On May 27th, President
Barack Obama visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan, the first time a US
President has visited Hiroshima. He spoke of the horrors of war – of nuclear
weapons in particular – as he stood by the evidence of the destruction caused
by the relatively small weapons (by today's standards) used against Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. Back in April of 2009, in Prague, President Obama said, "As
the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a
moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we
can lead it, we can start it. So today, I state clearly and with conviction
America's commitment to seek the peace and security of a world without nuclear
weapons."
During President Obama’s visit, I
recalled my own visit to Hiroshima nearly 40 years ago. I was travelling with
my parents, who had been involved, along with two uncles, in the Manhattan
Project. Despite receiving honors, my father rarely spoke about his involvement
in the project that would produce the first nuclear weapons during World War II.
My mother often told of the moment of realization of the weapon they were
working on, and the horror of it, tempered only at the time by the sense of
necessity due to the war.
As we walked around the city and
visited the museum, my parents hardly spoke. Both were quite somber throughout
the day. It was clear to me that they felt a sense of responsibility. That
visit had quite an effect on me as well, even though I was not born until years
after the bombing. In 2006, I joined the board of the Los Angeles chapter of
Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR-LA), an organization dedicated to the
prevention of nuclear war.
There are over 15,000 nuclear
weapons in the world today; 94% of these are in the US and Russia. Currently,
the US plans to spend $348 billion over the next 10 years and a trillion
dollars over the next 30 years in order to “modernize” our nuclear weapons
systems. Russia has also been updating its arsenal, and has renounced the
"no first use" of nuclear weapons. We are into a new arms race.
We have avoided nuclear Armageddon
for 70 years; yet, there have been at least five events since 1979 when either
Moscow or Washington prepared to launch a nuclear war under the mistaken belief
that it was already under attack by the other side.
With today's expansive weapons and
arsenals, more people could be killed in hours than were killed during WWII.
Even a limited war involving only 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, less than 1% of
the world's nuclear arsenals, could have devastating effects on the climate,
could disrupt agriculture around the globe, causing a global famine that could
kill 2 billion people, and triggering further wars for control of resources. If
most of the weapons in the world's arsenals were used, a global ecological
collapse – a nuclear winter – would result.
Recognizing
the grave humanitarian consequences of nuclear war, the International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the World Medical Association
(WMA), the World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA), and the
International Council of Nurses (ICN), together representing 15 million health
professionals, have called for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons worldwide. One
hundred twenty-seven countries without nuclear weapons, supported by the
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and civil society, have signed
onto the "Humanitarian Pledge" legally prohibiting nuclear weapons.
During his visit to Hiroshima last
month, President Obama said, “We
may not be able to eliminate man’s capacity to do evil, so nations and the
alliances that we form must possess the means to defend ourselves. But among
those nations like my own that hold nuclear stockpiles, we must have the
courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them.”
As President Obama said, “Those who died, they are like us.
Ordinary people understand this, I think. They do not want more war. They would
rather that the wonders of science be focused on improving life and not
eliminating it. When the choices made by nations, when the choices made by
leaders, reflect this simple wisdom, then the lesson of Hiroshima is done.”
He spoke of the hibakusha (atomic bomb survivors), and acknowledged their
experience and contributions. He spoke of their efforts to turn their
experiences into messages of peace.
The world is a dangerous place.
Nuclear weapons do not make us safe. Instead, we are more at risk. It is an
existential risk for our species, and for all life on the planet. As President
Obama said, “The world was forever
changed here, but today the children of this city will go through their day in
peace. What a precious thing that is. It is worth protecting, and then
extending to every child. That is a future we can choose, a future in which
Hiroshima and Nagasaki are known not as the dawn of atomic warfare but as the
start of our own moral awakening.”
The United States cannot eliminate
nuclear weapons alone. But, we can lead. It is our moral duty as the only nation
to have ever used a nuclear weapon as an act of war. I know that is what my
parents would want, and why they felt the need to take me to visit Hiroshima - so
I could see the unparalleled destruction caused by these weapons, and
understand that they must never be used again.
