The Age of Overkill

Soon other nations developed atomic weapons, and as international tensions grew, the nuclear arms race was on. More and bigger bombs were developed. The one dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” carried a punch equal to 13 thousand tons of TNT. Yet this was truly like a “little boy” compared to today’s bombs. Some already tested are equal to 60 million tons of TNT!

Tens of thousands of these bombs of various sizes are stockpiled in many arsenals. The United States alone has sufficient atomic warheads to kill every man, woman and child on earth 12 times over. But firepower is only one alarming development.

You may still feel somewhat secure, knowing you are thousands of miles from an unfriendly country. Today, however, there are systems equipped to deliver atomic warheads whose accuracy defies imagination. Missiles carrying up to eight separate atomic warheads are now capable of traveling 6,000 miles (9,656 km) and hitting within 492 yards (450 m) of the target. Soon they will be able to strike within a few yards! Clearly, no one on earth can really feel safe or “out of range.”

Obviously man already has at his disposal the means to destroy himself and leave this earth a radioactive waste. Yet, since 1945 nuclear weapons have not been used in warfare.