Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security: U.S. Weapons of Terror, the Global Proliferation Crisis, and Paths to Peace
John Burroughs, Jacqueline Cabasso, Felicity Hill, Andrew Lichterman, Jennifer Nordstrom, Michael Spies, and Peter Weiss
New York: Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy, 2007
275 pp., $15.00 (includes shipping), paper
ISBN 978-0-97924405-0-8

Criticism of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) supposedly in Iraq was a regular feature of presidential, congressional, and media rhetoric prior to the U.S. invasion in April 2003. However, since the end of the Cold War, the continuing threat of nuclear weapons has not been a staple of such U.S. rhetoric. More importantly, international efforts to bring about nuclear disarmament are generally seen around the world as failing.

The long-time disarmament activists that author Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security say that the book is part of a larger effort “to help turn United States foreign policy towards reliance on international cooperation, especially through multilateral treaty regimes, as a means of diminishing the risks posed by nuclear weapons to Americans and others around the world. Its premise is that the United States so far has squandered the historic opportunity presented by the end of the Cold War to drastically reduce its own and other countries’ reliance on nuclear weapons, to prevent their spread and acquisition by terrorists, and to work for their global elimination.”

The book also is a non-governmental response to the June 2006 report of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and its 60 recommendations. The Commission was an international effort led by Hans Blix, the former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and head of the international inspectors looking for WMD in Iraq, to promote alternative approaches to prohibiting the proliferation of WMD. Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security agrees with much of the WMD Commission report, but goes beyond some of its recommendations, especially criticizing missile defenses and nuclear power. The book also rejects the WMD Commission definition of WMD as nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. The authors argue that nuclear weapons “are true weapons of mass destruction” because a single nuclear bomb can kill hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people and damage generations to come.

The authors are concerned about terminology because they believe that lumping the three types of weapons together “increases the likelihood that nuclear weapons will be used. U.S. counterproliferation policy equates the threats posed by all three types of weapons and increases the number of potential scenarios under which nuclear weapons might be used, thus significantly lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons.”

The book is organized into four sections, each with articles by different writers. Part I is the International Framework that focuses on international treaties and laws, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the United Nations (UN) Security Council, and the Breakdown of disarmament machinery of the UN Disarmament Commission, Conference on Disarmament, and General Assembly First Committee. This section generally supports the WMD Commission recommendations and urges the U.S. to begin negotiations on the Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty, to “terminate research and development of space weapons, renounce them, and protect U.S. space assets through the negotiation of a treaty banning all weapons in space,” and to support convening a World Summit on disarmament, non-proliferation, and terrorist use of WMD.

Part II discusses the U.S. record of not complying with its international treaty obligations, including Article VI of the NPT that requires all nations to negotiate in good faith a cessation of the arms race and nuclear disarmament. The authors call reductions of nuclear weapons so far “essentially meaningless,” since the remaining U.S. arsenal could still devastate the world several times over. The WMD Commission stated that U.S. policy is “less interested in global approaches and treaty making than it was in the Cold War era.” Nuclear Disorder or Cooperative Security opines that two major reasons are that “U.S. policies have been strongly shaped by a triumphalist nationalism and variants of fundamentalist Christianity” and a policy, shaped by the nuclear weapons laboratories, to promote missile defense and U.S. military superiority over all other nations and expanded U.S. alliances. The authors recommend “a pluralist international system managed through norms and regimes and improve and utilize the United Nations and other tools for the prevention of war.”

Part III looks at Global Problems and Global Solutions including Climate Change, nuclear power, and Iran. The authors consider the expansion of nuclear power a serious threat because of the proliferation of nuclear materials and technology. They argue that the U.S. should phase out nuclear power, promote renewable energy and energy conservation, negotiate comprehensive agreements with Iran, and work internationally to stop production of reprocessing and enrichment facilities and put such facilities under international control.

Part IV looks at Civil Society and Change including language and gender issues. The authors state: “The association of weapons with masculinity, power, prestige, and technical prowess has a direct effect on policy decisions and negotiations….As long as the logic prevails that nuclear weapons possession brings power, prestige, and ultimate ability to destroy, policy makers and negotiators will attempt to retain or pursue these weapons, despite their illegality, military uselessness, and genocidal nature.” Instead, the authors recommend reframing security to put “a premium on universal human and ecological security, a return to multilateralism, and a commitment to cooperative, nonviolent means of conflict resolution.”

The book is heavily referenced so that it can serve as a basic reference for people concerned about nuclear weapons and U.S. policy. As the authors acknowledge, efforts to change the current dangerous, unsustainable policy requires “work within national political systems….public education and coalition-building efforts that go well beyond traditional notions of electoral politics and legislative lobbying.” It’s a daunting, but essential, effort.

– DON HANCOCK

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