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The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence Paperback – February 25, 2015

by Francis Anthony Boyle (Author), Philip Berrigan (Author)

5.0 3 ratings

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As the U.S. War on Terrorism hurtles into uncharted waters, challenging accepted norms of international law and setting a pattern for peremptory state behavior, could a nuclear strike against a non-nuclear "rogue state" become an American option? Could conflicts between other nuclear states such as India and Pakistan go nuclear?

The Clinton Administrations Presidential Decision Directive 60 asserted a U.S. right to target non-nuclear states with nuclear weapons in 1997. But PDD60, as well as nuclear deterrence as a whole -- both the use and threatened use of nuclear weapons -- is illegal under the international law of warfare.In fact, Francis A. Boyle argues in The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence, the Bush administrations toying with the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan, its intent to proceed with National Missile Defense, to renew nuclear testing and develop "bunker-busting" nuclear weapons will have disastrous impact on existing international efforts to rein in the global nuclear arms race through the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. Already, the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty has fallen before its scythe.

This book provides a succinct and detailed guide to understanding the arms race from Hiroshima/ Nagasaki through the SALT I, SALT II, ABM and START efforts at arms control, to Star Wars/National Missile Defense, U.S. unilateral abrogation of the ABM Treaty, and events in Afghanistan and beyond.

It clarifies the relevant international law, from the Hague Conventions through the Nuremberg Principles to the recent World Court Advisory Opinion, as well as tracing contradictions in and contraventions of domestic guidelines established in the U.S. Army Field Manual of 1956 on The Law of Land Warfare, which remains the official primer for U.S. military personnel concerning the laws of war to which they must regard themselves as subject.

More disturbingly, Boyle reviews the intricacies of the foreign policy controversies and objectives which mark the development of American nuclear policy, often pressed forward by civilian administrations seeking to promote their geopolitical agenda over the advice and desires of the American military itself.

This book is an effective tool and a "must read" for the burgeoning anti-nuclear and peace movements, church groups, and lawyers defending anti-nuclear resisters. It should also prove instructive for the diplomatic community, and for civilian and military personnel who frame and carry out Americas nuclear policies, who must weigh the possibility of being summoned one day before an international war crimes tribunal.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

This book is likely to be one of the most authoritative and significant books addressing the urgent issue of the renewed global nuclear arms race.

About the Author

As a leading American professor,practitioner and advocate of international law, Francis A.Boyle is uniquely qualified to address the issue of nuclear deterrence. Twenty years of anti-nuclear advocacy have earned him what may be the world's best track record for anti-nuclear acquittals. Recently,his testimony persuaded a Scottish Judge in the UK to direct a verdict against the UK Trident 2. Through his exacting international legal analysis,prolific writings and tireless advocacy, he has succeeded in establishing the illegality of nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence, reflected in the recent World Court Advisory Opinion of 1996.

Francis A. Boyle's long, distinguished and multi-faceted career has included: responsibility for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, the American implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention; lecturing on nuclear weapons and international law to the U.S. military at West Point and to Soviet and foreign lawyers through two lecture tours sponsored by the Lawyers'Committee on Nuclear Policy and the Association of Soviet Lawyers; and representing the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina before the International Court of Justice(1993-94), where he won two World Court Orders against the rump Yugoslavia to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide.

Boyle has also served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International (1988-1992); as Legal Advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization on the Creation of the State of Palestine(1987-89) and to the Palestinian Delegation to the Middle East Peace Negotiations (1991-93), and as a Consultant to the American Friends Service Committee.

Professor Boyle teaches International Law at the University of Illinois, Champaign, and is author, inter alia, of Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law, The Future of International Law and American Foreign Policy, Foundations of World Order: The Legalist Approach to International Relations 1898-1921, and The Bosnian People Charge Genocide. He holds a Doctor of Law Magna Cum Laude as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Clarity Press; 1st edition (February 25, 2015)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 100 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0932863337
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0932863331
Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1710L
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1 x 9 inches

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Said Huber
You should get this book, even if you truly believe that...
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2006
...using nuclear weapons in "anticipatory action" against a (non-nuclear) "rogue enemy" may be justified, since nukes are "safe for civilians"...

Boyle's masterpiece on "The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence" will provide you with all necessary information on the history of nuclear insanity and on the relevant international law (from the Hague Conventions through the Nürnberg Principles to the World Court Advisory Opinion). Boyle's easily accessible book confirms the invaluable work on the same topic done by leading peace activists, like Prof. Michel Chossudovsky, Prof. Jorge Hirsch, Dr. Helen Caldicott and others (see: [...]).

Beyond any reasonable doubt this book is a MUST READ for all human beings with something called "conscience". Hopefully also attorneys, judges, diplomats and all civilian and military personnel (who frame and carry out U.S. nuclear policies) will discover that precious jewel called "conscience" and read "The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence" - the title just says it!).

"The Criminality of Nuclear Deterrence" would deserve 7* if a free DVD of "Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" was added.

Said Huber, attorney/Major of the Swiss Armed Forces (Military Supreme Court)

PS: to comprehend fully the GRAVITY of nuclear insanity, please study: Ismael Hossein-Zadeh, Political Economy of U.S. Militarism, Palgrave MacMillan 2006, 296 pages.

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