Non-proliferation would work a whole lot better of the dictators developing the technology had a tendency to disappear in a cloud of radioactive dust.
This sort of approach would probably have had to be applied only a couple times before people got the message -- and the result would have been a late 20th century world with a single nuclear power. Things would have been better.
And I say the opportunity is not yet totally lost. Iran should be used as an object lesson -- it's too big to invade. We cannot hope to win a ground war there. So: let's nuke it.
The enviro-whacko's and MSM have over-hyped the dangers of nukes and most folks don't want to let that Genie out of the bottle.
Nagasaki, Hiroshima, even Chernobyl and the latest Japan incidents didn't produce the longterm massive devestation that was hyped.
I guess our government generally thinks that would set a bad precedent.
>>I think it has been a great mistake for the US not to use nuclear weapons against rogue nations developing nuclear capability.<<
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Hell, we’re still agonizing and incriminating ourselves about the fact that we dropped two nukes, every August 6.
This attitude will only change after we get nuked ourselves.