Obama may Order Cuts in US Nuke Arsenal

[bobdina]

Obama may Order Cuts in US Nuke Arsenal
September 21, 2009
Xinhua News Agency

LONDON -- U.S. President Barack Obama has demanded the Pentagon conduct a radical review of U.S. nuclear weapons doctrine to prepare the way for deep cuts in the country's arsenal, according to today's Guardian newspaper.

The report said that Obama has rejected the Pentagon's first draft of the "nuclear posture review" as being too timid, and has called for a range of more far-reaching options consistent with his goal of eventually abolishing nuclear weapons altogether.

The paper quoted European officials as saying that those options include: reconfiguring the U.S. nuclear force to allow for an arsenal measured in hundreds rather than thousands of deployed strategic warheads; redrafting nuclear doctrine to narrow the range of conditions under which the U.S. would use nuclear weapons; Exploring ways of guaranteeing the future reliability of nuclear weapons without testing or producing a new generation of warheads.

The Guardian also quoted one official as saying "Obama is now driving this process. He is saying these are the president's weapons, and he wants to look again at the doctrine and their role."

The review is due to be completed by the end of this year, and European officials said the outcome is not yet clear, the report added.

The move came as Obama prepared to take the rare step of chairing a watershed session of the UN Security Council on Thursday.

[Toki]

Heard it on Rush. I don't know what to think. I mean we aren't going to use them anytime soon but it is also an extension to Uncle Sam's gigantic dick.

[ghost]

Now, I'm sure he means well. But nuclear weapons are the main thing that keeps massive scale conventional war OFF of the table.

[Reactor-Axe-Man]

The best part is that the Big Zero doesn't have to do a fucking thing to cut the arsenal. In less than ten years, without a major life extension and overhaul program that starts now, our nuclear weapons will no longer be trusted to work reliably. This was addressed either last year or the year before, and Congress didn't want to deal with the problem, but it was pointed out that mere inaction would cause the loss of the arsenal within ten years.

It may surprise you to know that we have not had the capability of building a nuclear weapon since 1989... That's right, 1989.

Know-how, practical experience, the tools and techniques to do it, all these things are lost over time when they are not used. The clock's been ticking for twenty years and we've ignored the problem because nuclear weapons are too scary to think about, let alone support.

You know what's really scary?

A guy in Tehran who believes the 13th Imam will come to usher in the Apocalypse if only The Faithful would show a little initiative in dealing with Israel and the Great Satan. Oh, and this guy has or will have very shortly nuclear weapons and the ability to deliver them to the enemies of The Faithful, and his people have more experience designing and building them than we do.

[bobdina]

Just a few months ago they again "delayed" research for upgrading the arsenal, to make them safer and retire the old ones and bring new ones on line.