Editor,
Currently, the United States and Israel have attacked Iran and there is a war in the Middle East involving over 18 countries. Both the United States and Israel have nuclear weapons. And now Russia, another nuclear-armed nation, is providing intelligence to Iran. How easily such a conflagration could spiral out of control with nuclear weapons being used, either intentionally or accidentally.
But are nuclear weapons a local issue?
Volunteers with Back from the Brink, a U.S.-based grassroots coalition working to rid the world of nuclear weapons, say that they are.
They are because, as the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have demonstrated, these weapons present a terrible and persistent threat to human life and health.
They’re also a local issue for people who live and work at or near nuclear weapons labs like the Livermore Lab, who have elevated cancer rates.
And they’re a local issue from a fiscal perspective. The United States spends over $110 billion a year on maintenance and upgrades for its nuclear arsenal — money that could go to health care, housing, education and more.
If these issues concern you, please go to the BftB website, preventnuclearwar.org. BftB has a sign-on letter for local elected officials to send to our congressional representatives urging them to support H. Res. 317 and S. Res. 323 as a way of reducing the growing threat of nuclear war.
Nuclear weapons are a local issue, and we can act now to create a safer and healthier world without them.
Lisa Evens
Redwood City
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(2) comments
Thanks for your letter, Ms. Evens, but how do these resolutions affect the nuclear capability of other nations? Nuclear weapons are a global issue and until you can get the world on the same page, there won’t be a safer and healthier world. To wit, Iran’s push to enrich fuel for nuclear weapons. I guess it’s a great thing the U.S. and Israel is preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. And with no legislation needed. Peace through strength is a much better policy than a world without nuclear weapons since the technology and the means is out there.
Unfortunately having nuclear weapons isn't a choice - it a matter of survival. But for the US having nuclear weapons the world order would fail colapse.
ED
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