CLINTON'S DOUBTS ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM

"IN HACKED AUDIO, CLINTON RETHINKS AN OBAMA PLAN", The New York Times, Washington,D.C., September 30,2016)
                                                  
                                                 

At a February fundraiser, Candidate Clinton privately "expressed doubts" about our nation's moving forward with its 30 year trillion dollar creation of a new generation of World Destroying Nuclear Weapons and their computer-driven, highly complex, incredibly expensive delivery to target systems.

She also staked out a position (again, not on the record) against the proposed new Nuclear-Tipped Cruise Missile aka Long Range Stand Off missile, LRSO:

"The last thing we need are sophisticated cruise missiles that are nuclear armed."
                                                  

                                                    

As described in our numerous Posts here, the Times, too, describes a "modernization" program featuring "new factories, refurbished nuclear arms, and a new generation of weapon carriers, including bombers, missiles and submarines."
                                                   


                                                     

                                                     
                                                     

Andrew Weber, former high-ranking Defense official, called the new missile a "particularly destabilizing, dangerous type of nuclear weapon."

Clinton praised former Sec of Defense, William J Perry, for speaking out against the Nuclear Weapons threat, and in particular the LRSO, stating that the more he speaks out publicly "the better off we'll be in really trying to cut this off."


                                                     

She also appeared to question the necessity for the Nuclear Modernization program: "This is going to be a big issue. There's a lot of money we're taking about to go into refurbishing and modernization."

Clinton also mentioned being open to exploring new Nuclear Weapons Treaties with Russia beyond 2010's New Start which she helped negotiate.
                                                  

                                                   

She continued: "Do we have to do any of it? If we have to do some of it,how much do we have to do? That's going to be a tough question...." and said that she would ask for the help of Mr.Weber and Mr. Perry to "help me answer that question."

This Blog's position is stark and steadfast. To answer Sec Clinton's question - WE SHOULD NOT BE DOING ANY OF IT!

Allow these aging, horrific, world-ending weapons to die a world-wide natural death in their Silos, Subs and Bombers. If that's not fast enough, (and it probably won't be) Dismantle Them. Start Now!
We partnered with Russia on this before and we can do it again.



                                                    

                                                        

This is our NUCLEAR WEAPONS RUBICON. Once we cross this singularly dangerous threshold, there is no going back. That trillion dollars and more will be in the hands of the Nuclear Weapons Industry and its multitude of contractors. Then it will be too late. 

Like all of those Nuclear Missiles - once launched they cannot be called back....

                                                   

  
READ NYTS Article
William J Perry Website
SCRAP the Modernization ProgramWORK FOR ABOLITION IN OUR TIME! BEFORE WE ARE OUT OF TIME!

                                                 

NUKE ARMS RACE? SEC PERRY: "REFUSE TO RUN."

Former Secretary of Defense William J. Perry has written an OP-ED in today's New York Times: "Why it's Safe to Scrap America's ICBMs"
                                                   

                                                  

Perry makes a very reasoned case for dropping this archaic leg of our Unholy Nuclear Trinity/Triad.
                                                  

                                                   
                                                    

The risk of error, he reminds us, is all too great. If the POTUS, in the less than 30 minutes he or she would have to decide to "use 'em or lose 'em" before an incoming strike takes them out, chooses to use them - Error or Not "once launched they cannot be recalled."

Perry warns: "These missiles are some of the most dangerous weapons in the world. They could even trigger an accidental nuclear war."

Think of trying to call back a bullet just fired from a gun!


                                                 

Perry is being a bit coy in the essay, however, as he is dedicating the rest of his life to the Abolition of these Weapons and their threat to the world and posterity.That would include our possession of the Nuclear Arsenal of Bombers and Trident Subs he offers as reasons to eliminate the ICBMs.
                                                 

                                                  

                                                     

But he realizes that - even as he has warned "Time is running out"- a crucial first step like the elimination of ICBMs is a START.

Perry concludes: "THERE IS ONLY ONE WAY TO WIN AN ARMS RACE: REFUSE TO RUN."

READ NYTS Article


SAVE THE DATE SEC PERRY is scheduled to speak in NYC in October.


ABOLITION IN OUR TIME


                                               

"60 MINUTES": THE POWER TO LAUNCH NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Last night CBS aired a segment "The New Cold War" dealing with "the unthinkable" - "Who has the ultimate power to use  NUCLEAR WEAPONS?"


                                                    

Opening with a "teaser" video of the US SUB Kentucky described in the program as the "deadliest engine of destruction in our Nuclear Arsenal" with almost 200, yes 200! warheads atop its Trident Missiles, with more than 30 times the destructive power of the Hiroshima Bomb, according to its Captain. We watch the crew "practice" the most deadly game - a Launch of its Nuclear Missiles.
LINK WIKPEDIA


                                               

The Captain assures us that these Death Dealers can be launched "only by the authority of one person", the President of the United States.
Actually, Not Accurate.


                                                   

There is a difference worth noting between authority and ability.
Ability also resting with the Vice-President who is followed around by his own personal Nuclear Football Satchel.

And since we are told that much of this is "Top Secret" or "Above Top Secret" (whatever that may mean), we do not know what authority each individual Nuclear Sub Commander has to initiate Launch. For example, if communications fail or are cut off during a crisis or in a time of international tensions....


                                                   

We are also introduced to "the most powerful man in the military", Admiral Cecil Haney,Commander of US Strategic Command (STRATCOM).                        


                                                   

We are shown a digital "Time" board at STRATCOM counting down in minutes and seconds the "Safe Escape Time". The foolhardy notion that the Admiral and his staff have X amount of time to abandon ship, so to speak, in a Nuclear Attack and get themselves to "safety."

As the Admiral must know there is no such thing as safety in a Nuclear Conflict.
Get to "safety" where exactly? Even if he could, where would that leave the rest of us?

We know the answer. To be biblical: "Sackcloth and Ashes".


                                                  

                                                   
The Kentucky's Captain states that the Key to launch his World Wrecking Missiles is in a SAFE. In this case, he tells us, only the POTUS has the "combination" to open that safe allowing the Captain to insert the Key and launch massive death and destruction upon targeted nations and cities.
                                                 

                                                  

A STRATCOM Officer tries to convince us that "there are some very complex procedures" to be sure that STRATCOM "knows" that it is the POTUS they are talking to or communicating with and not some impostor, terrorist and/or hacker.
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As computer forensic and security experts have told us and Congress - ANY SYSTEM CAN BE HACKED. So much for certainty.

This leads former Sec of Defense William J Perry to warn us that the President would have less than 10 minutes to decide if a Nuclear Missile launched from a Sub off one of our coasts was an actual attack or some sort of blip or computer error.

The Secretary advises that our Nuclear Weapons, "one thousand ready to go" and on "hair-trigger alert" and in "launch on warning posture", are "sufficient to destroy or obliterate ALL OF civilization."

The CBS correspondent asks Mr. Perry if this is true even now, so long after the Cold War, "STILL?"

"STILL", Perry replies.
LINK to Sec Perry's Website
                                                  

                                                   

We are told to tune in "next Sunday" when the segment continues and will deal with "the chance" the President will Launch Nuclear Weapons. The correspondent concludes: "greater than you might think." 

What all of us need to grasp is that there may be No Next Sunday. The terrible fact of the existence and destructive capacity of Nuclear Weapons means that they can destroy us all and all future generations AT ANY TIME. They are with us every moment of every day and night. WAITING TO BE LAUNCHED.

Unless, we destroy them first!

ABOLITION IN OUR TIME!
                                                   

                                                     

THE ONLY GOOD NUCLEAR WEAPON IS A DISMANTLED ONE!

LINK to "60 Minutes"


                                                

OBAMA: 3 (NUCLEAR) STRIKES AND HE'S OUT! POTUS WHIFFS ON THE MOST DANGEROUS NUCLEAR WEAPONS ISSUES OF OUR TIME

"OBAMA UNLIKELY TO DROP OPTION OF FIRST STRIKE", "USE OF NUCLEAR ARMS" NYTS, Today, Sept 6, 2016.

Ending his presidential term which he began with a vision of "a world without Nuclear Weapons", Obama has now decided to do nothing at all to forward that hopeful vision!

Instead, he is pulling us backwards into the Cold War by committing our nation and its treasure to the rearmament and rejuvenation, euphemistically called "modernization", of our entire Nuclear Weapons Arsenal.
                                                 


                                                     

After consulting with his current crop of "experts" and "advisers", he has decided that he will NOT officially take the No First Use Pledge.
STRIKE ONE!

He had the opportunity to take our deadly, destructive arsenal off "Hair Trigger Alert" - the "de-alerting" option.
This would have reduced the now perilously high risk of mutual miscalculation, accident, malevolent hacking and other possible inadvertent "launches".
Making it likely for a conventional conflict to quickly escalate (see Ukraine/NATO) into a full-blown Nuclear War. US and NATO Nuclear Warheads and Bombs are stashed in Turkey, Italy, Netherlands and Germany.
STRIKE TWO!

Obama had the opportunity to allow the aging, scandal-ridden ICBM complexes buried "across the American West" to die a natural death in their silos, removing them from our unholy Triad Trinity of ICBMs, Trident Subs and Bombers. He will NOT do so.
STRIKE THREE!


                                               

                                           

He made these terribly misguided decisions after consulting with his "advisers". As noted here before, it has always been a small, unelected, unaccountable group of individuals who have made and are making Life and Death decisions like this for all of us.

There are many experts here and internationally who disagree with Obama's advisers.This includes his former top Nuclear Policy adviser former Gen James E. Cartwright who last month wrote an OP-ED in The Times staking out positions contrary to the President's current crop of advisers. CLICK





                                                                         
                                                                         

                                              




We should be morally outraged by these decisions... or rather no decisions since POTUS has left decades of now irrelevant Nuclear War policies in place.

The Times quotes Andrew Weber former Asst Sec of Defense for Atomic Programs under Obama: "The defense complex is doing a full court press." 
Follow the $! There are Billions to be made from the "modernization" of our Nuclear Arsenal. Already, several military corporations and contractors are locked in fierce competition for the "new" ICBM contract! CLICK


                                                 

  


                                                      

                                                  


But despite these setbacks, it is important to take heart and to continue the struggle to End These Weapons In Our Lifetimes.

Former Sec of Def William J Perry, quoted in the article:
"IT'S THE RIGHT TIME" for a "No First Use Pledge".
Perry is conducting a "Time Is Running Out" campaign for Nuclear Weapons Abolition. 

The Marshall Islands Lawsuits vs. the Nuclear Armed Nations for violating the NPT, Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty, are still winding their way through the courts of the world.


                                                    

There is now a Lawsuit vs. the US for providing military aid to a nation (Israel) in violation of the NPT Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty LINK
                                                   

                                                     

                                                     


The "Humanitarian Initiative' has 127 nations aboard calling for an International Convention to Legally Ban Nuclear Weapons.


                                                  

                                                   

 Since their start last May, these Blog Posts have encouraged "Millenials" to take serious note of what is happening.
It is, after all, the World... or lack of one...that you and your children will inherit.

YOU CAN TAKE ACTION! There are numerous Anti-Nuclear Weapons organizations which you can join including: GLOBAL ZERO and ICAN.

As President Obama stated at Hiroshima last May: "Persistent effort can roll back the possibility of a catastrophe."



                                                    

His three decisions, if left unchallenged and unchanged, may well lead us from his "World Without Nuclear Weapons" to A World Destroyed By Them.

WE CANNOT LET THAT HAPPEN! ABOLITION IN OUR TIME

CLICK for the Times Front Page Story                                                  

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/06/science/obama-unlikely-to-vow-no-first-use-of-nuclear-weapons.html?ref=todayspaper