U.S. Abandons pledge Not to Use Nuclear Weapons on Non-NuclearStates

Charles Brown CharlesB at cncl.ci.detroit.mi.us
Tue Feb 26 11:07:56 PST 2002


U.S. Abandons pledge Not to Use Nuclear Weapons on Non-NuclearStates

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CB: More of The New Nazism. The idea seems to be it would be ok to nuke a whole country of people to get a few terrorists. Goddamn. Evidently, "innocent civilians" can only be Americans. In non-white countries , civilians are presumed by the New Nazis to be guilty by association.

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Xinhuanet 2002-02-23 01:51:30

WASHINGTON, February 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The Bush

administration is no longer standing by a 24-year-old U.S. pledge not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states under a new security environment emerging after the September 11 terror attacks, a senior administration official has said. Washington is not looking for occasions to use its nuclear arsenal, but "would do whatever is necessary to defend America's innocent civilian population," said John Bolton, undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, in an interview published by The Washington Times Friday.

"We are just not into theoretical assertions that other administrations have made," he said in reference to a 1978 commitment by the Carter administration not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states unless they attack the United States or its allies in alliance with nuclear-armed countries.

After the Clinton administration reaffirmed that commitment, the United Nations Security Council adopted in April 11, 1995, a resolution providing safety guarantee to non-nuclear states. But Bolton said such promises reflect "an unrealistic view of the international situation."

"The idea that fine theories of deterrence work against

everybody, which is implicit in the negative security assurances,

has just been disproven by September 11," he said. "What we are

attempting to do is create a situation where nobody uses weapons

of mass destruction of any kind."

Bolton's remarks drew criticism from arms-control analysts, who

said that such a significant U.S. government commitment should not

be dropped.

"These assurances are important in order to maintain the

integrity and credibility of the nonproliferation regime.

Repudiation can have a negative effect on international security,"

said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control

Association, in the report.

John Holum, Mr. Bolton's predecessor at the State Department

under former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, said that the

Bush administration's position to ignore the 1978 commitment would

not affect the strategic balance of power but might send a wrong

message overseas, according to the report.

"It doesn't make the use of weapons of mass destruction more or

less likely, but it's reflective of the administration's negative

view of international treaties," he said.

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