Stephen Chapman

About the author: Stephen Chapman is a columnist and editorial writer for the Chicago Tribune. His twice-weekly column on national and international affairs appears in some sixty papers across the country.

Retired general Lee Butler and sixty other retired generals have recently called for the complete elimination of nuclear weapons. This proposal is impossible and dangerous. The knowledge required to build nuclear weapons exists and will always exist. Even if the countries that now possess nuclear weapons were to disarm, other countries will use existing knowledge to develop nuclear capabilities. National and international security is best achieved under the specter of nuclear arms because the threat of annihilation forces all countries to act cautiously. The United States is safer with a nuclear arsenal than without it...