Truth and consequences The news.telegraph has this story on the possible consequences of a limited nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan.
An American intelligence report says a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan could kill up to 12 million people and injure seven million.The disclosure came as Pakistani nuclear experts bitterly criticised the armies of both countries for trivialising nuclear war and failing to educate their people about the consequences.
The US assessment said a limited nuclear exchange would have cataclysmic results, overwhelming hospitals across Asia and the Middle East and requiring vast foreign assistance, particularly from America, which would be forced to go in and clean up the radioactive mess.
This assessment comes as Musharref made a speech insisting that Pakistan would not start a war, but would not hesitate to fight it.
Tension is at its height. The danger of war is not yet over," he said in a toughly worded address to the nation, delivered as one million troops massed on the border between the nuclear-armed neighbours.But in "a message to the world community", he said Pakistan did not want a war. "Pakistan will not be the one to initiate war. We want peace in the region," he said.
But Musharraf said: "If war is thrust upon us, every Muslim is bound to respond in kind" and would "fight to the last drop of blood."
Question: What should the US do to stop this?
Answer: Whatever it takes.