Bush Orders Cuts in Nuclear ("Nucular") Weapons

By H. JOSEF HEBERT, Associated Press Writer (excerpt)(This Hebert guy is one to watch.)

WASHINGTON - President Bush has approved "a significant reduction" in the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, cutting it to less than one-quarter its size at the end of the Cold War, the White House said Tuesday. (At first I thought that shrub had been abducted and replaced by aliens, but no such luck. Read on and you'll understand.-Buddha)

Meanwhile, the administration faced a setback in its hopes of developing a new, more reliable and robust warhead that would eventually replace the existing, aging warheads.

The broad omnibus spending bill expected to be approved by Congress eliminated money for the Reliable Replacement Warhead for the current fiscal year. The administration had asked for $88 million for design and preliminary work on the proposed warhead.

"This (warhead) would have sent the wrong signal around the world encouraging the very proliferation we are trying to prevent," Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., a critic of the new warhead program said. (GO FEINSTEIN!-Buddha)