A new era of nuclear weapons-- Bush's buildup begins with little debate

[CatWoman]

Congress, with only a limited debate, has given the Bush administration a green light for the biggest revitalization of the country's nuclear weapons program since the end of the Cold War, leaving many Democrats and even some hawkish Republicans seething.

"This has been a good year," said Linton Brooks, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which develops and manages the country's nuclear weapons arsenal. "I'm pretty happy we essentially got what we wanted."

Reversing a decade of restraint in nuclear weapons policy, Congress agreed to provide more than $6 billion for research, expansion and upgrades in the country's nuclear capabilities. While Congress approved large sums to maintain the existing nuclear arsenal even during the Clinton years, this year's increases will finance multiyear programs to design a new generation of warheads as well as more sophisticated missiles, bombers and re-entry vehicles to deliver them.

"This is a fairly radical new way of thinking about things," Brooks said, adding that it amounted to "a more fundamental shift in the way we look at this than many people realize."

That the change is indeed both "radical" and "fundamental" is about the only thing critics of the administration agree with.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2003%2F12%2F07%2FMNG5Q3GH941.DTL

[theorist]

1. And to think...

As Clinton was leaving office, we had an era of unprecedented world peace on the horizon. (Maybe it was, in reality, all an illusion.)

[wryter2000]

2. Some ticked off R's in there

And weepy, wimpy Ellen Tauscher. She ought to switch parties. Feh.

[mikehiggins]

3. Good golly, Miss Molly!

Is everyone gone stone cold crazy?

New nukes?

Don't we have enough? More than enough? WAAAYYYY more than enough?

Bunker busters? What about those mothers they've been testing down here in Florida? No nukes, just really big bombs.

What does Bush want? Nuclear hand grenades?

The Bush love affair with A-bombs and the plans for a new draft show just the course the SS Bush has set for America!

Straight ahead into the past!

These clowns must go.

[bluestateguy]

4. Huh?

Call me a radical loony leftist extremist here but I happen to think that the thousands of nuclear warheads we already have are quite satisfactory to defend the nation against a foreign foe.

In any event, how does it look to the rest of the world for us to be demanding that Iran, Iraq, N. Korea, and even Israel not develop a handful of nukes, but we are free to make thousands more?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

5. Is this another treaty we are breaking?

I thought there was a treaty that forbid new research and new warhead construction.

[goforit]

6. No opposition????.....Hello DLC, DNC,Greens ....Where the hell are ya?

Elected bow down to insanity!!!!

Time to clean house!!!!!

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

7. Asleep, just like they have been since 9/11

With their thumbs up their asses.

[maggrwaggr]

12. time to clean house indeed. This never should have been allowed

the Dem party (the Dumb party?) should have never let this pass, they should have fought this kicking and screaming and doing whatever it took to get this stopped.

My new term: The Dumbocratic party.

May they all be out on their ear in the next election

[sandnsea]

17. foreign policy not important

That's where the hell it's been. Kerry and Clark have talked about this almost every time they open their mouths. But we don't need to worry about foreign policy. It's health care, jobs and education. And don't forget the goddamn war vote. Got to be that stupid thing to death 500 times while Bush gets away with making nuclear weapons.

Aaaggh!!!!!!!

[citizen snips]

8. why would we need nukes

We don't need that many nukes unless Bush gets into any more wars.

[snippy]

9. Bush really, really, really wants to use a nuke.

Even before 9/11, he and others in his administration talked about their willingness to do so. I think its a PNAC thing. Or it could just be his desire to fuck up.

[mmm]

26. You bet he does!

He wants to use a bunch them, call it 'shock and awe II.'

[loudnclear]

10. The world should demand sanctions against the US if US goes for

mini nukes. the US should be sanctioned and embargoed.

[chasqui]

11. The Problem is that a fearfull populace is easy to govern

Next expect them to shut the internet down. They are probably looking for a way to do just that right now...

[54anickel]

13. Naw, right now the internet helps them keep track of those who dare

oppose them. Should the American people begin to use it to organize an up-rising, that's when they'll pull the old plug-a-roo.

[Occulus]

21. wireless P2P?

each functioning as a server- something that could run on, say, a cellphone with a cam?

*thinking out loud*

[glitch]

30. I think I read somewhere that SAIC owns Network Solutions

The main provider of domain name service.

[Occulus]

20. Can't be done

unless they get exotic. Couple nice, big EM bursts in selected areas would take down much of the net quite handily for a long period.

Getting those EM bursts, ah, there's the problem. I'm sure some DOD problem-solver (unconnected to the actual purpose of the project, of course) is working on the generation of large-scale EM pulses right now, if in fact it's not already cooked up....

Not any kind of tinfoil needed here, either. I can hand off plently of examples of devices and craft that were formerly 'black' projects.

I don't don tinfoil when speaking of technology.

[young_at_heart]

14. WHY is Congress doing this?

Do they envision a world in continuous battles and wars?

[individual]

29. Congress and the nuclear program

The only reason I can think of is that the Chinese are developing more sophisticated weapons. Also, India and Pakistan, two populous countries, have nuclear programs.

[54anickel]

15. Is this the same bill that has these hidden expansions of the Patriot

Act. He's supposedly going to sign this on Saturday, but these reports are from the 4th.

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20031204-111437-5659r.htm
Tucked inside a intelligence spending bill awaiting the president's signature is a provision that allows the FBI to obtain an individual's financial records from pawn shops, casinos, car dealers and travel agents without a court order.
The measure was included in the intelligence authorization bill and expands on who can be served with "national security letters" that demand financial information on investigations relating to terrorism or counterintelligence. The letters, or subpoenas, do not require judicial review or approval.
Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, Idaho Republican, said the provision is a "thinly veiled expansion of the Patriot Act" that will have "far-reaching consequences for Americans' civil liberties."

http://www.financialsense.com/editorials/wallenwein/2003/1209.html
A new intelligence spending bill (HB 2417) has reportedly just passed Congress and is awaiting the President’s signature by this coming Saturday, December 13, 2003. Tucked inside that bill is a provision that allows the FBI to serve so-called "national security letters" on a broader range of "financial institutions." National security letters require these institutions to reveal their customers’ private financial as well as general information, including "tangible things.".

It’s no news that banks have been conscripted to spy on you. Everyone knows that by now. But this recent measure

"... redefines ‘financial institutions’ that was previously limited to banks, credit unions, and savings and loan organizations. Now the definition also includes brokers and dealers registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, investment bankers, operators of credit-card systems, insurance companies, dealers in precious metals, stones, or jewels, licensed senders of money, telegraph companies, airplane and boat dealers, Realtors and estate closings, and the U.S. Post Office.

[Rainbows]

28. OOOO-H .. Nice Post ...

I think you just made a lot of us babblers think, and realize the attack comes from every direction at once with all these 'trailers' in the legislation being passed by both deadhead parties. Time to clean house.

[begruntled]

16. well when global military dominance is the ultimate aim

and munitions and arms trading arms the most profitable markets (next to slavery, drugs, and pornography) nuclear weapons would be the something the military establishment (including our illustrious civilian war profiteers) that would need revamping. Healthcare, urban infrastructure, fuel cell research, AIDs, public education who cares about when a countries leaders have set out to dominate the planet militaristically?

[Kinkistyle]

18. The race begins anew...

Another Nuclear-Arms Race begins. Its "every-man-for-himself" again as other countries will abandon the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty signed by 187 countries, and start to attain more nukes in an attempt to check the U.S. and gain status in the world. I bet Bush will start pushing the Missile-Defense-System again to gain an advantage.

[imax2268]

19. what really scares me

is that this man has access to the button...

[Occulus]

22. mt letter to Senator Levin

Dear Senator Levin,

I'd like to begin with three paragraphs from sfgate.com, along with the relevant link:

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F2003%2F12%2F07%2FMNG5Q3GH941.DTL

Congress, with only a limited debate, has given the Bush administration a green light for the biggest revitalization of the country's nuclear weapons program since the end of the Cold War, leaving many Democrats and even some hawkish Republicans seething.

"This has been a good year," said Linton Brooks, the administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which develops and manages the country's nuclear weapons arsenal. "I'm pretty happy we essentially got what we wanted."

Reversing a decade of restraint in nuclear weapons policy, Congress agreed to provide more than $6 billion for research, expansion and upgrades in the country's nuclear capabilities. While Congress approved large sums to maintain the existing nuclear arsenal even during the Clinton years, this year's increases will finance multiyear programs to design a new generation of warheads as well as more sophisticated missiles, bombers and re-entry vehicles to deliver them.

---

I never once heard a peep of this, and I'm a news and politics 'junkie'. Senator, in two words, what happened?

I'd also like to know what, if anything, can be done to combat this kind of fly-by-night, under-the-radar style of legislation. Specifics pertaining to the above article would be very much appreciated.

I'm alarmed, but only because I know about it. I can guarantee you many, if not most, of the people I come into contact with daily don't have an inkling of this; I myself only found out about it by blind luck.

What, in God's name, is going on? How did this get through with such silence?

Sincerely,

me

[tlb]

23. But meanwhile, the last nuclear artillary warhead is scrapped.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has dismantled the last nuclear artillery shell in the U.S. nuclear stockpile, eliminating the vestiges of a type of battlefield nuclear weapons that comprised a key element of America's Cold War arsenal.

Employees at NNSA's Pantex facility in Amarillo, Texas, dismantled the last W-79 warhead earlier this year. Pantex officials will hold a ceremony at the plant today to mark the achievement.

"This administration is committed to reducing the threat of nuclear weapons worldwide," said U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. "We have completed dismantlement of another class of nuclear weapons -- weapons that were a very important deterrent during the Cold War."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=115-12122003



The total warhead numbers fall, as do the aggregate megatonnage. To me that's more significant then the development of one additional small warhead.

[Seldona]

24. Insanity

I remember Rummy saying we needed them because the new bunker busters could eliminate the danger of bio weapons in the explosion.

So the fallout will take care of the anthrax?

Arrg!

Let alone the hippocracy of demanding the rest of the world disarm while we build new stuff.

[Bandit]

25. "I'm pretty happy we essentially got what we wanted."

This should be on every Republican poster and memo. It pretty much states the fact for all issues. Is there really a Democratic Party?

[Rainbows]

27. Ah! Light up our Life ...

and darken our future with radioactive clouds above, circulating the globe with gloom and doom, .... But the first few minutes would be exciting on CNN, while on Fox they said it was their own fault for trying to exist in the same world as the USA.

[Sliverofhope]

31. kick

Something to consider in light of the new spat with Russia.

[0007]

32. I think your serious, 'eh?