Does ABC See America As Just Another Dangerous Rogue Regime?

The ABC News web site currently features a dramatic picture of a nuclear bomb blast (a cropped version of which appears at right) along with a story blurb that matches Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim that the U.S. is hypocritical to seek to prevent nations like Iran and North Korea from getting the bomb while we still preserve our nuclear arsenal.

The headline: "You Can't Build Nukes. But We Can" followed by this short story tease: "A decision has been made to update and redesign America's aging stockpile of nuclear weapons, even as the U.S. demands that Iran and North Korea not build up their own arsenals."

When you click on the actual AP report, written by Scott Lindlaw, readers see a much more neutral headline, "Bush Administration Picks Lawrence Livermore Warhead Design," and the story mainly focuses on the technical reasons for updating the country's nuclear technology. Deep in the story, however, Lindlaw cited critics who thought the U.S. was sending the "wrong signal" to the world's rogue regimes.

An excerpt:

The government spends billions of dollars each year tending to its aging stockpile. The administration has dubbed the program to design a safer and more effective warhead the Reliable Replacement Warhead.

Critics fear the project could send the wrong signal to the world at a time when the United States and its allies are trying to curb the spread of nuclear technology.

The announcement comes at a time when the administration is engaged in delicate disarmament negotiations with North Korea, which reportedly possesses several nuclear weapons, and Iran, which the administration fears wants them.

Iran recently called on the United States to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

Opponents of the program also question whether a next-generation bomb can improve reliability and safety if it cannot be tested. Congress has financed the research on the condition that the redesigned weapon reduce the need for testing.

Does anyone at ABC, or the AP for that matter, really think that America's nuclear arsenal, which hasn't been used since 1945, is as dangerous as nukes in the hands of Iran's ayatollahs or the unstable Kim Jong-Il? If so, they really haven't been paying attention for the past 60 years.