Why does the US have 120,000 nuclear weapons?

j H

Because we can....

I seriously doubt the USA has any where near that many... where are you getting your facts from?

beardog4314

Sounds pretty scary, huh? It scares China, Russia, Iran, and Cuba too. That's why we have them.

Gentle Giant

The US does not have 120,000 Nuclear weapons. That is a figment of someone's imagination. It is wildly out of line with reality.
The reality is that we have just over 7,000 nukes which is probably just about twice what we need to destroy the Earth.
Russia has about 10,000, France 400, Israel 200+, Uk has 100+.

Bill in Kansas

Ever heard of "The Cold War"

do a little reading

the best defense is a strong offense

DietrichVonQuint

Not sure on that number, but to answer the question. MAD. That is we have enough to destroy everything several times over, therefore do not mess with us.

eeeeeee

because were a frickin world power, that's why

Major Break Through

Peak was 30,000, The Bear just kept producing them,
probably because of the Cuban Missle Crisis,
Your numbers are wrong,
But I'll marry you anyway

jeeper_peeper321

he US has less than 2,000 nuclear warheads.

Guess you missed the Treaty Bush signed with Russia in 2003,

To reduce American and Russian nuclear weapons stockpiles from 12,000 each to 2,000 each by 2012.

The US has already reached that goal.

Good try though.

brian L

we don't have that many weapons currently we may have if you counted all the nukes we ever had. however most have been decommissioned and scrapped due to old age or various weapons treaties. currently we have about 1,500 warheads most of these are in storage. the others are sitting on missiles waiting to go. this number is dictated by the need to destroy all our enemies at once IE; USSR/China/North Korea. the number is needed to destroy all the targets in those countries plus a certain percentage over that number in case of malfunctions or enemy attack may destroy some of these weapons so an extra ten percent of the minimum number would sound reasonable to take that problem into account. this gives all countries a good deal of pause when they consider attacking the USA with nukes. They know that to do so is suicide.

Pat

Because 120,001 would be overkill

Comrade Abdul

Because Russia has more. It's probably also because some politicians in both countries were a bit short-changed in the underwear department.

klinebrotha

Were a super power, and have the means. Look at other countries... they have surpluses as well, we just have more.

Jeffrey B

Where did you get your numbers? See the link below.

Ryan H.

Deterrent, mutually assured destruction.

European Women rocks

Russia has the most nuclear weapons and U.S doesn't have 120,000 nuclear weapons.

quahogwi

Not sure that number is correct, but ... A ability to present a strong offense is the best defense.

treepeople88

In Case 119,999 Cant do the job.

Roadrunner58-79

The US DOES NOT have 120,000 nuclear weapons. The US HAS 7,000 nuclear weapons.
http://www.cdi.org/nuclear/database/nukestab.html

Steve

We don't, we have around 10.000 russia around 15.000 and half of them is tacticall, if we did we would have 3 times as much nukes as the sovjet union at their nuclear prime. If we did, no country wouldever dare to get into warfare with us, russia would also have a huge nuclear stockpile, and if a nuclear war would start... it would really really destroy everything on the planet, now ifa same sort os situation would happen, it would only have 1/10th the effect...

mnbvcxz52773

Every weapon has a purpose and function.

The function is to kill the enemy.

More importantly, the purpose of every weapon is to scare the enemy from us ever having to use the function.

akiko h

You must have mistaken for 1200. That is a good record.

Curtis

To oust China's communist regime

DankRuse

To destroy those that oppose us!! Do you really wanna mess with the USA!? Didn't think so...

caldude1010101

Just in case 119,999 are out of order.

hemi

because you never know when totaly annihilating the entire world may be necessary....and it is nice to know that it can be done several time over

crazyem

there are many that are left over and they're not easy to get rid of - how does once destroy a nuclear warhead without detonating it is the question

olin h

my grandpa was in charge of testing bombs in Los Alamos he quit a long time ago because of this.

MassLass

It's quite the overkill, isn't it? No pun intended. We have the power to kill everyone on the planet tens of times over. Isn't once enough, even in the most barbaric mind?

Enter Your Message or Comment

User Name:
User Email:
Post a comment: