US NEWS
Pentagon Weapons Plan Criticized
2008-07-02 03:08am
The Pentagon is being criticized for a plan released to Congress detailing the acceleration of shipments of deadly chemical weapons to various military sites for destruction.
Some lawmakers and interest groups are protesting the planned routes the military would take to ship the materials to the sites.
Critics say the plan unnecessarily exposes Americans to risks posed by transporting the materials since the U.S. government is concerned about terrorism.
"It's shocking and irresponsible for the Department of Defense to even propose to ship large volumes of weapons of mass destruction across the highways of the United States considering the risks and atmosphere of terrorist threats," Craig Williams, director of the Chemical Weapons Working Group, a Kentucky citizens organization, told USA Today.
Congress has ordered the military to destroy its stock of chemical weapons by 2017 after the U.S. signed a treaty in 1997 banning the use of such weapons.
In a report sent to Congress last week, the Pentagon said it couldn't meet the deadline unless it shipped nerve agents and mustard gas to addtional sites, USA Today reported.
Currently the military has two destruction sites - one in Colorado and one in Kentucky. But even working around the clock at both sites, given the complicated dismantling process involved in the destruction, the deadline can't be met, the Defense department said.
But in order to move the weapons to additional sites, Congress would have to change the law, said the Pentagon report.
(c) 2008 Newsroom.