Peace Prize Winner: "We Are in a Race Against Time"

U.N. nuclear inspector Mohammad ElBaradei told the world in his acceptance speech today that it needed to get rid of all nuclear weapons.

From CNN.com:

ElBaradei also said it was baffling that nuclear powers remained on "hair-trigger alert," ready to destroy other nations in minutes, so many years after the end of the Cold War caused many to hope the balance of terror would end.

"A good place to start would be for the nuclear weapons states to reduce the strategic role given to these weapons," he said. "Today, eight or nine countries continue to possess nuclear weapons. We still have 27,000 warheads in existence. To me, this is 27,000 too many."

I support efforts to prevent "rogue" states from obtaining or producing nuclear weapons. But I also feel that it is important that other countries, including the United States, set a timetable for eliminating their nuclear weapons. I think our efforts to stop nuclear proliferation will be more effective if we can demonstrate that we are abandoning our own nuclear weapons program. (Then again, I'm a wuss.)