"MINI-NUKES" APPROVED FOR DEVELOPMENT
30 November 2003

Last week, the Bush administration quietly approved a research project into the development and deployment of nuclear "bunker-buster" bombs. No other nation has such weapons, and many critics say such a project directly violates the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The plan is particularly controversial and provocative in a climate where the US launched a pre-emptive war in order to forestall the development of nuclear weapons by another nation.

The Bush administration says the weapons are "low-yield" nuclear devices, and that their use is "tactical", meaning that they would serve a function within a larger, conventional strategy. Citing deeper, more secure bunkers found in Iraq, proponents say that new fortifications require new weapons. Anti-nuclear campaigners also say that the use of such weapons would confound nuclear and conventional warfare, limiting the extent to which the use of nuclear weapons could be effectively prevented by conventional or diplomatic means. [For more: Mail & Guardian]