Suppose an American offensive against Iraq bogged down in a bloody stalemate, and Saddam turned his chemical or bacteriological weapons against American troops with devastating effect. Might the U.S. then use nuclear weapons in retaliation and to shorten the war?
No, say Pentagon planners. Publicly, U.S. officials have refused to rule out going nuclear. "We'd prefer to keep Saddam guessing," says an Administration source. But Washington decided early in the confrontation with Iraq not to supply nuclear weapons to the ground troops in Saudi Arabia. Nearly 400 ! nuclear warheads are thought to be aboard American ships in the gulf region....
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