This page was last updated on April 13, 2010.
A new start; Editorial; Beaver County Times; April 13, 2010.
Did you know Iraq is trying to develop nuclear weapons? I didn’t until I read the editorial’s fifth and eighth paragraphs. The Times editing/proofreading problems persist.
Another problem with the editorial is it comments about the recent Nuclear Posture Review (without mentioning the NPR) and makes it sound like the NPR provisions are part of START II.
“And the Obama administration is not letting down its guard?” That’s up for debate. According to a New York Times article, “the new strategy renounces the development of any new nuclear weapons, overruling the initial position of his own defense secretary.” A news report I saw but can’t find right now asserted the average age of the current weapons in our nuclear arsenal is 25 years. As our nuclear arsenal ages, it makes little sense to me that we would not develop “safer” and more reliable replacements.
The editorial says, “The dangers the two powers face - and the rest of the world, for that matter - are no longer from nuclear warheads launched from submarines, delivered by missiles or dropped by planes. Today’s threat comes from rogue states like Iran and North Korea and terrorist groups like al-Qaida.” For the sake of argument, let’s say that’s true. One thing history tells us repeatedly is “Today’s threat” can change in the blink of an eye. Shouldn’t we be prepared for that inevitable change? After all, didn’t an NIE in 2007 tell us “We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program” and “We assess with moderate confidence Tehran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007?”
As for the comparison to President Reagan’s efforts in this area, an accurate comparison would be to Jimmy Carter. Have you noticed how the left and the mainstream media routinely demonize Mr. Reagan, but when they want to establish credibility they try to draw parallels between them and Mr. Reagan?
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