Tug McGroin
Senior
On what basis do you make that statement? The fact that we have not been attacked with nuclear weapons by another country?
The fact that we have not been attacked only proves that we have not been attacked. You can not prove a negative. One could just as easily say that we have not been attacked because we sell gigantic, gas-guzzling vehicles in this country as to say that we have not been attacked because we have nuclear weapons. The first half of each statement is true as is the second half of each statement. It's the word because that is the problem.
You may surmise that possession of nuclear weapons is a deterrent, but it does not prove anything.
If you had to do it all over again, would you still insist on sleeping through your world history class?
On October 15, 1962 an American U2 spy plane, on a routine photo reconnaissance mission over Cuba, took photographs of Soviet made nuclear missiles being assembled at key strategic location throughout Cuba. A launch of these nuclear tipped missiles into the United States would have meant the immediate death of 40 million Americans. The events would later be regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war.
On October 22, 1962, President Kennedy offered this stern warning in his first public speech since the start of the Cuba Missile Crisis;
“It shall be the policy of this nation to regard any nuclear missile launched from Cuba against any nation in the Western Hemisphere as an attack on the United States, requiring a full retaliatory response upon the Soviet Union.â€
The Soviet Union quickly recognized that the chain of custody, the authority to launch nuclear missiles had fallen into the hands of Cuban Military Generals. The mere fact that the United States possessed a nuclear arsenal and had the ability to guaranty mutually assured destruction lead the Soviet Union to immediately repossess their nuclear weapons off America’s door step.
I don’t have to surmise that possession of nuclear weapons is a deterrent, I know it as fact.