Cirincione: Republican politicians undercut American leadership when we need it most [View all]

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from Joe Cirincione at HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-cirincione/playing-politics-with-nuc_b_1385019.html


When a Republican president negotiates reductions in nuclear arsenals, it is statecraft; when a Democratic president does the same, it is treason. That, at least, is the position advanced this week by several leading Republican politicians and their political advisors.

from President Obama's remarks at Hankuk University in Seoul last weekend:

"The massive nuclear arsenal we inherited from the Cold War is poorly suited to today's threats, including nuclear terrorism. I firmly believe that we can ensure the security of the United States and our allies, maintain a strong deterrent against any threat, and still pursue further reductions in our nuclear arsenal."

. . . How many nuclear bombs do we need? Despite major wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan and numerous near-war crises, we have not used a nuclear weapon in nearly 67 years. It is difficult to conceive of any military mission today that would require the use of even one nuclear bomb. Using ten nuclear weapons would be a catastrophe unprecedented in human history. Using one hundred is unthinkable. Yet, today we have an arsenal of 5,000 hydrogen bombs, each 10 to 80 times more destructive than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. 1800 of these monsters are deployed on U.S. long-range missiles and bombers, ready to use in a moment's notice. It is an insane policy, one guaranteed to end the world, not save it.

President Obama and his Republican predecessors may have differed on many policies, but one thing they agreed on is that the U.S. nuclear arsenal is far too big for our national security needs. That is why every president since Reagan has cut the stockpile, cooperating with the Russians to achieve reciprocal and verified cuts in their equally massive arsenals. They have done so with the complete support of America's military leaders who would rather spend security budgets on programs they will actually use in the defense of the nation.

Trimming Cold War arsenals, bringing our nuclear strategy into the 21st century, makes sense. It makes sense for Republicans and Democrats. It makes sense for defense hawks and budget hawks. Politicians now trying to score cheap political points do so at the expense of our national security. Instead of supporting and joining the commander-in-chief as he traveled to Asia, the most dynamic region of the world today, to unite 50 world leaders in a joint effort to counter our number one security threat -- nuclear terrorism -- these politicians snipe and kibitz. They undercut American leadership when we need it most. They do the nation, their party and themselves a great disservice. It is a dangerous game that must end now.


read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joe-cirincione/playing-politics-with-nuc_b_1385019.html