Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World

366 Pages·2007·1.43 MB·English

by  Joseph Gerson

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EMPIRE AND THE BOMB
How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to
Dominate the World
Joseph Gerson
LONDON ANN ARBOR, MI
Published in association with
American Friends Service Committee
New England Regional Office
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First published 2007 by Pluto Press
345 Archway Road,London N6 5AA
and 839 Greene Street,Ann Arbor,MI 48106
In association with American Friends Service Committee,New England Regional Office,
2161 Massachusetts Ave.,Cambridge,Massachusetts 02140,USA.
www.afsc.org/pes
E-mail:[email protected]
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright ©Joseph Gerson 2007
The right of Joseph Gerson to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Hardback
ISNB-13 978 0 7453 2495 1
ISBN-10 0 7453 2495 9
Paperback
ISBN-13 978 0 7453 2494 4
ISBN-10 0 7453 2494 0
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Designed and produced for Pluto Press by
Chase Publishing Services Ltd,Fortescue,Sidmouth,EX10 9QG,England
Typeset from disk by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd,Chennai,India
Printed and bound in the United States of America
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Dedicated to the memories of Leon and Evelyn Gerson,my parents,
and to Hiroshima,Nagasaki,and “Global”Hibakusha.
For my son and daughter, Leon and Hannah, and for the rising
generation.
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Contents
Acknowledgements xi
Foreword by Walden Bello xiii
Introduction 1
Road Map 3
Autobiography and Non-fiction 8
1 Deadly Connections:Empire and Nuclear Weapons 11
An Imperial Hammer 13
Empire and Taboo 14
A Succession of Imperial Doctrines 20
Myths of Nuclear Innocence and
the Practice of Nuclear Terrorism 25
Terrorism Not Deterrence 27
Overcoming Geopolitical Obstacles 30
Total War and the “Evil Thing” 32
2 First Nuclear Terrorism—Hiroshima and Nagasaki 39
Origins and Myths 41
Competition for Asian Empire 43
Rationales and Paths Not Taken 45
Geostrategy and Nuclear Terror 48
Geostrategic Ambitions 51
Japan’s Peace Camp 53
Potsdam 56
The Signal is Sent 59
Nagasaki 67
Surrender 70
3 Postwar Asia—Targeting Korea and China 73
Becoming an Asian Power 74
Imbalance of Terror 76
Korea 79
Taiwan 1955 and 1958 84
China’s Bomb 89
vii
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viii EMPIRE AND THE BOMB
4 The Cuban Missile Crisis—Prestige,Credibility,and Power 93
A Special Historical Relationship 96
An Enduring Imbalance of Terror 100
Kennedy Contexts 102
“Operation Mongoose” 107
The Popular History 110
Deception,Perception,and
Escalation Dominance 113
The Discriminatory Principle of
Nuclear Inequality 119
Other Truths 122
Fallout 128
5 Vietnam:Failures of Nuclear Diplomacy 130
The United States in Vietnam 131
Eisenhower,Nukes,and
Dien Bien Phu 133
Impacting the Geneva Accords 135
Kennedy’s War:Nuclear Superiority
and Counter-Insurgency 137
Johnson’s War 141
Khe Sanh:No “Damn Dinbinphoo” 148
Nixon the “Madman” 153
End Game 163
6 The Middle East:Monopolizing “The Prize” 167
Antecedents 168
Axiom Number One 169
Suez 173
Lebanon and Iraq 1958 178
The Six-Day War 183
“Black September” 195
October 1973—Kissinger’s Nuclear Brinkmanship 197
The Carter Doctrine 203
7 Nukes and the New World Order—What We Say Goes 207
The End of the Cold War 209
Nuclear Threats and the New World Order 211
The Clintonian “Bridge” 218
Nuclear Doctrines 220
Clinton and Korea 225
Clinton and China 232
Clinton’s Middle East Nuclear Threats 236
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CONTENTS ix
8 “Romance of Ruthlessness”—Seven Minutes to Midnight 240
Neoconservatives,Realists,and Their Ambitions 241
Doctrines of Dominance 244
Undermining the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty 248
Nuking Iraq? 250
Threatening North Korea 254
9 Abolition or Annihilation 263
Reality Check 265
Arms Control 267
Revitalized Abolition Movements 271
Post-Cold War Abolitionists 275
Abolition 2000 280
A Real Barrier 285
Notes 291
Selected Bibliography 329
Index 336
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All I ask is that,in the midst of a murderous world,we agree to reflect on murder
and to make a choice.
Albert Camus,Neither Victims nor Executioners
Power and force are indeed decisive realities in the human world,but they are not
the only ones. To make them absolute is to remove all reliable links between men
[and women].
Karl Jaspers,The Question of German Guilt
In the foreign-policy world, history is power. Who is right or wrong in the past
either gives or withholds power today.
Leslie Gelb,Council on Foreign Relations
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Acknowledgements
First thanks must go to Lani Gerson,my friend and partner in life,without
whose love, patience, and support this book and so much else would not
be. In many ways this is Roger van Zwanenberg’s book. He encouraged
me to go beyond my initial desire to revise and update my earlier book,
With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion, and Moral
Imagination. The following pages draw on that work,but,to my surprise a
new and more ambitious book has emerged. Roger was also graciously
patient and extended deadlines to help ensure that that this would become
“the book.”Thank you,Roger. Melanie Patrick,Helen Griffith and Robert
Webb of Pluto Press have also been patient and supportive as we have
brought Empire and the Bombinto the world. Thanks also go to Ruth Willats
for her careful copyediting and for helping me keep my endnotes straight.
The American Friends Service Committee has provided me with a rare
privilege. Working with the AFSC for three decades has enabled me to
explore and live my values to their fullest as an organizer, scholar, and
something of a peace movement diplomat. The support provided and tol-
erance displayed by staff and committee members of the AFSC in New
England,many of whom are dear friends,have been essential to this and
many other projects and are deeply appreciated. Special thanks go to
Joseph Gainza who provided feedback on several of the chapters, who
chimed in with the sub-title, and who led the campaign described in
Chapter 9,which led Vermont to become the first US state to officially call
for nuclear weapons abolition.
Similarly important have been the support extended to me,the lessons
shared, and the friendships of many in the Japanese peace and nuclear
weapons abolition movements. Foremost among them are Hiroshi
Takakusaki and Rieko Asato of Gensuikyo; Junko Kayashige, Senji
Yamaguchi, Shoji Sawada, Terumi Tanaka, and Satoru Konishi of Nihon
Hidankyo; and Muto Ichiyo of PP21,AMPO,and Japanesia.
“No man is an island,”and few ideas are truly original. While they bear
no responsibility for my mistakes, friends, colleagues, and teachers on
three continents who have encouraged, taught, and struggled with me
along the way, must be thanked or acknowledged. Among them are:
Walden Bello,Jules Davids,Wilfred Desan,Peggy Duff,Daniel Ellsberg,
Cora Fabros, Lawrence J. Friedman, David McReynolds, Zia Mian,
Elizabeth Minnich, Kinshide Mushakoji, Chandra Muzzafar, Tony
Palomba,Carroll Quigley,Mark Reader,Daniel Boone Schirmer,Hashim
xi
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xii EMPIRE AND THE BOMB
Shirabi,Achin Vanaik,and three generations of nuclear abolitionists who
have prepared the way.
The careful reader will note that in this book I am particularly indebted
to the work of scholars who have preceded me on this path. Among them
are Gar Alperovitz, Barry Blechman, Noam Chomsky, Bruce Cumings,
Irene Gendzier, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, Nguyen Tien Hung, Michio Kaku,
Don Oberdorfer,Michael B. Oren,Gareth Porter,Joseph Rotblat,Jerrold
L. Schecter,Martin J. Sherwin,William Appleman Williams,and Howard
Zinn. Additional thanks go to those who helped with this work in so many
ways: Ray Addicott, John Burroughs, Leslie Cohen, Phyllis Cohen, Sam
Diener, Jerry Elmer, Joseph Gainza, Hugh Hosman, Oliver Howard,
Melinda Knowles, John McAuliffe, Reiko Maeda, Monika Parikh,
Suzanne Pearce, Pat Rabby, Luc Schuster, and Wilbert van der Zeijden.
Thanks,too,to Eunjung Katsiaficas who helped with the last-minute for-
matting of the notes.
This book is a publication of the Peace and Economic Security Program of
the New England Regional Office of the American Friends Service
Committee.