3/14/2003

Weapons of Mass Destruction

It would be wonderful if Iraq decided to destroy all its weapons of mass destruction and give up all of its programs to make more! It would be even better if all countries with weapons of mass destruction were to destroy them, stop their production, and stop research into newer even more deadly technologies. I think that most everyone can agree that this would be best for the whole world.

I think that the US, as a country with large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, production capacity for these weapons, and active research programs for development of new weapons should lead the world in the effort to eliminate the danger from weapons of mass destruction. This should be done not only by seeking to reduce the ability of other countries to have and use weapons of mass destruction, but also by revealing what weapons we possess and by destroying all of our weapons of mass destruction. While the US has been steadily destroying chemical weapons, we still posses large stockpiles. We also carry out significant research into developing new "bunker busting" nuclear weapons and maintain a large stockpile of nuclear weapons In fact, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has hinted at the possibility that we might even use nuclear weapons against Iraq. In light of these facts, I find the Bush administrations' rhetoric about Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction to be rather hollow. How can we rail against weapons of mass destruction while simultaneously having them ourselves and making oblique threats to use them?

Ethan Strauss