The Devil's Work: More Bombs for America (Page 2 of 3)

This, of course, stands in direct contradiction with our obligation under the NPT to “pursue in good faith negotiations leading to complete disarmament at and early date.”

Complex 2030 is profoundly dangerous. It not only marks the U.S. (once again, say our Native American friends) as a nation whose treaty words can not be trusted. It ignites a new nuclear arms race and jump-starts nuclear proliferation in Brazil, Japan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, and other countries.

If we build, they build. Simple as that.

U.S. nuclear proliferation not only gives other countries permission, it compels them.

When the U.S. announces plans for a new weapons complex, it signals the rest of the world that the currency of power for the next century will be weapons of mass destruction. It buries the NPT and all who dream of a world free of the fear of nuclear annihilation. The guarantees and assurances of the NPT will disappear like wisps of smoke.

Here is the most insidious part: We don’t need the bombs.

Reports from Lawrence Livermore scientists, due to be released in mid-November (delayed from October), will say our current stockpile is more robust than expected; the current bombs will be good for 100 years or more, not 30 as they suspected.

Besides, our bombs serve no true military purpose. At hearings about new bombs and new bomb plants, when the Oak Ridge Chamber of Commerce presents every public voice they can find to cheerlead for the jobs a new bomb plant would provide, the one conspicuously absent voice is the military’s voice. Why? Because generals and admirals know they can’t use the bombs, and they know they won’t because they have conventional weapons that are just as effective without the huge moral stigma. They know their nukes place soldiers and sailors at risk of exposure. And they know they are expensive to build, to guard, and to maintain.

Who does want the bombs, then?

There is a history behind Complex 2030 that goes back at least 15 years, when the Department of Energy announced plans to build Complex 21, the nuclear weapons complex for the next century. At that time, they commanded five of the active weapons production sites to submit detailed plans in a competition for the right to be the new bomb complex. The idea then was to consolidate, in the name of efficiency, all the weapons-production operations in one location. Oak Ridge submitted a seven-volume proposal; civic leaders, labor unions, contractors, management, and officials saw the dollar signs and signed up.

That’s who wants the bombs. The people who derive power from WMD production are people like Pete Domenici and Zach Wamp. People who depend on bomb dollars to bring billions into their districts. Hey, there, re-election!

Who else? Well, ask BWXT’s management what kind of paychecks they received last year. And Riley Bechtel, owner of the Bechtel corporation (“We don’t make things, we make money.”) or the CEO of Honeywell. Ask the Regents at the University of California how much they pocketed. Ask DOE officials and the contractors who serve them (and contribute to the campaign coffers of Pete Domenici and Zach Wamp, too).

Back in April 2001, I attended a meeting of the insiders of the nuclear club. Friends in Albuquerque, N.M., scored some free tickets to the “Nuclear Decision-Makers Forum” sponsored by contractors, McGraw-Hill, and the Department of Energy. I heard lots of discussion, endless presentations, and one keynote address that was particularly revealing. One of the especially articulate officials from Los Alamos spoke about the three challenges confronting “the Enterprise” which is what they call bomb-building. Here is his list:

Challenge #1: Take advantage of the window of opportunity provided by the Bush Administration. They could see the money faucet being turned on, and they were ready with their buckets. Now we see Complex 2030 being pushed through in the last years of President W.

Challenge #2: Recruit new, young minds to the Enterprise. Seems all the human bomb-building know-how was nearing retirement age, and bright young physicists weren’t interested in coming to work at government wages to babysit old bombs. The answer? New warheads, cutting-edge design, something sexy to attract the best and the brightest. (They are calling them Reliable Replacement Warheads.)

Challenge #3: Persuade the military of the utility of nuclear weapons. The speaker pointed out that the Army and the Marines don’t have nukes and only part of the Air Force does.

Now, in violation of our treaty obligations, these weaponeers are meeting those challenges. Complex 2030 is their solution to Challenges 1 and 2, and if they have politicians and money lined up, they can overrun the military. Their actions, self-serving and short-sighted, place us all in peril.