Trying to contain the nuclear genie

Re “A New Global Nuclear Order,” Oct. 15

The main problem with North Korea and nuclear weapons is not so much that “fissile material will fall into terrorists’ hands,” as The Times states. Primarily, the problem is that the spread of nuclear weapons means increased inevitability of an accident or a war. Nuclear weapons also bring problems of power and prestige. The rest of the world is never going to allow some nations to have nuclear weapons while others do not.

The only answer to this treacherous situation is to begin with the U.S. and Russia, which have already promised to decrease their supply. They have only made a gesture in that direction and still hold thousands of such weapons -- far more than any other country. It is their moral obligation to voluntarily lead the way toward the complete destruction of all such weapons everywhere, for the sake of the future of human beings on this Earth.

JEAN GERARD

Los Osos

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Re “Living with the bomb,” Current, Oct. 15

According to William Langewiesche’s tortured logic, “it is important to recognize that the spread of nuclear weapons is a condition over which we do not have control and for which there is no solution.” This is nonsense. Before the Bush administration came to power, worldwide cooperation produced the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The Bush administration sabotaged it with its go-it-alone approach and its belief in preemptive war. Nuclear war could destroy this beautiful Earth and its people. We must eliminate these weapons.

If all the major nuclear powers would cooperate in gradually reducing their arsenals, then the poor and less-developed nations would have no reason to produce their own.

ANN EDELMAN

Los Angeles

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Re “How Bush uncaged the nuclear beast,” Current, Oct. 15

Joseph Cirincione’s provocative, simplistic statement reveals his failure to comprehend current realities. If his statement were true regarding President Bush uncaging the beast, the antecedent would be as well: how President Clinton fed, clothed and nurtured the North Korean nuclear beast. The badly conceived treaty with North Korea in 1994 in fact rendered the U.S. a naive enabler. Cirincione feels we should naively observe treaties with the new breed of religious fanatics and deranged dictators in the same way we did with opposing superpowers. It simply does not work. He cites Libya’s coming clean from its nuclear program, insinuating that it was brought on by brokered treaties rather than America’s will to use force against Iraq.

RICHARD FRIEDMAN

Los Angeles