text: how can the u.s. tell other countries they can not develop nuclear weapons, but it's ok for us to have them?   this question has been asked before, in many different forms.  the answer is simple, and the reasons are many.  here are a few: 1) the us is the strongest country in the world.  therefore, it is our responsibility to keep the peace...even if it means preparing for war. 2) even though the us is the only country to have ever used a nuclear weapon, we didn't do it just because we didn't like the japanese.  we could have dropped a nuke on russia during the cold war if that were true. 3) the us doesn't go around threatening other countries because they "don't have a right to exist."  we also aren't known for strapping bombs to our children and sending them to the mall. 4) we would only ever use a nuke again if it was a deterrent, or if someone nuked us first.  most countries wouldn't be stupid enough to do this, because we could bomb them right off the face of the earth. 5) the countries that we are trying to stop from pursuing nuclear technology would use a bomb.  as i said, we wouldn't, and haven't, except sixty years ago when our government felt we had no choice.