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Man has at last brought forth a weapon that reduces war to an absurdity. Man has discovered
a means of destroying whole nations out of the minerals of the earth."
time will tell - perhaps less time
th a n we think!
Amitai on ly put into words the
true feelings and intentions of many
nations. Probably others will not be
as hone t and forward about admit–
ting it. But. in truth, this world is
much closer to World War 111 , to be
fought with nuclear arms. than most
people reaüze.
Has there ever been a weapon from
time immemorial that has not been
used? You name it: knife, spear. Gat–
ling gun. machine gun, torpedo,
atomic bomb - all have been used!
Have the scientists and the military
geniuses - with a Uthei r ingenuity in
sea rching for ever greater and more
effective methods of dispensing with
human flesh -ever failed to even–
tually use the weapons and systems
they've designed?
In the next few years. when· 40
nations have the bomb. the likeli–
hood of nuclear war will be that
mueh grea ter!
What Will Man Do?
Editor Lawrence asked toward the
conclusion of his remarkable edito–
rial: "What will roan say to this?
Will he foolishly toy with the new
weapon. build huge factories. and
husband suppües of atomic energy
against potential enemies?"
That is exactly what man has
done! Only he wasn' t satisfied with
mere .atom bombs - they were but
thc match it took to produce the
heat rcquired to cause the fusion of
the hydrogen-helium process which
brought about the hydrogen bomb.
Finally carne .multimegaton nuclear
warheads incorporated into a mis–
sile sys tem that can deüver destruc–
tion to cities half a world away in
less than 45 minutes.
Will man husband supplies of
atomic weapons? Oh, yes. They're
stockpiled around the world in
caves, caverns. ordnance depots and
nuclear submarines. Many are deep
in the bowels of mountains. The
United States has its own prívate
ar e nal and the Soviet Union pos–
sesses perhaps even more sophis–
ticatcd nuclear weaponry.
Until a matter of a very few
22
David Lawrence
months ago, we all thought in terms
of a nuclear stalemate - more or
less a bomb-for-bomb. missile-for–
missile standoff between Russia and
the United States. Previously it was
almost universaUy agreed that the
U.S. nuclear striking force could
eradicate most major Russian popu–
lation and industrial centers - a Uof
which rendered any possible Soviet
adventurism as unthinkable. But
this idea was based on the concept
that our Minuteman land-based sys–
tem would hit its many targets in
the Soviet Union; likewis e our
Poseidon submarine .
Soviet Challenge
Startling new developments in re–
cen! weeks have revealed· that ou r
Minuteman strategic missile system
may be obsolete. Apparently the So–
viet Union has been pouring far
more money into its civil defense
programs than the United States
- perhaps to the tune of
/lvelve times
as much. Also it has been reported
lhat Russian scientists have recently
come up with a brand-new radar
equipped with delicate missile-jam–
ming systems which confuse the
missile sensors that guide the wa r–
heads to their targets. In o ther
words, American missiles would
never reach their ta rgets!
A recent issue of
A
viation and
Space Technology
magazine said
something that ought to s hock us
all: "The Soviet Union is wresting
nuclear weapons superiority from
the United States and endangering
the effectiveness of the U.S. ballistic
missile detcrrenl."
Further.
A viation Week
said the
Soviet s are operating a tran s–
portable missile defense radar sys–
tem known as the X-3 system. lf
deployed around major popula tion
centers. the X-3 is capable. when
used in conjunction with antiballis–
tic mi ss ile s .
"of render–
ing ... ineffective" U.S. land-based
Minuteman intercontinental mis–
siles and Polaris/Poseidon sub–
marine- launched ballistic missiles.
Soviet Civil Defense
Put t.his together with the fact that
the Soviets are earmarking massive
amounts of rubles for civil defense.
A
viation Week
reported that "Soviet
authorities believe that by proper
civil defense preparations, Iosses
will be as little as 10% of the popu–
lation."
On the other hand, sorne esti–
mates have indicated tha t about a
third of the American population
would disa ppear as a direct result of
the first missile strike.
Civi l defense has not been a part
of the American mentaüty since the
early sixties. when for a brief time
fear of an imminent nuclear war
swept the United States. Luridly
frightening ads were written - di s–
playing the latest and roomies t
ready-made fallout shelters for one's
own backyard. Striking newspaper
articles talked in terms of "Project
Noah" and survival colonies.
Jt all turned out to be just another
money-making scheme which soon
petered out. T he shelters themselves
were far from equal to the task of
being practica! survival units. But at
least, then, the real possibility of nu–
clear warfare was at the forefront of
the American mind. Today Ameri–
can ci tizens and British subjects
think of anything but the possible
danger of a nuclear holocaust. Our
minds are calloused to the possi–
bility -
which isfar greater now than
ilwas rilen!
We take thc nuclear age casually
for granted. We've grown accus–
tomed to it. We 've learned to live
with it. Few in Britain or America
The
PLAIN TRUTH March 1977