The US War Drive

With the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact in the early 1990s, there were great hopes world-wide for a more peaceful, de-nuclearised world. However, in recent years the reverse has occurred. The USA in particular has increasingly turned towards military solutions to complex regional problems, which has only served to exacerbate global tensions following the terrible attacks of September 11th. This has been accompanied by an increasing unilateralism on the part of the USA, including withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and the International Criminal Court, and the scuppering of the Biological and Chemical Weapons Conventions.

New military policies and strategies by the USA, including the National Missile Defence programme, the desire for Full Spectrum Dominance and the Nuclear Posture Review, indicate a turn towards pre-emptive war (where you attack first in case someone attacks you later) - including the possibility of nuclear first strikes. The proposed development of mini-nukes and of bunker-busters, both of which are more likely to be used than existing nuclear weapons, also increase the possibility of a nuclear first strike. The recent culmination of this approach was the illegal war in Iraq - and the potential for attack on Iran, Syria and North Korea.

CND strongly opposes this turn in US foreign and military policy.

If you are also concerned about these developments in US policy, which directly increase the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons, then please join CND .

For further information on US activities in opposition to the current US government policy, please see our events diary.