US Nuclear Hypocrisy

[Peace_Maker]

US Nuclear Hypocrisy

By DAVID KRIEGER

Every five years the parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty meet in a review conference to further the non-proliferation and disarmament goals of the treaty. This year the conference ended in a spectacular failure with no final document and no agreement on moving forward..

The failure of the treaty conference is overwhelmingly attributable to the nuclear policies of the Bush administration, which has disavowed previous US nuclear disarmament commitments under the treaty. The Bush administration is pressing other nations to forego their nuclear options, while failing to fulfill its own obligations under the disarmament provisions of the treaty.

The treaty is crumbling under the double standards of American policy, and may not be able to recover from the rigid "do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do" positions of the Bush administration. These policies are viewed by most of the world as high-level nuclear hypocrisy.

What the US did at the treaty conference was to point the finger at Iran and North Korea, while refusing to discuss or even acknowledge its own failure to meet its obligations under the treaty. Five years ago, at the 2000 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, the parties to the treaty, including the US, agreed to 13 Practical Steps for Nuclear Disarmament. Under the Bush administration, nearly all of these obligations have been disavowed.

The parties to the treaty are aware that the Bush administration is seeking funding from Congress to continue work on new earth penetrating nuclear weapons ("bunker busters"), while telling other nations not to develop nuclear arms.

They are also aware that the Bush administration has withdrawn from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to pursue a destabilizing missile defense program, and has not supported a verifiable Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty, although the US had agreed to support these treaties in the 13 Practical Steps.

The failure of this treaty conference makes nuclear proliferation more likely, including proliferation to terrorist organizations that cannot be deterred from using the weapons. The fault for this failure does not lie with other governments as the Bush administration would have us believe. It does not lie with Egypt for seeking consideration of previous promises to achieve a Middle East Nuclear Weapons Free Zone.

Nor does the fault lie with Iran for seeking to enrich uranium for its nuclear energy program, as is done by many other states, including the US, under the provisions of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. It would no doubt be preferable to have the enrichment of uranium and the separation of plutonium, both of which can be used for nuclear weapons programs, done under strict international controls, but this requires a change in the treaty that must be applicable to all parties, not just to those singled out by the US.

Nor can the fault be said to lie with those states that, having given up their option to develop nuclear weapons, sought renewed commitments from the nuclear weapons states not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states. It is hard to imagine a more reasonable request. Yet the US has refused to relinquish the option of first use of nuclear weapons, even against non-nuclear weapons states.

The fault for the failure of the treaty conference lies clearly with the Bush administration, which must take full responsibility for undermining the security of every American by its double standards and nuclear hypocrisy.

The American people must understand the full magnitude of the Bush administration's failure at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. This may not happen because the administration has been so remarkably successful in spinning the news to suit its unilateralist, militarist and triumphalist worldviews.

As Americans, we can not afford to wait until we experience an American Hiroshima before we wake up to the very real dangers posed by US nuclear policies. We must demand the reversal of these policies and the resumption of constructive engagement with the rest of the world.

David Krieger

[hmh]

Is it me or is there a contingent of individuals who would rather we get smacked and beat to death instead of defending ourselves with whatever means necessary? What do we need? An attack on our soil that would make 9/11 seem like a car accident in comparison?

[hmh]

If it and when it does happen, I hope we do have a president that has a bone in his back and not jello. But knowing a little about the mindset of the terrorists, they will probably strike when we have a president with a mushy back.

[Peace_Maker]

We must demand the reversal of these policies and the resumption of constructive engagement with the rest of the world.

Translation, the writer here wants more apologies and appeasement by the United States, rather than stand as the one super power in the world. Rather than stand as a beacon of light in a world full of darkness. Rather than hold the line on aggregious human rights violations by tryants and tyrannical governments.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's sad but Bush has turned America into a tyrannical government. Just look at the 56-page legal memo commissioned by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that sought to justify torture of prisoners at the Guantanamo prison camp?

Memos were revealed from the White House, Pentagon, Justice Department and CIA sanctioning torture and seeking ways to evade the 1996 US War Crimes Act, which carries the death penalty, and the Geneva Conventions banning mistreatment, degradation or torture of prisoners.

The administration clamed that President Bush had authority as commander -in-chief to approve torture or `severe

[Leonard]

This isn't about Bush. It's about false brethren (or their ignorant, stupid dupes)who hate God and hate the U.S.. They spread their false Gospel of disarmament and Communist ideology wherever we will let them get away with it. Well I challenge them. I'll call a spade a spade.

"Peace" Maker: Go and learn the truth of these proverbs: "A strong man armed, keepeth his house," and Si vis pacem, para bellum. I doubt you will ever learn the truth, but I am trying to help you, trusting you are dupe, rather than a truly evil leftist.

[hmh]

Yea, and the so called peaceful nations of the middle east are such angels of mercy. Give me a break. Our "torture" tactics inclued providing meals based on the religious beliefs of the prisoners and providing them prayer mats and other religious articles. Try that in Syria, Iran, and even Saudi Arabia.

Our problem is we are too soft. That is why we get treated the way we do. Remember in grade school? If you did not stand up for yourself you got picked on. Same way in the grand scheme of the world. Get punched, punch back harder and with more of them.

[Gerioke]

The Germans thought Hitler was a great man too and turned a blind eye to the atrocities he performed. The trouble is that satan will have his way until the Lord returns and we have to perservere. I don't think it matters who is president. the outcome would still be the same. Death and mayhem. It's scriptural.

[hmh]

The Germans thought Hitler was a great man too and turned a blind eye to the atrocities he performed. The trouble is that satan will have his way until the Lord returns and we have to perservere. I don't think it matters who is president. the outcome would still be the same. Death and mayhem. It's scriptural.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

True. And when it's all said and done, Those whose names are written in the book of life will be with God and Christ for eternity and the rest will be in awlful pain and torment for eternity.

[Gerioke]

The Germans thought Hitler was a great man too and turned a blind eye to the atrocities he performed. The trouble is that satan will have his way until the Lord returns and we have to perservere. I don't think it matters who is president. the outcome would still be the same. Death and mayhem. It's scriptural.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

True. And when it's all said and done, Those whose names are written in the book of life will be with God and Christ for eternity and the rest will be in awlful pain and torment for eternity.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's what it all comes down to

[Peace_Maker]

In the United States, you are brought up to believe that your nation is different from others, an exception in the world, uniquely moral; that you expand into other lands in order to bring civilization, liberty, democracy. But if you know some history you know that's not true. If you know some history, you know you massacred Indians on this continent, invaded Mexico, sent armies into Cuba, Philippines and South america. You killed huge numbers of people, and you did not bring them democracy or liberty. You did not go into Vietnam to bring democracy; you did not invade Panama to stop the drug trade; you did not invade Afghanistan and Iraq to stop terrorism. Your aims were the aims of all the other empires of world history -- more profit for corporations, more power for politicians.

I want to remind you also that when the war in Vietnam was going on, and young Americans were dying and coming home paralyzed, and your government was bombing the villages of Vietnam killing millions -- bombing schools and hospitals and killing ordinary people in huge numbers -- it looked hopeless to try to stop the war. But just as in the Southern movement, people began to protest and soon it caught on. It was a national movement. Soldiers were coming back and denouncing the war, and young people were refusing to join the military, and the war had to end.

The lesson of that history is that you must not despair, that if you are right, and you persist, things will change. The government may try to deceive the people, and the newspapers and television may do the same, but the truth has a way of coming out. The truth has a power greater than a hundred lies.