A-Infos (en) Holes in Coverage of India's Nuclear Tests (fwd)

[MichaelP <papadop@PEAK.ORG>]

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NUCLEAR TESTING STORY HAS SOME BIG HOLES
 
By Norman Solomon
 
 
     The Bomb -- nearly forgotten by many of us -- has returned
to the world's center stage in a hurry. When India set off
several nuclear explosions and President Clinton quickly
responded with economic sanctions, the news coverage was jolting.
 
     Condemnation of India's nuclear tests is certainly
justified. But the story we're getting is quite partial. The plot
narrated by the White House and echoed by the American media --
presenting the U.S. government as a principled foe of nuclear
escalation -- is akin to a fairy tale.
 
     This country's journalists don't have to visit India in
order to find alarming evidence of a nuclear arms race. They
could venture much closer to home.
 
     Forty miles from San Francisco, scientists at the Lawrence
Livermore Laboratory are still designing thermonuclear bombs.
Under a benign-sounding Stockpile Stewardship and Management
program, the Department of Energy carries on with the business of
devising new and "improved" nuclear warheads.
 
     In fact, the U.S. government is spending $4 billion a year
to develop nuclear weapons. The effort includes sophisticated
computer simulation that enables the United States to upgrade the
deadly capabilities of its nuclear arsenal without resorting to
test detonations.
 
     Now, more than ever, the Clinton administration is a fount
of piety as the president and his top aides scold the
transgressors in New Delhi. While lecturing India to show
restraint, the U.S. officials continue to lead the world in
building a nuclear bridge to the 21st century. 
 
     The news media hardly seemed to notice as the United States
completed the testing and deployment of B61-11 earth-penetrating
nuclear warheads last year. And when conflicts with Baghdad
intensified over the winter, we heard little about Washington's
not-so-veiled threat to use such weaponry against Iraq.
 
     A few months ago, Clinton oversaw a major overhaul of
nuclear weapons policies and issued a presidential directive
allowing the Pentagon to plan for the use of U.S. atomic weapons
against non-nuclear states. (Clinton's order violated the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty -- the same pact, ironically, that the
president cited in reverential tones May 13 when he announced
sanctions against India.)
 
     In February, with a U.S.-Iraq confrontation heating up,
Boris Yeltsin warned that "Clinton's actions could lead to a
world war." American news media attributed the Russian
president's comment to irrational inebriation. The Los Angeles
Times, for instance, called the remark "somewhat daffy." But
Yeltsin was apparently referring to the fact that Clinton had
authorized the U.S. military to target Iraq with nuclear arms.
 
     Jay Truman knows quite a bit about nuclear tests. Growing up
in Southern Utah during the 1950s, he watched mushroom clouds
rise from the Nevada Test Site about 110 miles to the west. While
in high school, Truman was diagnosed with lymphoma. Unlike many
of his classmates, he survived.
 
     Now, Truman is director of a regional organization known as
Downwinders. "There is no excuse or justification for any nuclear
weapons testing by any nation," he told me. "But before everyone
starts pointing their fingers at India as the world's only
nuclear villain, it's important to look at the ongoing weapons
development programs of the United States and the other members
of the `perm five' -- the established nuclear weapons countries -
- and clean up our own houses first."
 
     Truman emphasizes that "the nuclear arms race will not be
over until all nuclear weapons testing and development have been
stopped by everybody -- not just India." For years, he points
out, "India has been warning that it was unfair and
discriminatory for certain nations to maintain nuclear arsenals
and to be able to threaten other nations with them."
 
     "If we really want a world free from the horrors of
potential nuclear annihilation and free from the economic burdens
of an ongoing arms race," Jay Truman says, "the world should
choose to get that message and understand it and act on it this
time. Because if we don't, we may not get another chance."
 
_______________________________________________
 
Norman Solomon is a syndicated columnist. His most recent books
are "Wizards of Media Oz" (co-authored with Jeff Cohen) and "The
Trouble With Dilbert: How Corporate Culture Gets the Last Laugh."




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