:: Event Horizon ::

:: Monday, May 06, 2002 ::

Nuclear Exchange?
Secretary of State Colin Powell has been dealing with the South Asian crisis and recently made a surprising statement about the use of nuclear weapons: "Now, I think both sides recognize that the most horrific thing that could happen in the year 2002 is, for the second time in history, a nuclear exchange to take place," he told BBC World Service radio in an interview. I can't help but wonder what the first time was? The 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were indeed horrific, but they did not represent a nuclear exchange between two nuclear powers, as the secretary surely knows. We may excuse his comment, perhaps he was tired, perhaps his quote was taken out of context, but it does nothing to help the public better understand the horror of nuclear war, an understanding that is all the more important as the memory of the 1945 atomic bombings have faded into history. The leaders of India and Pakistan, to say nothing of their civilian populations, demonstrate little awareness of the true horror and catastrophic consequences of nuclear war. Let us hope that they can be reminded before actually experiencing it firsthand.

:: Joel 10:42 PM [+] ::
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