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Getting Rid of the Bomb -- Sort Of
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ShareDecember 18, 2007 5:26 PM
ABC News' Jon Garcia Reports: No more nukes?
Not quite, but one thing is sure: it's no longer your parents' (or grandparents') Cold War.
As the days of bomb shelters, 'duck-and-cover' drills and talk of 'nuclear winter' fade into memory, it shouldn't be a surprise that US has been quietly destroying the thousands of nuclear weapons it keeps 'just in case.'
What is a surprise is just how fast they've done it: half of the nation's stockpile -- thousands and thousands of nukes -- has been destroyed five years ahead of schedule. Now, by the end of 2007, "the U.S. nuclear stockpile will be less than one-quarter its size at the end of the Cold War," press secretary Dana Perino wrote in a statement.
"We just don't need them," says Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the little-known National Nuclear Security Administration, the agency tasked with keeping track of and destroying the weapons.
The workers at the NNSA were following the instructions of President Bush, who issued a directive in 2004 to cut the stockpile in half by 2012. (The NNSA won't release the exact numbers because they are classified.) But the workers at the destruction facility, which is located in Texas, did such a fast job, they finished in just three years. Now they have a new goal: 15% more.
But don't let all the bomb-busting lead you to think that the US is going nuke-free anytime soon. Perino continued: "A credible deterrent remains an essential part of U.S. national security, and nuclear forces remain key to meeting emerging security challenges."
And the NNSA confirms that long-range operational nuclear weapons covered under a 2002 treaty with Russia are part of a separate deal -- and the US has a separate deadline (2012) to cut those weapons. That treaty specified numbers -- cutting from as many as 6,000 nukes to as little as 1,700 -- and the US is still in the process of meeting that goal, Wilkes said.
December 18, 2007 in White House | Permalink | User Comments (2)
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But, of course, I forgot, Jesus spoke to Bush and told him it was OK to torture, and to strike first.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 18, 2007 6:09:14 PM
Ron Paul stated in the debates, "We have to come to our senses about this issue of war and pre-emption. We have to go back to traditions and our Constitution, and defend our liberties and defend our rights, but not to think that we can change the world by force of arms and to start wars.”
Dr. Paul, who served in the air force Air Force for five years and is a veteran member of the House Foreign Relations Committee, has dealt with important global issues for decades.
The recent NIE report makes it clear: When it comes to Iran, Ron Paul forsight was right again, and the other Republican candidates have it wrong! Paul has the understanding and experience to protect America’s national security through peace and diplomacy.
Posted by: Greg | Dec 18, 2007 6:12:52 PM
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