Are We Ready for World War III?

Morris Berman dug up this little nugget:

http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/36306-survey-reveals-public-support-for-nuclear-strikes-and-a-disconnect-from-the-bloody-reality-of-bombs

Here's the beginning of the article:

In the wake of President Obama’s visit to Hiroshima last week, renewed debates over the use of atomic weapons against Japan in August 1945 have highlighted a disturbing trend: a rise in public support for US attacks on civilians across the globe. Never having withstood a prolonged bombing campaign on their soil, many people in the United States are quick to support and justify the use of bombs -- including nuclear ones -- on others. 

Academics Scott Sagan and Benjamin Valentino conducted research on the US public's attitude regarding nuclear bombing and recently publishing a summary of their findings in a Wall Street Journal story titled "Would the US Drop the Bomb Again?" From a survey of a "representative sample of 620 Americans" administered by YouGov last July, Sagan and Valentino revealed results that were "unsettling about the instincts of the US public." Specifically, the pair reported that, "When provoked, [US citizens] don't seem to consider the use of nuclear weapons a taboo, and our commitment to the immunity of civilians from deliberate attack in wartime, even with vast casualties, is shallow."

Of course, the survey question offered up a little scenario similar to the Old Pearl Harbor (as opposed to 9/11, the New one): Iranian forces blowing up a US air craft carrier, killing 2400 sailors. The surveyor asked the question:"Would you approve of the US dropping a nuclear bomb on a city of 100,000 souls in Iran?" 59 percent of the respondents replied similar to the following: "Of course!" And no doubt a few probably said: "Whaddya mane, souls?"

I wonder if people would approve of doing the same to Russia if Russian forces did the same in the Black Sea in response to some US provocation in the Ukraine? I bet they would!

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