US Presidents acting nuts

[Charles Brown <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

CB:Jerry posted this on LBO-talk last week concerning U.S. state actors
bluffing (?) madness:

At this point it is good to remember several things about U.S. policy
planners.  It is official U.S. policy that the U.S. should be  looked at as
the one nation that is always willing to drop the bomb.  It is also official
U.S. policy that U.S. leaders should be seen by the rest of the world as
"out of control" and a bit crazy.  The U.S.G. has never renounced first use
of nuclear weapons, they have always kept it open as a possible "tactical"
alternative.  Further, it was Nixon who invented the term "Madman Theory,"
when his "secret plan" to end the Vietnam War was to let the North
Vietnamese know that he was crazy enough to drop an atomic bomb.

The "Madman Theory" of U.S. foreign "coercive diplomacy" has been U.S.
policy for many years now, but it was codified, as Chomsky and others have
pointed out in the 1995 study, "Essentials of Post-Cold War Deterrence,"
written by the Defense Department's Strategic Command.

A few quotes from the study will suffice:

* "to be most effective, deterrence must create fear in the mind of the
adversary -- fear that he will not achieve his objectives, fear that his
losses and pain will far outweigh any potential gains, fear that he will be
punished. It should ultimately create the fear of extinction -- extinction
of either the adversary's leaders themselves or their national independence,
or both." * (from p. 6 Section B of the report.)

*"Because of the value that comes from the ambiguity of what the US may do
to an adversary if the acts we seek to deter are carried out, it hurts to
portray ourselves as too fully rational and cool-headed. The fact that some
elements may appear to be potentially "out of control" can be beneficial to
creating and reinforcing fears and doubts within the minds of an adversary's
decision makers. 'This essential sense of fear is the working force of
deterrence. That the US may become irrational and vindictive if its vital
interests are attacked should be part of the national persona we project to
all adversaries." * (from p. 7 Section C of the report.)

*"We should have available the full range of responses-conventional weapons,
special operations forces, and nuclear weapons-so that we can decide which
to use based on the circumstances.

-- Just as nuclear weapons are our most potent tool of deterrence,
nevertheless they are blunt weapons of destruction and thus are likely
always to be our weapons of last resort. Although we are not likely to use
them in less than matters of the greatest national importance, or in less
than extreme circumstances, nuclear weapons always cast a shadow over any
crisis or conflict in which the US is engaged. Thus, deterrence through the
threat of use of nuclear weapons will continue to be our top military
strategy." * (from the bottom of p.7 also Section C of the report.)