Wrong-Headed Thinking

Tom Nichols writes for The National Interest that the U.S. cannot use nukes to retaliate against a small nuclear nation, say North Korea, if it first attacks a U.S. city with one of its own nukes. His discussion is an almost perfect example of what is wrong with U.S. strategic thinking.

Of course we can, and should, retaliate in-kind with nukes should this ugliness occur. There is no other reasonable response. Nichols writes:

There is no way to guarantee, short of burning the targeted country to the ground and committing nuclear genocide, that we will eliminate the enemy regime with nuclear weapons. 

Therefore one burns the targeted country to the ground. People are responsible for the acts of their leaders, who operate with the tacit approval, or at least acquiescence, of the populace.

Why Nichols believes U.S. troops would shortly be marching through the area nuked is unclear, and unlikely. The retaliatory goal is punishment, not conquest and nation-building.