European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday february 16, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 13 commentary Ellen Goodman use of nuclear weapons not realistic option if you Are looking for Bleak testimony to escalation in the War of words search no further. In barely one month America has gone from debating whether we should fight the iraqis at All to talking about whether we should nuke them. A a a nuke Ems the Call of the wild Hawk a has Long been Standard fare for the armchair  phone in to radio talk shows. But it s been heard now from some right Wing commentators who moved from believing in apocalypse to advocating it. It s been heard As Well from the chairman of the Young americans for Freedom. And this week twas awake ii Call from a congressman. On mondays a Good morning America a Dan Burton a Republican representative from Indiana said that if conventional bombing did no to do the Job of Knock my out iraqi troops we should go nuke. A if we use tactical nuclear weapons i think it can be effective in getting this War Over in a hurry a he said. So it goes on the Western word front. A War justified. In part by the fear that Saddam Hussein might get the bomb now becomes a justification for talking about using the bomb. To a certain degree nuke talk is another dialect of Tough talk. Ftp a rather like the appalling sight of defense Secretary Dick Cheney autographing a bomb to the enemy. But the chilling fact is the nuke Appeal to the Public. In a Gallup poll taken Jan. 23-26, a full 45 percent of americans favored using nuclear weapons a if it might save the lives of .  another 45 percent were opposed. At the height of the Vietnam War Only a Quarter of americans joined the nuke Mem brigade. One week into this War and we were up to dead even. William Arkin a military expert with Greenpeace pronounces himself a flabbergasted at the emergence of the nuke a Ems. He regards it As failure to understand what nuclear bombs Are and especially what they Arentt a magic Bullet. The military is living in the Post nuclear age he says but much of the american Public is still living in the 1950s. A they regard the bomb As More bang for the Buck More firepower on the  but in fact they Are essentially unusable a there is nonnuclear option.�?�. A a a a. Quot in cold military terms we done to a need nuclear weapons. We have the same firepower without them. The a big Blue 82s�?� we dropped last week each have 12,600 pounds of explosives As much As a Small nuclear weapon without the radiation. Air tactical terms they have no special value against enemy troops either. We  wipe out iraqi soldiers with a single nuke unless Saddam convened his army in one place so we could drop a bomb on them. It might take hundreds to decimate the 400 battalions stretched along the front which would become a nuclear wasteland. As for political goals we can to liberate Kuwait by nuking it. Drop the big one on Baghdad there Are 4.1 million civilians living there. So much for the moral Victory. So much for a stable new world order. I done to think the nuke Mem sentiment comes out of some Bloodthirsty american War rage. Indeed it May come from the opposite the Public fear and Abhorrence of a ground War in which vast numbers of american soldiers could die. It May also be a byproduct of the real dread about the possible iraqi use of the a poor Many a nuclear bomb a chemical weapons. One horrifying thought seems to provoke and justify the next. One moral wrong gives permission to another. As Randall Forsberg of the Institute for defense and disarmament studies suggests thinking about chemical weapons has made it easier to think about the unthinkable a nuclear weapons. A a there a a Subtle erosion of taboos and norms a she says. It c. Ounts. Is Issek. Yet this erosion of taboos is precisely what Lias to be resisted. A nuclear weapons a says Forsberg a have rightly come to represent weapons of utter  she restates the obvious that has become debatable a an America that used nuclear weapons would be vilified in the world to a degree we can to  we would set a precedent for nuclear War. Americans were taught to believe that nuclear weapons had value that there was a reason for the Cost of building them and the expense of cleaning up after them. To this Day our government on principle wont Rule out the nuclear  but we also know that nuclear weapons like radiation in a fickle wind carry lethal dangers across Borders and generations. An America that broke the taboo in one War could be the victim in the next. The last. So it is a sad tribute to the brutalizing effect of War. How quickly talk in America has gone ballistic. C the Boston Globe newspaper  Youn Bush fast becoming the carbonic president Waco Texas a for months editorial writers and commentators have been nagging president Bush to come out with a National Energy policy. Now speaking As one of the assembled nags i take it Back. Forget we Ever said it or. President. Please return to the War room. If we backpedal very quickly on tiptoe maybe Bush will forget the clamor for a National Energy policy and wont go Forward. Too late. The Bush Energy plan already is out of the pipeline judging from the preview soon there will be nowhere to Puri but out of our minds. Apparently Here a the plan in capsule. A we use one he Kuva lot of Oil. Lets use More. A Safe nuclear plants Are expensive. Lets build cheaper ones. Renewable Energy. Sav what admittedly a More aggressive Domestic Oil policy is Only reasonable., it makes no sense to have american Oil Wells rusting in the Fields while americans fight to keep foreign rigs Well greased. Yes american Oil production needs to get cranking. Before Saddam Hussein slithers out of Kuwait he a going to Send 2 percent of americans Oil imports up in flames. But the Domestic Oil strategy is a Given especially coming from a Domestic Oil Man 1 Ike Bush. We expect More from Pul Quot Bush who has promoted himself As Art environmental president has opted instead to become the ? carbonic president. In the face of a Middle East Oil Shock certified global warming diminishing air Quality and a cavalcade of Oil spills Bush s exhortation to America is a get  icy makers. Breaths were abated these Many months hoping for some Oft hat a a vision stuff a ways to reduce dependence on Oil american or Arab and to ease up on our environment in the midst of a War tied to Energy  dark irony involved in the recent liquidation of ask corp., a former solar Energy giant headquartered in Waco. It started to go Down the tubes in a tar that Luss when Eri Ergy conserva Uon tax credits were scrubbed. Ask was not alone. Solar Energy corporations have struggled during a period of cheap Oil and minimal Federal leadership in the alternative Energy. There have been notable solar successes such As Luz International s nine solar Thermal plants in the Mojave desert. Combined they produce 354 megawatts of electricity enough to Supply the needs of 500,000 people. The technology of photovoltaic cells is on the upswing with utilities seeing the Cost benefits of supplementing generation with solar cells and some Remote Homes using solar cells exclusively. Struggling solar companies sink or swim on a technology that seems destined to be a part of our lives when the Oil Well runs dry yet Bush a Energy strategy is said to barely give renewal bless  1, nuclear Power Plant. Bush should Check the breezes. The trend is toward decommissioning nuclear plants not commissioning them. For instance Colorado s Public service co. Recently announced the conversion of its fort St. Vrain nuclear Plant to natural Gas. It plans to supplement production with photovoltaic and solar Thermal generators. Meanwhile Back in Washington Bush a Energy plan is preceded by an Interior department proposal to increase offshore Oil drilling. Waste to fuel a passing glance. Instead there is a Call for streamlining of procedures to get More nuclear plants on Lino. By ill standards the nuclear Industry would be considered a dying Industry. No new Plant has been ordered since the a mid a Tus. I he last Plant to make it to the starting Block Texas Comanche Peak did so at a Cost More than 11 times its original estimate. Bush wants to Cut the red tape and Speed up licensing possibly limiting the Public a role in challenging a proposed when do we Start focusing our vision beyond holes in the ground and Ocean floor when do we Start demoting As much research to Energy conservation As to orbiting weapons the carbonic president intends to stay the course apparently while the skies continue to fill with toxins and the Earth becomes More stressed a environmentally politically. F i share the blame for calling for a National Energy strategy. Young is Edt Tonai Page editor of the Waco Tribune Herald