Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb Page #3

was dreadfully wrong somewhere.

Take it easy...

Make me a drink of grain alcohol and

rainwater, and help yourself.

Gen. Ripper, as an officer

in Her Majesty's Air Force, -

- it is my duty

to issue the recall code -

- on my own authority, and bring

back the wing. If you'll excuse me.

I must ask you for the key and the

recall code. Do you have them handy?

I told you to take it easy.

There's nothing anyone can do now.

- Only I know the three-letter code.

- Then I insist you give it to me.

Are you threatening an officer

with a gun?

Mandrake, I suppose

it never occured to you -

- that while we're chatting here,

the President is making a decision -

- with the Joint Chiefs

at the Pentagon.

When they realise they cannot

recall the wing, -

- there will be only one plan

open to them:
Total commitment.

Do you recall what Clemenceau

once said about war?

I don't think I do, sir.

He said war was too important

to be left to the generals.

When he said that, 50 years ago,

he might have been right.

But today, war is too important

to be left to politicians.

They have neither the time,

the training, -

- nor the inclination

for strategic thought.

I can no longer sit back

and allow Communist infiltration, -

- Communist indoctrination,

Communist subversion -

- and the international

Communist conspiracy -

- to sap and impurify

all of our precious bodily fluids.

Mr. President, the

Secretary of State is in Vietnam -

- and the Secretary of Defence

is in Laos.

We can establish contact with them

if it's necessary.

Gen. Turgidson,

what's going on here?

Mr. President...

About 35 minutes ago,

Gen. Jack Ripper, -

- the commanding general

of Burpelson Air Force Base, -

- issued an order to his 34 B-52's

which were airborne at the time, -

- as part of a special exercise

called Operation Dropkick.

It appears he ordered the planes

to attack their targets in Russia.

The planes are armed with nuclear

weapons averaging 40 megatons.

The central display of Russia will

indicate the position of the planes.

The triangles

are their primary targets, -

- and the squares

are their secondary targets.

The aircraft will penetrate

Russian radar cover in 25 minutes.

I find this difficult to understand.

I thought only I had the authority

to order the use of nuclear weapons.

That's right, sir. You are the

only person authorized to do so.

And though I hate to judge

before the facts are in, -

- it looks like Gen. Ripper

exceeded his authority.

Far beyond the point

I would have imagined possible.

Perhaps you're forgetting

the provisions of Plan R, sir.

Plan R is an emergency war plan, -

- in which a commander may retaliate

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