EDITORIAL: Nuclear nightmare

The human race learned a lesson from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 62 years ago: These weapons of mass destruction must never again be used.

Even some Cold Warriors recognize that use of these weapons would be suicidal. Former Republican Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger, joining former Democratic Defense Secretary William Perry and former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn, wrote in a Wall Street Journal piece: “The world is now on the precipice of a new and dangerous era. We endorse the goal of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

Yet the neocons cling to their fantasy that nuclear weapons can be used to enforce U.S. corporate global domination. The Bush administration is pushing a “reliable replacement warhead” program that would build a whole new generation of nuclear weapons. Congress has not funded the program — and we should make sure they don’t.

This administration has played fast and loose with nuclear weapons. Bush’s policy is shoot-first with nukes. This has pushed the current tensions with Iran and North Korea.

A nuclear nightmare could become a reality. Every presidential and congressional candidate in the 2008 elections must be asked: Do you support the abolition of nuclear weapons? Will you end the policy of nuclear terror?