National Security: The Case AGAINST Nuclear Weapons

The folks who have been working so hard to stop the new Kansas City Bomb Plant from being built have done a great job of focusing on the financial/economic waste involved in the new facility as well as nuclear weapons production in general.  They have a website worth checking out.  It's called Foolish Investment - Kansas City.

They put together a fact sheet on nuclear weapons and "national security."  You know - that phrase that politicians and pundits throw around so freely whenever they want to stop any questioning of the wisdom of our nation's continuing pursuit of nuclear weapons.  

You can read the first part below, and then click the link at the end to read some pertinent quotes from national security experts.

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Supporters of continued nuclear weapon production argue they’re needed for national security – but actually, the national security argument strengthens the case against them.

Lobbyists for corporations aren’t the people that should be deciding how we spend our national security dollars. They have their profit in mind, not our security. The lobbyists haven’t noticed or don’t care what century we’re living in. Rather than letting the military adapt to new conditions and reshape itself to meet current needs, they keep pushing a desperately outdated strategy.

Every dollar spent on nuclear weapons is a dollar cut from the troops. Troops and veterans shouldn’t have resources diverted away from them because lobbyists work for profit-making corporations instead of working for them.

Every dollar spent on nuclear weapons is a dollar cut from stopping terrorists. Nuclear weapons are useless against small groups who want to wreak havoc – it would be like trying to use a bulldozer against a cloud of mosquitoes. Are we ever going to explode a nuclear weapon and kill millions of innocent men, women, and children, in order to stop or punish a dozen people?

The nuclear budget prevents us from competing economically, and economic security is part of our national security. This is a pork-barrel program. All huge federal government programs which provide no economic benefit are drains on our economy. We may decide that they’re worth the economic problems they cause, but if they’re going to be allowed to weaken our economy, they better make up for it by providing security we need. They don’t.

And, don't forget to read the quotes on this topic by a half dozen established national security experts.  They help tighten the noose around the spurious arguments for maintaining and modernizing the nation's nuclear arsenal.