Nuclear issue "too philosophical" for Greens?

In my continuing discussion with Sam from Missoula (see his blog, where this originally appeared as a comment), he doubts the possibility that any technology has ever been withheld or suppressed. Of course, that is the very reason why many atomic scientists as well as philosphers, statesmen, and even military leaders opposed the first use of any nuclear weapons, and have opposed the nuclear arms race ever since. They realized how difficult it would be for the United States to provide any leadership towards nuclear disarmament after using the Bomb, ourselves (and especially against civilian target cities like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which we now know were "saved" especially for this "test" of the new "weapon.")
Here, I provide some historical background for the nuclear abolition movement, and some hope for its success.

Nothing is too philosophical for the Greens. When we abandon philosophy for Reakpolitik, we will no longer be Greens.
Einstein said something like the following (in the 1950's), in reference to the early development of nuclear weapons:
"Everything has changed except our ways of thinking." We imagine that nuclear bombs are actually battlefield "weapons" amenable to traditional military tactics, when in fact they constitute a Doomsday Machine which, if ever unleashed, will destroy the world and everything we know as "civilization." Einstein's phrase became a kind of motto for the "Beyond War" movement of the 1980's, which had a decent chance of succeeding politically, except that the Left sabotaged it at every opportunity, for being middle-class, yuppie techies, rather than traditional anti-war protestors.
It was Einstein, more than anyone else, who was responsible for the Manhattan Project, since he claimed, in a letter to Roosevelt, that the Germans were developing nuclear weapons, and he believed they were feasible. Therefore, the U.S. must establish a crash program to match the German effort. This was prior to America's entry into the war. As it turned out, Hitler disbelieved the Jewish scientists who were at the forefront of nuclear research, and never put any significant resources into developing nuclear weapons. The scientists he had, like Heisenberg, were way off track in their research, but of course we didn't know that, then.
Sam, the issue isn't that I think or believe we can and should eliminate nuclear weapons. It's that those leading our country don't think it's possible to eliminate them, or step back from the brink of nuclear holocaust. Indeed, everyone, including you, seems to be saying "Jump." "Get it over with." "Let's have the Rapture. Jesus will save those who believe."
These are the "philosophical," (a)historical views we must examine and refute.
I would ask you: Why do you think a nuclear holocaust is necessary and unavoidable? If you think it can be avoided, and civilization can continue more or less as it is, today, then we are in agreement. We only need to figure out a program to eliminate the threat of nuclear war. For me, that means eliminating nuclear technologies completely. (In my long paper on this subject, from 1980, I hypothesized that a one-world dictatorship which had eliminated all national movements and the incentives for war, might be able to use nuclear technologies safely. However, that is an undesireable - and unrealizeable - regime, which could break down at any time. And it does not address the environmental issues, either, which have proven to be quite unsoluable.) Tell me where and how you will dispose of the nuclear wastes, and isolate them for the next billion years, before we go any further.

Many of the best minds on the planet, beginning with Bertrand Russell's Committee of 100 (which Einstein signed on to just days before his death), have devoted themselves to these questions. Needless to say, none of them, nor anyone with similar views, is serving in the Bush Administration, today. I've been living with the guardians of one of the world's largest nuclear arsenals for 45 years (all of my adult life) here in Great Falls (Malmstrom AFB). Believe me when I tell you that no one wants or needs to have these "jobs." Indeed, I would maintain that the threat of nuclear war has driven the whole world insane, starting with our own government and the other leaders of the nuclear-armed nations. That these now include such "nations" as Zionist Israel, Islamic Jihad Pakistan, and Hindu Fundamentalist India moves us that much closer to the Nuclear Midnight of civilization.
Don't give up hope! A solution is possible! But only if we stop denying its very possibility.

Paul Stephens