If there is anything to be learned from the possession of nuclear weapons is that when you have it, you can use it. The United States used it in Ngasaki and Hiroshima. Each country in the world has route causes that may trigger a decision to use nuclear arms. The idea that non proliferation is a basic start, may be a gooid idea. All of the countries that presently have weapons of mass destruction must be part of a world non prliferation treaty; not just6 the ones that signed the treaty when the Soviet Union was still in power. Beyond non-proliferation, The western world powers must lead the way to disarmament. There should be a set goal for total elimination of nuclear weapons if humanity is going to be a surviving species. The problems that arise are largely due to the fact that it is not in the perceived national materialistic interests of the Super powers to stop developing and selling their hardware. If the present trend continues there will be a time when most of the large countries will have nuclear power. By and large we can expect non proliferation at some point. But just as the united States has not signed the Kyoto treaty for limiting pollution, The United States and the other powers will not permit themselves to be on the same footing as everyone else. It is not in their perceived national materialistic interest.

There seems to be a misconception shared by many people who've commented here: "The Jews" is not a synonym for Israel. "The Jews" refers to Jewish people all over the world, many of whom don't agree with all of Israel's policies. What kind of reaction would you see from the Islamic community if people everywhere started referring to all terrorists as "Arabs"? Both cases suggest racist overtones.

when you talk about the US, UK, and Israel having nukes, don't forget Russia and China

Of course there is hypocrisy with what the U.S. says and does. We account for just under half of all money worldwide spend on armaments, and continue to develop new weapons, while we talk about other countries dis-arming. And yes we are the only country to have use 'atomic' weapons on another country. Unfortunately, there's still many Americans who- like the worse president in history cannot accept these realities, and want to wear their rose colored glasses affixed to their heads.

Killing and mayhaming Palestinian for 60 years and claiming to be peacfull? Sitting on 200 Nucler bomb and thretening all Middle East countries. Isreal is full of hatemonger. Middle East Muslims must have deterent otherwise Isreal will make Mushroom cloud on their countries and then celebrates

Some of these replies make me sick.Some are saying we should dissarm first because we used the a-bomb in WW2..People either forgot or just dont know history.Im from the very town in TN that help create that bomb and my dad was a chemist on it.That bomb was dropped to spare lives on both the US and Jap armies and people.If we would have invaded Japan,they were est. 1 million dead from a land invasion.Barely 1/4 that number died.Its sad that any had to die.I wish we lived in a world of peace with no need for these weapons.But we dont and they are here.You cant say the US should dissarm first ,then try to get others to do so.Say we do and china doesnt and wont.What do we do?Nothing,we wouldnt be able to.Nor would we have a deterent.The guy running Iran is insain.Everyone hates the US but as soon as there is a major dissaster in another country ,who is the first there to help or is even asked to help.We do.Im not saying everything this country does is good,its not.But we do seem to be the ones to jump in and help when somethings gone wrong.Peace

Since we all have a right to our own opinion in this forum, you voiced yours and now I will voice my rebuttal. Nuclear weapons have been a deterent and had served as a deterent during the span of the Cold War. The fear of the devastation that can be inflicted, more often than not, served as a wake-up call when either side contemplated aggression against the other. That is sad and I wish that it wasn't the case that mankind has the capacity to do such acts to each other, but it is an unfortunate reality. It requires strength in its leadership to refrain from fomenting hostilities FROM ALL SIDES. Japan, Germany, Canada, and Australia all have what they feel as the umbrella projected by the U.S., so why should they feel the need to possess them? I think that you are mistaken that they are not on the "hit list" of terror groups. Yes, there have been terrorist acts in Germany and Canada. You can easily reference those online. Japan is an island nation composed predominately of "Japanese" and the logistics of attempting an attack within Japan would be much more difficult than other areas. Regardless, I am for disarmament. At the same time, the rhetoric you hear out of the Iranian President these days is more disturbing than ever. I do not know that Iran and North Korea are "suicidal" or not, but the aggressive words being spewed out lately make it difficult for a diplomatic resolution to the differences that we have. No country is perfect. No person is perfect, but if these countries truly want to coexist in peace, some initiative needs to come from ALL SIDES in the pursuit of peace. The Iranian President is trying to use tactics that make it difficult to negotiate. You might say that the U.S. side should go out of its way to work on a peaceful resolution, which I agree with. I also say that the Iranian leadership needs to take HONEST steps to remove any doubt of its true intentions. It sure doesn't help when you hear the tones of violence that come out of the Iranian President's mouth and hear some of the goals such as destroying Israel. By the way, noone has a shed of proof that Iran has disregard or violated NPT. Yes, the joke will be on us when the Iranian govt say, "Surprise!" as was the case with North Korea. I wish that you have peace and truly

Durring some of the Isreali wars with the arabs,US weapons and aircraft were embargoed.As it would have it,they used some WW2 german aircraft and jet aircraft built by germans that escaped germany after WW2.This was in there early wars.Isnt that ironic.

Dear Persian CAT, We all can tell how very naive you are and how very apparent it is that you do not know what freedom is. Your superiors are deciding your life and their propaganda has totally blinded reality. It doesn't take a rocket scientist, like yourself, to figure out what your country's intentions are. Living by hate and pushing fear to get your lies across won't last long. Iranians are a great people who want freedom and their own right to decide their own futures. Your country is going to soon rise up and tell you what to do with your lies and propaganda. I can see alot of similarities between the last regime and the current one.

Dear BT Clueless, Thank God for America and its freedoms that allow the clueless the ability to mutter nonsense. I can tell that you that this administration has done more for disarmament that the last Democrats put together. That doesn't account for all the money that President Clinton approved for special weapon research and buying. I rather serve a President that stands by his principles rather than one who changes them everytime he meets someone new in a skirt.

Mr/Mrs Alan, Please refer the correct books not the books which were wrongly updated

As an American of Georgian decent I can tell you that people here dont believe anymore that US went to Iraq for oil since we definately are not seeing any effects on the gas prices (on the contrary as oil is becoming more expensive, prices have almost trippled in the past couple of years). People here would prefer not to rely on any more oil imports. And we are moving towards that. Investments in US are actually doubling in generating Ethanol and developing other non-fossil fuels. I have watched scientific programs and read some very interesting articles on the potential of developing clean fuel technologies. Also, I would like to note that I am too an avid reader of news reports, but NOT from Fox news. Regards.

There was no moral justification for nuking Japanese populations centers. Period. A case might have been made for using nuclear weapons in WWII on military targets, but not whole cities. I do believe Truman grappled with the moral dilemma, but I also believe the decision was made principally for our own benefit and the purpose of expedience. We certainly didn’t fully explore other options. Moreover, estimates for lives saved should not be regarded as absolute, as the fortunes of war with all its variables can never be accurately ascertained. There is no question that the decision was popular here at the time, and retains much of that popularity, but lynch mobs can be popular, too. That doesn’t make it right. In war, it is not only against the Geneva Conventions, it is just plain immoral to put soldiers lives ahead of civilians. Long before the Geneva Conventions, in the 4th century AD, the Catholic Church reached the same conclusion with its Just War Doctrine. It isn’t necessary to be religious to truly appreciate such values, they are self-evident. Aside from moral or legal considerations, there is the practical one. Keeping such principles sacrosanct helps insure they remain so, that what is once eschewed or corrupted not be used as justification later. A true patriot acknowledges and attempts to remedy their country’s wrongs. Russia tries to justify Chechnya, Israel tries to justify ethnic cleansing, the U.S. tries to justify Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They must be recognized for what they are—horrific crimes against humanity. One day in the not too distant future it will be universally accepted that our use of nuclear weapons in WWII was no different in essence than the terrorism we now roundly condemn (when it isn’t too inconvenient for us). When that happens, we will have finally made amends for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As an American, I am intimately familiar with my country's noble deeds. But the U.S. is far from sainthood. For each noble deed our country has done, it is possible to point out several ignoble ones. That isn't counting where we could have acted but failed to do so. We don’t always ‘jump in’ whenever needed—we didn’t enter WWI or WWII until later. Few of our noble deeds are done just for altruistic reasons, either. Despite being the world’s wealthiest nation, the proportion of GNP given to poor nations is less than that of a number of other developed countries. One-fifth of U.S. foreign aid goes to one economically viable developed nation—Israel. That is about what is given to the entire continent of Africa. From a narrow-minded perspective, one might call Iran's leader insane. While some of the rhetoric is over the top and their government repressive, I find the current leader oftentimes makes more sense than much of what comes out of Washington these days. I think the problem isn’t so much that people are incapable, but that they are unwilling to walk that mile in another's shoes, to really examine things from another viewpoint. Mostly that can be attributed to hubris or intellectual slothfulness. Either way, it is an impediment to true understanding and a source of misconception. If you expanded your horizons a bit, you would quickly discover that 'everyone' doesn't hate the U.S. In fact, most people around the world hold the U.S. in higher regard than is probably justly deserved. What hostility exists isn't so much directed at U.S. citizens as it is at misguided, selfish, and arrogant U.S. policies. Tom, I don't know that mankind has ever been at peace, but it was far better off without WMD. You want to talk about insane; that describes MAD perfectly. Even Ronald Reagan understood this. A more appropriate subject heading might have been 'Nukes R 4 Dummies'.

Isn't that like the pot calling the kettle black? Citizens of a nation that isn't signatory to the non-proliferation treaty and that secretly develops an extensive nuclear weapons program forfeit any right to criticize or point fingers at another nation. Refusing to acknowledge your extensive nuclear arsenal doesn't change the reality. Remove the plank from thine own eye. Meantime, quit making a fool of yourself.

I am from the same town that helped stop the war, Tom said it first, When trouble brews across the world they pick up the phone and dial U.S.A ( 911 ) and we respond with our great millitary to defend them from there enemy, So wqe put our men and women's live's on the line for every one else. But what would happen if a country got attacked and they called for our help and we didnt respond. All this hate towards america makes me sick, God blessed the U.S.A for a reason, we are the world police, we risk our lives to save others, If there was no America the world would be in chaos. So to all you whiney people who dont like America or what we stand for, tell your country leaders not to call us when your country gets invaded and see where you are when its all said and done. I support our troop's and i support my great country The United States of America, and if and when my country needs me i will be there to defend the freedoms that so many soilders died for and to all my family members that fought in those's wars, I will glady take my place like they did before me and fight the evil that trys to destroy freedom. Go Vol's and Go U.S.A all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!

Americans are not Zionist, We are human just like you, So stop with the racist comments. You or The people of the world are no better than us, we are all the same in God's eyes.

It is a fact of life that leaders of countries get there by being power hungry and usually not caring much for truth. The sad fact is that people believe them, whether east or west and then spout their indoctrinated opinions on forums like this. Check your own governments, find out what is going on. the people in power are in power because they want to be. There are no statemen today, willing to sacrifice themselves for the good of their people. In one way or another they are all dictators. So, what is an ordinary citizen to do? Most of them just want to live ordinary lives and raise their children.

We the people of America choose who we want to be in power, not vice verse.

An US politician said sometimes ago that if Iran was friend of us, we won't care about its nuclear ambition. So, you have to be friend with the US to pursue development. All other countries should stay in the dark. and you never know when the US will end its friendship (see Iraq).

If there is a country that like to invade others, I think it is the US, especially if it has drops of oil. Bush saids that , Americans are addicted to oil. So, go get it!

He is already burning in hell for his crimes against Palestinians.

Newsflash for you and Tom--coming from one of the towns (there were more than one) in the U.S. where efforts to develop and build nuclear weapons doesn't give later inhabitants any special cachet or their opinions any heavier weight. Neither does the excessive jingoism. If anything, judging from both #66 and #75, your place of residence indicates a kind of simple-mindedness that results in a critical lack of objectivity. Not to insult your town or state, I'm sure there are plenty of citizens there more enlightened than you two. Every town in America can lay some claim to helping stop WWII. Strutting around like some proud peacock doesn't prove anything, it just makes you look silly. You apparently didn't read #73, the response to #66, as your rant doesn't present any cogent or effective counter-argument, it just repeats more exaggerated claims of saintly U.S. omnipotence. At least Tom conceded up front we are sometimes in the wrong and didn't try to demonize everyone who might disagree with the U.S. If one is truly righteous, charitable, and wise, one does not expect or need any acknowledgement or acts of gratitude for one's good deeds. Nor would one object to criticism, but, rather, welcome it. The USA you envision is not the one I take pride in or would hope for, nor would it deserve to be called 'great'. One can support the troops and our country by objecting to government policy. In fact, true patriots know this is our solemn duty, and that it is important principles such as those that help to make our country great and worth dying for. As the great American, Carl Schurz, once said: "'Tis not my country, right or wrong, 'tis my country, that which is right to be kept right, that which is wrong to be set right."

I dont know why the USA and Israel dont just declare to the world that Palestine is finished as a viable entity in their eyes because Israel is stealing water from Palestine the the Golan Heights and the Joorden River and must continue if they as a country are to survive. I personally think what Israel is being allowed to do is by the protection of the US veto in the security council iswrong and there will never be peace in that area in the next 200 plus years. By that time the US will not be the worlds leading economic power and be unable to support Israel and the overwhelming majority of Muslim people in the middle East will decide Israels fate. THEY WILL REMEMBER HOW YOU TREATED THEM

Muslims will not allow the jewish people to be slaughtered. they are held in high esteem among muslims and always enjoyed the relatively best treatment when muslims were in power over them. i am a muslim and some of my best friends are jewish and i think they are great people. we need to stop those who try to incite hatred and work towards peace and mutual advancement

I suspect that the American natives had/have a different slant on that noble struggle of ours.

If you open your eyes and ears long enough to view all of the murders, wars and terrorists attacks worldwide, you will find the almost all are carried out by Muslims. Peace loving? I don't think so. As long as Muslims are allowed to attacka and kill Jews, Chrisitians, Hindus, Buddhists, etc... There will be no world peace. Eliminate the Muslims = World Peace. We should nuke Mecca ath the height of Ramadan and put a dent in the Terrorist population.

You are so right, a lot of towns in america helped win the war, I didnt say i agreed with our goverment, I am standing up for america, It was americans that built the bomb, not the goverment, It was americans that droped the bomb, not the goverment. So i stand up for america the great, because we are a great nation, Our goverment does things to benifit it not us. So as our men and women who put there lives on the line every day for your and my freedom and every other american's freedom, they went because they were ordered to, but they fight for us and not our goverment. If i want to rant and rave as you say, its my right as an american, it was given to me by those who gave there lives before me in wars in the past and present.