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UK should take lead on nuclear disarmament, says former Nato commander

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Jan 30, IRNA – The British government should take a lead on nuclear disarmament by giving up its Trident weapons system, according to a former Nato military commander.

"I think the UK is very close to saying we're the first permanent member of the Security Council to do away with nuclear weapons,” said General Jack Sheehan.

"I think it is entirely possible that the British government, for a lot of good reasons, could do it and it would lead the world," the American general said in an interview with BBC radio on Thursday night.

His call comes after three former British military chiefs recently called for the UK to review its controversial decision to replace its submarine-based Trident nuclear weapons system.

“Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of violence we currently, or are likely to, face,” said former Chief of Defence Staff, Field Marshal Lord Bramall, General Lord Ramsbotham and General Sir Hugh Beach.

“It is difficult to see how the United Kingdom can exert any leadership and influence on this issue if we insist on a costly successor to Trident,” they said in a letter to the Times newspaper on January 16.

Sheehan said he believed that a move by Britain to give up its nuclear deterrent, if it were to happen, would have a significant international impact.

"All of a sudden you call into question why the French have a system," the former Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic for Nato said.

"It creates an impetus for the US and Russia to kind of move away from this position they're currently in, to start a dialogue to build on," he said, but added that it was an "act of political courage" necessary for such a change to occur.

The decision to replace Britain’s Trident missiles, which are due to end their working lift in the 2020s, was made by former Prime Minister Tony Blair just before he left office in 2006.

The replacement decision was forced through parliament in the face of fierce opposition from backbench MPs, trade unionists, church leaders and academics as well as peace groups.

Opponents have argued that Britain’s nuclear deterrent is not independent as it relies on the US and that the astronomical cost of more than Pnds 20 billion (Dlrs 30 bn) could be better spent on other military equipment as well as on hospitals and schools.