Shame On U.S.

For all their hunting to uproot weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq and North Korea, the Bush administration has again proved
unwilling to scale back — and eventually eliminate — its nuclear
weapons program. And, not unlike its contentious decision to
declare war on Iraq, the US seems content to stand apart from the
crowd with regard to nuclear disarmament.

John Burroughs, representing the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear
Policy, a national nonprofit educational association, which uses
national and international law to promote peace and disarmament,
writes on the LCNP’s web site that ‘The United States consistently
voted against the most important resolutions on nuclear and space
disarmament’ at the UN General Assembly’s meeting on December
8.

Among the 52 resolutions voted upon by the UN was a measure that
would bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty into effect.
The CTBT calls for ‘the cessation of nuclear-weapon test explosions
or any other nuclear explosions.’ Despite the importance and
urgency of signing and ratifying the treaty, as stressed by the
Assembly, the United States voted against it; the only country —
of 178 — to do so.

The US was also one of six countries to vote against the
resolution calling for compliance with the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty program of 2000, which ‘obligates the five
acknowledged nuclear-weapon states (the United States, Russian
Federation, United Kingdom, France, and China) not to transfer
nuclear weapons, other nuclear explosive devices, or their
technology to any non-nuclear-weapon state.’ The other nay-sayers
were France, India, Israel, Pakistan and the UK.

Another resolution, to which the US also said no ‘underlines the
Court’s [International Court of Justice] unanimous conclusion that
there is an obligation to pursue in good faith … negotiations on
nuclear disarmament in all its aspects’

The last important resolution Burroughs cites is one that would
prevent an arms race in outer space. The US was one of four
countries to abstain from voting.
— Eric Larson

Go there>>
Shameful US
Record in 2003 Disarmament Votes at the United Nations

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