USE OF ATOM WEAPONS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27415, 30 July 1954, Page 11

USE OF ATOM WEAPONS

Adaptation Of U.S. Forces

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, July,2B. The United States told the United Nations today that it was adapting its armed forces to atomic weapons and would continue to do so as long as Communist aggression continued. The United States delegate to the 12-member Disarmament Commission, Mr Morehead Patterson, stated the United States position in commenting on a complaint by the Soviet delegate, Mr Semyon Tsarapkin, that the United States was reorganising its armed forces for the use of atomic weapons. Mr Patterson acknowledged that the United States was doing this and asked: “Does Mr Tsarapkin wish to leave the impression that the Soviet Union is not doing the same thing?” Mr Patterson said that both in the London disarmament talks and in New York, Moscow had sought a ban on atomic weapons because this would leave the Communists with a superior armed force. “They give ds no alternative,” Mr Patterson said, “but to make our forces as effective as possible and ready to defend against any aggression.” The United States delegate vigorously denied Soviet charges that the United States was preparing for a third world war.