] Weapons scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory said
] Tuesday that they had built a plutonium pit for a W-88
] warhead for a Trident nuclear missile. The production
] took eight years and ultimately will cost $1.5 billion
] when the pit is fully certified by the Energy Department
] in 2007, Los Alamos officials said.
]
] "It is a sign that after a long period of decline, the
] weapons complex is back and growing," said Jon Wolfsthal,
] deputy director of the Carnegie Endowment for
] International Peace and a former Energy Department
] weapons expert. "To the average U.S. citizen, it would be
] accurate to say we have restarted the production of
] nuclear weapons.

And we need them why?