Obama's no nuke pledge

The Belmont Club:

Here's a really lethal combination. Telling the enemy that you are going after him with inadequate forces and then specifying in advance what the limits of your rules of engagement are. Barack Obama, just days after saying he would send American forces into Pakistan if Musharraf did not crack down on al-Qaeda said but added that he would not use nuclear weapons against al-Qaeda under any circumstances. The Washington Post reports:

"His position could not be more clear," said Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki. "He would not consider using nuclear weapons to fight terror targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan." That position came a day after Obama vowed he would be willing to strike al Qaeda targets inside Pakistan with or without the approval of the government of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

Obama's rival, Hillary Clinton, said talking about the specific "use or non-use" of nuclear weapons was unwise.

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One of the values of our nuclear arsenal is the deterrent effect it has. To preemptively suggest that it would not be used is to throw away that deterrent effect and invite more wars against us by countries who oppose our interest such as Iraq. It should also be noted that our current enemy al Qaeda has made no such pledge and has indeed said that if it can get its hands on teh weapons it will in fact use them. While Obama may feel some oral superiority for making such a pledge, the likely result of it would be something less than moral.