Obama modifies US nuke policy

If President Obama did nothing else that I agreed with for entire term, today's announced revision of US policy on use of nuclear weapons would stand out for me as the single most important accomplishment he made and was well worth the vote I cast for him.

Under the new policy, the administration will foreswear the use of the deadly weapons against nonnuclear countries, officials said, in contrast to previous administrations, which indicated they might use nuclear arms against nonnuclear states in retaliation for a biological or chemical attack.

But Obama included a major caveat: The countries must be in compliance with their nonproliferation obligations under international treaties. That loophole would mean Iran would remain on the potential target list.

The new policy will also describe the purpose of U.S. weapons as being fundamentally for deterrence.

Outside of the usual suspects in Nutopia, who of course went into nuclear level meltdowns over it, the conservative response has been surprisingly muted. Neither has he received much accolades from the left. He's been working on this practically since the day he took office to little notice and even less appreciation. But as far as I'm concerned, taking nuclear attacks pretty much off the table is probably the singlemost effective step towards greater world peace that has ever been taken by any leader.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]