It was very disturbing to read the little Associated Press article buried in the March 3 edition describing brand new American nuclear weapons as “safer” than the old ones.

I don’t feel safe due to “safer” nuclear weapons or the “war on terrorism” or our vast sums spent on so-called “defense” by what should be called our Department of War. I would feel safer if we resumed the reduction of nuclear weapons started many years ago, and thereby discourage nuclear arms development elsewhere on earth.

James Carroll’s book, “House of War,” describes the history of the Pentagon, which held its groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 11, 1941. Has the world become safer since that day? Or since the fire bombings of Germany and Vietnam? Or since Nagasaki or Hiroshima? Or since 9/11?

Toward the end of this excellent book, Carroll, the son of an Air Force general, calls for the following: “No weapons in space; no wars of prevention; no going it alone; no torture ever; treaties are sacrosanct; the spread of international legal forums is in America’s interest; the sources of violence deserve as much attention as the threat of it; diplomacy, not war, is America’s primary way of being in the world.”

By being less of a threat to the rest of the world we will lessen the threat to ourselves.

Richard S. Whiting, Auburn