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Fact vs. Allegatoin
You stated:
"which is why the White House told the Pentagon to plan for the use of tactical nuclear weapons."
The US has not used Nuclear weapons since WWII. It has been US policy not to use nuclear weapons except under the most dire circumstances. Because of the consequences, the use of nuclear weapons would only be used as a last option desperate measure. A use of a nuclear weapon against Iran would create an international firestorm that would be unprecedented. It may have been the administrations conclusion that the only way to get at these underground bunkers is to use tactical nuclear weapons, but that does not mean they ever seriously considered using them. And since the Pentagon plans for everything, they have probably made plans to do so. Just like they may have plans to nuke France. But there is a vast difference between drawing up plans to use nuclear weapons and "planning to use them".
Like nuking France, nuking Iran is never going to happen. The only way we would nuke Iran is if Iran attacked someone and it was our only option. But if Iran refused to back down on this diplomatic stuff, nuking Iran is not an option. Bunker busters maybe, but not nuclear weapons.
The thrust of the Hersh article was that the US was preparing to use tactical nukes on Iran. It was sensationalistic, and got lots of attention, because it alleged that the US was making a drastic change in policy that has been sacrosanct for the last fifty years. But I think that the idea that the US is preparing to nuke Iran is absurd. And I don't believe anyone in any serious position to influence policy told him that. He just heard that the pentagon has drawing up plans to nuke Iran and he or his sources twisted that into the US is planning on nuking Iran.
But of course he could be telling the truth (I doubt it but it is possible). But there is no way to determine if his statements are accurate because his sources are "anonymous". Until the person is named, and that person is questioned about what he or she said, and their position in the administration can be verified, we don't know what the administration plans to do about Iran and we don't know if Hersh's characterization is accurate. We can only speculate.
When someone asks for a cite, that means a factual source, not speculation. The proper response would have been "there is no cite, but the allegation has been made by anonymous sources. We don't really know if it is US policy but it has been alleged by someone who I believe is credible".
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