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Thomas Merton Center

Thomas Merton Center Opposes US Plan On Use Of Nuclear Arms

Though classified, the Pentagon’s 2002 Nuclear Posture Review has been leaked to the media and its shocking details are now known throughout the world.  The Review lists seven nations against which our country should be prepared to use nuclear weapons in three possible circumstances: against a target country which could withstand non-nuclear attack; in retaliation for attack with nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons; or, enigmatically, “in the event of surprising military developments”.

The Nuclear Posture Review carves out new ground in the escalating militarism of the Bush Administration. For the first time in our history, we citizens are informed of an official list of target nations - China, Russia, Iraq, North Korea, Syria, Iran and Libya.  Also for the first time, the US is officially moving away from deterrence as the justification for nuclear weapons, and clearly indicating a willingness to use multi-kiloton weapons despite the inevitable devastating consequences on friendly populations and planetary health.

The Thomas Merton Center condemns this latest statement of the Bush Administration, and fears the continuing promotion of an agenda that will create more instability, endanger more lives, and make Americans and all humanity less secure than ever.  This reflects a permanent Cold War mentality that justifies the use of nuclear weapons against undefined terrorist threats in a war with no end in sight.  The choice is clearer than ever: either nuclear abolition or unchecked nuclear proliferation.  The Bush administration is leading us to a new arms race.

• The Bush policy abandons a key premise in the stabilizing effect of deterrence by permitting the use of nuclear weapons against a non-nuclear nation.
• The Bush policy destabilizes the world by encouraging other countries, threatened by the US stance, to build their own nuclear arsenals.
• The Bush policy encourages the use of global financial resources for an arms race instead of addressing the endemic social, health, and environmental crises which push peoples throughout the globe to desperation and violence.
• Implementation of the Bush policy would violate treaty obligations, including the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Merton Center advocates the resolution of conflict through established diplomatic means in adherence with international law.  US vast military dominance may bring some of us a sense of security, but it also keeps us from the path of peace by allowing our actions to go unchecked.  We must learn to appreciate the wisdom of diplomatic resolution: it saves lives and money and helps to stop endless cycles of hatred and violence.

The Merton Center supports cuts in the defense budget, and reallocation of our citizen dollars to improving our healthcare, education, public transportation, and preservation of the environment.

--Statement of Thomas Merton Center issued 3-12-02

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"I am against war, against violence, against violent revolution, for peaceful settlement of differences, for nonviolent but nevertheless radical changes. Change is needed, and violence will not really change anything: at most it will only transfer power from one set of bull-beaded authorities to another."  Thomas Merton
© Thomas Merton Center 2002