Obama: No New Nukes

By Selwyn Duke

While there is some question as to whether President Obama has the resolve to prevent rogue nations from developing nuclear capability, he certainly is assuring that we don't maintain ours.  It has come to light that he is locking horns with Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is advocating the replacement of our nuclear arsenal.  Obama has nixed that plan, however, saying that he opposes the development of any new nuclear weapons.

The issue is that our nuclear arsenal is getting old, with most of the warheads having been produced in the 1970s and '80s, and, it appears, they don't age like fine wine.  Mark Thompson writing at Time explains:

The plutonium "pit" of a nuclear weapon — the heart of its extraordinary power — suffers radioactive decay, losing power and building up impurities, over time. There is concern that aging pits may fail to detonate properly, or perhaps at all.

O'Hanlon and other nuclear thinkers have suggested retooling existing weapons to improve reliability as an option. But the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration, which develops America's nuclear weapons, has said it cannot meet the goals set for RRW by modifying existing weapons. Obama's position has backing in Congress, which has repeatedly refused to fund the program [The Reliable Replacement Warhead program].

Obama's position will find favor with many.  Nuclear weapons are scary -- they can be the tools of Armageddon.  And, given that we can already destroy the world at least 50 times over, many people just don't see the sense in spending billions to ensure that even roaches wouldn't survive the nuclear winter.

Unfortunately, it's not that simple.  I'll be the first to say that I'd love to live in a world in which doomsday weapons were unknown.  But since we long ago bit the apple, that is impossible.  Ah, if only we hadn't lost Eden.

The reality is that, as the Roman writer Vegetius told us, "If you want peace, prepare for war."  It is imperative that we remain at least as formidable as any other nation on the planet, and this involves maintaining our nuclear deterrent.  This is a harsh reality that many Pollyannas on the left don't want to accept, but it's a harsh world.  And while hope may have won Obama the election, as the title of a book tells us, "Hope is not a strategy."  You can't wish away bad realities with good thoughts.

So are we destined to follow Russia's path and allow our military to decay?  Perhaps.  But that's the Obama prescription for you: a 1998 Russian military and a 1988 Soviet economy.  Now, that's change our enemies can believe in.          

        © 2008 Selwyn Duke -- All Rights Reserved