Inadvertent Nuclear War - The India/Pakistan Armageddon

By John Greenewald, Jr.

NORTHRIDGE (BlackVault) - "Senior U.S. officials have expressed serious concern regarding the threat of an accidental nuclear conflict during recent Indo-Pakistani crisis" says an unclassified document obtained by The Black Vault website. As tensions continue to heat up between the two countries, this March of 2001 documents, entitled "The Threat of Inadvertent Nuclear War in South Asia," shows the true meaning of why the words "accidental" and "Nuclear" should never go together.

Since Pakistan and India have entered the Nuclear age, a great threat of an accidental Nuclear Armageddon has arisen. 

According to a Master’s Thesis for the Naval Postgraduate Academy in Monterey, California, author Matthew Gurgel, states that this type of nuclear war can be brought on by the theft of a nuclear weapon, an electric or mechanical malfunction which may result in an accidental launch, or an overabundance of other reasons that all support the threat of an accidental nuclear war.

Any type of nuclear war on the planet seems more like the plot to a TV show, but in reality, the threat of a nuclear conflict is more real than ever.

But... don't prepare for nuclear fallout just yet, as there are specific conditions that would theoretically have to be met.  According to Gurgel in this document now available online, the number one factor is the belief that a total nuclear exchange is inevitable between the two countries. And secondly, the perception that there is a significant advantage to striking first over the other would drastically alter the outcome. These are dangerous factors when working with countries so geographically close together.

The response time for countries half way across the world is greater.  Although only allowing five, maybe 10 minutes to react, countries could at least decipher if a nuclear strike was taking place. Yet the India / Pakistan crisis, dealing with countries next to each other, that window to think goes down to mere seconds.

With a time table this short, the slightest thought that the other country COULD have launched, might cause the launch of an unwarranted retaliatory strike.