[NukeNet] Media's Role In Exposing US WMDs- Should The World Wage War On The USA's WMDs and Their Keepers?

[Bill Smirnow]

   If Bush/Cheney aren't hypocrites [of course they are], using their
purported "logic" the answer is a resounding YES. Will the media do anything
to point this out the public it allegedly serves?

   http://www.madison.com/tct/opinion/column/271631



Frida Berrigan: Surge in spending on nukes a grave error


Frida Berrigan
February 8, 2008

For many Americans, nuclear weapons bring up old memories and forgotten
associations -- the duck and cover drills of the 1950s, President Reagan's
exhortations against the "evil empire," and the plot lines of countless
straight-to-video political thrillers. It may then come as a surprise that
in 2008 the United States is considering a huge new investment in nuclear
weapons.

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration is
pushing for an estimated $150 billion to develop a new generation of nuclear
weapons and a more "responsive" production network. The centerpiece of this
move is called Complex Transformation, a multiyear plan to build new or
upgraded facilities at each of the NNSA's eight nuclear weapons-related
sites. The plan also calls for building a new nuclear weapon called the
reliable replacement warhead, which would replace all deployed weapons in
the U.S. arsenal.

This proposal would build on the Bush administration's quiet surge in
nuclear weapons spending. Adjusting for inflation, U.S. spending on nuclear
weapons has increased by over 13 percent since 2001. More importantly, the
U.S. is still spending one-third more than the Cold War average on nuclear
weapons.

There are considerable problems associated with the Complex Transformation
plan; chief among them are its huge costs, questionable necessity and danger
of provoking nuclear proliferation.

Is it too costly? Any way you look at it, $150 billion is a lot of money.
But, given the Department of Energy's track record, it could be even more. A
report from the Government Accountability Office last year examined 12 major
DOE construction projects and found that eight are saddled with cost
over-runs ranging from $79 million to $7.9 billion.

Is Complex Transformation necessary? Not likely. A 2007 study by JASON, the
independent science group that advises the government on defense issues,
confirmed that the existing warhead cores could be viable for 100 years or
longer. And since the size of the U.S. arsenal should be moving down, not
up, there is no need for a costly upgrade of the production complex.

Is it provocative? Yes. An expanded U.S. nuclear arsenal tells the world
that U.S. national security remains dependent on these devastating weapons.
At the same time, Washington seeks to convince nations like Iran and North
Korea not to produce them. This "do as we say, not as we do" approach
encourages nuclear proliferation. If trends continue, nuclear expert Hans
Blix forecasts at least a dozen new nuclear powers within 10 years.

Green-lighting a massive investment in nuclear weapons is both premature and
foolhardy. For one, the U.S. does not have a clear sense of what its nuclear
policy should be going forward. There is a range of opinion among the
presidential hopefuls, ranging from Barack Obama's pledge to work toward the
elimination of nuclear weapons to Sen. John McCain's statement that "it's
naive to say that we will never use nuclear weapons." The last Nuclear
Posture Review, which articulates U.S. nuclear policy, was completed in 2001
and needs updating.

The DOE's push to surge nuclear weapons runs contrary to the positions taken
by Henry Kissinger, secretary of state under President Nixon; George Shultz,
secretary of state under President Reagan; William Perry, President
Clinton's secretary of defense; and Sam Nunn, the former chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee. This group and dozens of other former
foreign policy officials are now championing "the goal of a world free of
nuclear weapons" as a "bold initiative consistent with America's moral
heritage."

But there is a role for civil society as well. This week, posters depicting
the devastating consequences of nuclear bombs dropped on the Japanese cities
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki will be displayed in the rotunda of the Capitol.
Organized by the Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-bomb Exhibition Committee, this
weeklong exhibit will conclude with a public hearing at 10 a.m. Saturday,
Feb. 16, at the Capitol exploring the role Wisconsin can play in turning
Complex Transformation into nuclear disarmament.

This and other like-minded efforts raise awareness about nuclear weapons and
focus on the goals of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons, ending the
pursuit of new warheads, and ensuring the dismantlement of existing
stockpiles.

Taken together, these steps will encourage the next president to truly
relegate nuclear weapons to dim memories and old movies.

Frida Berrigan is a senior program associate with the New America
Foundation's Arms and Security Initiative, which is a member of the Campaign
for a Nuclear Weapons Free World.





Alfred Meyer, Program Director

Alliance for Nuclear Accountability

322 4th Street NE

Washington, DC 20002

202-544-0217

202-544-6143 fax

www.ananuclear.org