Congressman: Lets Use Nukes If America Has To Strike Iran
Though he "sure as hell" hopes it doesn't, the course of action is essentially what Representative Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) floated during a recent C-SPAN interview, John T. Bennett of The Marine Times reports.
The nukes would just be the radioactive cherry on top of a more concerted pounding. First the U.S. should launch a "massive aerial bombing campaign" and then launch "tactical nuclear weapons," Hunter, a senior Republican member of the Armed Services Committee, reportedly said.
Hunter's stated aim would be to avoid the need to put "boots on the ground."
Hunter was himself a former Marine artillery officer who participated in the Iraq War. As a military man with expertise in artillery rounds, he's probably exactly sure what tactical warheads can do to targets.
Conversely, as a politician for the United States, he's also more than likely aware that the political and strategic fallout of such an action could be bigger than any mushroom cloud.
Tactical nuclear weapons do not have the explosive yield of strategic nuclear weapons, but nonetheless, a nuke is a nuke in the eyes of the international community. Using such a weapon would certainly ellicit more of a response than just the explosion.
As if advocating the deployment of nuclear weapons weren't enough, Duncan went on to make a perceivably racist comment about Arabs in general.
Bennet writes, "he also suggested Middle East 'culture' fosters dishonest negotiators."