Fatal Choice; Nuclear Weapons and the Illusion of Missile Defense

Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 2001. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Good/Very good. 25 cm. xxi, [1], 178 pages. Figure. Table. Several paperclip impressions, some underlining and marginal marks on a few pages. Richard William Butler, AC (born 13 May 1942) is a retired Australian public servant, United Nations weapons inspector, and a former Governor of Tasmania. In 1983 he was appointed as Australia's Permanent Representative on Disarmament to the United Nations in Geneva. He was next appointed Australian Ambassador to Thailand, and played a major part in the Cambodian peace settlement, working closely with then Foreign Minister Gareth Evans. He was Australian Ambassador to the United Nations from 1992 to 1997. We continue to face a choice with respect to nuclear weapons, either to move safely towards their elimination or to remain their victim. A forty-year effort to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons is breaking down, and the likely acquisition of these weapons by terrorist groups is growing. In Fatal Choice , Richard Butler, a well-known and respected voice on the subject of nuclear weapons, argues that we are poised on the verge of a second and much more threatening nuclear arms race than the one experienced throughout the Cold War. This threat is clearly reflected in nuclear weapons development by India, Pakistan, Iraq, and North Korea. The revival by the Bush administration of missile defense will not deal with the problem but worsen it. Butler outlines the steps that can be taken to give effect to the right choice on nuclear weapons. Derived from a Kirkus review: The literal, political, and moral abomination of nuclear weapons are made abundantly clear by a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq—and a longtime fixture on the nuclear-disarmament scene, who suggests actions that would move us toward their eradication. Ruefully shaking his head, Butler reminds readers that nuclear weapons haven't gone anywhere. Sabers may not be rattled as often as during the Cold War, he states, but make no mistake: implements of mass destruction are still aimed at Washington and Moscow, Los Angeles and Novosibirsk, and all points in between. Butler has been engaged for the past two decades in trying to bring about the elimination of such weapons. He has been on the front lines as the nuclear powers have engaged in a "circus" of arms control, talking the talk, but walking nowhere significant. Forget about disarmament, he advises; we are back to dealing with proliferation once more. Compliance, timetables, and all the fine print are side issues, writes Butler: "The problem of nuclear weapons is nuclear weapons"; they should be deemed unacceptable dangers and banished. To this end, he suggests the US start the ball rolling by issuing a statement of intent to disarm, signing the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, ending the production of weapons-grade fissionable material, complying with the spirit and letter of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and working briskly with Russia to decommission missiles before they go on the open market. Butler is an informed guide to the disingenuous world of arms talks, a voice of reason in that wilderness of doublespeak and obfuscation. A valuable and clearheaded primer.