The piece on U.S. nuclear policy by Rachel Faber Machacha in Monday’s Daily was as short-sighted as the view of many of our European “allies” regarding the expansion of the war on terrorism. Many people seem surprised that the United States has pre-formulated military strategies.

Why? Don’t we want our military to be prepared for anything that may happen? The fact of the matter is that this is nothing new, just new to those that don’t really know what is done to protect them.

The only mistake that the administration made was in letting the re-evaluation of these strategies leak out. The countries that have been at odds with the United States since the birth of nuclear weapons know that the United States has had these strategies. Therefore, reexamining these strategies will do nothing to add fuel to the global fire.

Radical groups do not commit acts of terrorism for the good nations, only for their own perverted ideas and interests.

We haven’t had a nuclear war because those in control of nuclear weapons understand the implications of using them on a global scale.

Terrorists’ minds aren’t large enough to comprehend these ideas and therefore will act whether their nation is threatened or not.

As for forgetting the United Nations and NATO, both of these organizations have shown in the past (Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq) that they are either unwilling or incapable of doing anything without the United States. They have been great examples of all talk and no show.

By not continually re-examining our strategies relating to both conventional and nuclear arms, we are leaving ourselves as open to attack as we were on Sept. 11.

Curt Melchert

Senior

Computer Engineering