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I firmly believe that Rummy is being sent there to explain our reaction to a nuclear strike. That would be as follows:

We immediatly go to the highest "DefCon". We seal off bases and arm our missles. We deploy the B-52s. We CAP Washington and the Pentagon is put on full "balloon has gone up" alert. All attack nuclear subs go to their target points with lauch codes. The President of the United States will be given the "football" armed and ready to broadcast launch codes, and he will have his finger on it. At that point all of our enemys will know this, if they want to take the chance, they'll have to decide then. If they decide to go with launch, we'll detect it and put mushrooms all over their front lawn, but we'll have enough in reserve to level anybody else who would take advantage of the situation. If it was China that launched against us, it is likely that we would have enough anti-missle, missles to bring down more than half of their 1st strike (they probably don't have a second strike scenerio due to a lack of warheads and vehicles. This is why I don't think that they would launch in the first place). This means we would suffer some "hits" on the west coast. Russia would stay out of this, because they could not benefit from the outcome. Any incoming warheads from anywhere would get a full retaliatory response, and then a second hit, just to make sure.

Rumsfeld is going to deliver this news to both of those hot heads. Let's just see how they deal with it.

Don't get me wrong, I deplore what could happen if this comes down. But, this just might settle the whole problem down. 25 to 30 million dead just might wake some Islamic Jihad a$$es up.

If they decide to go with launch, we'll detect it and put mushrooms all over their front lawn, but we'll have enough in reserve to level anybody else who would take advantage of the situation. If it was China that launched against us, it is likely that we would have enough anti-missle, missles to bring down more than half of their 1st strike (they probably don't have a second strike scenerio due to a lack of warheads and vehicles. This is why I don't think that they would launch in the first place). This means we would suffer some "hits" on the west coast. Russia would stay out of this, because they could not benefit from the outcome. Any incoming warheads from anywhere would get a full retaliatory response, and then a second hit, just to make sure.

"Anti-Missile Missiles"? What are you talking about?

I know that Russia still has her "Galosh" Anti-Ballistic Missile defenses in operation around Moscow, but "Safeguard" (the US Anti-Ballistic Missile interceptor launch site) was shut down by Carter and the Democrats in 1978. (Besides which, the system was only designed to protect the US ICBM arsenal in Grand Forks, North Dakota -- it never had the range-capacity to knock down a Chinese nuke over LA or Seattle, anyway). The United States currently has zero capacity to knock down a nuclear-tipped Intercontinental Ballistic Missile -- not even one.

We have Patriots that can knock down a short-range SCUD moving at 3,000 miles per hour, but nothing that can even touch a Chinese ICBM moving at 16,000 miles per hour. If China launched all 20 of her ICBMs... all 20 would hit.

We're working on it, and we've got some good stuff going, but nothing dependably proven and deployed -- yet.
For now, we are still dependent upon MAD deterrence.

Another scenario. All the nonMuslim countries should tell these two countries they are on their own. No troops, no war materials and all monies cease now. If they want to destroy each other, there will be no clean up, restoration or help by any other country. These people believe America will come and rebuild anything they nuke away. They will cry and we will come. Rummy needs to set them straight.