Ritter On US Nuclear Doctrine

Yesterday I recommended several video discussions with guests at Judge Nap’s channel—Doug Macgregor and Scott Ritter among them. I repeat the recommendation. These discussions were about military matters and especially about the dangers of escalating right on into nuclear war with Russia, based on the foolish policy decisions we’re seeing. I’ll add to that Danny Davis’ video late yesterday with Doug Macgregor. The great thing about that video is that both of the participants are knowledgeable military guys, so they get into some ‘inside the military’ talk without needing to be prodded:

Could US Army Beat the Russians? Col Doug Macgregor Reveals Truth

Now, with regard to Ritter’s talk with the Judge, the first half is devoted to Ritter’s travel travails. The second half or so, however, gets into the topic of escalating into nuclear war—the kinds of things that could lead to that in little more than a blink of the eye. Today a guy on X-twitter provides the main substance of that part of the video, which I reproduce below:

Sony Thang @nxt888 

SCOTT RITTER:

"I used to have a friend named William Polk. I say 'used to' because, tragically, he passed away a couple of years ago.

William Polk was a man who was in the inner circle for John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

*****

William Roe Polk (1929 – 2020) was an American foreign policy consultant and author. He taught Middle Eastern history and politics at Harvard from 1955–61, and was then appointed by President Kennedy to the State Department's Policy Planning Council focusing on the Middle East and North Africa. While there he served as a member of the Cuban Missile Crisis management team.

*****

He talked to me many times about the decision-making that was going on and the role that Kennedy played in preventing a nuclear war.

The maturity Kennedy had as a leader—part of that maturity came from when Kennedy was first briefed on what was then called the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP), the American war plan.

He went to the Pentagon, and they briefed him.

They said, 'This is what we've got if we go to nuclear war.'

Basically, it was premised on the notion that America would be the largest surviving civilization, but to guarantee that, we had to kill everybody in the world.

He came out and said, 'That's insane. I'm not doing that.' He turned to his advisor and said, 'And we call ourselves the human race.' He demanded, 'You have to give me options.'

Every president since then, up until George W. Bush, reacted the same way when they first got that briefing on how America plans to go to war, which is to destroy the entire world so that the 20 to 30% of Americans who survive will be the largest remaining civilization cluster in the world, guaranteeing American global dominance in a post-nuclear conflict.

Insanity. They all said the same thing: 'Insane. Give me options. I can't go to that. You can't make me do this. You have to give me options.'

And the Pentagon always gave them options that inevitably led to that scenario.

Since the end of the Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Americans have downplayed their nuclear war plan.

We detargeted our missiles; nothing was automatic anymore. We were heading on a path of getting rid of nuclear weapons.

Then George W. Bush came in a post-9/11 environment and said, 'We will use our nuclear weapons to ensure that a 9/11 never happens again.'

We reinserted nuclear war planning into our military doctrine.

Today, we have that same mindset, that same nuclear war strategy, but without the maturity of John F. Kennedy.

We have people who look at the plan and say, 'Well, that's just a plan. We're not really going to do that,' and they say the Russians are bluffing. 'We don't have to worry about this.'

The problem is, the second something happens, and that plan is pulled out, the dust is brushed off, and we start pushing buttons, we go to the scenario that John F. Kennedy said was insanity.

We're going to blow up the entire world because we know that in a post-nuclear environment, we can't allow, for instance, India to survive intact.

If we're reduced to 30% of our capacity, we can't allow India to have a superior civilization in a post-nuclear conflict.

We're going to destroy the entire world.

That's what the American nuclear war plan is.

The American people need to wake up and understand it's on full automatic—full automatic."

ALT

1:59 PM · Jun 4, 2024

I’ll simply add that Macgregor appears to hold similar views regarding the current state of US nuclear war planning. Which is to say, he appears to confirm the correctness of what Ritter is saying.