For immediate use: 13 May 2002
“Any reduction in nuclear warheads is to be welcomed,” said CND Chair Carol Naughton this afternoon, “but President Bush’s claim that this treaty will liquidate the legacy of the Cold War suggests he is even further detached from reality than we feared.”
The proposed reduction in Russian and US warheads has been well-trailed since the start of the Bush presidency and was the subject of some discussion at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Conference in New York last month.
In her report from the NPT Carol said:
The willingness of the US and Russia to decrease current warhead numbers is part of the strategy to replace some of them with new, reduced yield ‘bunker busters’ and medium range delivery systems which will lower the nuclear threshold.
Also aired at the NPT was the problem with ‘handshake diplomacy’ instead of nuclear disarmament agreements which include detailed clauses about verification and transparency.
“Storing surplus warheads for possible future use is not nuclear disarmament” said Carol Naughton, “and the legacy of the Cold War will only be liquidated when the last warhead has been dismantled and the doctrine which fed it has been consigned to the history books.”
Further information from Press Officer Nigel Chamberlain on 07968 420859.