The problem with nuclear deterrence is that you have to be prepared to use nuclear weapons - else how credible is your deterrent? Just because it is the government doing it, the consequences of "one nuclear weapon exploded in one city" are no less. So in order to use the nuclear deterrent, you have to be prepared to murder on a mass scale. If you are prepared to murder - you already are a murderer.

I think it is fair to recognize that Mutual Assured Destruction played a role in keeping the United States and the Soviet Union from attacking each other. But at what cost to our soul? The US and the USSR lost the opportunity to renounce the use of these immoral weapons - when they still had a near-monopoly. Now it may be too late - with a dozen or so countries around the globe having nuclear arsenals.

We have now become the Evil Empire. About the only good use for a nuclear weapon now is for crazy dictators to use the threat of The Bomb to keep the US from attacking their country. But this is all just a bargain with the Devil. It would be far better if crazy dictators knew that the US would not attack them unless they actually posed some threat to the US. But, of course, we long ago eliminated any chance that any country could rely on the integrity of our foreign and military policy.