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Recent
Stories
June
20, 2003
Gary
Leupp
Bush on "Revisionist Historians"
June
19, 2003
Elaine
Cassel
Bush Plays the Racial Profiling Card:
It's a Smokescreen
Brian
Cloughley
Punch-and-Judy in the West Wing:
The Powell-Rice Show
David Lindorff
What's Next?
Mark
Jacobs
A Serious Conversation: a Former Foreign Service Officer on Diplomacy
in the Age of Bush
Alfredo
Castro
Bloodbath in Colombia: The Army and the Death Squads
Saul
Landau
Lying, Flag Waving and Redefining
Conservative Values
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars
Web Log, 6/19
June
18, 2003
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
Elaine
Cassel
Dark Star Chambers: Secret Trials,
Nameless Defendents, Veiled Threats to Defense Lawyers
Col.
Daniel Smith
Iraq's WMDs: Integrity, Ethics and
Intelligence
Chris
Fagen
Ignoring the World's Bloodiest War
Rick
Fantasia and Kim Voss
Bush's Low Intensity War on Labor
Sam
Hamod
Theater of Deception: Bush, Sharon,
Abbas
M.
Shahid Alam
Illuminating Tom Friedman
Jon
Brown
Greens & Dems: a Reply to Publius
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars
Web Log, 6/18
June
17, 2003
Dr.
Susan Block
Sex, Lies and WMDs
Elaine
Cassel
Scalia, the Rumsfeld of the Supremes
Roger Burbach
Brazil Under Lula
Dan
Bacher
The WTO's War on Salmon
Peter
Phillips and Jason Spencer
Entertainment Media 2003
Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation
The Challenge of Nuclear Weapons in the 21st Century
Wayne Madsen
Outting Ashcroft's Latest Hypocrisy
Larry
Kearney
Starlight
Steve
Perry
The Bush Administration
Lies Marathon, Day 3
June
16, 2003
Frida
Berrigan
Death in Aceh: US Weapon Aid the
Repression
Publius
Candidate Dem and Citizen Green
Tarif
Abboushi
Roadmap or Roadkill?
Rep. John
Conyers
Bush's Deceptions about Iraq Threaten Democracy at Home
Julian
Samuel
A Review of Pilger's The New Rulers of the World
Uri
Avnery
The Children of Death
Steve
Perry
Bush's Lies,
Part 2
June
14 / 15, 2003
Edward
Said
A Roadmap to What and Where?
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Pryor Unrestraint: Killer Bill Pryor's
Mad Quest for the Federal Bench
David Lindorff
Rumsfeld v. Belgium
Jennifer
Loewenstein
Suicide's Most Willing Accomplice
Lee Sustar
US Tax System: Rigged for the Rich
Ben
Tripp
Of Dissidents and Dissonance
William
S. Lind
Lies, Damned Lies and Military Intelligence
Joanne
Mariner
Rebellious Judges
Gila Svirsky
A Macabre Alliance
Mickey
Z.
Where We Are
Chris Floyd
Metaphysics as a Guide to Murder
Noah
Leavitt
Peru as Our Crystal Ball?
Yves Engler
and Bianca Mugyenyi
The G8 and Africa
Dr.
Gerry Lower
Dear Rudy, Let's Get Those Damned Liberals
Ted Dace
A Review of Kovel's The Enemy of Nature
Adam
Engel
Midnight at the Apocalyptic Pancake
Poets'
Basement
Smith, Greeder, Albert, and O'Hayer
Website
of the Weekend
AEI: Starts Wars; Creates
Poverty
June
13, 2003
David
Vest
Bush
Roadmap to What?
Ron Jacobs
The Iranian Revolution, Reloaded?
John
Chuckman
The Man Who Wasn't There
Jason Leopold
Six Months Before War White House Silenced Critics of WMD Intelligence
Michael
Leon
Missing Weapons, Shrinking Bush and the Media
Negar Azimi
Ashcroft's Cruel Version of America
Saul
Landau
Shiite Happens
Hammond
Guthrie
Then and Now
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars
Web Log 6/13
June
12, 2003
Gary
Leupp
The Intel-gate Row in Britain: a Chronology
Ahmad Faruqui
The Tragic Legacy of the Six Day
War
Wayne
Madsen
Unfit for Office: Time for Rumsfeld to Resign
Laura Carlsen
Hunger and Security
Tarif
Abboushi
Warm and Fuzzy in Aqaba
Ray
McGovern
Deceived into War: Reflections of
a Former CIA Analyst
Steve
Perry
Counting Bush's
Lies, part 2
Hot Stories
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Elaine
Cassel
Civil Liberties
Watch
Michel
Guerrin
Embedded Photographer Says: "I
Saw Marines Kill Civilians"
Uzma
Aslam Khan
The Unbearably Grim Aftermath of War:
What America Says Does Not Go
Paul de Rooij
Arrogant
Propaganda
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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for More Stories.
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June
21, 2003
Democracy, Safety,
and Obligations
Ten
Reasons to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
By DAVID KRIEGER
1. Fulfill Existing Obligations. The nuclear weapons states have made solemn
promises to the international community to negotiate in good
faith to achieve nuclear disarmament. The United States, Russia,
Britain, France and China accepted this obligation when they
signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and extended their
promises at the 1995 NPT Review and Extension Conference and
again at the 2000 NPT Review Conference. India and Pakistan,
which are not signatories of the NPT, have committed themselves
to abolish their nuclear arsenals if the other nuclear weapons
states agree to do so. The only nuclear weapons state that has
not made this promise is Israel, and surely it could be convinced
to do so if the other nuclear weapons states agreed to the elimination
of their nuclear arsenals. The International Court of Justice,
the world's highest court, unanimously highlighted the obligation
to nuclear disarmament in its 1996 Opinion: "There exists
an obligation to pursue in good faith and bring to a conclusion
negotiations leading to nuclear disarmament in all its aspects
under strict and effective international control." This
means an obligation to reduce the world's nuclear arsenals to
zero.
2. Stop Nuclear Weapons Proliferation.
The failure of nuclear weapons
states to act to eliminate their nuclear arsenals will likely
result in the proliferation of nuclear weapons to other nations.
If nuclear weapons states continue to maintain the position that
nuclear weapons preserve their security, it is only reasonable
that other nations with less powerful military forces, such as
North Korea, will decide that their security should also be maintained
by nuclear arsenals. Without substantial progress toward nuclear
disarmament, the Non-Proliferation Treaty will be in jeopardy
when the parties to the treaty meet for the NPT Review Conference
in the year 2005.
3. Prevent Nuclear Terrorism. The very existence of nuclear weapons and their
production endanger our safety because they are susceptible to
terrorist exploitation. Nuclear weapons and production sites
all over the world are vulnerable to terrorist attack or to theft
of weapons or weapons-grade materials. Russia, due to the breakup
of the former Soviet Union, has a weakened command and control
system, making their substantial arsenal especially vulnerable
to terrorists. In addition, nuclear weapons are not helpful in
defending against or responding to terrorism because nuclear
weapons cannot target a group that is unlocatable.
4. Avoid Nuclear Accidents. The risk of accidental war through miscommunication,
miscalculation or malfunction is especially dangerous given the
thousands of nuclear warheads deployed and on high alert status.
Given the short time periods available in which to make decisions
about whether or not a state is under nuclear attack, and whether
to launch a retaliatory response, the risk of miscalculation
is high. In addition, the breakup of the former Soviet Union
has weakened Russia's early warning system, since many parts
of this system were located outside of Russia, and this increases
the likelihood of a nuclear accident.
5. Cease the Immorality of Threatening
Mass Murder. It is highly immoral
to base the security of a nation on the threat to destroy cities
and potentially murder millions of people. This immoral policy
is named nuclear deterrence, and it is relied upon by all nuclear
weapons states. Nuclear deterrence is a dangerous policy. Its
implementation places humanity and most forms of life in jeopardy
of annihilation.
6. Reverse the Concentration of Power. Nuclear weapons undermine democracy by giving
a few individuals the power to destroy the world as we know it.
No one should have this much power. If these individuals make
a mistake or misjudgment, everyone in the world will pay for
it.
7. Promote Democratic Openness. Decisions about nuclear weapons have been made
largely in secrecy with little involvement from the public. In
the United States, for example, nuclear weapons policy is set
forth in highly classified documents, which are not made available
to the public and come to public attention only by leaks. On
this most important of all issues facing humanity, there is no
informed consent of the people.
8. Halt the Drain on Resources. Nuclear weapons have drained resources, including
scientific resources, from other more productive uses. A 1998
study by the Brookings Institution found that the United States
alone had spent more than $5.5 trillion on nuclear weapons programs
between 1940 and 1996. The United States continues to spend some
$25-$35 billion annually on research, development and maintenance
of its nuclear arsenal. All of these misspent resources represent
lost opportunities for improving the health, education and welfare
of the people of the world.
9. Heed Warnings by Distinguished
Leaders. Distinguished leaders
throughout the world, including generals, admirals, heads of
state and government, scientists and Nobel Peace Laureates, have
warned of the dangers inherent in relying upon nuclear weapons
for security. These warnings have gone unheeded by the leaders
of nuclear weapons states.
10. Meet Our Responsibility. We each have a responsibility to our children,
grandchildren and future generations to end the threat that nuclear
weapons pose to humanity and all life. This is a responsibility
unique in human history. If we do not accept responsibility to
speak out and act for a world free of nuclear weapons, who will?
David Krieger
is president of the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation. He is the editor of Hope in a Dark
Time (Capra Press, 2003), and author of Choose
Hope, Your Role in Waging Peace in the Nuclear Age (Middleway
Press, 2002). He can be contacted at dkrieger@napf.org.
Today's Features
Elaine
Cassel
Bush Plays the Racial Profiling Card:
It's a Smokescreen
Brian
Cloughley
Punch-and-Judy in the West Wing:
The Powell-Rice Show
David Lindorff
What's Next?
Mark
Jacobs
A Serious Conversation: a Former Foreign Service Officer on Diplomacy
in the Age of Bush
Alfredo
Castro
Bloodbath in Colombia: The Army and the Death Squads
Saul
Landau
Lying, Flag Waving and Redefining
Conservative Values
Steve
Perry
Bush's Wars
Web Log, 6/19
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