For immediate use: 4 March 2002
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament is gravely worried about the rhetoric coming out of Washington about the ‘axis of evil’ and talk of finally dealing with Saddam Hussein.
“It was not Tony Blair’s comment that weapons of mass destruction pose a real threat to world stability that worries me as I agree with him, but his unquestioning support for President Bush’s rhetoric and his galling hypocrisy about WMD,” said CND Chair Carol Naughton.
British scientists from Aldermaston recently participated in the sub-critical nuclear test in an underground laboratory at Los Alamos in Nevada which was widely believed to be part of the US military determination to develop nuclear ‘bunker-busters’.
The UK will be going to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Conference in New York next month with no progress to report on initiatives aimed at achieving nuclear disarmament.
“Tony Blair is hardly in a position to lecture other nations about the dangers of WMD when his government may well be involved in tests to design a new generation of nuclear weapons,” said Carol Naughton.
Geoff Hoon’s even more open support for US strikes against Iraq and seeming belief that the military option will resolve the developing crisis and eradicate Saddam’s ability to produce WMD seems dangerously misplaced.
CND fully supports those MPs who have spoken out against war with Iraq and hopes many of them will take the opportunity to voice their concerns in the Westminster Hall debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday led by Father of the House Tam Dalyell.
NB: CND is holding a national demonstration ‘Don’t Start Wars’ in London on Saturday 30th March with the support of Stop the War Coalition
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