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from the it's-"talk-softly-and-CARRY-a-big-stick" dept.
Oder Aderet reports at Haaretz that the United States considered using nuclear weapons against Afghanistan in response to the September 11 attack according to Michael Steiner, who served as a political advisor to then-German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, as reported in Der Spiegel. "The papers were written," Steiner said when asked whether the U.S. had considered using nuclear weapons in response to the attacks orchestrated by Al-Qaida's Osama bin Laden, in which almost 3,000 people were killed. "They had really played through all possibilities." Steiner added that Schröder feared that the US, which was in a state of shock following the attacks, would overreact. "After Sept. 11, the entire administration positively dug in. We no longer had access to Rice, much less to the president. It wasn't just our experience, but also that of the French and British as well. Of course that made us enormously worried."
Original Submission
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2015, @01:59PM
Yeah, no shit. That's their fucking job, to play through all possibilities. Since the 1940s there have been plans for dealing with Russia, China, etc. on all sorts of topics, which cover military action all the way out to nuclear options. I'm sure there are still plans in the event that Russia rolls into Europe, or China into Taiwan. I'm sure the Russians have their plans for EU aggression, and I'm sure they've got their options all laid out from diplomatic bitching to nuclear attack. How is this a surprise to anyone? That's what being prepared is all about. If such-and-such happens, what are my options? What are the consequences if those options are enacted. The problem on 9/11 was that nobody really had plans for a nation-less state doing a concerted attack on US soil. I'm sure there are response plans for that too, covering "all possibilities."
Jesus, you reactionary imbeciles are so fucking predictable.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2015, @02:55PM
No kidding. I would actually be kinda disappointed IF they had not been planing things out. It is their job to be prepared for war. Not 'oh NOW that someone did something we start planing'. I would not be surprised if there are plans somewhere if mexico attacked for some reason.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Tuesday September 01 2015, @03:52PM
Indeed. Nuking Afghanistan and Osama was probably not option #1, if that was the case they would probably have done it, on the list but somewhere down there. I don't see the issue here really. The military of any country worth it's salt have plans for as many possible outcomes or scenarios they can think of -- EVERY type of scenario; even far fetched and ludicrous once. Forever prepared for every eventuality. They even have plans for how they would invade and kill of their current friends and neighbors. Just cause you have a plan doesn't mean it has to be executed. I'm sure there is even a Canadian bacon type plan for the US invading Canada. That said a nuke in Afghanistan was probably not an option cause it was a bit extreme as a response even after a surprise terror-attack.
Last year it was revealed that the US military had plans for how to deal with apocalyptic type events, including zombies. That doesn't mean they exist or that the military fear the walking dead. It just means they plan. In this case it might be actual hollywood type zombies or some rapidly spreading plague or disease type event. It doesn't have to be interpreted literally. "It's only a training exercise" -- everything is just an exercise until it isn't. The MoD apparently have one to, just like many many others.
Speaking of being prepared I am fairly sure that as an example Israel have a plan for nuking half the world, or whatever is in range. The Iran folder is probably quite think. Iran in return have plans of their own. Pakistan and India have fat folders on each other. I'd be lot more worried about those two then a possibility that Bush wanted to nuke Osama, or we don't know if he wanted to -- just that a plan for that eventuality was prepared. Germany has many plans themselves for all eventualities, they are not dummies.
http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/05/13/exclusive-the-pentagon-has-a-plan-to-stop-the-zombie-apocalypse-seriously/ [foreignpolicy.com]
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday September 01 2015, @07:33PM
Actually a "rage type" zombie plague? Really not that implausible. Just consider the fact that nearly 1 in 4 people around you every day carry Toxoplasmosis [wikipedia.org], a disease shown to alter the brains of at least one mammal it infects [wikipedia.org] and its really not hard to imagine a mutation occurring that causes altered behavior in humans to help it spread in the same way it alters the behavior of mice. If it were to mutate and this mutation affects those already infected? You are talking about nearly half of the world's population turning, that would give you the Hollywood style zombie apocalypse.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 01 2015, @10:46PM
Yes, indeed. That is exactly right. In fact, I know a guy who does precisely this kind of planning (yes, even the zombie apocalypse scenario) when he is on reserve duty with the Air Force. Our DoD has plans for just about any contingency. It doesn't mean that anyone is actually imminently planning to implement these strategies.
TL;DR: Relax, guys. There is a whole lot less than meets the eye here.