners declaring nuclear weapons as impractical for combat use in 1953.

There are no reliable numbers as to the actual number of nuclear weapons possessed by the US.
 
As NickyMaz said, we do know the upper limit of nukes in the US arsenal. Arms Control, a watchdog group, says the US has about 6,800 warheads, of which about 2,800 are retired and waiting to be deactivated. What we don’t know that is just as important is what is the explosive tonnage of each of those weapons and what are the capabilities of the delivery mechanisms they are built into. Those would be highly classified secrets.

Generally, the US arsenal has trended toward smaller warheads, including variable yield warheads, and more accurate delivery mechanisms, compared to our potentially opposing nuclear powers.
 
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The creation of Nuclear weapons has caused nothing but death, international suspicion and mutually assured destruction. The world leaders have the power to destroy humanity with these weapons if they wish. But they would not use there weapons unless there is no other alternative.

These nuclear forces are used to prevent attacks by means of showing off the amount of nukes a country ownes, and are used in other various ways to prevent a war and invasion. However, I believe that these nukes should never have been created in the first place, provided that it is now possible for humanity to become extinct by the push of a few buttons in the hands of fallible men and machines that could one day be hacked or corrupted (heaven forbid).
 
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That’s true. I’ve read the various other documents related to nuclear disarmament. The START Treaty is like saying you can have x number of weapons on active alert, but we don’t know the actual total number. In 1954, the US detonated a nuclear device with a yield of 15 Megatons. Of the delivery methods, what has been revealed is far too complex to be be dealt with by anyone, with the possible exception of the Russian Federation and the Chinese. Smaller nuclear warheads is not a factor. They’d be better off dropping the 6 ton “Cookies” the British dropped during World War II, now that weapon delivery has become far more accurate.

“Trust but verify.” What an oxymoron.
 
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I find it incredible to see that some Catholics (or any person holding Christian values) would say that it is still necessary for the USA to possess even a single nuclear weapon. Our country should stand down and dismantle every one of its nukes. Yes, the USA might forfeit its self-appointed role as “policeman of the world.” So what? We have no biblical mandate to play that role.

Nuclear weapons are mankind’s ultimate creation of violence, and, if you read about YHWH’s reason for sending the world-wide deluge in Genesis, you will notice that His cause was man’s constant violence. But in 8:21 YHWH promised never again to Himself do anything to cause a world-wide extermination of humankind. He didn’t say that this would never happen again, just that He would not cause it.

Throughout Scripture a world-wide catastrophe of a magnitude even greater that the Deluge is predicted. Since this disaster will not be anything that could be considered as “an act of God,” that leaves only global nuclear war as its source. Furthermore, nuclear war is consistent with what Scripture predicts. In Isaiah 2:19 we see the advice to seek shelter deep underground, and that is the only defense against a nuclear attack. In Isaiah 66:15-16 we notice “Chariots like the tempest,” and these are ICBMs being launched. In Jeremiah 25:32 we again see “a mighty tempest rising from the far ends of the world.”

Global nuclear war will be a disaster of mankind’s own making and is preordained by our Creator as His ultimate lesson to mankind about the error of our ways. For if we followed His Law to love God and to love our neighbors, we would never have invented and deployed these evil weapons in the first place.

Psalm 9:15-16
The nations have fallen into the pit that they dug,
they are caught be the feet in the snare the set themselves.
YHWH has made Himself known, has given judgment,
He has trapped the wicked in the work of their own hands.
 
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undead_rat said:
I find it incredible to see that some Catholics (or any person holding Christian values) would say that it is still necessary for the USA to possess even a single nuclear weapon.
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Thank goodness people like you don’t run the country!!!

Here’s a life hack for you: evidence first, opinion second.
 
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