Fatal Choice: Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defense

By Richard Butler

We continue to face a choice with respect to nuclear weapons - either to move safely towards their elimination or to remain their victim. A forty-year effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is breaking down, and the likely acquisition of these weapons by terrorist groups is growing. In Fatal Choice , Richard Butler, a well-known and respected voice on the subject of nuclear weapons, argues that we are poised on the verge of a second and much more threatening nuclear arms race than the one experienced throughout the Cold War. This threat is clearly reflected in nuclear weapons development by India, Pakistan, Iraq, and North Korea. The revival by the Bush administration of missile defense will not deal with the problem but worsen it. Butler outlines the steps that can be taken to give effect to the right choice on nuclear weapons.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0813339804
• ISBN13: 9780813339801
• Release Date: December 2001
• Publisher: Westview Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Important Ideas Concerning Treaties and Nukes

Richard Butler, a proponent of the abolition of all nuclear weapons, has written an important book concerning the current state of nuclear weapons in the world. His main thesis states that the problem with nuclear weapons are the weapons themselves and anything short of getting rid of them a futile effort. Specifically he refers to the Bush administrations future deployment of National Missile Defence as the "fatal choice." According to Butler, the advocates of missile defense and other measures designed to keep and expand nuclear arsenals in the U.S. use the argument that current treaties, especially the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, are not being adhered to and are thus useless. Butler, however, indicts the U.S. as being the main noncopliant culprit in that the U.S. has not bilaterally reduced its arsenal along with Russia to lower levels as is required in the treaty. Instead of scrapping the treaties, Butler advocates that these treaties ought to be bolstered and the proper institution be established to ensure compliance by all signators. Butler's book outlines effectively a few specific arguments against NMD.