Two very bad things happened last Monday. I opened up Google News that morning and the first story I saw was that the Pentagon revised the Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Options, which hasn’t been altered since 1995.
It’s the Pentagon’s opinion that there is a “need for the United States to adapt to a world of worsening proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in which deterrence might fail.” So, to meet this need, it is now an option to preemptively strike a terrorist group or a nation with nuclear weapons if there’s a chance that the group or nation may use weapons of mass destruction against us.
Does the Pentagon not remember the Cold War? I was very young during the end of it, but I paid attention during history class. The Cold War came about because the United States dropped a couple of bombs on Japan and then Russia got nervous. Because Russia was nervous they built many, many, many nuclear weapons. Because Russia was building more nukes, the United States had to build more nukes. Empirical evidence shows that threatening others with nuclear weapons will make everyone stop proliferating them.
Wait a second – no, it shows the opposite.
So, what is the Pentagon thinking? How can anyone think this is a good idea? How can anyone think using nuclear weapons at all – whether in a warranted attack or a unwarranted one – is a good idea? Now, not only can the president attack without the approval of Congress, not only can the president attack without being provoked, but the president can attack with nuclear weapons. For 30 days, or however long the president can dodge an assassination, the president can drop nuclear bombs on someone else without the consent of the people who elected him or her.
Can you imagine what would have happened if we had nuked Baghdad? The world would be in not only an uproar but in chaos and anarchy. You’ve all seen that flash cartoon “The End of The World,” right? If we drop a nuke on someone, they will drop a nuke on us or whatever ally they’re capable of hitting (i.e., Israel, the UK, or Japan). Then that country would drop the bomb on someone else and some meteor would just decide not to blow up the earth because we’ve already killed ourselves.
Well, that’s what happens in the cartoon, but does the Pentagon seriously think that a preemptive nuclear strike is a good deterrent? Yes, there is an increase in nuclear proliferation in the world and with this decision it just got worse.
The second horrible decision made this week is from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. After long debate and deliberation, it seems that the best place to dump nuclear waste is the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation. Yes, I just said Indian reservation. Not only did the government of the United States (a place where it’s said we embrace freedom and equality) spend decades killing the Native Americans, forcing the ones who didn’t die to abandon their culture and live in some of the worst parts of the country, but now they’re going to dump nuclear waste on their land. This land has already been surrounded by high levels of pollution – it’s near the plants that supply most of the power to California, it’s near a huge hazardous waste dump and it’s near what the EPA has deemed the most polluting company. Now the reservation itself is going to be home not only to the Goshutes, but to nuclear waste.
Katy Rowe is a senior anthropology and English double major. She may be contacted at [email protected].
