ONE of the most dangerous as well as one of
the silliest beliefs held about Defence today is that tactical nuclear weapons could safely be used in the event of minor hostilities breaking out anywhere between East and West. The author of the latest Conservative Political Centre pamphlet, The Middle Years, a minor classic in muddled thinking, solemnly argues that 'if war broke out now, they would Probably be controlled at army level, but later on they may pass to the corps or even possibly the brigade. Indeed, General Gavin envisages the day when they will be fired from the shoulder'. Nothing can be more certain than that if a nuclear war of i any kind breaks
out it will at once become total; for neither side is going to sit back and wait to be anni- hilated. Nuclear wars cannot be contained any more than they can be won ; nuclear weapons of any kind can only be looked on as a deterrent; the moment they have ceased to deter they are valueless.
