I've just read the UK Defense Journal trying
to work out whether there is any truth in the supposed "myth" that America
controls the UK's Trident
nuclear weapon.
 |
| Trident 8 x more powerful than Hiroshima bomb |
The defense journal uses the headline: No, America doesn't control
Britain's nuclear weapons. The headline implies that the UK has total control of our nuclear arsenal, but, in
the same journal article, I found this:
"...the
missiles are held in a communal pool at the US Strategic Weapons facility at
King’s Bay, Georgia, USA where maintenance and in-service support of the
missiles is undertaken at periodic intervals..."
The author of the journal article suggests that it is this
joint maintenance that might make people think that the US, somehow, controls the UK
nuclear weapons and it is this that is the "Source of confusion..."
It is confusing, but the author reassures us that the only reason the nuclear missiles are jointly maintained is because it is:
"...much cheaper than the UK doing it on its own and does not give the United States control over any of the weapons deployed on the submarines."
Whether, or not it is ever thought necessary to launch a nuclear weapon eight times more powerful than the one that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima in 1946 and killing 140,000 Japanese, I believe that those wishing to renew the Trident Nuclear Weapon System have a moral obligation to the people to clear up any confusion surrounding who's finger could one day be hovering over the UK's nuclear button?
It is confusing, but the author reassures us that the only reason the nuclear missiles are jointly maintained is because it is:
"...much cheaper than the UK doing it on its own and does not give the United States control over any of the weapons deployed on the submarines."
Whether, or not it is ever thought necessary to launch a nuclear weapon eight times more powerful than the one that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima in 1946 and killing 140,000 Japanese, I believe that those wishing to renew the Trident Nuclear Weapon System have a moral obligation to the people to clear up any confusion surrounding who's finger could one day be hovering over the UK's nuclear button?
Any comments, opinions and related research are welcome as this article work in progress...
The case FOR nuclear weapons
The case AGAINST nuclear disarmament
The case FOR nuclear weapons
The case AGAINST nuclear disarmament
