President Obama, Hiroshima, and the Nuclear Mishandle (op-ed)
August 1945, the United States destroyed Hiroshima in the world’s first nuclear strike. Afterward, President Harry S. Truman addressed the nation.
Truman stated: I realized the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. Our enemies were searching for it and we knew the disaster which would come if they found it first. We won the race of discovery and used it against those who attacked Pearl Harbor, executed American POWs, and abandoned international laws of warfare.
Truman’s decision has been debated for half a century because his national address wasn’t just an explanation for a single event; it shoved an unready world into the atomic age. This led to the counter-destruction philosophy of nuclear deterrence to deal with America’s nuclear capacity, and America reacted with guilt-driven paranoia that led to the preemptive policing of the world in the name of rationality.
The 2003 American invasion of Iraq is considered an example of this paranoid rationale to prevent an irrational actor from obtaining a nuclear arsenal, and since no weapons of mass destruction were found many have called the invasion of Iraq the biggest blunder of American foreign policy.
But the miscalculation produced the unexpected.
In December 2003 Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi decided to end his country’s weapons program in an attempt to normalize relations with the international community after years of hostility due to his nuclear ambitions.
Gaddafi was criticized in the Arab world. Critics believed his decision was unreasonable because it legitimized the Bush administrations preemptive war doctrine, but western leaders hoped Libya would be a model for disarmament for other nations possessed by nuclear deterrence to follow.
Let’s fast forward to January 2016.
North Korea conducted a nuclear test underground. The detonation was a success. When North Korea’s test was denounced by the international community as “a serious threat to international peace and security” the North Korean’s referred to Libya for their reasoning to demonstrate their resolve to maintain their nuclear deterrent.
What happened to the Libyan model for disarmament?
During President Barack Obama’s administration a civil war erupted in Libya. The United Nations authorized military intervention to enforce a ceasefire and establish no-fly zones to protect civilians. Gaddafi agreed to the ceasefire, but the opposition refused to cease.
Why?
According to one expert, “NATO powers violated the UN resolution, radically, and became the air force for the rebels.” Gaddafi tried using Libya’s voluntary disarmament to convince the Obama administration and other western leaders to stop their operations in Libya but Gaddafi had no security guarantees with them. After that Gaddafi’s son and other Libyan officials regretted their decision to disarm.
In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels.
When historians examine these events they’ll conclude Iraq was a huge blunder, but Libya was the biggest mishandling of the nuclear age.
Two weeks from now, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting President of the United States to visit Hiroshima. The White house emphatically stressed the president will not apologize for the 1945 attack nor revisit Truman’s decision.
The Japanese Prime Minister stated no apology is expected or is necessary.
President Obama plans to offer a “forward-looking vision” of a peaceful and safe world without nuclear weapons. This will be the most important speech of Barack Obama’s political career. He has to convince leaders to change their philosophy of nuclear deterrence to nuclear disarmament, but after Libya, why would any nation volunteer for a peace?
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 5/18/16
Truman stated: I realized the tragic significance of the atomic bomb. Our enemies were searching for it and we knew the disaster which would come if they found it first. We won the race of discovery and used it against those who attacked Pearl Harbor, executed American POWs, and abandoned international laws of warfare.
Truman’s decision has been debated for half a century because his national address wasn’t just an explanation for a single event; it shoved an unready world into the atomic age. This led to the counter-destruction philosophy of nuclear deterrence to deal with America’s nuclear capacity, and America reacted with guilt-driven paranoia that led to the preemptive policing of the world in the name of rationality.
The 2003 American invasion of Iraq is considered an example of this paranoid rationale to prevent an irrational actor from obtaining a nuclear arsenal, and since no weapons of mass destruction were found many have called the invasion of Iraq the biggest blunder of American foreign policy.
But the miscalculation produced the unexpected.
In December 2003 Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi decided to end his country’s weapons program in an attempt to normalize relations with the international community after years of hostility due to his nuclear ambitions.
Gaddafi was criticized in the Arab world. Critics believed his decision was unreasonable because it legitimized the Bush administrations preemptive war doctrine, but western leaders hoped Libya would be a model for disarmament for other nations possessed by nuclear deterrence to follow.
Let’s fast forward to January 2016.
North Korea conducted a nuclear test underground. The detonation was a success. When North Korea’s test was denounced by the international community as “a serious threat to international peace and security” the North Korean’s referred to Libya for their reasoning to demonstrate their resolve to maintain their nuclear deterrent.
What happened to the Libyan model for disarmament?
During President Barack Obama’s administration a civil war erupted in Libya. The United Nations authorized military intervention to enforce a ceasefire and establish no-fly zones to protect civilians. Gaddafi agreed to the ceasefire, but the opposition refused to cease.
Why?
According to one expert, “NATO powers violated the UN resolution, radically, and became the air force for the rebels.” Gaddafi tried using Libya’s voluntary disarmament to convince the Obama administration and other western leaders to stop their operations in Libya but Gaddafi had no security guarantees with them. After that Gaddafi’s son and other Libyan officials regretted their decision to disarm.
In 2011 Muammar Gaddafi was killed by rebels.
When historians examine these events they’ll conclude Iraq was a huge blunder, but Libya was the biggest mishandling of the nuclear age.
Two weeks from now, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting President of the United States to visit Hiroshima. The White house emphatically stressed the president will not apologize for the 1945 attack nor revisit Truman’s decision.
The Japanese Prime Minister stated no apology is expected or is necessary.
President Obama plans to offer a “forward-looking vision” of a peaceful and safe world without nuclear weapons. This will be the most important speech of Barack Obama’s political career. He has to convince leaders to change their philosophy of nuclear deterrence to nuclear disarmament, but after Libya, why would any nation volunteer for a peace?
First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 5/18/16
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