Disarming Without Force

17 March 2003

US Senate OKs Nuclear Diarmament Treaty

With all eyes focused on the laughably few Weapons of Mass Destruction (surely a heavy metal band and not a buzzword), thousands of nuclear weapons were consigned to the scrap heap by the ratification of the Moscow Treaty by the US Senate. There was not threat of force behind this, which goes to show that the weapons aren't the problem -- the will to use them is.

As difficult as it its to believe, just 15 years ago, the US and USSR (as Russia and its colonies were known) were still prepared to incinerate the human race over the best way to manufacture things. Both sides had thousands of megatons of uranium, plutonium and hydrogen weapons just minutes shy of delivery. An entire generation grew up in the shadow of the mushroom cloud.

The Moscow Treaty requires both sides to get rid of around 66% of their weapons. The remainder is, certainly, still sufficient to end life as we know it, but the ease with which the Senate approved the deal speaks volumes. It is no longer in the interest of the Russians nor of the Americans to possess more nukes than they can track. Therefore, niether side needs or wants to cheat. Having lost the will to use the weapons, the devices are as dead as it they were dismantled physically.

The lessons for Iraq and Al-Qaeda are clear -- whether they possess weapons of mass destruction is not the issue. If they do, more will die, but it is largely a matter of degree. Somehow, they must be disarmed from the soul. Without the will to murder, they cease to be problems. Until policy address their desire to cause harm, the threat will be ever present.