“Today, I state clearly and with conviction America’s commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.” ~ President Barack Obama, Prague, April 5, 2009

August 6, 2009
Dear friends,

At 8:15 this morning a moment of silence was observed around the world in commemoration of the 64th year since the US bombed Hiroshima and later Nagasaki.  The atom bombs we dropped in Japan ushered us into a new age of warfare where large scale destruction was not only possible, it was real.  And it has remained an imminent threat.  Many organizations and individuals have been working to rid the world of nuclear weapons since the realities unfolded in the 1940’s.  And today for the first time in ten years, the Senate is again considering ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which failed to pass in 1999 because of fears that, without testing, we could neither maintain reliable weapons nor guarantee the compliance of other nations.  Further, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, originally signed in 1982, and including nuclear weapons, will expire in December of this year, and talks are ongoing to negotiate a renewal and expansion of this treaty.  Recent rejections of funding for the Reliable Replacement Warhead is another sign of hope.
Clearly, we are poised to move closer to a world without nuclear weapons.  But closer is not there.  The Quinnipiac University in CA recently polled US voters and found that 61% believe the US was right in bombing Japan at the end of WWII – only one in five believe it was a mistake.  Support is weaker but not low among young voters, women, minorities and Democrats.  Even given this, A University of Maryland poll found that 84 percent of Americans supported the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty’s requirement for total nuclear disarmament.  We cannot remove the threat of nuclear war as long as post 9/11 fears spur the development of new weapons – including nuclear ones.  And we cannot keep doing what we tell other countries they cannot do and expect a secure and peaceful world.  As the Quinnipiac poll suggests, we will feel justified in using what is in our arsenal to respond to the threats we perceive around the world.  In remembrance of those over 200 thousand who died 64 years ago this month at the hands of the world’s first nuclear bomb and the hundreds of thousands who died later and continued to suffer, let us educate ourselves about the issue and talk with our representatives.  Friends Committee on National Legislation has some good background information and resources at www.fcnl.org/nuclear http://www.fcnl.org/nuclear . Fold a crane, send it in a letter, engage in conversation and ask that we honor the memory of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by making real progress to the day when we can say for certain, never again.