| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
26 Dec 2003 10:13:25 AM |
| Object: |
Georgie plays 'nukyular' chicken |
A senior Western diplomat called the prospect of mini-nukes
"politically stupid" and said it would complicate U.S. security by
weakening support for tougher nuclear controls.
From The Los Angeles Times, 12/23/03:
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-mininuke23dec23,1,6969088,print.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage
Observers Fault U.S. for Pursuing Mini-Nukes
Critics say American 'double standard' will undermine efforts to curb
nuclear arms.
By Douglas Frantz
Times Staff Writer
VIENNA --
Research on a new generation of precision atomic weapons by the Bush
administration threatens to undermine international efforts to stop
the spread of nuclear arms and to tarnish recent successes, according
to diplomats and nonproliferation experts.
The criticism focuses on the administration's decision to lay the
groundwork for developing low-yield weapons -- known as mini-nukes --
while pursuing President Bush's doctrine of preemptive strikes against
rogue states.
The diplomats and independent experts said Washington's strategy
weakens support for more stringent controls at a time when the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty faces serious challenges from North Korea and
Iran and amid widespread fears of terrorists acquiring atomic weapons.
The U.S. strategy, critics say, may cause other countries to pursue
nuclear arms.
"The U.S. follows a double standard that allows it to develop and
threaten to use nuclear weapons while denying them to smaller
countries," said Hussein Haniff, Malaysia's ambassador to the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
"We do not know whether the nuclear nonproliferation treaty can
survive with these U.S. policies."
________________________________________________________
Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger
facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess
nukyular, chemical, and biological weapons.... We're strongly
supporting the International Atomic Energy Agency in its mission to
track and control nukyular materials around the world. We're working
with other governments to secure nukyular materials in the former
Soviet Union... Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied on a
negotiated framework to keep North Korea from gaining nukyular
weapons.... And today the North Korean regime is using its nukyular
program to incite fear and seek concessions.... America is working
with the countries of the region... to find a peaceful solution, and
to show the North Korean government that nukyular weapons will bring
only isolation, economic stagnation, and continued hardship. The North
Korean regime will find respect in the world and revival for its
people only when it turns away from its nukyular ambitions.... [Saddam
Hussein] pursued chemical, biological, and nukyular weapons, even
while inspectors were in his country.... The International Atomic
Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that Saddam Hussein had an
advanced nukyular weapons development program, had a design for a
nukyular weapon and was working on five different methods of enriching
uranium for a bomb.... Our intelligence sources tell us that he has
attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for
nukyular weapons production.... With nukyular arms or a full arsenal
of chemical and biological weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his
ambitions of conquest in the Middle East.
-- Dubya offering up example after example (12 in all) of how to
incorrectly pronounce the word "nuclear", State of the Union Address,
Jan. 28, 2003
Harry
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