How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

The next-generation nuclear bomb is being developed. And I watched (for Nth time where N > 15) what is my favorite movie; Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Here are some quotes from both.

Dr. Strangelove: Sir! I have a plan! [...] Mein Furher! I Can walk!

The new weapon, under development for about a year, is intended to ensure the long-term reliability of the nation's inventory of bombs. Program backers say that with greater confidence in the quality of its weapons, the nation could draw down its stockpile, estimated at about 6,000 warheads.

General Jack D. Ripper: Fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face.

By law, the new weapons would pack the same explosive power as existing warheads and be suitable only for the same kinds of military targets as the weapons they replace. As a result, unlike past proposals for new atomic weapons, the current project has bipartisan support in Congress.

General "Buck" Turgidson: We cannot have a mineshaft gap!

Without the reliable replacement warhead, U.S. scientists say, the nation will end up with old and potentially unreliable bombs within the next 15 years, allowing future adversaries to challenge U.S. supremacy and erode the nation's so-called "strategic deterrent."

Dr. Strangelove: It is not only possible, it is essential.

The new bomb would have to be built and deployed without testing. The U.S. last conducted an underground test in Nevada in 1991 and has since imposed a moratorium on new testing.

Dr. Strangelove: Based on the findings of the report, my conclusion was that this idea was not a practical deterrent for reasons which at this moment must be all too obvious.

Richard Garwin, the physicist who helped design the first H-bomb in 1952 and remains a leading authority on nuclear weapons, opposes the new bomb and is worried it will lead to new testing. "We don't need it," he said. "No science will be able to keep these political doubts away."

President Merkin Muffley: [to Russian Premier] Good... Well, it's good that you're fine and... and I'm fine... I agree with you, it's great to be fine... a-ha-ha-ha-ha... Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb... The Bomb, Dmitri... The hydrogen bomb!... Well now, what happened is... ah... one of our base commanders, he had a sort of... well, he went a little funny in the head... you know... just a little... funny. And, ah... he went and did a silly thing... Well, I'll tell you what he did. He ordered his planes... to attack your country... Ah... Well, let me finish, Dmitri... Let me finish, Dmitri... Well listen, how do you think I feel about it?... Can you imagine how I feel about it, Dmitri?...