A/N: Probably very few people have even seen this film...but that's okay. This is actually a school assignment, but not an original piece of fiction, as it is based on Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb. It's probably hard to understand if you haven't seen the movie. Sorry!

Ripping the Ripper

He stared at the water in his glass and grimaced, his eyes narrowing. He shook it slowly, swirling it around in the glass.

Scowling, General Jack Ripper dumped the water into the sink, and nearly threw the glass, only just containing himself. He was no idiot. The Ruskies may have contaminated everyone else, but he would not be poisoned with this...fluoridation. This invasion.

Instead, he picked up a bottle of his pure grain alcohol. He'd maybe end up dehydrated, but better that than poisoned.

He took a gulp of the alcohol and moved to sit behind his desk in his dark office. The shades were parted, but his eyes never strayed from the blank wall across the room.

Another gulp.

He looked down at the paper before him, filled with scribbles. Peace on Earth-a ridiculous dream. As long as the Ruskies were poisoning the Americans.

He slammed down the bottle. It was so obvious! What did the Soviets drink? Vodka. Consistently. It seemed that water never touched their lips. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. Including their habits.

He intended to.

Ripper read the manual again, stopping on Plan R.

Plan R.

If he was right about the water, he could call in the attack. He could wipe out the Ruskies. Within a few months, water would be drinkable again. Within a few days, the world would be safe from a Commie threat.

Peace on Earth would be attainable.

The red alert button taunted him. All he had to do was push it. Captain Mandrake would call, asking what was happening. He'd tell him to lock down the camp and guard for Russians dressed as Americans. He'd order Plan R. The B-52s would move in. The Union of Social Soviet Republics would be terminated. And Ripper would...well...he didn't know what he would do. And so he hesitated. Took another gulp.

And winced-he'd run out of the alcohol soon. And then where would he be? Dehydrated, even more so, perhaps. Dead.

He owed it to himself to hit that button. He owed it to the Americans, who were being poisoned daily.

He released a swear word, hit the button, and waited for the phone to ring.

RTR

Explanation:

Essentially, this is Ripper's thought process before he starts the whole nuclear mess. It also capitalizes on the paranoia, power, and desperation that is symbolized by Ripper's character, which the United States and the Soviet Union both felt, directed toward each other. It's not any outside information, but it is delving a bit deeper into his thoughts. It also displays that idea that Americans may have believed that if the Soviet/Communist threat were eliminated from the world, perhaps their would be "peace on Earth", which connects to the movie with Ripper's scribbles of the OPE acronym. It shows Ripper's desperation and hope for the American people, as well, in his distrust of the Soviets and the threat of water fluoridation. It's interesting that he was worried about fluoridation, since we now use it in controlled doses in our water. Still, he grew paranoid, both for the safety of himself and his country. This paranoia eventually caused him to overreact and detonate the bombs, basically. He also seemed to lack communication skills, which is also demonstrated here, as he debated this whole plan out all by himself, without consulting someone level-headed like Mandrake, or communicating with the Pentagon, for example.