In light of the real possibility that terrorists could acquire and use nuclear weapons to kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people, never has the need to eliminate the threat posed by nuclear weapons been more urgent. Tragically, this sense of urgency was not shared by many delegates to thethird and final meeting of the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the NonProliferation Treaty (NPT). The meeting at the U.N. in New York ended May 7, 2004 in disarray, the delegates unable to agree even on an agenda and background documentation for the Review Conference. Acrimony and weak leadership characterized the PrepComm. Issues of substance concerning the future of nuclear weapons were lost in the procedural wrangling that dominated the final two days of the two-week meeting. This is the last of three reports on the meetings in 2002, 2003 and 2004, of the Preparatory Committee for the 2005 Review Conference of the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The first two reports, "The NPT: Crisis and Challenge" (2002) and "Ritualistic Facade" (2003), are available on Senator Roche's website (http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/droche)
