The concept of a nuclear-free world is a wonderful ideal, but like a lot of other ideals, it is an ideal--it does not work in real life. Unfortunately, there always has to be a policeman on the block, and he needs to be armed better than the people who break the law. Man left to his own resources cannot always be relied upon to do what is right. Ask any elementary school principal why he has monitors on the playground at recess.
The Los Angeles Times posted an article today on the president's goals to shrink the U.S. stockpile and reduce the role of such weapons in foreign policy. In theory, that would be a wonderful thing. In practice, that is a very foolish move to make when Iran and North Korea are in the process of obtaining nuclear weapons. Generally speaking, laws don't really impact honest people--they instinctively do what is right--laws are there to deal with people who rob, steal, and destroy. America's giving up her nuclear weapons or scaling back on the modernization or development of her nuclear program would only result in a world more vulnerable to bullies like Iran or North Korea and thus a more dangerous world--not a safer one.
According to the article:
"Obama laid out his vision of a nuclear-free world in a speech in Prague, Czech Republic, last April, pledging that the U.S. would take dramatic steps to lead the way. Nine months later, the administration is locked in internal debate over a top-secret policy blueprint for shrinking the U.S. nuclear arsenal and reducing the role of such weapons in America's military strategy and foreign policy."
Thank God we have some people in our government with some common sense. We need to remember in this debate that some of our allies depend on our nuclear weapons to protect them. For example, U.S. submarines in the Pacific carry nuclear-tipped torpedoes. The Japanese appreciate this as a possible deterrent to a growing Chinese navy. Some U.S. officials want to keep about 200 U.S. bombs at European bases to protect against possible aggression by the Soviet Union. Again, American nuclear weapons are generally a deterrent to war rather than the cause of one. If you disarm the policemen in a town, crime increases, it does not go down.
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