Kerry’s Plan: Ban U.S. Weapons to Stop WMD Threat
NewsMax Wires
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
On the same day the U.S. government announced that terrorist Jose Padilla sought to obtain nuclear materials and detonate a dirty nuclear weapon in the U.S., Sen. John Kerry said the key to U.S. security is to unilaterally stop building nuclear weapons.
Touted as the major national security speech of his campaign so far, the presumptive Democrat nominee said that as his first order of business as president he will abandon plans to build new nuclear weapons, including “bunker-busting” nuclear weapons advocated by the Bush administration.
Kerry's statement for a unilateral U.S. nuclear arms moratium also coincided with the U.N. inspection agency's announcement that Iran continues to procure material to make nuclear weapons.
“As president, I will stop this administration's program to develop a whole new generation of bunker-busting nuclear bombs,” Kerry told a crowd of supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla. “This is a weapon we don't need. And it undermines our credibility in persuading other nations. What kind of message does it send when we're asking other countries not to develop nuclear weapons but developing new ones ourselves?”
But military experts say the new weapons are absolutely vital in the war on terror, as terrorist nations are building both command posts and nuclear weapons so deep underground the Pentagon does not have weapons to adequately strike these potential targets.
In late May, the House passed legislation that provided $27 million for research into the proposed high-yield Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, better known as the “bunker buster.”
The bill offered funding for new weapons research centered at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia weapons labs in California and an additional $9 million for research into other new thermonuclear weapons.
Though the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the end of the Cold War, America's example has not been followed by other nations.
Russia, China and other rogue states have continued to maintain or develop new weapons of mass destruction, including thermonuclear devices.
During his speech Kerry acknowledged that despite the fall of the Berlin Wall, “... Russia still has nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons and enough nuclear material to produce 50,000 more Hiroshima-sized bombs.” The Russian nuclear arsenal is more than double the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
Kerry stated that one of the key elements of his plan is to “end the nuclear weapons programs in states like North Korea and Iran.”
At the same time Kerry called for a ban on new U.S. weapons, he offered little in specifics on how he would deal with North Korea and Iran if they failed to comply in stopping their WMD programs.
Kerry blamed the Bush administration for being too “fixated on Iraq while the nuclear dangers from North Korea have multiplied.” Kerry also said, “Let me say it plainly: A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable.”
He claimed that the Bush administration has given North Korea time to “have made enough new fuel to make six to nine nuclear bombs.”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...1/220814.shtml
NewsMax Wires
Wednesday, June 2, 2004
On the same day the U.S. government announced that terrorist Jose Padilla sought to obtain nuclear materials and detonate a dirty nuclear weapon in the U.S., Sen. John Kerry said the key to U.S. security is to unilaterally stop building nuclear weapons.
Touted as the major national security speech of his campaign so far, the presumptive Democrat nominee said that as his first order of business as president he will abandon plans to build new nuclear weapons, including “bunker-busting” nuclear weapons advocated by the Bush administration.
Kerry's statement for a unilateral U.S. nuclear arms moratium also coincided with the U.N. inspection agency's announcement that Iran continues to procure material to make nuclear weapons.
“As president, I will stop this administration's program to develop a whole new generation of bunker-busting nuclear bombs,” Kerry told a crowd of supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla. “This is a weapon we don't need. And it undermines our credibility in persuading other nations. What kind of message does it send when we're asking other countries not to develop nuclear weapons but developing new ones ourselves?”
But military experts say the new weapons are absolutely vital in the war on terror, as terrorist nations are building both command posts and nuclear weapons so deep underground the Pentagon does not have weapons to adequately strike these potential targets.
In late May, the House passed legislation that provided $27 million for research into the proposed high-yield Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, better known as the “bunker buster.”
The bill offered funding for new weapons research centered at Lawrence Livermore and Sandia weapons labs in California and an additional $9 million for research into other new thermonuclear weapons.
Though the U.S. has dramatically reduced its nuclear arsenal since the end of the Cold War, America's example has not been followed by other nations.
Russia, China and other rogue states have continued to maintain or develop new weapons of mass destruction, including thermonuclear devices.
During his speech Kerry acknowledged that despite the fall of the Berlin Wall, “... Russia still has nearly 20,000 nuclear weapons and enough nuclear material to produce 50,000 more Hiroshima-sized bombs.” The Russian nuclear arsenal is more than double the U.S. nuclear stockpile.
Kerry stated that one of the key elements of his plan is to “end the nuclear weapons programs in states like North Korea and Iran.”
At the same time Kerry called for a ban on new U.S. weapons, he offered little in specifics on how he would deal with North Korea and Iran if they failed to comply in stopping their WMD programs.
Kerry blamed the Bush administration for being too “fixated on Iraq while the nuclear dangers from North Korea have multiplied.” Kerry also said, “Let me say it plainly: A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable.”
He claimed that the Bush administration has given North Korea time to “have made enough new fuel to make six to nine nuclear bombs.”
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/arti...1/220814.shtml
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