Anti-nuclear bill

Press, 16 December 1985, Page 12

Anti-nuclear bill

'Sir,—A broadcasting speaker recently told us that the American Pentagon is spending ?28 million per minute—yes, minute—on armaments and ordnance. This figure excludes the huge costs of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, whose activities are hardly of a peacepromoting nature. Yet the clutch of pro-nuclear correspondents who appeared in your columns on Friday, December 13, insist that the peace movement is naive and simply a front for the communist “enemy.” Their claim that the U.S.S.R. is somehow an enemy of New Zealand is not only unfounded, but ludicrous when we realise that this same U.S.S.R. is one of our largest trading partners. Trading

promotes economic life; nuclear weapons are designed for death and incineration.—Yours, etc., R. L. PLUCK. December 13, 1985.

Sir,—None of your correspondents (December 11) answered my question about Mr Lange’s nuclear ships policy. Nobody wants a nuclear war, but how does his policy help avoid it? The slogan “nuclear-free Pacific” has not been explained. This slogan is as close as ■Mr Lange has come to explaining what he is trying to achieve by banning American ships. There are facts which must be faced about nuclear weapons. First, they have been invented and wishful thinking will not get rid of them. Second, military power, such as nuclear weapons, has always been held in check by a balance of opposing power. Alliances such as A.N.Z.U.S. have helped that balance of power. Most New Zealanders understand this and do not want A.N.Z.U.S. scrapped. Mr Lange has no mandate to wreck A.N.Z.US. He assured us that he would not, and now he tells us that A.N.Z.U.S. being in its death throes is not his fault.—Yours, etc., L. D. LIGHT. December 11, 1985.

Sir,—l note that the nukeniks, with their weirdly illogical postnuclear intellectualism, are claiming that the anti-nuclear legislation being presented to Parliament will be a mileston. Surely a more accurate description would be that of a millstone around our necks when we become sans allies, sans defence, sans country, sans everything.—Yours, etc., D. M. SUTER. December 12, 1985.