Trump: abandon no first use of nukes against ISIS
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I have mixed feelings about the use of nukes against ISIS. Honestly it isn't the best idea because of the danger of collateral damage and of course, radioactive fallout.
However, there *is* a type of nuclear weapon that actually could be used against ISIS soldiers on the battlefield when they are in areas away from large civilian centers: The neutron bomb, or W88 warhead(American version). It is a small, low yield hydrogen bomb that is very clean in terms of producing no fallout nor large blast but emits and intense burst of gamma rays when detonated above its target that will instantly kill living organisms within a 1+ mile radius.
Another option is to develop small, low yield tactical nukes(maximum yield of 20 kilotons, Hiroshima was ~18 kilotons) that have neutron absorbing tampers which prevent radioactive fallout from forming but still create a large blast that will be enough to vaporize an entire fighting battalion, a motorized convoy, or a military base.
I wonder how much respect they are suppose to have for a country that won't stop toppling their leaders and dropping bombs on their citizens whether they be in uniform or not.
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No power in the 'verse can stop me. - River Tam (Firefly)
Two thoughts:
1. There is no actual safe level of radioactive fallout *except* over truly large numbers in aggregate. In other words, its devastating to a small number of people (those who were unlucky enough to ingest/inhale/incorporate a particle or twelve into their body) but "harmless" to the rest.
2. There are no ISIS-only cities for us to bomb. This isn't WWII. When we kill ISIS with drones, bombs and missiles, we almost always also take out a fair number of innocent civilians, too.
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“For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.”
―Carl Sagan
1. There is no actual safe level of radioactive fallout *except* over truly large numbers in aggregate. In other words, its devastating to a small number of people (those who were unlucky enough to ingest/inhale/incorporate a particle or twelve into their body) but "harmless" to the rest.
Which is why you need low-yield nuclear warheads that have neutron absorbing tampers to prevent radioactive fallout from being produced. Radioactive fallout comes from fission products and by hot, slow neutrons from the fission stage that are absorbed by solid matter. A neutron bomb or Enhanced Radiation Weapon is a pure fusion bomb that produces no fallout. In fact, the neutron bomb is almost exclusively an antipersonnel weapon.
I don't.
It would be completely insane.
And a deliberate act of genocide.
It is untrue that a "neutron bomb" or ERW produces no fallout.
Use of nuclear weapons of any kind against ISIS would make the United States a global pariah and in the minds of many legitimize any kind of response, such as a chemical, biological or nuclear attack on a US city.
The idea is not just profoundly unethical but also tactically unsound.
Overwhelming force is not an effective answer to most problems.
I think there is a failure to put things into perspective. This is an ideological war.
However bad the terrorist treat is in Europe or the US, it still isn't bad enough to justify using nuclear arms.
People get killed falling over putting their trousers on. The chances of being in a terrorist attack are quite small for most people.
ISIS territory is shrinking. There might be another group after ISIS, but that is an ideological problem, nuclear arms aren't going to help that. Conventional arms struggle to contain this problem.
We need to deal with the narcissism and victim mentality at the root of terrorism.
I get it, but I don't get it.
Fission causes radiation. Fusion does not.
And neutron bombs are apparently "baby H bombs" and not "baby A bombs"(as I used to think). That is: they are fusion bombs and not fission bombs.
But you need a fission bomb to detonate a fusion bomb (an H bomb has to contain a small A bomb to work).
So how can a neutron bomb NOT produce toxic radiation? It has to be triggered by a small A bomb doesnt it?
This. I doubt the majority of civilians living in cities/towns occupied by ISIS actually support the ideology of ISIS. ISIS imposed themselves by force on the populations they control. They were never elected or came about through any kind of political process. ISIS simply walked into the towns/cities they now control. A lot of ISIS fighters are complete foreigners to the region as well. I mean, would it be right to nuke France when the German NAZI's occupied them? ISIS isn't even a real state. They are un-elected goons that just walk in and demand you do as they say... or else.
The bottom line, is it really fair to rain down death on a majority of people who didn't even choose to live under ISIS? Not only are they non-combatants, they are oppressed themselves, especially the women.
Fission causes radiation. Fusion does not.
And neutron bombs are apparently "baby H bombs" and not "baby A bombs"(as I used to think). That is: they are fusion bombs and not fission bombs.
But you need a fission bomb to detonate a fusion bomb (an H bomb has to contain a small A bomb to work).
So how can a neutron bomb NOT produce toxic radiation? It has to be triggered by a small A bomb doesnt it?
Actually, fission, thermonuclear, and pure fusion weapons like the neutron bomb cause radiation.
Evidence, please?
Do you know how radioactive fallout is produced? It comes from fission products like Strontium-90 as well as neutron activation of heavier elements found in solid matter(where a stable nucleus absorbs a slow moving "hot" neutron released from the fission stage and transmutes into an unstable nucleus). Fusion neutrons are generally too fast to be absorbed as a free neutron is unstable and decays into a proton, electron, and a neutrino.
Just noticed something else...
The W88 warhead has a blast yield of 475 kilotons, or approx. 30 times that of the nuke dropped on Hiroshima... A surface detonation will instantly kill almost anyone within 8.8 square kilometres and generate 500 Rem (above the LD50 threshold) of radiation within 16.1 square kilometres.
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
Exactly how do you plan to deploy this weapon against ISIS in "areas away from large civilian centres", when the organization is currently holed up in Al-Raqqah in Syria (+220,000 residents) and Mosul in Iraq (+660,000 residents)?
... not to mention the fact that Iran *will almost certainly* resume their Nuclear Weapons programme - with perfectly good reason - if someone is batshit enough to detonate a nuke in their neighbourhood...
And finally, the tactical use of nuclear weapons (be they classical or Neutron) makes almost no sense whatsoever unless the enemy has lots and lots of very tough tanks.
This is the current arsenal of tanks possessed by ISIS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ ... g_vehicles
A few 40 year old A-10 Thunderbolts can make short work of all of these... The US has 283 of them...
Why resort to nukes if there is nothing on the battlefield which cannot be wiped out with conventional weapons?
The W88 warhead has a blast yield of 475 kilotons, or approx. 30 times that of the nuke dropped on Hiroshima... A surface detonation will instantly kill almost anyone within 8.8 square kilometres and generate 500 Rem (above the LD50 threshold) of radiation within 16.1 square kilometres.
http://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
Exactly how do you plan to deploy this weapon against ISIS in "areas away from large civilian centres", when the organization is currently holed up in Al-Raqqah in Syria (+220,000 residents) and Mosul in Iraq (+660,000 residents)?
... not to mention the fact that Iran *will almost certainly* resume their Nuclear Weapons programme - with perfectly good reason - if someone is batshit enough to detonate a nuke in their neighbourhood...
And finally, the tactical use of nuclear weapons (be they classical or Neutron) makes almost no sense whatsoever unless the enemy has lots and lots of very tough tanks.
This is the current arsenal of tanks possessed by ISIS:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_ ... g_vehicles
A few 40 year old A-10 Thunderbolts can make short work of all of these... The US has 283 of them...
Why resort to nukes if there is nothing on the battlefield which cannot be wiped out with conventional weapons?
OK, I made a mistake about the W88 warhead which is *not* a neutron bomb.
The point of a neutron bomb is to wipe out a large number of enemy personnel over a distributed area. Detonating one over a city would be a foolish idea for the many reasons you mentioned. You'd have to find a way to evacuate the civilians, make ISIS think they've won control over the city, and then unleash the nukes.

A neutron bomb airburst causes relatively little blast damage to the ground but releases lethal radiation which could kill thousands of ISIS troops. It's unlikely to happen but it's fun to think about.
Evidence, please?
The fission primary still produces fallout.
It's nonsense to present these weapons as "clean" or producing no fallout.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_bomb
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airc ... /snow.html
http://fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/radiation.htm
Nice pie charts from the BBC, along with an explanation of why they might be hard to deploy at present:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/395689.stm
mr_bigmouth_502
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Nukes will destroy them, sure, but at what cost? The bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were devestating as they were, but modern nukes are much worse. In order to use a weapon that causes so much collateral damage, one would have to be a complete madman. That's not the only thing to consider either; it's very well possible that other countries with nukes may use this as an excuse to retailiate against the US. Mutually Assured Destruction, anyone?
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Every day is exactly the same...
I think about 50 MOABs should do the trick. They are non radioactive produce a large enough explosion and are environmentally friendly! Ohhhh Green Peace should be proud!
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