Letter of support from 12 MPs to the 10 US Senators who wrote to President Bush raising their concerns about the possible use of nuclear weapons against Iraq

Colleagues

We note the contents of your letter of 21 February, 2003 to President Bush raising your grave concerns about recent public revelations that suggest that the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons may be considered in order to destroy nuclear, chemical or biological storage facilities or against deployed forces believed to have the means to deliver them.

As our two nations are at war in Iraq, we consider it absolutely essential that there be no perceived lowering of the nuclear threshold and that statements about the possible use of nuclear weapons as a legitimate extension of conventional warfare be clearly and openly rejected.

As you state in your letter to your President: “This apparent shift in U.S. nuclear policy threatens the very foundation of nuclear arms control as shaped by the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which has helped stem nuclear proliferation for over 30 years.” Specifically, you refer to the Negative Security Assurance that the United States signed in 1978 and reiterated in 1995 “that the United States would not use its nuclear force against countries without nuclear weapons unless the non-nuclear weapon state was allied with a nuclear weapon possessor.”

We also note that 12 leading Non-Governmental Organisations in the UK wrote to Prime Minister Blair on 13 February raising similar concerns about statements he and Defence Secretary Hoon have made which appear to both disregard the NSA commitments under the NPT which, effectively, mean that nuclear weapon use may be considered in the event of an attack with chemical or biological weapons, or even pre-emptively.

We understand that an acknowledgement was received from the Prime Minister’s office and that a formal response to the contents of the letter was made by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram on 17 March which indicated that the UK Government has not lowered the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons, that their use would only be contemplated in extreme circumstances of self-defence and that they would not be used contrary to international law.

We recognise and support your courageous stance in these difficult times and encourage you to persevere on your chosen course of action to preserve the integrity of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, a subject which will be discussed by the nations of the world in Geneva between 28 April and 9 May 2003.

Yours sincerely

Dr Roger Berry MP, David Chaytor MP, Paul Flynn MP, Dr Ian Gibson MP, Glenda Jackson MP CBE, Dr Lynne Jones MP, Peter Kilfoyle MP, David Lepper MP, Tony Lloyd MP, Malcolm Savidge MP, Alan Simpson MP, Simon Thomas MP.

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA. 30 March 2003

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