James Morrow - This Is the Way the World Ends

‘If a war ever started, God forbid, the Soviets would immediately see they had nothing to gain by moving beyond surgical strikes,’ answered Wengernook.

‘They would be deterred from escalating?’

‘Exactly. Their only option would be peace.’

Bonenfant allowed the word peace to linger for several beats, then announced that he had no further questions. Justice Jefferson ordered a lunch recess.

‘I’m glad he got immorality in there,’ said Brat.

‘The line about peace was good too,’ said George.

His bullet wound throbbed crazily as he tried to recall Victor Seabird’s testimony. A complicated test ban, is that what the old man had negotiated? And there was something about weaponsgrade material…

‘Secretary Wengernook,’ Aquinas began after the break, ‘is it fair to say that the defense of Western Europe lay at the heart of America’s involvement with nuclear weapons?’

‘Given the superiority of the Warsaw Pact’s conventional forces, tactical deployments were essential to NATO’s security.’

‘Some observers believed that the new intermediate-range missiles in Europe forced the Soviets to adopt a policy of launchon-warning.’

‘You must consider the stabilizing aspects of launch-on-warning.’ Wengernook jettisoned his cigarette. ‘When a nation puts her missiles on a so-called “hair trigger,” her military leaders feel much less threatened.’

‘Because they know they won’t lose those forces in a preemptive strike?’

‘Yes.’

‘So they’re less likely to do something foolish?’

‘Right.’

‘Like launching on warning?’

‘Exactly.’

‘Tell the tribunal about no-first-use.’

‘This was the proposed doctrine whereby NATO would never be first to fire nuclear weapons, even in the face of a total defeat by the Warsaw Pact’s tank divisions.’

Aquinas retrieved several items from one of the document piles. ‘Glancing through your writings, I see that you were opposed to a no-first-use pledge.’

‘It would have severely eroded deterrence. I much prefer a policy that says, “NATO will never shoot any nuclear missiles unless attacked.”’

‘By conventional weapons.’

‘It also had a credibility problem. The whole thing would have gone out the window as soon as the Soviet blitzkrieg began.’

‘Let me get this straight. The problem with no-first-use was that it had just enough credibility to invite a grand scale assault, but not enough credibility to hold up during one?’

‘You should never let the enemy know your intentions.’

‘Is that why in this issue of Strategic Doctrine Quarterly , Document 794, you praised President Truman for introducing something called “The Hiroshima Factor”?’

‘Well, Hiroshima certainly gave us an advantage over the Soviets in the ambiguity area,’ said Wengernook, leafing through the document in question. ‘They never knew just what we would do.’

‘So by rejecting no-first-use, America could retain its superiority in ambiguity?’

‘I’m trying to give a serious interview here.’

‘Your 1992 commencement address at the Air Force Academy, Document 613, includes the famous remark that, quote, “In a nuclear war our forces must prevail over the Soviets and achieve an early cessation of hostilities on terms favorable to the United States.” Unquote. What does it mean to “prevail” in a nuclear war, Secretary?’

‘It means absorbing a first strike and then retaliating decisively.’

‘How would you characterize a country that has absorbed a first strike?’

‘The industrial base is largely intact, the command structure is functioning, and deterrence has been restored.’

‘What about the civilian population?’

‘A significant percentage has survived.’

‘And a significant percentage hasn’t survived. Is this what you people call “acceptable losses”?’

‘Occasionally we used that term.’

‘Five million people killed, is that acceptable?’

‘Well, we had that twenty million figure staring us in the face.’

‘What twenty million figure?’

‘The casualties Russia suffered in the Second World War.’

‘A troubling sum. You were losing the acceptable losses race.’

Justice Wojciechowski asked, ‘Mr Wengernook, may I assume that no losses were acceptable to you personally ?’

‘That goes without saying.’ The defendant drew a pair of mirrored sunglasses from his scopas suit and put them on. ‘Acceptable losses is a very abstract concept. It only comes up in strategic discussions.’

‘I hate to be a Monday-morning quarterback,’ said Aquinas, ‘but the United States didn’t “prevail,” did it? Your menu got used up, the Soviets neglected to offer favorable terms, the SPASM was implemented, and the human race disappeared. Now, in light of these events, do you still believe your plans were more moral than mutual assured destruction?’

‘There is a world of ethical difference between offensive warfighting plans and preventive war-fighting plans.’

‘Is that why winning was an ugly concept when the Soviets thought about it and a realistic option when you did?’

‘We had to live in the world as it was, Prosecutor, not as we would have liked it to be.’

Aquinas moved so close to Wengernook that his breath fogged the defendant’s sunglasses. ‘But you made the world as it was! Your strategic menu threatened the Soviets from all sides! Your theater forces menaced them! Your Multiprongs taunted them! Your Omegas—!’

‘“If you would have peace, prepare for war,”’ Wengernook quoted somberly. ‘Appius Claudius the Blind.’

‘And if you would have war, you also prepare for war!’

George had seen this scene before, on movie screens – the prosecutor trying to break down the defendant.

‘I submit that your strategies had the Soviets frightened to death!’ Aquinas persisted. ‘I submit that the best hope they saw was a quick, unexpected decapitation of the American command structure!’

But this was not the movies. This was the post-exchange environment, where everybody is extinct and assistant defense secretaries are as unyielding as Vermont granite.

‘No, you’re wrong,’ said Wengernook wearily. ‘That Soviet Spitball attack was completely unmotivated.’

Aquinas was at the bench, standing before the little frozen missile exhibits. ‘When was this arms race supposed to end, Secretary?’ He kicked the ice arsenal. ‘When?’

‘An unmotivated, naive, pointless, reckless, suicidal attack,’ said Wengernook. ‘Everybody knows that Spitball cruise missiles are not good for first strikes.’

‘When?’ shouted Mother Mary Catherine from the gallery.

‘How many times can you fantasize all these battle plans before wanting to get the whole thing over with?’ Aquinas demanded, kicking missiles. ‘How many times can you go through the door marked DETERRENCE before you end up in a concrete bunker turning launch keys?’

Wengernook ripped off his sunglasses and said, ‘To this day, I don’t understand the enemy’s reasoning. Spitballs are second -strike weapons. Not first -strike – second -strike. Is that clear?’

For the next ten minutes Aquinas kicked missiles and shouted rhetorical questions, Wengernook patiently explained why Spitballs were useless in first strikes, Mother Mary Catherine released balloons with WHEN? painted on their sides, and Justice Jefferson made halfhearted attempts to restore order. Finally a haggard chief prosecutor announced that he had no further questions.

Back in the booth, Wengernook received warm congratulations and firm handshakes from Brat, Randstable, Overwhite, and Sparrow. He approached George and gave him an amiable slap on the shoulder. ‘This sort of testimony must sound awfully technical to you, huh?’ asked the defense secretary.