Less than two weeks ago, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the "doomsday clock" forward to 11:53 PM, forward two minutes from 11:51 PM. The clock represents what leading scientists believe is the danger of cataclysmic nuclear war, and is the third movement towards midnight since the cold war ended in 1991, when the clock was turned back to 11:43 PM.

Now, the Los Angeles Times has discovered that the Bush administration has been preparing "contingency" plans to use "tactical" nuclear weapons on battlefields around the world.

The Bush administration has directed the military to prepare contingency plans to use nuclear weapons against at least seven countries and to build smaller nuclear weapons for use in certain battlefield situations, according to a classified Pentagon report obtained by the Los Angeles Times.

The secret report, which was provided to Congress on Jan. 8, says the Pentagon needs to be prepared to use nuclear weapons against China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Iran, Libya and Syria. It says the weapons could be used in three types of situations: against targets able to withstand nonnuclear attack; in retaliation for attack with nuclear, biological or chemical weapons; or "in the event of surprising military developments." [...]

Arms control advocates said the report's directives on development of smaller nuclear weapons could signal that the Bush administration is more willing to overlook a long-standing taboo against the use of nuclear weapons except as a last resort. They warned that such moves could dangerously destabilize the world by encouraging other countries to believe that they, too, should develop weapons.

"They're trying desperately to find new uses for nuclear weapons, when their uses should be limited to deterrence," said John Isaacs, president of the Council for a Livable World. "This is very, very dangerous talk . . . Dr. Strangelove is clearly still alive in the Pentagon."

History shows pretty clearly that the military always wants to fight big battles because that's their job -- it's what they train, rehearse, and plan for. The President has to have the maturity, sense of global citizenship, and sense of history not to use the military every place it feels it could be effective. There has been pressure on US presidents for fifty years to use more nuclear weapons, potentially starting a world-ending conflict.

Every president since Truman has been able to resist the pressure, even with the "tactical" weapons. (General Creosote: "It's just a wafer-thin nuclear weapon, sir. It can't possibly do any harm!") Our current president is a former party-boy with no real demonstrated interest in world policy before his campaign, and whose unilateralism has damaged relations with almost all of the US's allies.

Does he have what it takes to keep his finger off the button? Is there even any evidence he does?