When the true contents of the new nuclear Posture Review (NPR) were revealed in early March, the Bush administration's official response was as confused and counterproductive as the document itself. The January 2002 review explicitly cites Iraq, Iran, Libya, North Korea, and Syria―in addition to China and Russia―claiming that there are a variety of "immediate" and potential contingencies that might require the use of nuclear weapons against them. Many of the review's "scenarios" do not even involve the use of nuclear weapons by these countries. And two of the review's three most prominent scenarios―a Chinese attack on Taiwan and an Iraqi attack on Israel or its neighbors―do not even involve an attack on the United States itself.
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