From: Scribe1865-AT-aol.com
Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 09:32:08 EDT
Subject: Fact Check: US nuclear policy



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In a message dated 7-3-2002 5:14:30 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
heliogabalus-AT-eudoramail.com writes:


> the US did not need this many nukes: there's 20,000 on each sides, enough to 
> blow up the entire surface of the globe many, many times over. second, the 
> US nuclear posture has not change even when the Cold War ended: it still 
> has 2,000 nukes on hair-trigger alert. 


First, The USSR was allowed by SALT to have an extensive anti-missile shield 
in place around Moscow and other major cities. They still do.  Because 
nuclear weapons are so costly, there was careful calculation to provide 
deterrence, and that required proliferation. It must have worked because 
we're all still alive.

And the nuclear posture of the USA HAS changed after the Cold War.  No nukes 
are on hair trigger alert. The number of nuclear weapons has been reduced, 
the remaining weapons upgraded, and the infrastructure that supports nuclear 
war planning has been modernized to make the nuclear posture relevant to the 
post-Cold War world. 

Bush & Co. sent Congress the results of a year-long Nuclear Posture Review. 
The review took place largely without public input, and a leaked excerpt 
disclosed in the Los Angeles Times in March 2002 caused widespread concern 
among the poorly informed.

Eric
NYC

    


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