November 7, 2012
Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons: Rethinking the Rationale for the Bomb
Ward Wilson
Senior Fellow of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Five Myths about Nuclear Weapons: Rethinking the Rationale for the Bomb
Ward Wilson
Senior Fellow of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Minutes of the Seventh Meeting of the 71st Year
President Ruth Miller opened the meeting at 10:15 AM in the Field Center with 92 members present.
Bruno Walmsley read the minutes of the previous meeting.
The membership chair, Jack Riley, read the list of nominees for membership, conducted a vote and introduced the following as new members: Robert Altman, Edward Bromley, Kirk Bryan, Robert Cowen, Diana Crane, John Darley, John Hegedus, Gene Kaplan, William Murdoch, Edith Neimark, and Richard Sarle.
The parents of the speaker, George and Carolyn Wilson, were introduced as guests.
Gerald Berkelhammer introduced Ward Wilson who was born in Ohio, raised in Mercer County, attended Princeton High School, and graduated from American University in Washington DC. Today he is a senior fellow of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and is supported by a grant from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry dealing with nuclear weapon issues. His new book, “Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons” goes on sale in January 2013. The title of his talk at this meeting was the same.
Mr. Wilson presented the five myths as follows:
He poses a fundamental challenge to these myths upon which American nuclear weapons policy has been built up over the last 65years. Those who propose the abolition of nuclear weapons have been deemed as being foolish, utopian dreamers. From a different perspective after re-examining the facts, the arguments for nuclear weapons are based on fear and rationalizations that are not powerful, but are preposterous. He states nuclear weapons are immoral, dangerous and stupid weapons that are too big, too outmoded, and too messy for any conceivable purpose. He believes our policies need to be rethought.
Member questions: addressed the appeasement of North Korea because it has nuclear weapons; the issue of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons (like with Israel they will discover they are not very useful); how to prevent non-nation state terrorist organizations from using them (make them unavailable); what other currency of power could replace nuclear weapons (go from a hard symbol to a soft symbol as China is doing in Africa);
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30.
Respectively submitted,
George Hansen
Bruno Walmsley read the minutes of the previous meeting.
The membership chair, Jack Riley, read the list of nominees for membership, conducted a vote and introduced the following as new members: Robert Altman, Edward Bromley, Kirk Bryan, Robert Cowen, Diana Crane, John Darley, John Hegedus, Gene Kaplan, William Murdoch, Edith Neimark, and Richard Sarle.
The parents of the speaker, George and Carolyn Wilson, were introduced as guests.
Gerald Berkelhammer introduced Ward Wilson who was born in Ohio, raised in Mercer County, attended Princeton High School, and graduated from American University in Washington DC. Today he is a senior fellow of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies and is supported by a grant from the Norwegian Foreign Ministry dealing with nuclear weapon issues. His new book, “Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons” goes on sale in January 2013. The title of his talk at this meeting was the same.
Mr. Wilson presented the five myths as follows:
- Nuclear weapons necessarily shock and awe opponents, including Japan at the end of the Second World War;
- Nuclear weapons are the most destructive weapons in history;
- Nuclear weapons are needed for our protection;
- The “bomb” has kept the peace for sixty-five years;
- And we cannot put the nuclear genie back in the bottle.
- He proposes the atomic bomb attacks did not shock Japan to surrender rather it was Russia’s declaration of war on Japan that caused Japan to capitulate. But it was more acceptable for the Japanese to admit the new “miracle weapon” was the reason and thus the first myth was born.
- Although destructive, nuclear weapons mostly destroy cities and kill civilians, but destruction does not win wars. Armies must be conquered in order to do that.
- As a deterrent Mr. Wilson questions the importance the nuclear threat had in the Cuban Crisis, Israeli conflicts with its neighbors, and influencing Sadam Hussein to change his activities.
- He rejects “proof by absence” as a support for nuclear weapons when addressing the issue of why the peace in Europe has been kept for over 65 years. He used the anecdote of putting virgins into a volcano to keep it from erupting to make his point.
- He admits nuclear weapons, as with all technical advances, cannot be dis-invented is absolutely true, but is absolutely irrelevant. The question is- are nuclear weapons smart military weapons? They endanger the friendly force as well as the enemy. They destroy far more than the intended target. They are very dangerous, but not very useful militarily. Technology goes out of use when it is replaced by better technology or when it is proved to be stupid. He believes the latter applies to nuclear weapons.
He poses a fundamental challenge to these myths upon which American nuclear weapons policy has been built up over the last 65years. Those who propose the abolition of nuclear weapons have been deemed as being foolish, utopian dreamers. From a different perspective after re-examining the facts, the arguments for nuclear weapons are based on fear and rationalizations that are not powerful, but are preposterous. He states nuclear weapons are immoral, dangerous and stupid weapons that are too big, too outmoded, and too messy for any conceivable purpose. He believes our policies need to be rethought.
Member questions: addressed the appeasement of North Korea because it has nuclear weapons; the issue of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons (like with Israel they will discover they are not very useful); how to prevent non-nation state terrorist organizations from using them (make them unavailable); what other currency of power could replace nuclear weapons (go from a hard symbol to a soft symbol as China is doing in Africa);
The meeting was adjourned at 11:30.
Respectively submitted,
George Hansen