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Nuclear
War - Closer than We Think?
Comment by Larry Ross, Aug 8, 2005
After 60 years of studying nuclear issues, I agree with famous anti-nuclear
activist Dr Helen Caldicott who recently warned that 'the re-election
of Bush means endless war and probably a nuclear war during the next four
years.'
"These people are much worse than the Reagan people" she said.
That's saying a lot. She is not exaggerating.
It is indeed "3 Minutes To Midnight" - the title given to her
recent conference on nuclear war threats.
The following article is long, but loaded with important information showing
how the Bush neocon administration has created a number of new documents
and policy pronouncements that make our already dangerous situation, that
much more dangerous. It's an excellent reference to print out and use.
Robert McNamara , US Defense Secretary during the Cuban missile crisis
in 1962, said it was a miracle we escaped that without a nuclear war.
Ex-Chief of US nuclear forces, General Lee Butler, gave similar warnings
during his lecture to IPPNW in Wellington in 1996. Then, nuclear weapons
were considered only as a last resort - an 'unthinkable' weapon and not
as an option in conventional warfare situations. That close shave with
extinction led to various disarmament and arms control treaties. It was
a time in 1962 when President Kennedy warned:
" We live under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest
of threads, that can be cut at any time by accident, miscalculation or
act of madness"
Now the nuclear option is thinkable and the Bush Administration, followed
by the Blair and Putin governments, have made the use of nuclear weapons
a military option in conventional military situations. Bush has even named
7 other countries that might become US nuclear targets, including China
and Russia, and 3 flash-point situations (the Middle East, Taiwan/ China
and the Korean Peninsula) where the US might use nuclear weapons.
Bush has lowered the nuclear threshold to allow for the use of nuclear
weapons during conventional war situations on the recommendation of local
commanders. The Bush/Blair combination, and probably John Howard, will
invent the justifications for 'wars-on-terror', such as they did for the
Iraq war where there were no terrorists or WMD on al-Qaeda links. They
may do it again for the predicted US-led war on Iran, where local commanders
might call for nuclear weapons use 'to save American lives'.
Bush warned: "You are with us, or with the terrorists".This
strategy works. People are intimidated or fooled. Few raise doubts. They
are as quiet as church mice, or like sheep, patiently waiting at the slaughter
house.
The mass media, in the US, UK, NZ, & Australia, generally support
Bush, his new nuclear policies, and his illegal pre-emptive war on Iraq.
For example: The unjustified slaughter of 100,000 Iraqis is treated as
a quite normal and justified event by our Orwellian media. They have blacked
out, minimised, and normalised Bush's revolutionary and ultra dangerous
nuclear weapons and war strategies. That's one reason there is virtually
no protest activity and people may have heard little about these policies.
Also, those working to educate and prevent nuclear war, are usually poorly
funded volunteers. They cannot compete with the multi-billion dollar mass
media and the multi-billion dollar war budgets of the US and UK, or even
penetrate the media blackout with critical letters.
Consider the apathy of the majority and the huge media machines that back
Bush. Consider the government departments and military that do his will,
and accept Bush's lies, wars and nuclear policies.
Given the sheer magnitude, power, and wealth of this deeply embedded military/industrial/social
complex, it sometimes seems as if humanity accepts it all, and is co-operating
with the preparations and new war doctrines that propel it toward it's
own extinction.
However humanity should have a brilliant future which is worth working
for. It is important to oppose this drift into a nuclear war and educate
others about the various risks - and there are many. Civilisation could
be destroyed with most of humanity in an escalating nuclear war. Your
children and grandchildren would die agonising deaths in the space of
a few hours or days. Think about the film "The War Game" recently
shown at U of C. and it's horrors'. It was banned in the UK for 20 years
by a government that did not want the UK public to be warned.
Today humanity is moving rapidly in that direction.
People's last thoughts will probably be: "I wish I had faced the
facts, been less apathetic and done something positive to prevent it".
Positive steps people can take are: Work with others and with sympathetic
politicians, to Keep
New Zealand nuclear free. Nuclear Free NZ is an example of
people power and a 'beacon of hope and inspiration' everywhere.
Help educate and warn others by forwarding this email to your own networks
and to journalists.
Larry Ross will speak on "Reasons To Keep NZ Nuclear Free And the
Nuclear Risks Today" and do media interviews, anywhere in New Zealand,
if you provide travel and other costs.
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