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From: mark@teltone.UUCP (Mark McWiggins)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Nuclear Winter and Nuclear Freeze (second try)
Message-ID: <650@teltone.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 25-Jul-84 01:50:04 EDT
Article-I.D.: teltone.650
Posted: Wed Jul 25 01:50:04 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 02:37:02 EDT
Organization: Teltone Corp., Kirkland, WA
Lines: 29

<If at first you don't succeed ...>

For those who haven't heard of it, the "Nuclear Winter" is the
months-long period of subfreezing weather that would follow a
nuclear exchange.  Supposedly any number of weapons over a few
hundred would set enough fires (thus producing soot and ash), and 
throw enough dust into the atmosphere that a significant portion
of the sun's rays would be screened out.  According to Science
magazine, "the extinction of the human species cannot be ruled
out" in such a case.  I read recently that even Pentagon officials
have found evidence for the nuclear winter compelling.

That being the case, why should we continue to produce nuclear
warheads?  If 800 or 1000 going off would kill us all anyway,
why do we have 10,000?  Why are we wasting our tax dollars
paying a bunch of our most intelligent people to try and "improve" 
weapons design?

The nuclear freeze movement has made a point of calling for a 
"mutual and verifiable" nuclear freeze, lest the hawks cry
"Unilateral disarmament!"  This doesn't make sense to me.  How
can any nation having the power to destroy all human life be
called "disarmed"?

Can someone explain this to me?

-- 

....tektronix!uw-beaver!teltone!mark