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and Pakistani nuclear programs exist wherever countries have developed their own nuclear technology.

In fact, the US is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons during wartime. Ironically, America is also the main country to have utilized "depleted uranium" hardened weapons. The health risks of both types of weapons are profound and long-standing. Unless America shows leadership in eliminating nuclear weapons from arsenals, any discussion of trying to force certain other countries to denuclearize their armed forces is unrealistic. Without a uniform and verifiable prohibition on nuclear weapons, the countries being asked to give them up unilaterally would feel such pressure to be inappropriate. Unless America and the other early nuclear powers were also covered by the disarmament plans, the newer nuclear club members would believe they were being improperly singled out, due to cultural, racial, religious or other criteria.

America's President Eisenhower promised the U.N. that nuclear power would be used for peaceful purposes, yet it has continued to be the mainstay of military deterance. The world was told that nuclear technology would be used for the benefit of all people, yet so far, it has been harnessed only for military and power generation purposes and in neither case, is it without environmental impacts. In both civilian and military uses, extremely toxic waste must be stored responsibly for indefinite periods, until better disposal systems are developed. That is true for Pakistan and India no more than it is for the old nuclear powers. Thus, the only way to avoid recriminations is to implement a comprehensive solution, applied to all nations uniformly.

Learn more about this author, Robert C. Sage.
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