Hiroshima at 60 - A Critical Moment in History

From: NEWSRELEASEWIRE.COM
July 27,2005

Hiroshima at 60 - A Critical Moment in History
Douglas Mattern

August 6 marks the 60th anniversary of the nuclear nightmare that began when the City of Hiroshima and its inhabitants were instantly incinerated by an atomic bomb the makers named “Little Boy.” Three days later the City of Nagasaki was laid to waste with the second atomic bomb the makers named “Fat Man.” Strangle little names for two bombs that killed some 200,000 civilians.

The 60th anniversary is particularly ominous due to the failure of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference held at the United Nations during the month of May. The failure of governments to make progress toward reducing the nuclear danger at the NPT conference was inexcusable, if not criminal negligence. This failure, combined with the proliferation of nuclear weapons states, and the intention of the Bush Administration to develop and produce new nuclear weapons, has cast a dark nuclear shadow over the world community.

Most people understand the prospects of a terrorist organization acquiring a small nuclear device would be an apocalypse of its own, but the greater danger to the world community, virtually unknown among the general public, consists of 4,000 U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear warheads that are maintained on a hair-trigger alert. A recent study by the RAND think tank reports these weapons could be launched in a few minutes notice destroying both countries in an hour. Such a doomsday scenario could result from an accidental missile launch, computer error, miscalculation, or intent.

It's a sad and tragic commentary on our society, even our civilization, that the vast majority passively accepts the daily threat of nuclear incineration. This passivity continues even when the BBC reports that some scientists are worried that an asteroid passing close to our planet could be misinterpreted as a missile strike and initiate a nuclear exchange. This bizarre possibility is due to the hair-trigger alert policy, and it's utter madness.
Why, for example, that more than a decade after the Cold War thousands of strategic nuclear warheads are maintained on hair-trigger alert? What kind of unthinking irresponsible people have we elected to high office? And where is the public outrage to end this lunacy? If not a kind of unthinking madness, then perhaps Noam Chomsky
has it right: “People don't know what is happening, and they don't even know they don't know.”

It's time they learn the dreary facts, for unless change is achieved in the near future it is only matter of time before a nuclear exchange takes place somewhere on the globe that could rapidly get out of control and lead to a tsunami
of nuclear hell that engulfs us all.

This is why the 60th commemoration in Hiroshima of the first atomic bombing will be particularly somber. The ceremony will be held, as always, in the Peace Park, which is located at ground zero that forever changed human history. During the ceremony the bells of Hiroshima will toll for the victims in deep and haunting tones, and all present will feel that in some way they toll for all of us, that we are all the children of Hiroshima.

After the official ceremony in the park, long lines will form to visit the Memorial Museum that is located in the park. This museum, which contains photographs taken soon after the bomb exploded, is like no other. The museum also has models of the city before and after the bomb, plus other artifacts of that fateful day in history. The devastation is a searing reminder that nuclear weapons have a destructive capacity beyond our comprehension. It's even worse when we remember that the Hiroshima atomic bomb was small compared to today's hydrogen bombs.

The Memorial Museum provides proof that anyone who accepts or contemplates the use of nuclear weapons for any reason is history's biggest fool and most dangerous criminal. When I visited this museum several years ago my thought was that every general, every admiral, every politician who holds or aspires to high national office should be required to visit the museum and make their reaction public.

As evening descends on the city, thousands of people will proceed to the river adjoining the park. They will come to place lanterns in the river consisting of a lighted candle mounted on a wood platform covered with colored paper. Many will write the names of the victims on the paper as the symbolism is that their souls will be freed when the
lanterns reach the open sea.

APOCALYPSE SOON?
In a recent article published in Foreign Affairs entitled “Apocalypse Soon,” Robert McNamara recounts how during the Cuban missile crisis we came within a hairbreadth of nuclear war without knowing it, and that luck performed a role in averting catastrophe. We also know that over the years there have been many documented close calls to nuclear war by accident or confrontation, and that we had luck on our side.

Luck, however, does not endure; therefore, we cannot allow the madness to continue. We are, as McNamara states, at “a critical moment in history.” How will this moment be recorded? Will the present apathy lead to a radioactive valley of darkness, or will we finally muster the courage and wisdom to band together and force a dramatic change in policy, leading to the elimination of nuclear weapons and the liberation of humanity from the nuclear monster created in the fireball from hell at Hiroshima 60 years ago?

Douglas Mattern is president of the San Francisco based Association of World Citizens with branches in 30 countries.
(worldcit [at] best.com)
http://www.worldcitizens.org