U.S. Reportedly Considered Using Nuclear Weapons Against Afghanistan After 9/11
Michael Steiner, a former political adviser to Germany's then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, told German publication Der Spiegel that the nuclear option was one of the possibilities examined after the terrorist attacks in the U.S.
From left, chief of staff Andrew Card, President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice in the president's emergency operations center after the 9/11 attacks. (Vice Presidential Records of the Photography Office / CC BY-SA 3.0)
The United States considered using nuclear weapons against Afghanistan in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to German publication Der Spiegel.
Michael Steiner, a former political adviser to Germany’s then-Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, told Der Spiegel that the nuclear option was one of the possibilities examined after the attacks.
From Israeli publication Haaretz, reporting on the story:
“The papers were written,” Steiner said when asked whether the U.S. [had] considered using nuclear weapons in response to the attacks orchestrated by Al-Qaida’s Osama bin Laden, in which almost 3,000 people were killed. “They had really played through all possibilities.”
Steiner added that Schroder had feared that the U.S., which was in a state of shock following the attacks, would overreact.
Moreover, Steiner said in the interview that Schroder rejected his idea to publish a statement declaring “unconditional support” for the United States.
Tensions between Schroder and U.S. President George Bush intensified in 2003 when the chancellor refused to join U.S.-led coalition in the military campaign against Iraq.
Read more here.
–Posted by Roisin Davis
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