a_unique_person
7th March 2003, 12:45 AM
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826526103.html
The war is about rights and peace, and while we are at it, lets develop some more nukes.
The Bush administration has formally proposed lifting a decade-long ban on the development of small, low-yield nuclear weapons, a move that arms control advocates predicted could touch off a new global arms race.
The proposal to allow development of so-called "mini-nukes" is contained in a draft of the 2004 Defense Authorisation bill that the Pentagon sent to Congress this week. The weapons would have an explosive yield of less than 5 kilotonnes - about one-third the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and far smaller than most current nuclear weapons.
Some policy-makers and military planners have suggested that such weapons could be used to eliminate nuclear, chemical or biological weapons that may be produced by nations such as Iraq, North Korea or Iran.
Bush administration officials have said there is no need for the smaller nuclear bombs right now, but weapons scientists at the nation's nuclear laboratories, such as Lawrence Livermore in California and Los Alamos in New Mexico, should not be prevented from exploring the options in case mini-nukes are needed in the future.
"My personal view is that anything that inhibits thinking about the future should be looked at sceptically," Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in response to a question about the ban on low-yield weapons during a Senate hearing last week.
Pentagon officials could not be reached for comment on the proposal yesterday.
Representative Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, blasted the Bush administration for proposing to develop new nuclear weapons while it is on the verge of war with Iraq in order to prevent that country from developing such weapons. But they will have a tall task with Republicans now in control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.
"The American people I think would be absolutely apoplectic, and should be, to find out this administration is on the one hand holding people responsible for weapons of mass destruction but at the same time we are basically starting a new arms race," she said. "I still can't find anybody in the military who can tell me why they need them."
The war is about rights and peace, and while we are at it, lets develop some more nukes.
The Bush administration has formally proposed lifting a decade-long ban on the development of small, low-yield nuclear weapons, a move that arms control advocates predicted could touch off a new global arms race.
The proposal to allow development of so-called "mini-nukes" is contained in a draft of the 2004 Defense Authorisation bill that the Pentagon sent to Congress this week. The weapons would have an explosive yield of less than 5 kilotonnes - about one-third the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and far smaller than most current nuclear weapons.
Some policy-makers and military planners have suggested that such weapons could be used to eliminate nuclear, chemical or biological weapons that may be produced by nations such as Iraq, North Korea or Iran.
Bush administration officials have said there is no need for the smaller nuclear bombs right now, but weapons scientists at the nation's nuclear laboratories, such as Lawrence Livermore in California and Los Alamos in New Mexico, should not be prevented from exploring the options in case mini-nukes are needed in the future.
"My personal view is that anything that inhibits thinking about the future should be looked at sceptically," Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, said in response to a question about the ban on low-yield weapons during a Senate hearing last week.
Pentagon officials could not be reached for comment on the proposal yesterday.
Representative Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat, blasted the Bush administration for proposing to develop new nuclear weapons while it is on the verge of war with Iraq in order to prevent that country from developing such weapons. But they will have a tall task with Republicans now in control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.
"The American people I think would be absolutely apoplectic, and should be, to find out this administration is on the one hand holding people responsible for weapons of mass destruction but at the same time we are basically starting a new arms race," she said. "I still can't find anybody in the military who can tell me why they need them."