An Iowa Nuclear Disarmament Primer, Part 3

by Paul Deaton

In rural Iowa, outside the view of mainstream media, there are groups of citizens who assemble, have coffee and talk about world affairs. As I grow older, more of my news and information comes from participation in citizen gatherings like these. While news and information distribution may be a bit uneven, people at these gatherings are often as well informed as the Washington lobbyist who makes a living staying current on a specialty area. In rural Iowa, people are generalists and conversant on topics as diverse as the soybean crop in Brazil and nuclear disarmament. I was recently fortunate to run into such a group.

Nine of us gathered recently at the Iowa Valley Community College in Marshalltown, Iowa. While the group had taken formal courses at the college, they had been meeting for more than five years discussing world affairs, both in and out of school. I was there to give a presentation about the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty or CTBT is a product of world outrage at the rapid fire pace at which the former Soviet Union, the United States and other states approached nuclear weapons testing after World War II. The pursuit of treaties to ban nuclear weapons testing began in the late 1950s and resulted in the Partial Test Ban Treaty in 1963. After the end of the Cold War, the Russians, in 1991, and the United States, in 1992, unilaterally stopped nuclear testing and have not tested nuclear weapons since then. If you would like to learn more about the CTBT, its history and the current political climate for potential ratification by the United States Senate, read Daryl G. Kimball’s recent article, “Learning From the 1999 Vote on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.” 

The discussion of the CTBT in Marshalltown is informative about where Iowans are with regard to nuclear disarmament. The group included both Republicans and Democrats, who all agreed that it was appropriate to be discussing nuclear disarmament and the pursuit of reduction or elimination of the world’s nuclear arsenal should be encouraged. The group was knowledgeable about nuclear disarmament issues, and many had prepared for the meeting by researching various aspects of the nuclear arms race, including the detonations at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, nuclear weapons testing and the current political climate for nuclear disarmament. Issues that are likely to be part of the Senate debate came up, including verification of compliance, how to handle treaty violations and maintenance of our current nuclear arsenal. Iowans can be and are connected to the national debate on nuclear disarmament. A couple of items are particularly noteworthy.

By signing and ratifying a treaty, the United States is taking a step towards a solution, rather than solving the problem of nuclear proliferation permanently. Members of the group stated that as we know from history, treaties are not perfect. Many times, the United States entered into treaties with Native Americans only to fail to live up to the terms of the treaty. After World War I, Japan failed to sign treaties limiting the size of military vessels, only to build ships, in secret, that would have been in violation of the treaty had they chose to participate.  The results of the entry into force of the CTBT and the implementation of the CTBT Organization is a necessary and required step in nuclear arms reduction. As these Iowans noted, it is a beginning of the end, rather than the end itself of nuclear weapons testing. There will be necessary work after a US ratification of the treaty to get China to ratify and the other nuclear states to sign and ratify the treaty.

The group thought I could better make the point of all of us being downwinders of the fallout from atmospheric explosion of nuclear weapons. We discussed a potential nuclear retaliation against North Korea and how the nuclear fallout would quickly reach Hawaii, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California and then spread further eastward. It makes no sense for the US or other states to bomb North Korea with nuclear weapons, because the fallout would literally land on the United States. The CTBT represents a step to exert world pressure on North Korea, Iran and other belligerent states to cease their nuclear weapons programs. In an environment where atmospheric explosion of nuclear devices is the equivalent of self-mortification, treaties, and other diplomatic tools may well be the only viable path to nuclear disarmament.

Most importantly, the group demonstrated how Iowans want to base important national policy on facts and science. One participant found a factual error in my presentation and called me on it. This led to a lively discussion and further vetting of my presentation. As I run into more Iowans and discuss nuclear disarmament, I am finding that ratifying the CTBT is something that most Iowans can support once they understand the facts. Understanding the facts is not an area in which the mainstream media has been particularly helpful and in the end, nuclear disarmament may come down to what groups like the one in Marshalltown believe and tell their elected officials.

For more information about nuclear arms reduction please follow the Friday posts on Blog for Iowa on World Affairs, talk about this issue with your friends and neighbors, and when your elected officials or their representatives come to your community, attend the event and encourage them to support nuclear disarmament.

~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County.  Check out his blog, Big Grove Garden.    E-mail Paul Deaton