[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 61 (Tuesday, May 14, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2393-H2394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ABOLISH NUCLEAR ARMS

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, seemingly when the United States and 
Russia would get together to announce an arms reduction treaty, that 
would be important news for the world. I think any time the United 
States and Russia sit down and talk about what can be done to eliminate 
nuclear weapons is an important moment. However, the announcement by 
President Bush and Vladimir Putin that they will sign a nuclear pact 
needs to be scrutinized very carefully.
  If you read today's New York Times you see they say that ``the 
proposed treaty sets no pace for dismantling weapons over the next 
decade, as long as the total number of strategic weapons does not 
exceed 2,200 in 2012. It permits the United States to stockpile the 
dismantled weapons in a form that would allow them to be reinstalled on 
missiles or aboard nuclear armed submarines in case of an ugly turn of 
events with any major nuclear power. In short, it is an agreement 
filled with escape clauses.''
  The only way that we can really protect the world against nuclear 
arms is

[[Page H2394]]

to work for complete nuclear abolition. That is something that this 
administration has taken a path away from. It has taken a path towards 
deconstructing the nonproliferation treaty towards building new nuclear 
weapons and towards nuclear proliferation. This treaty that has been 
described does not do anything to bring the world one step away from 
the abyss.

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