Soldiers, Statesmen, Atomic Bombs
The question of who shall order the first atomic bomb to be dropped by the North Atlantic Treaty forces should it ever be deemed proper and necessary for them to drop one is not so crucial as at first appears. Obviously, the member Govern, ments of NATO would have to lay down, at the outset of a war, in as clear and precise a manner as possible, their conception of the conditions which would justify the use of atomic weapons, and clearly the military command would bo obliged, to respell these conditions. It is equally plain that a sudden decision might have to be taken and that the High Command might not be able to wait on the exact instructions of fourteen Govern- ments. In such a case, the soldiers would have to make up their own minds, in the knowledge that they would be called to account for their actions by the politicians. Whatever formula may be devised on this point at this week's meetings of the Defence and Foreign Ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Council can do little more than define the delicate and necessary felationship between soldiers and statesmen. The origin of the discussion is the view arrived at by the Military Committee that three conditions , are necessary for successful defence against Russian attack : the rearmament of Western Germany, the maintenance by member Governments of their own armed forces at a proper strength, and the use of nuclear weapons. The foreign policy of the Western powers now depends in principle as well as in fact on the atomic bomb; it is curious that this terrible fact seems to occasion less trouble to some sensitive consciences than the possibility of using German or Spanish soldiers in the field. In proportion as we lack conventional weapons our dependence on the atom will grow. This is the strongest case for the rapid rearmament of Western Germany. but given that and the proper preparedness of the North Atlantic Treaty states, is it really necessary to accept as a permanent assumption the view that the Western powers would have to use atomic weapons even if the Russians did not ? And can the Christian conscience reconcile itself to this assumption ?
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