VICTORY IS NOT POSSIBLE: A REJOINDER TO THE STRATEGIC MYTHMAKERS |
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| Authors: | Louis René Beres |
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| Affiliation: | LOUIS RENE BERES, professor of political science at Purdue University, received his Ph.D. at Princeton University. A specialist in foreign affairs and international law, Professor Beres is the author of many books and articles on strategic issues. His most recent books are Mimicking Sisyphus: America's Countervailing Nuclear Srraregy (Lexington Books, 1982) and Apocalypse: Nuclear Catastrophe in World Politics (University of Chicago Press, 1980). |
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| Abstract: | The current strategic planning for nuclear war is based on the assumptions that it is an effective way to deter the Soviet Union and that we can actually survive such a war. These are erroneous, for the Soviets are not likely to be any more deterred by our plans for nuclear war than they are by our current strategy. The illusion that "victory" is possible in a nuclear war overlooks the medical and other evidence about the extent of death, injury and disease that a nuclear war would bring. War should be conducted with a view of post-war benefit in mind, but a nuclear war would yield no benefits, regardless of the futile and even delirious efforts to make evacuation plans for major cities in the event of nuclear war. |
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