Wednesday, March 20, 2002

                  Susan V. Thompson, ed.

                  Read online or subscribe at:

                  http://www.9-11peace.org/bulletin.php3                

 

                  INTRODUCTION: THE MOST TERRIFYING WAR OF ALL

                  -----------------------------------------------------------------

                  Several weeks ago the conflict between India and Pakistan raised

                  the dangerous possibility that the "war on terrorism" could have

                  nuclear implications. Nuclear weapons have became an issue again

                  last week, but this time, controversy is raging over the nuclear

                  policies of the US itself.

 

                  The center of the controversy is a Pentagon document titled the

                  "Nuclear Policy Review" or NPR. The document was leaked to the LA

                  Times, which published the first report on it. The NPR advocates

                  building and testing smaller nuclear weapons and raises the

                  possibility of treating nuclear weapons as part of the regular

                  military arsenal of the US. This policy flies in the face of

                  ongoing international attempts to prevent another arms race, and

                  as a result many world leaders have reacted with shock and horror

                  to the document -- even some of those who are part of the Bush

                  administration's international coalition. Particularly worrisome

                  is the fact that the NPR lists several non-nuclear countries as

                  possible candidates for nuclear strikes; the traditional US

                  commitment to using nuclear weapons only in retaliation for a

                  nuclear attack appears to have been abandoned.

 

                  The US has the largest and most sophisticated arsenal of nuclear

                  weapons in the world. The policies that it sets truly have global

                  ramifications, and the NPR seems to be setting an extremely

                  negative precedent. The NPR also has big implications for the

                  current "war on terrorism", since Iraq is one of the countries

                  listed as a possible nuclear target and it is also one of the

                  most likely next targets of the current war.

 

                  The bad news is that despite President Bush's concern with the

                  "axis of evil," it seems amply evident that the most dangerous

                  nuclear rogue state at the moment may very well be America. The

                  good news is that America's nuclear policy is not set in stone,

                  and can still be revised. In this bulletin, we hope to explain

                  the major nuclear issues that currently face the world -- not

                  with the intent of causing fear and despair, but with the intent

                  of giving you the information that you will need to speak out

                  against the current threats. The best hope for our shared future

                  lies with all of the citizens of the world who are willing to

                  work for peace. And if the doomsday clock is at seven minutes to

                  midnight, that means we still have time left to change things.

 

On February 27, 2002, the Board of Directors of the Bulletin of

                  the Atomic Scientists moved the minute hand of the “Doomsday

                  Clock,” which symbolically measures the likelihood of nuclear

                  holocaust, from nine to seven minutes to midnight. This is the

                  same setting at which the clock debuted 55 years ago. Read their

                  thorough and important summary of the global nuclear threat to

                  learn why they believe that the threat of destruction is so

                  close, and what can be done about it. If you click on only one

                  link this week, make it this one.

                  http://www.bullatomsci.org/media/current_print.html

 

Meanwhile, Israel is one of America's closest allies, yet it may

                  have a far more threatening nuclear arsenal than any of the

                  countries in the "axis of evil." It is specifically stated in the

                  Nuclear Posture Review that if Iraq attacked Israel, the US would

                  consider attacking Iraq with nuclear weapons.

             

    This chart summarizes nuclear testing from 1945 to 1998, showing

                  which countries have tested nuclear weapons and how many tests

                  have been run. The US tops the list.

                  http://www.armscontrol.org/act/1998_05/ffmy98.asp

In 1996, Greenpeace celebrated the signing of the Comprehensive

                  Test Ban Treaty, after 25 years of campaigning to end nuclear

                  weapons testing.

                  http://www.greenpeace.org/~comms/nukes/ctbt/sep24.html

Unfortunately, the testing that had already been done is still

                  affecting the global environment today.

 

                  The nuclear test in Alaska (the one that Greenpeace was

                  originally created to protest) may still be having effects on the

                  surrounding environment. It was the largest nuclear blast in

                  America, 400 times more powerful than the weapon that destroyed

                  Hiroshima, and as it turns out, the blast was set off next to the

                  Alaskan equivalent of the San Andreas fault.

                  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines01/1217-03.htm

USA Today recently reported that an unpublished study by the

                  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has determined that

                  radioactive fallout from Cold War nuclear testing exposed

                  virtually everyone in the United States, and has contributed to

                  about 15,000 cancer deaths. The article includes charts, maps and

                  other information on this important issue.

                  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002/02/28/usat-nuke.htm

America is the country possessing the largest and most

                  sophisticated nuclear arsenal in the world. Unfortunately, the US

                  has been opting out of important international agreements that

                  help regulate and govern the use of such weapons, especially

                  under the current Bush administration. "When the parties to the

                  NPT meet again this April, the US is sure to come under heavy

                  criticism for its notice of withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic

                  Missile Treaty, its failure to ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban

                  Treaty, its new strategy to make nuclear disarmament reversible,

                  and its recent announcement that it is rescinding its security

                  assurances to non-nuclear weapons states."

                  http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.02/0226kriegernucter.htm

THE NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW (NPR)

                  -----------------------------------------------

                  The three most controversial elements of the Nuclear Posture

                  Review are:

                  1) it advocates building and testing smaller nuclear weapons

                  2) it advocates the use of nuclear weapons such as these

                  "mini-nukes" in a much broader range of situations (possibly

                  including a first strike)

                  3) it lists China, Iraq, Iran, Syria, North Korea, Russia and

                  Libya as possible targets, although only two of these countries

                  are defined as nuclear powers.

 

                  "In short, the Pentagon wants to make nuclear war fighting more

                  thinkable, dramatically lowering the bar. It wants to reclassify

                  nuclear weapons as offensive tools, not defensive ones. It wants

                  to build more weapons, when the U.S. and Russia seek cuts. And it

                  is reneging on a 1978 pledge: That the U.S. won't launch nuclear

                  strikes against non-nuclear foes, provided that they don't team

                  up with a nuclear ally to attack the U.S."

 

                  Read the rest of this Canadian article to get a succinct and

                  easily understandable overview of the Nuclear Posture Review and

                  what its implications are.

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=131

The Nuclear Posture Review proposes violating the Comprehensive

                  Test Ban Treaty. The US has yet to ratify this treaty, and the

                  likelihood that the US will begin testing nuclear weapons again

                  now seems almost inevitable.

                  http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4371815,00.html

Robert W. Nelson, a theoretical physicist who is on the research

                  staff of Princeton University, debunks the ideas of Bush's

                  advisors. He reports that it is simply not possible for a kinetic

                  energy weapon to penetrate deep enough to prevent widespread and

                  intense local radioactive fallout from the nuclear explosion.

                  Therefore the proposed bunker busters will increase rather than

                  decrease civilian deaths.

                  http://www.clw.org/pub/clw/coalition/briefv5n7.htm

"This is a very dangerous policy," said Joseph Cirincione, a

                  nuclear proliferation expert at the Carnegie Endowment for

                  International Peace. "The test is: How would we feel if other

                  countries adopted the same policy? I'm not talking about rogue

                  states. What if India developed nuclear weapons to go after

                  terrorists in the Himalayas? Would we feel safer then?"

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=132

In response to the controversy, Colin Powell has said that the US

                  will continue to follow its policy of using nuclear weapons only

                  as a response to a nuclear attack initiated by another country.

                  Powell has also attempted to address the strain that the NPR has

                  put on relations between Russia and the US, and has stated that

                  there are no missiles currently targeted at Russia (although he

                  added that they could easily be redirected.)

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=133

 

                  Would the US really consider a first strike? The answers have

                  ranged from "not likely" to "no comment."

                  http://www.iht.com/articles/51688.html

REACTIONS TO THE NUCLEAR POSTURE REVIEW

                  ------------------------------------------------------------

                  This article basically provides a summary of the initial

                  reactions to the report from around the world; China was "deeply

                  shocked."

                  http://www.nandotimes.com/world/story/296816p-2611312c.html

 

                  In a fairly obvious spin attempt, the Washington Post asserted

                  that the European allies of the states were "unperturbed" by the

                  NPR: "Reports that the United States is reexamining where to

                  target its nuclear arsenal drew a subdued response this weekend,

                  with some European leaders dismissing the project as routine

                  military planning." However, the article does point out that both

                  Iran and Russia reacted very strongly to the NPR, accusing the US

                  of intimidation tactics.

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=134

 

                  Various experts contend that the NPR undermines the 1970

                  Non-Proliferation Treaty, and could very well lead to a new arms

                  race.

                  http://atimes.com/front/DC13Aa01.html

 

                  British Labour MP Alice Mahon has since said: "The lunatics have

                  taken over the White House. This report must be ringing alarms

                  throughout NATO." This article reports that the international

                  reaction to the NPR has been one of "horror".

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=135

 

                  UN Undersecretary General for Disarmament Affairs expressed

                  "alarm and consternation" at the report.

                  http://www.unfoundation.org/unwire/2002/03/13/current.asp#24627

 

                  North Korea reacted strongly to the NPR, and has threatened that:

                  "The DPRK will not remain a passive onlooker to the Bush

                  administration's inclusion of the DPRK in the seven countries,

                  targets of U.S. nuclear attack, but take a strong countermeasure

                  against it." The article notes that North Korea's nuclear weapons

                  program was "frozen" in 1994 in exchange for oil supplies and

                  Western nuclear reactors.

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=136

 

                  North Korea has since more explicitly threatened to revive its

                  nuclear program in response to the NPR.

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=137

 

                  China has accused the US of "nuclear blackmail."

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=138

 

                  Russia is listed in the Nuclear Posture Review as a potential

                  target, a fact that is threatening talks between the two

                  countries.

                  http://9-11peace.org/r.php3?redir=139

 

                  Canada's former ambassador for disarmament calls for Canada to

                  oppose the State's nuclear plan immediately, stating, "friends

                  don't let friends drive drunk."

                  http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.03/0313rocherethink.htm

 

                  Even conservative extraordinaire Pat Buchanan asks: "Is it for

                  the United States to threaten atomic strikes against non-nuclear

                  rogue states? Will that threat intimidate them –- or cause them

                  to accelerate their efforts to acquire the bomb?"

                  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26794

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