[Peace-discuss] Bush's Nuclear Hypocrisy

[patton paul]

Published on Friday, February 13, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Bush's Nuclear Hypocrisy
by Robert Jensen


President Bush's call for changes in international rules on the sale of
nuclear equipment would effectively revoke the 1970 Non-Proliferation
Treaty's provision allowing countries to pursue atomic energy if they
pledge not to build nuclear weapons.

Bush argued for the change by saying that the world's consensus against
proliferation "means little unless it is translated into action. Every
civilized nation has a stake in preventing the spread of weapons of mass
destruction."

But there is another important aspect of that international consensus,
also written into the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which the United States
signed:

"Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in
good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms
race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on
general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international
control."

That is, the treaty directs those states already possessing nuclear
weapons to engage in honest attempts at reducing and eventually
eliminating nuclear weapons.

The old "arms race" between the former Soviet Union and the United States
may be over, but has the United States -- the nuclear giant of the world,
and hence the nation in the strongest position to take a leadership role
-- acted in "good faith" to eliminate its own nuclear weapons and
encourage others to do the same? Do the actions of the United States since
that treaty went into effect in 1970 indicate any intention to honor its
provisions?

Sadly, the answer is no. Instead, the United States -- with its
overwhelming military advantage in the world, conventional and nuclear --
seems bent on continuing to create, and threaten the use of, nuclear
weapons.

Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director of the Western States Legal
Foundation (a public-interest organization that monitors and analyzes U.S.
nuclear-weapons programs) sums it up this way: "The U.S. is spending more
money on nuclear-weapons research and development than ever before, giving
its nuclear arsenal new military capabilities and elevating the role of
nuclear weapons in its aggressive and unilateral 'national security'
policy." Cabasso cites ongoing work on such weapons as a "Robust Nuclear
Earth Penetrator" as clear evidence of U.S. intentions to pursue nuclear
weaponry, not work toward its elimination.

Perhaps more frightening, the Bush administration's January 2002 Nuclear
Posture Review laid out a nuclear policy that calls for the development of
low-yield or so-called "mini-nukes" and integrates nuclear weapons with
conventional strike options. The review discusses possible first-use of
nuclear weapons, even against non-nuclear countries if the United States
believes a country may use chemical or biological weapons against the
United States or its allies. The review's language -- "U.S. nuclear forces
will continue to provide assurance to security partners, particularly in
the presence of known or suspected threats of nuclear, biological, or
chemical attacks or in the event of surprising military developments" --
not surprisingly makes the world nervous.

Bush would do well to listen to his own words, such as this comment on
"Meet the Press" last weekend: "See, free societies are societies that
don't develop weapons of mass terror and don't blackmail the world."

On the heels of a U.S. invasion of Iraq that virtually the whole world
opposed and which had no legal authority, U.S. citizens should face the
unpleasant fact that we have the most extensive arsenal of weapons of mass
terror, and that much of the world is frightened of how they might be
used.

Though U.S. citizens typically have a self-indulgent belief that their
country can be trusted with such weapons (despite the painful reality that
the United States is the only country to have ever dropped an atomic
bomb), the world's fears are not irrational. Again, Bush's own words, from
his 2002 speech at West Point, make the point: "We cannot put our faith in
the word of tyrants, who solemnly sign non-proliferation treaties, and
then systemically break them."

Every "civilized nation" has a stake not only in preventing the spread of
weapons of mass destruction, but also pressuring the nuclear powers to
honor the Non-Proliferation Treaty and move toward a more secure world in
which no nation can threaten the ultimate horror. It is the task of U.S.
citizens to push our own government toward that civilized policy.

Robert Jensen is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at
Austin and author of "Citizens of the Empire: The Struggle to Claim Our
Humanity." He can be reached at rjensen at uts.cc.utexas.edu.

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