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More than a generation has passed since the United States dropped atomic bombs over Hiroshima. Nuclear weapons have not so far been used again. But there is little question that their existence, unused and largely unseen as they have been since 1945, has profoundly influenced the course of history. (Edwards). My first response would be that we don’t need nuclear weapons. Some high ranking officials in the military say they really don’t need nuclear weapons. With the use of high precision conventional weapons, the military would be more effective in taking out anyone who would or could challenge the US. I presume they also meant any first-strike nuclear attack that some in the Chinese military advocate, a nuclear strike by North Korea, or a strike by Iran in some, perhaps, not so distance future.
I also believe that the world would be better off if nuclear weapons were not such a part of the American conscience. I have no doubt that more thought would be put into war, if nuclear weapons were taken off the table. I think many of our leaders as well as people in the general public believe our military force is invincible, partly because of the available last option, nuclear strike. What would happen if we lost our people deployed in the Middle East? Would a final solution be nuclear annihilation of our enemies in the aftermath of defeat? While the answer
might be yes, for a country to consciously or unconsciously rely on nuclear weapons to win wars, means that country has already lost. War is about displacement of people and ideas not force. A nuclear weapon creates a positive or negative potential for displacement, not the displacement itself. A nuclear weapon might begin the displacement, but does not end displacement. The nuclear attack against Japan created the force to stop the displacement of Japan’s resource. It was the content of the Allies character, after the bombs were dropped, that brought the war to a conclusion.
To me nuclear...