Bombs Away

The bombs dropped over North Carolina were 260 times as powerful than those dropped in Japan

In light of the recent happenings in Syria going on for the last month or so, the topic of nuclear weapons has come up a lot recently.  This past Friday, September 20, investigative journalist Eric Schlosser obtained a document that sheds light on what could have been the biggest catastrophe to ever strike this country.  The article from The Guardian can be found here.

To summarize, Schlosser found that two nuclear weapons were accidentally dropped over North Carolina in 1961 during a routine fly over of the east coast by the U.S. Air Force.  In one of the bombs, three of the four safety mechanisms to prevent accidental detonation failed.  The only thing standing in the way of nuclear disaster was a "vulnerable", low-voltage switch.  The fallout of the explosion would have reached New York City, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., and Baltimore.  Clearly, this would have killed millions of people in the immediate aftermath of the explosion, and would have caused major health and economic problems even to this day.

The uncovering of this near catastrophe brings to light the greater issue of why we even have these things in the first place.  In my opinion, every single nuclear weapon that exists in every country needs to be destroyed.  There is no practical purpose for this weapon, and the use of it in any war could very likely lead to a worldwide nuclear shootout that would result in the destruction of the entire planet.

While I do not know about international laws and policies to come up with specifics, there needs to be a secure way in which everyone can destroy their nuclear arsenals, and in a way where we can be sure that no countries are secretly keeping them.  Also, it should become legal for the U.N. to destroy any facility in any country that is found to be used for the production or storage of nuclear arms.

Even though these weapons were created to protect us, I fear that in actuality they may end up doing the exact opposite.  The risks are too high, and these weapons are to powerful to even be in existence.  Do you think that the nuclear bomb should be banned worldwide?  How do you think we could ban them effectively?