To: eastforker
"OK, you say a mad man could never be elected, you mentioned Deen, that is not my guess.Nor do I think GW would, but a power hungry individual who has had a taste of power might.Still the question still stands, who or what body decides when to say "go" or block it. There has to be some check and ballance"
All Presidents are persons who are power hungry. It comes with the job. Getting elected to the Presidency is no simple task, and requires an absolute desire for the most powerful job in the USA.
The system regarding nuclear weapons is what it is. Our President is the one with the authority to use them. Your musings regarding the possibility of a refusal on the part of some missile launch crews are misplaced.
Our nuclear arsenal is not in one place, and launches are not done just by a couple of people. Every nuclear submarine, every missile launch site, and every naval vessel which carries nuclear weapons has launch teams. All of these would have to refuse the order to launch, and that ain't gonna happen.
But the question is pretty much moot these days, in any case. The nuclear threat is considerably reduced. The most probable nuclear attack against the USA is now one where a weapon would be transported here, say, in a cargo container, then detonated right in the USA itself. We'd be unlikely to know even where it came from exactly.
So, suppose such an event occurred somewhere in the USA? Who do we attack as a counterattack? The entire middle east? I don't think so. We rely too much on oil from that region.
You are asking a question that makes no sense.
81 posted on
01/26/2004 2:53:26 PM PST by
MineralMan
(godless atheist)
If Needed,
Who gets to Push the Nuclear Button

I don't know if I like that.
86 posted on
01/26/2004 2:58:52 PM PST by
TonyBanks
(To you I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the loyal opposition.)
To: MineralMan
The middle east was not on my mind, my post went a lot deaper than that.
88 posted on
01/26/2004 2:59:27 PM PST by
eastforker
(The color of justice is green,just ask Johny Cochran!)
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