CITIZEN ALERT v1.8HIROSHIMA DAY TOMORROW

August 6th began in a bright, clear, summer morning. About seven o'clock, there was an air raid alarm which we had heard almost every day and a few planes appeared over the city. No one paid any attention and at about eight o'clock, the all-clear was sounded.

Suddenly--the time is approximately 8:14--the whole valley is filled by a garish light which resembles the magnesium light used in photography, and I am conscious of a wave of heat. I jump to the window to find out the cause of this remarkable phenomenon, but I see nothing more than that brilliant yellow light. ..

This is how Father John A. Siemes describes the morning of August 6th, 1945 in Hiroshima, Japan. The United States of America has just dropped an atomic bomb. Sunday will mark the 61st anniversary of Hiroshima and several protests are planned around the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Los Alamos with quite a few aimed at the Bechtel Corp. one of America's top war profiteers.

Nuclear weapons have drawn a lot of attention in the past several weeks between missile launches in North Korea to the on going problems with Iran wanting to further their own nuclear programs. Our government and other nations do not feel safe with N. Korea and Iran having nuclear weapons but how safe is the rest of the world from us.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was supposed to keep the smaller countries from acquiring nuclear weapons if the bigger countries reduced their arsenals. So far, this has not been working out. Even though Russia has 58% fewer ICBMS, the US arsenal is still some where around a staggering 8000-10,000 nuclear weapons. Rumsfeld, as reported by the FAS, is a BIG BIG fan of the low yield nuclear weapons known as bunker busters which the Bush administration would like to see added to our arsenal. On top of that, there are two labs vying for the contract to rearm our nuclear arsenal with up to date warheads with next-generation delivery systems. Does this sound like we're getting ready to dismantle our nuclear arsenal to you?

During the Cold War the fact that both the Soviets and America had such huge arsenals gave the world peace through stalemate. Mutual assured destruction (MAD) kept the world intact. No one had first strike capability. Now, with Russia’s arsenal in decline, and their submarine patrols down to 2 a year from 60 in 1990, they are no longer a major threat. We turn to China.

Reports have China’s arsenal consisting of 18-20 nuclear missiles standing in silos with the warheads stored off site. Because the fuel corrodes the missiles after 24 hours they stand empty and need a two hour window for fueling. Nothing first strike about that. Keir Lieber and Daryl Press in the March/April issue of Foreign Affairs write that the odds are slim “that Beijing will acquire a survivable nuclear deterrent in the next decade”.

The U.S. has upgraded the missiles on its submarine fleet in the Pacific knowing the low radar capability in east Asia leaves Russia and China with a blindspot. They wouldn’t know what hit them until they saw the mushroom cloud. Quietly, the United States has unbalanced the stalemate in the nuclear stand off. The only country to use an atomic bomb during wartime now has acquired first strike capabilities. And you wonder why everyone’s nervous.

What do you do if you’re Russia and China? Your economies are such that you can not catch up with the U.S. so the next best thing is a distraction. Iran, N. Korea, and this today from the AP:

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has imposed sanctions against seven companies from India, Russia, North Korea, and Cuba after accusing them of business dealings with Iran involving sensitive technology, the government said yesterday.

The seven businesses were found to be in violation of the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000.

This is the political landscape Bush has created for himself to preside over. The world feels it must literally hold a gun to our heads in order for us to listen.

So, on Sunday let's try to remember that the world is as violent as the violence that you contribute to it. In order for America to feel safe, we must make sure that the rest of the world feels as safe. That's what everyone really wants anyway, not our so called freedom, or our so called democracy, but our assurance.