Why would anyone in his or her right mind agree to launch a nuclear weapon aimed at killing thousands or millions of people he or she does not personally know; fellow human beings who have parents, children and siblings who likely strive to live a decent life?

When asked in a psychological test administered by the Navy if he would launch such a missile if ordered to do so, Michael Izbicki, a conscientious objector, answered, "No."

I honestly ask, is this an unreasonable reply? Why do we so strongly adhere to a double standard, a standard that severely punishes those in civilian life who murder others but sanctions the possible genocide of countless numbers of other people via potential nuclear devastation?

Let us remember that the use of nuclear weapons and, to some extent, cluster bombs, land mines, unmanned drones and other diabolical human artifacts, poison our atmosphere and destroy our electromagnetic radio waves, our water supply and everything else we hold dear to our survival.

I salute Michael Izbicki for having the courage to lead the way in rejecting the deadly and childish premise that a nuclear strike on other sentient human beings is an intelligent, viable idea.