War is not the Answer to Nuclear Weapons Proliferation

Interview with John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy, conducted by Scott Harris

The Shahab-3 ballistic missile, that has the range to hit Israel, on parade in Teheran.

Since coming into force in 1970, signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty have made a commitment to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. In early May, delegates from 187 nations convened the seventh NPT five-year review conference at UN headquarters in New York. There, delegates will address the treaty's prohibition on non-nuclear states from acquiring atomic weapons and the obligation of the five nuclear armed states -- the U.S., Britain, France, Russia and China -- to negotiate the elimination of their own nuclear arsenals. Only India, Pakistan and Israel, states that now possess nuclear weapons, have refused to sign the treaty.

In recent years, the focus of the world has been on the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran. The Bush administration has used a combination of diplomacy and the threat of military force to prevent these two nations from acquiring nuclear weapons. But while much of the world opposes North Korea's and Iran's efforts to obtain nukes, many nations are critical of the White House rejection of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia. Some world leaders also maintain that President Bush's efforts to modernize America's nuclear warheads and budgeting of funds to design new battlefield nuclear weapons undermines the Non-Proliferation Treaty and could trigger a new global nuclear arms race.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers Committee on Nuclear Policy, who examines the viable options for containing or reversing Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions.

Contact the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy by calling (212) 818-1861 or visit their website at www.LCNP.org

Related links:

Dr. Caldicott's Nuclear Policy Research Institute - www.nuclearpolicy.org

Physicians for Social Responsibility - www.psr.org

Reaching Critical Will - www.reachingcriticalwill.org

Abolition Now! - www.abolitionnow.org

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