Lois Barber
- February 2013 - The stage is set. President Obama has spoken forcefully about the need for a world without nuclear weapons. The Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) of 2010 has concluded that the end of the Cold War has ushered in a new set of security requirements: a much reduced role for nuclear weapons, from a war fighting capacity to a solely deterrent capacity. The NPR Implementation Plan, which will spell out in detail what actions are to be taken to implement the strategy of the NPR, is expected in the spring of 2013. These all-important details are left by law to the President alone; no Congressional action is involved.
- Reducing our nuclear arsenal from the present 1,800 deployed weapons down to 300-400, the lowest of the three options recommended by the Pentagon, will increase our national security. (Three hundred Hiroshimas ought to be enough to deter any adversary, and would also be enough to bring about a "nuclear winter," destroying all earthly agriculture and causing worldwide starvation.)
- This is Obama’s opportunity to put his goals into action.
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- Urge the President to include the following in his Implementation Plan of our nation’s Nuclear Posture Review:
- 1. Reduce the number of nuclear weapons from the present 1,800 deployed
- weapons down to 300-400
- 2. Take all nuclear weapons off risky and destabilizing high-alert status
- 3. Declare a "no-first-use" policy for nuclear weapons
- In addition, urge the President to stand firm behind his nuclear disarmament agenda, and to use his Presidential prerogatives and powers to maximal effect in his struggle with Congressional nuclear hawks. Tell him you firmly oppose spending $185 billion on new nuclear weapons factories. It's a huge waste of money and undercuts our international credibility in opposing the nuclear policies of Iran and North Korea.
- Web: www.whitehouse.gov/contact
- Tel: 202 456-1111 (9:00 am to 5:00 pm)
- Fax: 202 456-2461
- Mail:
- President Barack Obama
- The White House
- 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
- Washington, DC 20500
- If you can, send a copy of your letter to your local newspaper as a letter-to-the-editor.
Photo Credit: Plants along vertical line, Muscat, Oman, 2008, Dan Soley, turtlephoto.org
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