Live Chat: Robert Scheer on Nuclear Weapons

Posted on Apr 8, 2010

If you missed Robert Scheer discussing his column, nuclear weapons and President Obama with readers or you just want to relive the excitement, you can read a full transcript right here. This chat was held the afternoon of April 8th, 2010.

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3:00 Truthdig
Welcome to our live chat, let's get started

3:01 Robert Scheer
Hello.

3:03 Robert Scheer
We seem to be having some technical difficulties, one sec...

3:05 Question From Douglas
Many advocates of nuclear energy, now even on the left, disclaim any connection with nuclear weaponry proliferation. What do you think, and is a consensus developing or disintegrating on this issue?

3:05 Robert Scheer
I'm torn on that issue

3:05 Robert Scheer
I happened to be able to visit and report on chernobyl (spelling?) one year after the disaster.

3:06 Robert Scheer
and witnessed the incredible confusion, even at that late date, as to how to handle the crisis -- what had caused it. So I don't want to underestimate any of the dangers.

3:07 Robert Scheer
However there is a fundamental difference between the attempt to develop peaceful usages of atomic power and the deliberate development of nuclear warfighting capabilities.

3:07 Question From Monsiuer Bronx
Tell me, Mr. Scheer, why we need so many nuclear bombs? How about we just have the ones on the nuclear sub fleet and drop all the rest?

3:07 Robert Scheer
Yes!

3:07 Robert Scheer
Obviously a correct suggestion, but the point is how to we get not only there but to the ultimate abolition of these horrid implements.

3:08 Question From Douglas
Wait!! Drop all the rest?!

3:08 Robert Scheer
The problem is a political one

3:08 Robert Scheer
we have been ignoring this issue for half a century basically

3:08 Robert Scheer
and even the minor agreements that have been developed during the cold war have collapsed

3:09 Robert Scheer
we still don't have a test ban treaty agreement

3:09 Robert Scheer
we needed a new START agreement

3:09 Robert Scheer
and Obama has accomplished something very important, which is putting the nuclear weapons issue back on the front burner.

3:09 Robert Scheer
What he has negotiated with the Russians is a modest step in that both sides are still left with many more weapons than are needed to destroy all life on the planet.

3:10 Robert Scheer
but we're moving in the right direction.

3:10 Robert Scheer
The real issue now is whether the senate will affirm this and that is highly questionable. So instead of arguing about better proposals we should be working to get this one approved.

3:10 Question From Billy B.
Is there a stated goal of the Obama admin re nuclear drawdown...is he fulfilling a campaign promise with this treaty?

3:11 Robert Scheer
Yes. as well as the promise he made in his Prague speech last April.

3:11 Robert Scheer
A 1/3 cut in the strategic arsenal of both Russia and the US is a major step forward. As well as moves to cut the delivery systems. And end MIRVing of weapons

3:12 Question From Billy B.
Are you at all surprised by the right's attempt to villify even this???

3:12 Robert Scheer
I'm not surprised. Given what has happened in the last year. But I am appalled. I mean how in the world can one justify being opposed to getting the russians to have fewer nuclear weapons and yet call yourself a conservative.

3:13 Truthdig
A question from a reader submitted ahead of time has come in:
John, New York says:
Clearly reversing the development of nuclear weapons has been in progress for some years, but from an strategic defense point of view? What do you think the outcome of this policy is going to be in light of a nuclear threat, what is our leverage power and how can we even guarantee a strong retaliation let alone a successful one?
 
3:15 Robert Scheer
As the president pointed out, our retaliatory power now is designed to combat an enemy that no longer exists, namely the Soviet Union. We have to recognize that nuclear weapons are lousy weapons that cannot differentiate between a military target and the surrounding population. That is what happened, even with a very small weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

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