Obama nuclear weapons manifesto is detailed
Fay Glenn
The Nuclear Posture Review will announce reductions in the number of
warheads and further limit their use. It reportedly will not rule out
their deployment for offensive purposes.
By Paul Richter
5:19 PM PDT, April 5, 2010
Reporting from Washington
The Obama administration is releasing a major statement on nuclear
weapons policy that will herald a further shrinking of the U.S. arsenal,
even as it rejects some sweeping steps advocated by arms control
advocates.
The statement, to be released Tuesday, will announce that the arsenal
will shrink by thousands of warheads, and it will further restrict when
the weapons may be used, U.S. officials say. But the administration has
rejected proposals to declare that the "sole purpose" of nuclear arms is
deterrence, nor will it promise that the United States won't be the
first to use nuclear weapons in a war, say people who have been close to
the discussions.
The document, called the Nuclear Posture Review, is an important part of
President Obama's program to reduce nuclear arms, which moves into a
higher gear in the next few days. Obama will sign a U.S.-Russian arms
treaty in Prague, the Czech capital, on Thursday and will host a nuclear
security summit in Washington next week.
His review is expected to omit some of the more hawkish statements made
in 2001 in President George W. Bush's review.
The Bush document said the United States might in some circumstances use
nuclear weapons against countries that didn't have them. It said the
United States should consider preemptive strikes against countries
developing chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.
In his effort to persuade other nations to forswear nuclear arms, Obama
must show that his administration is also moving away from them. Obama
has said he will "reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national
security strategy."
Arms control advocates who have been following the discussion say they
view the nuclear manifesto as a positive step but not as bold as they
might have wished.
Tom Collina, research director of the Arms Control Assn., said other
countries would be encouraged to hear that the administration had
decided for now not to develop a new nuclear warhead. He said, however,
that he thought some nations would be distressed that the U.S. was
unwilling to declare that nuclear arms were solely meant to deter
nuclear attacks.
The document will point to the new U.S.-Russian arms treaty to show
progress in reducing the United States' arsenal. The administration says
the treaty will scale back the number of deployed long-range warheads by
30%, though some analysts believe the cuts may actually be much smaller.
The review is widely expected to announce additional reductions from the
estimated 2,000 nuclear weapons held in reserve.
The document is expected to announce that the Pentagon will retire the
Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a ship- and submarine-launched cruise
missile that has been in storage. But it is expected to leave unresolved
the issue of whether to retire the estimated 200 tactical, or
battlefield, nuclear weapons that are based in Europe.
paul.r...@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, The Los Angeles Times
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LEGALIZE THE CONSTITUTION
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DON'T BLAME ME---I DIDNT VOTE FOR HIM
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BO voted as a senator for everything he's bashing Bush for now
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