GOODBY: The test of leadership

Is this man living in the same world the rest of us are? reducing our nuclear inventory to zero is a good way to get nuclear devices falling on all of our cities. Once again someone living in a fantasy land of their own creation is making public statement that will harm the US if enough people listen to them.

"Operationally deployed warheads and missiles are relatively easy to detect." Really? I think the ballistic missile submariners would beg to differ with that assessment. They don't call it the Silent Service for nothing ("We Hide with Pride" is their motto). I think the B2 bomber pilots would beg to differ as well. America has spent tens of billions of dollars insuring that out military assets are difficult to detect, and even harder to disable or destroy. This includes our nuclear assets as well as conventional ones. This assessment comes from someone with absolutely NO military experience whatsoever (he's a career diplomat). The best defense is a rapid and powerful reaction to military aggression and provocation. We can't have that if we refuse to deploy our military assets where, and when, they're needed most. This includes, but is not limited to, our nuclear assets.

To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Trust your future to a nuclear disarmament negotiator and...... The alternative to a nuclear shield is massive new spending on conventional forces and loss of the next generation of young Americans to the meat grinder of conventional warfare against potential enemies who outnumber us 10 to 1. The Russians are even more vulnerable, with a long history of repeated invasion by their neighbors. For over 60 years, nuclear weapons have made total war too horrible to contemplate for us and our enemies.

By all means put the genie back in the bottle. Everyone knows if we get rid of our nukes our enemies will either do the same or quit trying to obtain them. And of course the only way to obtain such a weapon is to get one from a nation that has them. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Congratulations to Ambassador Goodby and the Washington Times for the excellent article on reducing nuclear dangers. President Bush's retreat from treaties and aggressive nuclear weapons policy has started a new international arms race. China and Russia are improving their missiles and nuclear weapons, while other nations are wondering if posession of such weapons may not be the only safeguard of their security and independence. It is urgent that the next president reverse this policy and promptly begin the negotiation of further reductions with Russia and bringing our weapons off high alert. We cannot bomb our way out of global warming but the present course could certainly add to the destruction of civilization. Peter G Cohen, Santa Barbara