Aug. 6 was the 79th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing an estimated 140,000 civilians. On Aug. 9, 1945, a second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, killing another 75,000. The United States is the only country that has used nuclear weapons on other nations. Most Americans don’t realize that the U.N. passed a treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons that went into effect in 2021, but the United States still hasn’t signed the treaty. The U.S. is now an outlaw nation.
There is no “tactical” use of nuclear weapons that wouldn’t kill thousands of civilians. Their use would be outside the rules of international law for armed conflict. Yet our weapons laboratories, like Lawrence Livermore in California, are seeking billions of dollars each year to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal, and make land, air, and sea-launched nuclear weapons ever more dangerous and therefore more — not less — likely to be used.
Most experts agree we could reduce our arsenal to 100 or fewer nuclear weapons and still maintain a reasonable deterrent. Let’s spend those billions on health care, housing and education instead of more weapons. Make America stronger by waging peace, not war.
