- (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has put his stamp
of approval on a bill allocating millions of dollars for research into
new types of nuclear weapons and for bolstering readiness at the Nevada
nuclear test site.
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- White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that
Bush had signed the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act of
2004. The act contains funds for the Department of Energy and its nuclear
programs.
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- The measure includes 7.5 million dollars to study the
possibility of developing so-called "bunker-busting" nuclear
bombs that officials say would enhance America's ability to destroy underground
command and control centers and hidden arms depots.
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- US scientists are looking into the possibility of converting
into bunker-busters two existing warheads - the B61 and the B83, according
to Bush administration officials.
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- The B61 is a tactical thermonuclear gravity bomb that
can be delivered by strategic as well as tactical aircraft -- from B-52
and B-2 bombers to F-16 fighter jets.
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- The B83 is designed for precision delivery from very
low altitudes, most likely by B-2 stealth bombers, military experts said.
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- The main task facing the scientists now is finding how
to harden the bombs' shells so they can survive penetration through layers
of rock, steel and concrete before detonating, the experts said.
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- An additional six million dollars have been earmarked
to study low-yield nuclear weapons some experts believe could be useful
in high-precision strikes.
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- Both bunker-busters and low-yield nuclear weapons are
seen by some experts as important tools for waging preventive wars against
enemies that are secretly building arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.
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- According to the Defense Intelligence Agency, at least
10,000 bunkers currently exist in over 70 countries around the world.
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- More than 1,400 of them are used as strategic storage
sites for weapons of mass destruction, concealed launch pads for ballistic
missiles as well as leadership or top-echelon command and control posts,
the DIA estimates.
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- The newly enacted bill also contains 24.9 million dollars
to heighten readiness at the Nevada test site to enable it to conduct a
nuclear test on 24- month's notice.
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- The administration had been insisting on an 18-month
readiness window, down from the current 36 months.
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- But Congress chose earlier this month to tamp down the
request in the face of vocal opposition from disarmament advocates, who
have interpreted it as a sign of the administration's weakening determination
to maintain a moratorium on nuclear tests.
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- Congress also displayed its ambivalence toward the program
by pairing down practically every White House request or attaching caveats
to it:
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- The 7.5 million dollars allocated for the bunker-buster
study is only half of Bush's original request. And of the six million dollars
earmarked for low-yield weapons, four million have been placed off limits
until the government presents a detailed plan to cut the overall US nuclear
stockplile.
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- Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control
Association, said this obvious lack of congressional enthusiasm might help
head off more dangerous proposals in the future.
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- "Further efforts by this or another administration
to win necessary congressional approval for engineering, development, and
testing of new or modified nuclear weapons will be vigorously opposed and
must be defeated," Kimball said in a statement.
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