erichwwk—It’s been contended that the frightfulness of the hydrogen bomb forestalled a major war between the United States and the Soviet Union—“World War 3”.  While I favor the abolition of nuclear weapons, I find that proposition fairly reasonable and it would have to bee contended with in a debate on the issue.  Evidently a war in which even the Great Leaders may be killed is likely to seem undesirable to those Great Leaders, so until we get rid of Great Leaders and their leadership thermonuclear weapons are going to be ambiguous.

Folks might be interested in a quote by Wills [p.34]  from Kai Bird’s “American Prometheus” p. 420-1- NOT pp. 401-2 as footnote 29 alleges] re what Dr. Fermi and Dr. Rabi wrote in that [Oct, 1949] report on whether or not to produce a hydrogen bomb. That is the type we have today- the plutonium bomb dropped on Nagasaki is merely the detonator for the much more powerful two stage hydrogen bomb] :

Necessarily such a weapon goes far beyond any military objective and enters the range of very great natural catastrophes. By its very nature it cannot be confined to a military objective, but becomes a weapon which in practical effect is almost one of genocide.

The fact that no limits exist to the destructiveness of this weapon makes its very existence and the knowledge of its construction a danger to humanity as a whole. It is necessarily an evil thing considered in any light.

Kia Bird’s[“American Prometheus”, pp 420-2]

Is this prediction not borne out?

James—-I haven’t heard of any North Koreans flying
airplanes into buildings nor strapping a bomb to
themselves and killing themselves and others all in
the name of their God.

Firefly—-Before you advocate Iran obtaining a
nuclear weapon you better study the interpretation
of terrorists concerning the Koran.  Try reading “God’s
War On Terror” by Walid Shoebat, an ex-muslim
terrorist.

James,

You say “One of the interesting conditions of the modern world to my mind is that no nation that has nuclear weapons has been subjected to nuclear attack by another nation.”

Absolutely true. And therein lies the reason that Iran may want to acquire a nuclear weapon. Far from the promulgated mythology promoted by Israel (a nuclear powered country) and the US (a nuclear powered country a thousand times over), that Iran wants to attack another nuclear country, it is simply taking the logical steps to prevent nuclear country from attacking it (the most likely being the US).

ofersince72—-Your comment “I believe we are well
beyond a political fix” is absolutely correct.
What our world needs now is a change in the way
humans think and behave.  If it is going to come
it will come through the values taught by Christianity.  If politicians, bankers, and business
persons denied themselves, loved others especially
the poor, demonstrated kindness and used their
thoughts and behaviors to consider how they can help
all people then a change will come but not until
then.  If things continue down the ways humans are
presently following grave danger lurks before our
very survival as a species.

The Freedom Riders were far from sure they would succeed!  They did it anyway.  Why?  Because they felt it was their duty.  Inevitable.  As it turned out, “the system” was “ready for” it—though nobody really knew that.  “Ready” meant that aparteid in the South was no longer “tenable.”
  Well, it could be that war is no longer “tenable” and that “corporate dominion” has already over-reached itself.  Much about what is going on at the moment is as fragile as a house of cards. 
  Danger and opportunity are written with the same sign in Chinese—not that that deterines anything.  But ... people will act when the time comes.  The question is whether they will act nonviolently, which I most sincerely hope. That takes more than just “guts”.  It takes wisdom and endurance. Watch the Freedom Riders documentary Amy Goodman showed parts of recently. You’ll see.  I remember it.  It was glorious, honorable and very close to my definition of divine.

Gerard….  I am so thankfull for those that do

do that…...I got tired of it years ago….

Americans elected a president that promised CHANGE.
he insinuated in all his change speeches that nuclear
weapons would be down sized,  so Americans figured
they finally won that battle,  only to see him
fund more new nuclear warheads.

you see, I have seen that one too many times,
....I believe we are well beyond a political fix.

On another site I was ask for a solution to America’s
problems.  My following response is not only for
America’s problems but the world’s problems:

By christian96, February 2 at 4:48 am #

RenZo—-You want a solution.  I’ll give you THE
solution.  I give you and all peoples the word of
God from Deuteronomy 11:26:  “Behold, I set before
you this day a blessing and a curse: A blessing if
you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, and
a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of
the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way to
go after other gods, which you have not known.”
There is THE solution.  Put the Ten Commandments
back into public schools thereby educating the potential “Joe the Plummers” and so-called intellectuals of the world.  Teach them the blessings
which come from moral behavior and the curses that
come with rejecting moral behavior.  I think God
knew what he was doing when he gave commandments for
people to follow.  Try imagining what our world could
be like if people followed those commandments.  Can
you imagine politicians in Washington worshiping God
and keeping his commandments rather than worshiping
money and themselves?  What has happened to America
is exactly what Moses warned his nation about in
Deuteronomy 8:11-14,19,20: “Beware that you do not
forget the Lord your God, in not keeping his commandments, judgments, and statues.  LEST WHEN YOU
HAVE EATEN AND ARE FULL, AND HAVE BUILT FINE HOMES,
AND DWELL IN THEM; AND WHEN YOUR HERDS AND FLOCKS
MULTIPLY, AND YOUR GOLD AND SILVER, AND ALL THAT YOU
HAVE IS MULTIPLIED; THEN YOUR MIND IS LIFTED UP AND
YOU FORGET THE LORD YOUR GOD…..If you forget the
Lord your God , and walk after other gods, and serve
them, and worship them, I testify against you this
day that you shall surely perish. As the nations
which the Lord destroyed before your face, SO SHALL
YOU PERISH; because you would not be obedient to the
Lord your God.”  That’s THE solution.  Return unto
the Lord your God.  Follow his ways.  Follow the
teachings of Jesus.  Teach them to your children.
If you do so then peace, love, and prosperity will
return to our nation.  If not, prepare for destruction. For it shall surely come!

Report this

Those of you who are moaning and groaning about the Abomb and a future holocause, and say there’s no way to help get rid of it—have you tried?  Where have you sent your protests?  To what anti-nuke organizations have you contributed money or ideas or both?  What people have you asked to sign an anti-nuke petition?  How many anti-nuke letters to editors have you written? etc. etc.

It is tiresome to hear over and over that something “can’t be done,” or “won’t happen” when the very people who say it are those who don’t or won’t do anything themselves.. Yet the historical evidence is that it is only LARGE NUMBERS OF INDIVIDUAL CITIZENS that can have an effect on politicians over and above money. 

See:  Union of Concerned Scientists for one.

I can’t remember how Obama voted when they were
funding the retrofit for the old style nuks a few
years back,  I do remember it being much commented
about his waiting to see how Hilary voted….

I believe they both caved…

I am pessimistic about that help coming…
You can have protest of 10,000 strong, it won’t get
one second of coverage except from DN.  It is the
coverage of the protest that makes it effective.

Also Obama has brought it on himself,  you can’t
really tell when he just offering lip service,
be it to progressives one day, gays the next,
conservatives the next.

One of the most craven teachings of the Christian fundamentalists is that the A-bomb is “evidence” or “proof” that the end of the world is near, as God’s judgment.

If such a weapon or itss cousins are let loose in the world, it will not be the work of any God, real or imagined.  It will be human beings who either use it deliberately in a moment of insanity, or let it loose by accident.  Either case is all too likely because we haven’t yet got the ugly monstrosity under control. That is strictly our responsibility, yours and mine. 

To his credit, Obama wants to do something about this—but he is going to need a great deal of help!

It’s the weapon that commits the killing.  It’s also
the person using the weapon.  However, even more
important, it is the spirit behind the person using
the weapon that does the killing.  The Bible tells
us that Satan entered into Cain and he killed Abel.
The weapon that killed Jesus was the Cross.  The
people behind the cross were a few Jews and Romans
but the spirit behind the Jews and Romans was Satan.
Satan even had the ability to enter one of the
disciples, Peter.  When Satan was talking through
Peter Jesus replied, “Get behind me Satan.”  If we
can ever make humanity realize that our enemies are
not flesh and blood but evil spirits then we can
unite as a species and war against the spirits.  We
will not need nuclear weapons for that fight.  We
will need understanding and obedience.

christian96,

The God of the Old Testament (Jahweh) commands Abraham to sacrifice his child, Isaac, to prove love for him! If you are a parent, can you imagine how you’d feel if someone asked you to kill your only son just to prove that you love that man? He must be a very insecure and needy God to demand constant proof of humanities love thru sacrifice. (FYI, this story is also told in the Koran – Abraham’s name is Ibrahim - and is celebrated every year all over the Muslim world, by sacrificing a sheep or goat). In modern terms, this particular incident is equivalent to child abuse as any child would probably never feel safe again.

Add to this the killing of the Canaanites, which was ethnic cleansing in which bloodthirsty massacres were carried out by God’s instructions with xenophobic relish. Joshua’s destruction of Jericho is morally identical to Hitler’s invasion of Poland, or Saddam Hussein’s massacres of the Kurds.

We can also question the morality of certain Old Testament characters such as a drunk Lot, seduced by, and engaging in sexual relations with his daughters(!) (Gen. 19:31-6); Abraham lying twice about his wife Sarah (Gen. 12:18-19; 20:18-19); Jephthah’s foolish vow that resulted in sacrificing his daughter as a burnt offering (Judg. 11); and so on.

According to Christopher Hitchens, the Old Testament contains “a warrant for trafficking in humans, for ethnic cleansing, for slavery, for bride-price, and for indiscriminate massacre.”

In Sam Harris’s ‘Letter to a Christian Nation’, he boldly asserts that if the Bible is true, then we should be stoning people to death for heresy, adultery, homosexuality, for worshiping graven images, and “other imaginary crimes.” To put to death idolaters in our midst (Deut. 13:6, 8-15) reflects “God’s timeless wisdom.”

But the point most relevant to your arguement about the Koran is in ‘The End of Faith’, where Harris, referring to Deuteronomy 13:7-11, notes that “the consistent Bible-believer should stone his son or daughter if she comes home from a Krishna (Hindu God) yoga class.” Harris acknowledges that once we recognize that slaves are human beings who are equally capable of suffering and happiness, we’ll understand that it is “patently evil to own them and treat them like farm equipment”, as the Bible tells us to do.

It should be plainly evident to you, that the morality of human beings when ALL three scriptures were written (which, let’s face it, was a long, long time ago), is pretty dated by our ideas of morality in the 21st century. So whether the Koran does or doesn’t tell Muslims to kill non-Muslims, is no different from similar parts of the Old and New Testaments.

Anarcissie wrote:

Weapons don’t dehumanize humans.  It is humans who invent, manufacture and use weapons.  Making and using a weapon is a most human enterprise.  It is obviously part of human nature, and taking this weapon or that away will not change that nature.  Humans might be able to control or overcome their desires to kill one another, but to do that they will have to work on the source of their problem, not its expressions.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

Yes, from one perspective it is “People that kill, not guns or bullets.”

From another perspective, there is a feedback loop, and if people are silent and don’t or can’t speak up when inappropriate activities occur, the observance of this by others sets in motion a feedback loop, whereby it becomes more difficult to differentiate right from wrong.  One becomes numb to bad behavior, as bad behavior is reinforced. From this perspective, “It is guns and bullets, as well as people” that are responsible for killing, and more importantly, a special kind of killing. Killing by atomic weapons is not killing of those in any way responsible for war, but aimed at civilians in some sort of vengeance and anger. Nuclear weapons are incapable of selecting out those to be killed by any sort of objective criteria, but are aimed at civilians at large. While nuclear weapons kill many instantly, many die very slowly and painfully. Few Americans would suggest Auschwitz style death camps, the killing of civilians, as a deterrent to someone else committing such atrocities. How can one explain the acceptance by so many Americans of an even crueler form of genocide, as a deterrent? Is this not why Germans accepted the death camps of WWII?

The knowledge that Germany was not pursuing an atomic bomb was withheld from the American scientists until after the war. The ethical standards that evolved were NOT the result of free and open inquiry, but highly manipulated.  The Franck Report and other attempts to convey alternative viewpoints to the president were withheld. In fact the first Atomic Act of 1946 made that discussion of atomic weapons issues illegal, unless specific authorization was given that the data was declassified. This quickly stifled open debate and those claiming that nuclear weapons were humane carried the day under this atmosphere of suppression. Leo Szilard, whom I would call the inventor of the a-bomb (although Leo attributes it to HG Well’s 1914 book, “The World Set Free”) was forced to resort to writing fiction to discuss the issue, although he did manage to cleverly get one such story - “My Trial as a War Criminal” -published in the University of Chicago Law Review in 1949. 

But I doubt whether many Americans know any of this, although, in addition to Garry Wills, it is my understanding that Daniel Ellsberg is trying to set the record straight, and explain to the American people, the true history of what happened with the atomic bomb. Garry Wills, despite his technical errors on irrelevant issues, gets the big picture right.  In order to protect its nuclear weapon hegemony, the US has given up its democracy.

The military spending gives very little bang for
the buck in job creation.  However,  the they (who
ever they is)  were smart in how they set this up.
It is stretched out into every congressional district making it almost impossible to vote against
a spending bill and get elected.

What i would have liked to see the Dems start working on from 2006 when they took the majority
was to make it illegal once again to use social security for anything other than social security.
It would unmask the real grotesqueness of just
how much of the federal budget is spent on the military.
Social Security used to be set up this way until
Tip O’Neil and Reagon were able to pass into law
to make social security part of the annual federal
budget.  It opened up the surplus, masked the
military budget and made it possible for conservatives to rail about the ineffieciency of
government.  Before this happened,  social security
was a shining example of how well government is
able to manage a huge beaurocracy.

I am so sorry that I opened up this

can   of   worms   firefly !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Firefly—-The Koran teaches that Jesus was only a
prophet.  It does not recognize Jesus as the only
begotten Son of God.  It claims Allah has no son.
Allah and the God of Israel and Christianity are not
the same.  There is too much disparity in doctrine
taught between the two.  You seem to be aware of
doctrine from the Koran.  Please quote scripture
from the Koran that teaches love and peace.  I’ll
search for the scriptures where Jews and Christians
are referred to as infidels and Muslims are instructed to eliminate the infidels if they refuse
to covert to Islam.

Weapons don’t dehumanize humans.  It is humans who invent, manufacture and use weapons.  Making and using a weapon is a most human enterprise.  It is obviously part of human nature, and taking this weapon or that away will not change that nature.  Humans might be able to control or overcome their desires to kill one another, but to do that they will have to work on the source of their problem, not its expressions.

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

that was my only disagreement with you Christian.

erichwwk,

You have given a fantastic response. I agree with you 100%!

You said “The worst part of the bomb is that it produces cancer, not brain cancer, although in fact it does that. The more serious cancer is the cancer of the mind and soul, the cancer that eats away at love, reason and compassion, and dehumanizes us to the extent that we no longer recognize, as virtually ALL of the early nuclear scientists did, that an atomic bomb is essentially a vary cruel mass genocide device, and that it should not be used, EVEN in retaliation. We have created a culture where secrecy now infests election returns, judicial decisions, condones torture, denies the public the right to know who they are the final recipients of the $180 Billion AIG payments, etc, etc.”

I’d like to add that by selling arms (America’s biggest export) to other countries, we are also exporting to other cultures, this form of cancer you talk about. Our own culture has been poisoned with a glorification of war (why must we be in awe of soldiers who CHOOSE to kill other human beings as a career?), but we are also encouraging others to glorify war, soldiers and weapons, with dire consequences.

Bernstein writes:

“these howlers, while annoying, do not really affect the thesis of the book.” 

So then why does he devote so much time on these silly “howlers”?  Garry Wills, like myself is a social scientist (although i did start out to be a nuclear physicists). All this stuff about how critical mass is reached via uranium vs. plutonium matters not. What Bernstein wrote about Wills “Without these lousy oranges,” he said, “it would have been delicious.” applies equally to him- one can do without those lousy remarks relating to the physics in an article about the social implications of nuclear weapons..

In fact, it appears so could Bernstein, for he writes:

“My democratic instincts tell me that concentrating so much power in an individual is wrong, but on the other hand I am not sure that I can think of a better system. Wills is sure that it is wrong, but what is his better system?”

If Bernstein REALLY made more effort to understand Wills, rather than correct the physics, he might understand that the perceived benefits of secrecy really are illusionary.  Once information is produced, it is essentially costless to replicate.
` REAL security, as every religion has attempted to point out comes from “turning the other cheek”, “loving they enemy as thyself”, “fighting evil not with evil, but with good”, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, etc. etc.

An atomic bomb will never have the ability to select a psychopath from among a large population. In terms of ANY given population, one can never prevent a psychopath from killing any given person. What makes us safe, is treating people with respect, dignity, and fairness, recognizing that our well being depends on their well being. Most, but not all, will be safe. If one is honestly interested in prolonging life, decreasing the risk of a terrorist death is a pretty inefficient way of achieving that objective. We lost less than 3,000 on 9/1l yet lose 45,00 each and every year from denying the health care that every other developed country provides (Our government already spends $4,500/year on each of us, on average so total money is not the problem, total product produced as a result of that expenditure is). we lose 100,00/year through antiquated record keeping brought about by pretending one can make a public good private), and numbers more by subsidizing corn, feeding people sugar and ersatz food. last year alone, without pointing out the “cooked book” accounting our government uses, accepting their figures, we STILL spent $250 billion, a quarter trillion dollars on fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, in a country where adding together the value of EVERYTHING produced by EVERYONE living in BOTH countries, their COMBINED GDP is equal to only $23 Billion/year.

If we had not allowed secrecy to rot out minds, such utterly insane and ridiculous policies would never have been enacted.

The worst part of the bomb is that it produces cancer, not brain cancer, although in fact it does that. The more serious cancer is the cancer of the mind and soul, the cancer that eats away at love, reason, and compassion, and dehumanizes us to the extent that we no longer recognize, as virtually ALL of the early nuclear scientists did, that an atomic bomb is essentially a vary cruel mass genocide device, and that it should not be used, EVEN in retaliation. We have created a culture were secrecy now infests election returns, judicial decisions, condones torture, denies the public the right to know who they are the final recipients of the $180 Billion AIG payments, etc, etc.

We can no longer claim to be a society that values truth, hard work, fairness, and compassion. What secrecy has done is brought back our base animal instincts, that value, greed, domination, theft, and accumulation of wealth without having earned it.

The bomb culture has created a society that where folks lie and steal, rather than work, to make life better.

christian96,

There are many things that you say that are correct, but saying that the Koran “has always taught Muslims to kill all non-muslims in the name of Allah” is simply not true.  Much of Islamic law and history has been perverted by different cultures (as has Christianity which is now very different from original Christianity and the original biblical scriptures), and amongst more fundamentalist groups who do not understand the ancient Hijazi scriptures and have misinterpreted them. Like the Christian scriptures, most of the Koran preaches peace, turning the other cheek, loving your neighbour etc. Jesus himself features as one of Islam’s most prominent prophets and his teachings are all documented and respected in the Koran.

And like many so-called Christians (George Bush), there are so-called Muslims who prefer war and violence to the teachings of peace and love.

Incidentally, the prophet Mohammad who came after Jesus was familiar with the teachings of the Bible “ALLAH is HE besides Whom there is none worthy of worship, the Living, the Self-Subsisting and All-Sustaining. HE has sent down to thee the Book containing the truth and fulfilling that which precedes it; and HE has sent down the Torah (Law of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guidance to the people; and HE has sent down the Discrimination (judgement between right and wrong).”—Qur’an, Surah 3:3-4

He also says this about Jesus (who is actually known as Isah in the Koran): “Thereupon she pointed to him. They said, ‘How can we talk to one who is a child in the cradle?’ Jesus said, ‘I am a servant of ALLAH. HE has given me the Book, and has made me a Prophet; ‘And HE has made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and has enjoined upon me Prayer and almsgiving so long as I live; ‘And HE has made me dutiful towards my mother, and has not made me arrogant and graceless; ‘And peace was on me the day I was born, and peace will be on me the day I shall die, and the day I shall be raised up to life again.’ That was Jesus, son of Mary. This is a statement of the truth concerning which they entertain doubt.”—Qur’an, Surah 19:30-35

Jihad means “to strive or struggle” (in the way of God) and is considered the “Sixth Pillar of Islam” by a minority of Sunni Muslim authorities.  In its broadest sense, it is classically defined as “exerting one’s utmost power, efforts, endeavors, or ability in contending with an object of disapprobation.” Jihad also refers to one’s striving to attain religious and moral perfection.  Some Muslim authorities, distinguish between the “greater jihad”, which pertains to spiritual self-perfection, and the “lesser jihad”, defined as warfare.

Arabic words also may have a range of meanings depending on the context, which get lost in translation making an accurate translation more difficult.

sounds like a   60 MINUTES soundbite…

OH.!!  I saw it on SIXTY MINUTES .....its goooot

to be true…..

I was wrong…...  we sure don’t share

the same beliefs…

Who told that 72 virgin story ????

Ofersince72—-The Koran has always taught Muslims
to kill all non-muslims in the name of Allah.  The
people strapping the bombs on have been taught that
the are going to Heaven to receive 72 virgins if
they kill themselves for Allah.

Christian we have the same beliefs it appears

I just get a little un nerved   at the

idea that is always projected   about Muslims

killing   for   the   sake   of   ALLA.

Historicly it   is always Christians in their

land,  stealing their   resources it you want

to label this   about religion…..However,

to me this is little   about   religion.  If

you had   foreigners on your land   doing what

has been done   to them and their children

and their mothers and   fathers cousins aunts
and uncles

You just might be strapping dynamite to
yourself.

This has NEVER been about   religion, but
resources as   ALL   conflicts have been.
You are to intelligent to fall for the
religion scam.

ofersince72—-Please explain “it was the chicken
not the egg”, along with “all this because of the
MUSLIMS.”  Thank you.

I agree with gerard, everyone would be better without the
bomb and all its radioactive children that have a tendency to
hang around for a while:

Plutonium

Pu-238 - 87.74 years
Pu-239 - 24065 years
Pu-240 - 6537 years
Pu-241 - 14.4 years
Pu-242 - 3.76E5 years
Pu-243 - 4.956 hours
Pu-244 - 8.26E7 years

Uranium

U-232 - 72 years
U-233 - 1.59E5 years
U-234 - 2.445E5 years
U-235 - 7.03E8 years
U-236 - 2.34E7 years
U-237 - 6.75 days
U-238 - 4.47E9 years
U-240 - 14.1 hours

http://www.iem-inc.com/toolhalf.html

It would seem that, so far as preserving American business is concerned, American corporations will go to almost any lengths, sell anything to anybody. Now we are merchandising killing technologies and pushing unhealthy agriculture, exploiting and polluting our own country and others with fatally dangerous chemicals, refusing to clean up our messes and in general “laughing all the way to the bank”—even though the economy is “failing” and millions of kids have insufficient food,shelter and education. Though the hideous bomb has hung over the entire world like a shroud for decades, we are still blithely singing “America the Beautiful”.  The gauche irony of it all is very nearly overwhelming—yet who is doing what?

Well, a lot of people are devoting their lives to trying to keep the scene from exploding or imploding—but they could sure use more help!

Give me a break CHRISTIAN,,,

Are you trying to say,,,,,It was the chicken not
the egg???

All this because of the MUSLIMS….
I sure hope I interperted you wrong…

Jeremy—-I must commend your willingness to respond
to comments.  I haven’t seen that done before here.
Keep up the good work.

I agree that the foundations of American empire were laid down long before the advent of nuclear energy.  Progress toward ever more effective and therefore dangerous and terrifying weapons has been made in many fields, and each instance is an argument for the extension of imperial power and of a unified system of command and control (that is, the imperial presidency) to control it.  I’ll be rather surprised if it turns out that Wills’s argument is that all this began with the atomic bomb.

I just read on another site “there has to be a cut
back in military spending.”  What an insight.  Someone with below average intellectual functioning
could have come up with that.  I haven’t researched
it but it is highly probable that military spending
has been increasing for all industrialized countries
since the bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, as a
result of the Manhattan Project.  Sadly, America’s
number one export is military weapons.  It will
continue that way as long as someone is making
a buck selling them. I hate to sound so pessimistic
but the future is bleak.  We have now reached the
point where a group of Muslims believing they are
killing for Allah have access to extremely dangerous
military weapons.  Some were given to them by the
USA trying to protect our oil money.  They bought
others from Russia and other nations with their oil money.  We have reached the point when mass destruction is staring us in the face all in the name
of Allah. It wouldn’t suprise me if Israel out of
self preservation brings mass destruction on Iran which in turn will ignite more mass destruction in
retaliation from Arab nations. This could have been
prevented if American politicians had demonstrated
the Christian values they like to speak during their
campaigns.  Other nations would have viewed America
as a loving serving nation rather than a selish
money worshipping imperialistic state trying to rule
the world.  Our rulers and politicians have turned
their backs upon Christ and chosen to be their own
God.  The Bible says, “God in heaven just laughs at
the intellectuals on earth.”  Let’s see the so-called
intellectuals get us out of the destruction coming
upon the earth SOON.  Many scientists consider Albert
Einstein to have been the brightest human on the planet during the 20th century. Albert Einstein said
in a book entitled “Ideas and Opinions” that if we
would remove all the additions made to the teachings
of Jesus over the years we would have a foundation
for achieving world piece.  Did we do that?  Of
course not.  We are still crucifying him by our great
intellectuals.  I’m waiting to see these intellectuals prevent the mass holocaust coming upon
planet earth.  I can tell you in advance they will
not do it!

Interestingly off target review. I heard the author interviewed by Teri Gross on NPR and what I heard was fascinating and nothing like this review.  The premise is that the super high-security- super high control- extra-constitutional state operated by a single person, the President, essentially began with the Manhattan project and over the years through each administration has been expanded and accepted and expanded and accepted until we end up with an imperial presidency like the one Bush II inflicted on us.

I suppose political writing is a field where many feel
tempted to spuriously advance a paradigm-shattering
unifying idea, when in fact the story of the Bomb is a
play with familiar themes, and the usual mixed motives
and chaos.

I have tended to think of the imperial presidency as being a consequence of the rise of the U.S. as the major imperialist power.  An empire is easier to run if you do not bother asking for congressional approval for something such as a war.

I agree with “Anarcissie”.  This is a terrible review. Wills is a serious writer, one of our best, and I think his ideas merit a more considered airing than Bernstein has given us.

I wonder if Bernstein has even read the book!

A very strange ending indeed and absolutely no conclusion.

I thought the point of the article was to criticize some of the factual inaccuracies made by Wills, and also to get to the heart of the matter – Bomb Power!

Firstly, I DO NOT believe that a president should ever have sole discretion over the use of the Bomb, not in the US, not anywhere in the world. What an insane and dangerous proposition!

Secondly, the idea of nuclear proliferation needs to be addressed for its own sake. As far as I’m concerned, the issue has absolutely nothing to do with genuine ‘defense’ which is pure propaganda and politics, (accept in the case of Iran, which is surrounded by threatening and hostile nuclear powers that are funded and supported by the world’s biggest nuclear power, and may well need to defend itself one day), but everything to do with profit.

During periods of war, nearly always initiated by the west, corporations like Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and Halliburton, literally see their profits rocket into the billions and billions of dollars. Sales of weapons are huge business, and without the co-operation of the government (and consequently, the taxpayer) and the Pentagon, these companies would have to turn their attention to other forms of invention.  In fact, each year for the last ten years, profits of weapons manufacturing have increased each year. Each year, they do better than the previous year, and such sales and profits, look set to continue.

In his recent speech to the nation, Obama stressed that while the government will freeze spending on most domestic issues, it will not freeze spending on ‘defense’ and ‘homeland security’. You probably could have heard the cheers from the Pentagon and the Bomb manufacturers!!!!!

“This is a real concern and not some intellectual exercise which tries to connect all the ills of the abuse of presidential power to the Bomb. I found much of this argument irrelevant and distracting. I kept thinking of a lunch I attended years ago in the French mountain town of Chamonix. The guest of honor was a French climber noted for both his Alpine skills and his sardonic sense of humor. The ladies specially prepared a canard a l’Orange. The honored guest was asked for his opinion. ‘Without these lousy oranges,’ he said, ‘it would have been delicious.’”

The sudden transition from ending emphasis on the seriousness of the “real concern” of loose uranium in the world to “canard a l’Orange etc.” indicates what?  Pandering to “non-scientific” people?  Desire to “lighten up” rather than end by emphasizing an unsolved and dangerous problem?

At any rate, the switch at the end seems more or less weird—truly a “sardonic sense of humor”.
Without the A-bomb we would all be “better off”, that’s for sure.

TO:Gil Gaudia, January 29 at 10:33 am

HEY GIL GAUDIA:
You showed good intuition.
I went further & wasted my time.

Jeremy Bernstein on Garry Wills’ ‘Bomb Power’
se non è vero, è ben trovato
even if it is not true, it is well conceived

This is not much of a review.  The beginning wastes a couple of paragraphs on trivial errors, and a third of it was written by Eisenhower, or rather one of Eisenhower’s speechwriters, and is as noble in gesture and as empty of specific content as one of Obama’s.  It would be interesting to have a report of the content of the book and a critique of its actual substance, but of these we get only a few vague lines.  Perhaps it would have been wiser to choose someone who knows something about politics and history for a reviewer.

I believe history will prove President Eisenhower
to be one of our most moral presidents.  He probably
established the Atomic Energy Agency out of a sense
of guilt for what the bomb had done to Japan. However, I don’t think he received sound psychological advice.  Once the bomb was dropped
leaders of other nations feared and distrusted our
political leaders.  Leaders of mid-eastern nations
also saw a way to control their area if they could
obtain the bomb.  Giving uranium to other nations
hoping they would only use it for positive means was
a poor decision.  Once the bomb was dropped the
use of scientists to develop more sophisticated
weapons accelerated to the point that presently
existed.  Those who didn’t have the intellectual
capability to develop weapons used money to purchase
them.  Now we have reached the point where radical
muslims believing they are doing the will of Allah
have the weapons to bring mass destruction upon the
world.  The future looks bleak.