Original Post
Bill lifts ban on mini-nukes
quote:Mini-nukes ticket to Armageddon
A Senate committee said Friday it had voted to lift a decade-old ban on research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons, overriding Democratic arguments that repeal would damage U.S. efforts to stop the spread of nuclear arms. "This is a major shift in American policy," said Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the panel''s top Democrat. "It just sort of makes a mockery of our argument around the world that other countries -- India, Pakistan -- should not test and North Korea and Iran should not obtain." But John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said, "Without committing to deployment, research on low-yield nuclear weapons is a prudent step to safeguard America from emerging threats and enemies."
quote:Bush Administration Keen on New Nuclear Weapons
US development of smaller, bunker-busting nuclear weapons is a step backwards and could lead to the end of the world, UN Under-Secretary General for Disarmament Jayantha Dhanapala said in an interview on Saturday. “This research is a step backwards because we are seeking to reduce the number of atomic weapons,” Sri Lankan Dhanapala said in an interview with German television station ARD’s website. —AFP
quote:Bomb adviser warns against mini-nukes
The proposal is one piece of the administration''s nuclear weapons policy that critics believe blurs the line between the use of nuclear and conventional weapons and threatens to undermine the international effort to contain the world''s development of nuclear weapons. "A nuclear weapon is not just another item in our arsenal, and it is wrong to treat it like it is," Senator Ted Kennedy said last week at a panel discussion held by the nonpartisan Arms Control Association (ACA). "We reap what we sow," said Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "If we brandish our own nuclear weapons, we only encourage other nations to develop their own."
quote:What do you think? Is the new nuclear strategy of the Bush administration necessary and instrumental in securing the USA or is it a terrible step backwards to a worldwide nuclear horror?
Dr. Sidney Drell, a theoretical physicist who once served as a consultant to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and currently sits on the National Nuclear Security Administration advisory committee, called it unlikely that so-called nuclear "bunker busters" will ever penetrate far enough into the earth to prevent massive radioactive fallout. And, he said, in order to destroy the most worrisome underground targets, which are believed to be at depths of about 1,000 feet and reinforced to withstand awesome atmospheric pressure, the U.S. would need a bomb 10 times the strength of the one that was dropped on Hiroshima. "We''re not talking about low collateral damage, low-yield weapons. That''s a physical myth," Drell said.
