New Nukes Revive Old Debate.

U.S. President George W. Bush Administration wants to develop low-yield and earth-penetrating nuclear weapons against new threats. But the laws of physics haven't changed. The satellite photos showed unmistakable signs of fortified underground bunkers. U.S. intelligence officials warned that workers would soon be churning out weapons of mass destruction within the maze of tunnels. The White House demanded a halt to the work and hinted at a preemptive military strike perhaps with nuclear weapons designed to penetrate and shatter buried targets. Some military analysts believe that a veiled threat from the United States to use a nuclear bunker buster helped convince Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi to abandon at least temporarily the Tarhunah tunnel complex near Tripoli. Now the Bush Administration wants to deter the next generation of adversaries by accelerating research into bunker busters and other nuclear weapons. This attempt to reshape the U.S. nuclear arsenal, coming on the heels of the war in Iraq and the 11 September terrorist attacks, has attracted relatively little public reaction. Opponents say the moves will undermine an array of arms control efforts and fuel a new arms race. Critics also challenge claims that the R&D effort will help lure talent to the nation's nuclear weapons laboratories. Critics are particularly upset by claims that weapons scientists can build an earth-penetrating nuclear weapon that produces little or no radioactive fallout.