Bush's Insane First Strike Policy
- From: bromselick@xxxxxxx
- Date: 12 Apr 2006 22:32:33 -0700
If You Don't Want to Get Whacked, You'd Better Get Your Nation a Nuke
--
By DAVE LINDORFF --
Counterpunch
By the mere act of contingency planning for the first use of nuclear
weapons, the Bush administration has guaranteed that not just Iran, but
probably many other nations that see themselves as remotely threatened
by the U.S., will seek to obtain either nuclear weapons, or some other
similarly catastrophic weapon for the purpose of resisting such nuclear
blackmail.
The rushed announcement Tuesday by Iran that its scientists and
engineers had succeeded in creating some enriched uranium is almost
certainly a direct result of the administration's nuclear threats.
Most sane observers have calculated that if Iran is really planning on
developing a nuclear weapon, it is years--perhaps even a decade--away
from that goal. That was plenty of time to reassure Iran that it would
not need the bomb, or to use international diplomacy to discourage the
country from embarking on such a wasteful, expensive and dangerous
project. Instead, by threatening to nuke Iran's nuclear research and
processing facilities, the administration has predictably put Iran onto
a crash course for developing the bomb. What alternative did Iran's
leaders have after all the administration's bombast?
In fact, Bush-Cheney rhetoric may well have pushed Iran to seek to
obtain nuclear capability by other faster means, such as obtaining a
weapon, perhaps illegally, from Russia, or perhaps more directly from
North Korea. After all, North Korea has the bomb and is strapped for
two things that Iran has in abundance-oil and cash.
These are dangerous times. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the
neocon wackos who infest the West Wing, the Pentagon, and various
right-wing "no-think" tanks, have already succeeded in creating a
cauldron of anti-U.S. fury in Iraq that will haunt this country for a
generation to come. Now they appear dead-set on igniting something even
worse in Iran. But just as the attack on Iraq has had repercussions far
beyond the boundaries of that fractured land, the nuclear threat
against Iran will have effects that reach far beyond Persia in both
geography and in time.
It is clear from Bush policy over the past five years that nations
which have no nuclear deterrent are considered fair game by these guys,
while those nations that have the bomb are handled with kid gloves.
Look at Bush administration policy towards Pakistan, India, China, and
even North Korea. Iran clearly will make every effort to enter the
safety circle in which those countries find themselves, thanks to this
administration's threats.
What makes this doubly treasonous is the undeniable reality that the
more nations there are with nuclear weapons, the more likely it is that
nuclear weapons will ultimately be used.
Instead of working to limit the spread of these ultimate weapons of
mass destruction, the Bush administration is doing the
opposite--promoting it. The administration's plans to begin developing
a new generation of smaller tactical nuclear weapons are having the
same effect. By signaling to the world that the U.S. is getting
prepared to use nuclear weapons in its campaign of endless wars on
smaller nations, the Bush administration is insuring that the potential
targets of U.S. malevolence will do their best to acquire similar
weapons. It's only a matter of time, then, before one of those
countries succeeds in slipping one of those small devices into an
American city.
And that's not even to mention the terrorists, like Osama Bin Laden's
merry gang, who will have a wider range of potential sources for
acquiring a small nuclear device of their own as the nuclear club grows
apace.
If we Americans want security, we need to start telling our elected
officials they need to put a halt to this madness and treason.
The U.S. needs to declare unequivocally that it will never be the first
to use nuclear weapons in any conflict, and particularly against any
nation that has no nuclear weapons of its own. That is a fundamental
act of sanity and security.
If this Congress won't vote such a resolution, then 2006 is the year we
need to elect a Congress that will. Then we can start examining that
article in the Constitution that declares treason to be an impeachable
crime.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the
Death Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns
titled "This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press.
Lindorff's new book, "The Case for Impeachment",
co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is due out May 1.
He can be reached at: dlindorff@xxxxxxxxx
.
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