February 10, 2005
The United States removed the last of its nuclear weapons from Greece in spring 2001, according to a study released yesterday by the Natural Resources Defense Council (see GSN, April 18, 2002).
U.S. President Bill Clinton authorized the removal of 20 bombs in late 2000, the Associated Press reported. The removal makes Greece the first NATO member from which U.S. nuclear weapons have been completely withdrawn, the NRDC study says.
The U.S. Defense Department has not publicly confirmed the move, AP reported.
The United States removed some nuclear weapons from Turkey in 1991 and Italy in 1993, according to the study, but additional warheads remain in those countries.
“The trend seems clear: Nuclear burden-sharing in NATO, in as far as host country nuclear strike missions are concerned, is on a slow but steady decline toward ending altogether,” the study says (Robert Burns, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Feb. 9).
Published at https://www.nti.org/gsn/article/us-has-removed-all-nukes-from-greece-study-says/
