Pope Forgets Nuclear Weapons

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I consider the failure of the Pope to address the subject of war in his speech to the United Nations a very unfortunate omission (see “The Message Behind the Pope’s Visit,” Evan Mantyk, April 24-30). And I would suggest you publish a follow-up article telling your readers of the true state of affairs with respect to the threat from nuclear weapons.

There are still around 27,000 nuclear warheads in existence. These are enough to incinerate the entire population of the planet five times over. Around 5000 of these weapons are on hair-trigger alert. This means that they can be launched within 15 minutes of the command being given (the President or Prime minister will have 10 to 15 minutes to make a decision on launch after the Chiefs of Staff have given the opinion that we are under attack. The Chiefs of Staff will have 10 to 15 minutes to decide if we are really under attack after receipt of electronic information that we are).

The existence of nuclear weapons constitutes a continuous and totally unnecessary threat to the population of our planet making both true peace and peace of mind impossible.

The people of the world do not want these weapons. Of the 192 states of the United Nations only 9 have developed nuclear weapons. The remaining 183 states are put at risk by the 9 who have them.Of the nine states that have developed these weapons, in no case has the populations of those states been asked if they want them.

Jim McCluskey
Twickenham, Middlesex, United Kingdom

Last Updated
Jul 13, 2008