August 5, 2025
Dear editor;
Sending two nuclear subs to intimidate Russia is an extremely dangerous and wrong message. Such an unwarranted ploy reminds me of the fictional movies Dr. Strangelove and fail safe where the United States and Russia are confronted with launching their nuclear weapons against one another.
As farfetched as that which was depicted in the movies seem, such a scenario could easily occur. Especially as the stewardship of launching a nuclear missile is left to only a few who possess the launch codes. The threat of two nuclear armed subs could readily create a catastrophic incident resulting in destruction of not only our two countries, but neighboring countries as well.
Simulations of a mass casualty from a nuclear war suggest that a nuclear conflict could result in tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions, of immediate deaths and injuries within the first few hours. These casualties would stem from the initial blasts, heat, and radiation, as well as from the collapse of buildings, widespread fires, and lack of immediate medical care.
When I served at the Pentagon during 9/11, such an irresponsible threat was never thought of let alone invoked. Would it not be much wiser for our president (Donald Trump) to simply pick up the phone and talk to Vladimir Putin? Our president should take a lesson from previous presidents like Dwight Eisenhower who witnessed first-hand the ravishes of war from his exemplary service during WWII. “I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen it brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”
Former president Harry Truman was right on when he said, “If we do not abolish war on this earth, then surely one day war will abolish us from the earth.”
Matt Drozd, author, (ret LT Colonel), Pittsburgh, Penn.