FATAL CHOICE: Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defense

Butler, an experienced and well-respected advocate of nuclear disarmament (he headed the U.N. Special Commission for disarming Iraq), offers a brief but comprehensive survey of nuclear weapons in today's world. He aims to make the available policy choices "understood by plain people in plain language." Butler first explains the regime of treaties and doctrines (such as mutual assured destruction) developed since the inauguration of the nuclear age in 1945. Given their horrific power, nuclear weapons have always been the most feared of the world's weapons of mass destruction. In response, as the author explains, nearly all nations have supported eliminating nuclear weapons, or at least preventing further proliferation. These goals have had only partial success, and currently Iran, Iraq and North Korea are seeking to join India, Pakistan and Israel in the nuclear club. As to the future, Butler warns against passive resignation to nuclear weapons as a permanent fixture of international life. He believes the world can rid itself of these weapons and proposes a program to accomplish this. The most striking feature of Butler's plan is forming a Council on Weapons of Mass Destruction, working parallel to the U.N.'s Security Council. Butler's council would have sufficient conventional military forces to take effective action against nations violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. International action of this kind, not the National Missile Defense advocated by the Bush administration—which Butler sees as self-defeating—forms the core of this thought-provoking argument against nuclear weapons. (Jan.)

Forecast:Readers concerned with world affairs will find this more timely than ever, if they manage to catch word of it from the author's three-city tour and radio satellite tour.