Join the Conversation
Send your thoughts to Letters to the Editor. Learn more
1. By most accounts we are in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) because we are afraid of radical terrorists, especially those set on getting their hands on nuclear weapons.
2. Those nuclear weapons rest securely (or insecurely) in Pakistan which has a government barely able to maintain control of the nation.
3. Pakistan (and other Mideast nations, including Iran) is moving forward in the research and development of nuclear weapons.
4. By all accounts the nuclear genie is spreading, threatening world peace and possibly planetary survival.
5. The U.S., meanwhile, with by far the largest nuclear stockpile, including more than 5,000 strategic nuclear weapons and thousands more tactical weapons, and upgrading those stockpiles monthly, is in no position to demand other nations to curb their nuclear appetites. We have not "lost" the moral high ground; we've never had it since August 6, 1944, when we exploded a nuclear device over Hiroshima.
6. Therefore, the only reasonable way out of these multi-level conundrums is to abandon U.S. nuclear weapons, as part of the U.S. "defense" strategy, to rid the U.S. arsenals of nuclear weapons, and to work vigorously to build a 21st century world without nuclear weapons. Is it possible? Maybe not. But without trying we remain on a course of permanent warfare and a journey forward into a hideously suspect and dangerous world scene.
7. Finally, a glimmer of hope: The U.S. leadership appears to understand some, if not all of this logic, and is trying to rekindle nuclear disarmament weapons talks.
8. There will be a lot of resistance to this new direction. Peace supporters everywhere need to speak out in favor of U.S. nuclear disarmament efforts.