ICBMs and their 400 ever-ready warheads are the most important part of the U.S. nuclear deterrent.. The fate of Western Civilization may hinge on the great debate now raging within Washington’s beltway, virtually unnoted on nightly news and unknown to most Americans, over whether to replace the nation’s 400 obsolete Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with a new ICBM — or unilaterally eliminate all U.S. ICBMs. ... U.S. bombers are not maintained nuclear-armed or on strip-alert and so would be destroyed in a surprise attack. Surprise attack on just two ports would destroy two-thirds of 14 U.S. SSBNs normally...