Clegg Is Right: UK Doesn't Need Nukes

One of the hot issues in yesterday’s UK Prime Minister’s debate is over whether to replaceBritain’s Trident nuclear missile system. The fault lines on this issue have oddly unified Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Conservative leader David Cameron. Both support spending more than $100 billion on this project in order to fully replace the existing Trident program thereby ensuring its existence for the next half century. Upstart Nick Clegg of the Liberal Democrats on the other hand, has called for its cancellation, arguing that such a program is both inconsistent with President Obama’s calls to work toward eliminating nuclear weapons and is a colossal waste of moneythat could be better spent on equipping British ground forces – that are suffering severe equipment shortages after a decade of fighting two wars.