The threat of a nuclear holocaust is growing, and the US government is playing a primary role in promoting that threat. If you don't believe me, consider the following...

- Israel is preparing major strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in March 2006. If the US participates in the attack, the implications would likely be catastrophic. China, India, and most of Europe (in other words, most of the other nuclear powers in the world) would not take the threat to their Iranian oil access sitting down. Neither would Iran, which may very well stage retaliatory attacks if its nuclear infrastructure is bombed. In the worst case scenario, the cascade of events will throw Saudi Arabia (which is already on the verge of major political instability) into a state of chaos, which would in turn threaten the US' biggest energy supply line, thereby only escelating international tensions even further.

- Both Robert McNamara, defense secretary during the Kennedy administration, and Clinton Defense Secretary William Perry have estimated that "there is a greater than 50 percent probability of a nuclear strike on US targets [by a terrorist group] within a decade." A major part of the problem is the US government's veto of the proposed Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty (FISSBAN) in the United Nations. The core issue of nuclear terror and even possible terminal war is control over fissile materials. The vote tally on the treaty was 147-1, with, the US registering the lone dissenting vote.

I'm not being "alarmist" by emphasizing these stories; if anything is cause for alarm, it's the growing threat to survival of most life on earth. In fact, there are many more examples of the growing nuclear danger I could list here.

One last instance of nuclear insanity:

- The planned launch of the New Horizons mission to Pluto is January 11. New Horizons is slated to carry 24 pounds of highly toxic plutonium (pu-238 & pu-239), despite a 1 in 300 chance of an accident resulting in release of the plutonium, according to an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released by NASA. Such an accident would cause thousands of deaths, massive enviromental contamination throughout Florida, and, due to the highly mobile nature of plutonium, massive contamination around the world as well. In short, the death toll of this sort of accident would be incalculable. Roughly 1,000 Floridans recently protested the launch, which you can, too: Check out www.space4peace.org for more info.

The good news is, our actions make a major difference, contrary to the top-down view of political events fashioned by politicians, the news media, etc. As always, UC students' strong connection to the US nuclear weapons complex puts them in a unique position to take action and impact the public discourse on pressing issues related to nuclear weapons. As residents of the US, we are also in a powerful position to curtail our government's reckless nuclear policies.

Related Stories:

Israel Readies Forces for Strike on Nuclear Iran December 11, 2005 London Times

Plutonium Launch Accident Could Have Global Implications by Karl Grossman Global Network Against Weapons &
Nuclear Power in Space

The FISSBAN: Time for Renewed Commitment Or a New Approach?
http://www.acronym.org.uk/dd/dd79/79jp.htm

As always, check out Nuclear Files for extensive background information.