“All this talk of nuclear war makes the book a chilling read…will probably become a classic.”--Globe and Mail
“To Win a Nuclear War records as fully as we are likely to find what has gone on in the minds of American leaders and nuclear strategists on this awesome subject during these fateful forty years. It is an appalling story… This book compels us to re-think and re-write the history of the Cold War and the arms race.”--From the foreword by Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States
To Win a Nuclear War provides a startling glimpse into secret U.S. plans to initiate a nuclear war form 1945 to the present. Based on recently declassified Top Secret documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, this book meticulously traces how U.S. policy makers in over a dozen episodes have threatened to initiate a nuclear attack. These documents show in startling detail that, in contrast to official statements concerning mutual deterrence, the Pentagon has drafted plans- from Operations BROILER, SIZZLER, BUSHWACKER, VULTURE, to SIOP-6- that have always aimed To Win a Nuclear War.
This previously unrevealed history shows how nuclear war-planners have sought to use nuclear superiority to coerce other nations. The book also documents the surprising reasons why the war plans were never carried out and discloses the deeper, hidden meaning of the Star Wars program.
Dr. Michio Kaku is a Full Professor of Nuclear physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, and a Fellow of the American Physics Society. he is the author of Nuclear Power: Both Sides and Beyond Einstein: The Cosmic Search for United Field Theory. Dr. Daniel Axelrod is an Associate Professor of Physics at the Universityof Michigan, Ann Arbor. Drs. Kaku and Axelrod have lectured and published widely on nuclear strategy and Star Wars.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword by Ramsey Clark
Summary Chart of Pentagon War Plans
Introduction: To Win a Nuclear War
The First Era (1945-1960): Massive pre-emption
- Occupying the Soviet Union
- BROILER: Atomic Bombs over Berlin
- Atomic Bombs over Manchuria
- Preventive War: A-Day
- Escalation Dominance
The Second Era (1960-1974): MAD
- Planning a First Strike
- Atomic Bombs over Vietnam and the Middle East
The Third Era (1974-present): Counterforce
- Agonizing about Counterforce
- SIOP-5: Decapitating the Soviet Union
- First Strike: Myth or Reality?
- Pre-War Situation
- Star Wars: Missing Link to a First Strike
- SIOP-6: Protracted Nuclear War
- What About the Russians?
- Point of No Return?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
257 pages, index, bibliography
Paperback ISBN: 0-921689-06-3 $19.99
Hardcover ISBN: 0-921689-07-1 $48.99
1987
