GUEST,Shimrod, regarding your post of 13 Dec 06 - 06:08 AM. Just a couple of points:

1. Tony Blair has NOT committed to any renewal of Britain's current stockpile of Trident Mk II missiles. In fact he is considering reducing the number of warheads kept by the UK.

2. Up until the point that India and Pakistan joined the "club" nuclear disarmament amongst the five major nuclear powers was going well, something like a 60% reduction in the number of operational warheads from "Cold War" levels.

3. You castigate Bush and Blair but fail to mention Chirac of France. On the announcement by Iran that it was going ahead with its uranium enrichment programme, Chirac made a statement that France was going to reconfigure one third of it's submarine launched nuclear missiles to counter any attack on France, French interests or French allies by any future Iranian nuclear device.

4. With countries such as North Korea and Iran apparently proceeding hell-for-leather in the race to acquire nuclear weapons, I can think of two very good reasons for retaining nuclear weapons, neither have got anything to do with being 'poodles' of the Military-Industrial complex