Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said Japan -- a staunch U.S. ally -- stood by its decision to back the war because Iraq still posed a threat because it had previously been developingsuchweapons and it was not clear whether it had abandoned those programs.
Unfortunately, the evidence strongly suggests that suchdeveloping nations are deciding to become nuclear weapons states for reasons that have nothing to do with the status of the U.S. testing program.
The UNODA estimates that by the 1970s and '80s, 25 states were developing chemical weapons capabilities, and that since the end of the First World War, such munitions have caused more than 1 million casualties globally.
The change would have exposed industry to huge new liabilities, and the move was rescinded when members of Congress complained that any such shift would lead companies to either charge the government more money up front for developingweapons or simply not bid at all.
"Every dollar spent inefficiently in developing and procuring weapons systems is less money available for many other internal and external budget priorities, " such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, the report said.