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Giving Peace a Chance
eileen fleming
On Arpil 5th, 2009, President Obama stood on the world stage amongst thousands of flag-waving Czechs and spoke of good humor, home town Chicago, the will of the people over tanks and guns, old conflicts, revolution, moral leadership as the most powerful weapon, iron curtains that fell and the state of 21st century nuclear weapons.
An excerpt:
…We are here today because enough people ignored the voices who told them that the world could not change. We're here today because of the courage of those who stood up and took risks to say that freedom is a right for all people, no matter what side of a wall they live on, and no matter what they look like. We are here today because the simple and principled pursuit of liberty and opportunity shamed those who relied on the power of tanks and arms to put down the will of a people…
Some argue that the spread of these weapons cannot be stopped, cannot be checked -– that we are destined to live in a world where more nations and more people possess the ultimate tools of destruction. Such fatalism is a deadly adversary, for if we believe that the spread of nuclear weapons is inevitable, then in some way we are admitting to ourselves that the use of nuclear weapons is inevitable…
As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act…It will take patience and persistence. But now we, too, must ignore the voices who tell us that the world cannot change. We have to insist, "Yes, we can."
Words must mean something… There is violence and injustice in our world that must be confronted. We must confront it by standing together as free nations, as free people. I know that a call to arms can stir the souls of men and women more than a call to lay them down. But that is why the voices for peace and progress must be raised together…
Human destiny will be what we make of it. Let us honor our past by reaching for a better future. Let us bridge our divisions, build upon our hopes, and accept our responsibility to leave this world more prosperous and more peaceful than we found it. Together we can do it.
President Obama has also called to:
"Immediately and aggressively" seek ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty, which he may not get. Signed by President Bill Clinton, it was rejected by the Senate in 1999. Overall, 140 nations have ratified the ban. But they include only 35 of the 44 states that possess nuclear technology, and the United States is the most prominent holdout.
Host a summit within the next year on nuclear weapons.
Undertake a new international effort to secure all vulnerable nuclear material worldwide within four years.
Try to strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty by providing more resources and authority for international inspections and mandating "real and immediate consequences" for countries that violate the treaty.
Pursue by the end of the year a new treaty with Russia to reduce the two nations' nuclear arsenals.
Seek a new international treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons.
Build a new framework for civil nuclear cooperation, including an international fuel bank, so countries can access peaceful power without increasing the risks of proliferation.
A little history:
Before and during the Cold War the United States conducted over a thousand nuclear tests, developed many long-range weapon delivery systems and still maintains an arsenal of about 5,500 warheads. Between 1945 and 1990, more than 70,000 total USA made warheads were developed, in over 65 different varieties. Between 1940 and 1996, the U.S. spent at least $5.8 trillion (in 1996 dollars) on nuclear weapons development. In addition to deploying weapons on American soil, during the Cold War the United States also stationed nuclear weapons in 27 foreign countries and territories, including Japan, during the military occupation after WWII.
What's been the cost to USA Taxpayers?
In 1998 the U.S. Nuclear Weapons Cost Study Project determined: "The bottom line: $5.5 trillion dollars. If future cleanup, stockpiling and dismantlement is included, that rises to $5.8 trillion. Even with the Cold War over, the United States is spending $35 billion a year—14 percent of the defense budget, or $96 million a day—on nuclear efforts of which about $25 billion goes for operation and maintenance of the nuclear arsenal. The rest is spent on cleanup; arms control verification, and ballistic missile defense research… this 'exceeded the combined total federal spending on education, training, employment, and social services; agriculture; natural resources and the environment; general science and space research; community and regional development (including disaster relief); law enforcement; and energy production and regulation.' [1]
“Any nation that year after year continues to raise the Defense budget while cutting social programs to the neediest is a nation approaching spiritual death.” - Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
On February 9, 2009, 89 year old Journalist Helen Thomas, asked President Obama if he knew of any Middle Eastern state with nukes. Everyone in the world, except for many Americans knows the answer is Israel. In fact, the State Department has published reams of material about President Kennedy's concern about the Israeli bomb.
"No government, not even the most democratic, can force us to live under this threat. No state in the world can offer any kind of security against this menace of a nuclear holocaust, or guarantee to prevent it… A state that lives in fear of destruction must not threaten the whole world with annihilation. Any country, which manufactures and stocks nuclear weapons, is first of all endangering its own citizens. This is why the citizens must confront their government and warn it that it has no right to expose them to this danger. Because, in effect, the citizens are being held hostage by their own government, just as if they have been hijacked and deprived of their freedom and threatened. when governments develop nuclear weapons without the consent of their citizens - and this is true in most cases - they are violating the basic rights of their citizens, the basic right not to live under constant threat of annihilation…Is any government qualified and authorized to produce such weapons?" Mordechai Vanunu, 1987, from Ashkelon prison.
In April 1999, thirty-six members of the House of Representatives signed a letter calling for Vanunu's release from prison because they believed "we have a duty to stand up for men and women like Mordechai Vanunu who dare to articulate a brighter vision for humanity."
President Clinton responded with a public statement expressing concern for Vanunu and the need for Israel and other non-parties to the Non-Proliferation Treaty to adhere to it and accept IAEA safeguards, and ever since the silence has been deafening, but hope resurrected in Prague.
"Words must mean something [and] violence and injustice must be confronted by standing together as free nations, as free people [and] Human destiny will be what we make of it."
The least a person of conscience can do is send a message of support to President Obama for daring to articulate a brighter vision for humanity.
And please, add a post script to FREE VANUNU NOW!
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Fax: (202) 456-2461
USA citizens: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
Eileen Fleming, is a feature columnist for The Palestine Telegraph and Arabisto, the Founder of: http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory". She produced "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu" because corporate media has been MIA all during a Freedom of Speech Trial in Israel.
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Only in Solidarity do "we have it in our power to begin the world again."-Tom Paine http://www.wearewideawake.org/
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