White House wants to lift ban on small nukes

Atlanta Journal-Constitution / AP ^ | 3.9.03 | JIM PUZZANGHERA

[mhking]

[ The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 3/9/03 ]

White House wants to lift ban on small nukes

By JIM PUZZANGHERA
Knight Ridder Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has formally proposed lifting a decade-long ban on the development of small, low-yield nuclear weapons, a move that arms control advocates predict could touch off a new global arms race.

The plan to allow development of "mininukes" is contained in a draft of the 2004 defense bill that the Pentagon sent to Congress last week.

The weapons would have an explosive yield of less than 5 kilotons -- about one-third the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and far smaller than most current nuclear weapons.

Some policy-makers and military planners have suggested that such weapons could be used to eliminate nuclear, chemical or biological weapons that may be produced by nations such as Iraq, North Korea or Iran.

Administration officials say there is no need for the smaller nuclear bombs now but that weapons scientists at the nation's nuclear laboratories, such as Lawrence Livermore in California and Los Alamos in New Mexico, should not be prevented from exploring the options in case they are needed in the future.

"My personal view is that anything that inhibits thinking about the future should be looked at skeptically," Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, replied to a question about the ban on low-yield weapons during a Senate hearing last week.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) blasted the Bush administration for proposing to develop new nuclear weapons while it is on the verge of war with Iraq to prevent it from developing such weapons. But foes will have a tall task with Republicans in control of Congress.

"The American people, I think, would be absolutely apoplectic, and should be, to find out this administration is on the one hand holding people responsible for weapons of mass destruction but at the same time we are basically starting a new arms race," she said.

Tauscher said she was likely to join with the co-sponsor of the 1993 ban, Rep. John Spratt (D-S.C.), in proposing an amendment to remove the administration's proposal from the legislation.

Spratt said Democrats would fight to retain the ban and criticized the Bush administration for its move.

"I think that they're backsliding into systems and military doctrine that I thought we'd left behind with the Cold War," he said. "They believe that nuclear weapons are an entitlement of superpowers like the U.S."

Research and development on low-yield nuclear weapons was banned in 1993 and arms control advocates said that led Russia and other nuclear nations to stop developing such weapons as well.

In recent years, some congressional Republicans have argued that new types of low-yield nuclear weapons, such as those to destroy underground bunkers, were needed.

[George W. Bush]

I support mini-nuke development strictly for bunker-busting weapons. We should be very careful about any new arms race in small nukes. Releasing radiation in the atmosphere is generally a bad idea anyway.

But the North Koreans and the Libyans have enough deep tunneling to warrant development of bunker-busters. Especially Libya, in connection with Egypt.

[pierrem15]

Can't we pay another country, like Britain or Japan to do the R&D for us? It's amazing how the demonrats have unilaterally diarmed this country.

[Paleo Conservative]

I support mini-nuke development strictly for bunker-busting weapons.

Know nukes!

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

I guess the Chinese want to diversity their arsenal. They need new, tested blueprints.

[Southack]

"a move that arms control advocates predict could touch off a new global arms race."

Gee, where have I heard that tripe before?!

I mean, didn't they trot out that self-same line when we cancelled the ABM treaty?!

And didn't they say the self-same thing when we began building our ABM silos in Alaska last year?

[Conservative til I die]

I read about this on a thread on DemocraticUnderground of all places a few weeks back. They linked to one of those nuclear bomb history-type sites from some university or other, and apparently, we've tried building nukes that were low-yield and actually could be fired as artillery shells. Wild huh.

[applemac_g4]

"-- The Bush administration has formally proposed lifting a decade-long ban on the development of small, low-yield nuclear weapons, a move that arms control advocates predict could touch off a new global arms race."

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Is this really a good idea?

Today, there's a very clear line between conventional and nuclear weapons - and a very clear theory of national defense that goes something like: "If you cross the nuclear line with us, we'll cross the nuclear line with you."

I believe that even Islamic terrorists are hesitant to cross this line...not because they're afraid to die as individuals, but because a nuclear response by the United States has the capacity of reducing Mecca to a smoking hole in the ground and erasing the worship of allah from planet earth.

Small weapons would only cause confusion when time came to respond to a nuclear attack. If one of our cities was to be nuked, and we had smaller weapons in our arsenal...1. Islamic terrorists would realize that the same liberal antiwar forces that are trying to prevent us from attacking Iraq would push for a smaller response (ie nuke a cave in Afghanistan instead of Mecca) and 2. it would make them more likely to strike realizing that they could kill hundreds of thousands of Americans without putting their (questionable version of) civilization at risk.

[skinkinthegrass]

This will really piss-off the Clintoons....Hold it, Hildebeast is on the Senate ARMED SERVICES COMM. IMHO, Just in time to put Chelsea to work, bagging bribe money (for actions/secrets) from her marxist fiends in Asia for her momma pres. bid in '08.

[LibKill]

A very small yield device, equivalent to 10 tons of TNT, would be very useful against massed troops, armor and hard targets.

I don't know if it can be done, but if so it should be.

[Dark Wing]

ping

[skinkinthegrass]

IMHO, Bill was paid,...now Hildebea$t was more $$$$ now, $he'$ in position (Sen. Armed Aervices Com.) to help the RED Chine$e...She love$ the RED Chine$e more than ever, but the $$$$ help$ their $hared ambition$. It's all about $$$$ and power...$$$$=POWER.

[skinkinthegrass]

It's the 'daisy cutter' an conv. explos. about > 15kt, HIROSIMA 'Little Boy" about 21kt...the NEWER daisy cutter about 21kt...can be dropped from C-130...BIG BOOM!

[skinkinthegrass]

It's the 'daisy cutter' an conv. explos. about > 15kt, HIROSIMA 'Little Boy" about 21kt...the NEWER daisy cutter about 21kt...can be dropped from C-130...BIG BOOM!

[LibKill]

I like the MOAB too.

BTW, your mouse is 'doubling'. It's time to buy a new mouse.

[RightWhale]

This sounds like a great way to dispose of noxious chemical warheads and bios. Put it all in a big pile and nuke it. Actually, it might be responsibly done underground: excavate a medium to large size cavern depending how much munitions is left after the war, dump all the stuff in there, and light off the nuke. This might even be fun.

[joesnuffy]

There is already and arms race and we are falling behind...
We need all the weapons available at our disposal...
Strength -Through Superior Firepower...

[Dick Vomer]

Was reading about munitions that were proposed and developed recently and came across... MOAB (Mother of All Bombs).

Will you guys and gals look at Deutorotomy chapter 28 and 29. Please read all of both chapters.... This is the covenant that God made with the Israelites in Moab... , huh?

Is this part of psy-op or just a freaky coincidence. Now I know that drawing conclusions and interpretations of random events is best left to the Psychic Hotlines but could this be a message to followers of Christ in Iraq, Iran and Israel.

I'm just interested and didn't draw any conclusions but it sure made the back of my neck crawl during church today when I was thumbing through the Bible and saw the word Moab and just read the chapters around it. let me know what you all think... thanks.. sorry for the Vanity but I don't have to many folks around here that I can discuss broad topics like this with.

[Thorondir]

...a move that arms control advocates predict could touch off a new global arms race.

And in a related story: A Whitehouse proposal to declare April as Smell the Flowers Month has environmental activists predicting that such a move could touch off a new global wave of human inhalation and exhalation. "Lordy!"

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Why would they need it when the Defense Dept. has plans to begin testing a 30,000 lb. conventional "Daisy Cutter" type bomb?

30,000 lbs. That's a lot of banannas.