U.S. doesn’t need any more nuclear weapons

Re “U.S. Rolls Out Nuclear Plan,” April 6

We have more nuclear weapons than any other nation. We spent more on nuclear weapons research than any other nation. The Bush administration publicly announces plans to “update” our weapons capacity, building as many as 125 more nuclear weapons per year. And we call countries that want to obtain nuclear weapons technology “pariahs” or members of the “axis of evil”? What does that make the U.S.?

MARC NOVAK

Los Angeles

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Bush’s new plan to rebuild the nuclear arms stockpile makes no sense. As we tell the rest of the world that Iran and North Korea are not allowed to have nuclear weapons, you would think that it would be because we have matured to the point where we realize that nuclear weapons have no place in this world, that we have recognized that the use of such weapons has never and will never be justified.

We tell the rest of the world that they can’t have WMD because they can’t be trusted, but we can. We are the only nation to have ever dropped an atomic bomb on fellow humans, and the effects were beyond devastating. Yet we are still the only nation that can be trusted.

ZAID ADHAMI

Corona

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The nuclear rearmament plan shows a lack of vision for a better future. Whom are we deterring and on whom would we drop these bombs? Not only could our tax money be better spent, but our minds could be put to better use. We could use our heads, hearts and resources creatively to reduce -- or better still, to eliminate -- nuclear proliferation and to find compassionate solutions to other problems we face. As Gandhi said, the philosophy of an eye for an eye results in a world of the blind.

CARL SWALLOW

Manhattan Beach