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Article: The bomb has many friends.(supporters of nuclear weapons)
- Article from:
- Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
- Article date:
- March 1, 1997
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Gen. Lee Butler (ret.), the former commander-in-chief of all U.S. strategic nuclear forces, says that nuclear weapons no longer serve any useful purpose and they should be scrapped. His candid testimony is on target -- and all the more powerful because of his unique experience.
Nevertheless, Butler's core idea, that a world free of the threat of nuclear weapons is by necessity a world devoid of nuclear weapons, is not likely to find universal support among groups as superficially diverse as arms controllers, government policymakers, think-tank pundits, and editorial writers. No matter how you slice it, they all seem trapped in the same line of reasoning, an old ...