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Nuclear Deterrence vs. National Security, post by
Francine Dempsey CSJ
By mickielynn on 2018-10-10 08:15:59
[caption id="attachment_ 8419" align="alignright" width="480"] _
fig. A ied hc Hiroshima Peace Memorial, Around the
Cenotaph is a pool to keep the space vacant between the Cenotaph and the Dome., from Arch-Hiroshima.net[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_9104" align="alignleft" width"188"M mtiiio Cover of "Hiroshima"-by-john-
hersey-1946[/caption] At the annual August 6th reading of John Hersey’s Hiroshima in Townsend Park, I hear the atomic
bomb’s initial impact described by seven survivors: “a tremendous flash of light cut across the sky . . . .like a sheet of sun;
“whiter than anything .... ever seen;”’ “a giant photographic flash;” “a blinding light.’”’ Hersey adds that these atomic
bomb survivors went from the bomb’s light into darkness: a five-year old. buried by the bomb up to her breast, when dug
out by her mother, asks, “Why is it night already?” It took me a long time to recognize the darkness that has followed
Hiroshima. As a seven-year old I was excited over America’s winning World War II. War to me was a glorious victory that
confirmed my belief that God was on my country’s side. Over the years I accepted that dropping two atomic bombs on
Japan, though horrific, was necessary to end the war. When the Cold War came and nuclear attack threatened America, I
obeyed the nun’s command to crawl under my desk as protection. Who was dumber, the teacher or me? I can’t recall when
light shattered the blinding darkness my childish myths of Hiroshima and the emerging nuclear age, when I embraced the
fact that the only thing to say about nuclear weapons was, “No.” “No” not only to these weapons for any use, but also to
America’s policy of piling up nuclear weapons for the national security tactic of nuclear deterrence. Both are solid darkness.
The intertwined American national security policies of stockpiling nuclear weapons and nuclear deterrence flow, some
historians argue from their successful use to end World War II One day when I tuned in Turner Classic Movies to watch an
comforting old black and white movie, commercial free, I saw the title, “The Beginning of the End.” This I learned was a
1947 docudrama recording America’s production and explosion of the first atomic bomb. I knew the title meant literally that
the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought World War II to an end. But did they? Some argue false, some say
true. False or true, Ward Wilson argues, that claim became in America “the foundation myth of nuclear weapons’” stockpiles
and “nuclear deterrence“ policy (Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons.) Two arguments justify America’s policy of making
more and more nuclear weapons of “deterrence”: 1 - The possession of these weapons deters the start of a nuclear war
by an enemy nation; 2 - The possession of these weapons gives an attacked nation the power to defeat the nation that
attacked it. On the basis of these arguments, the American military with approval of Congress and the President plans, in
”
2 66
the name of nuclear deterrence and/or nuclear war victory, to spend $1.7 trillion to rebuild this country’s already abundant
nuclear arsenal over the next three decades. This plan will enrich weapon makers but not make America safer or move the
world closer to peace. Rather, the ever-increasing stockpiles around the world promise only nuclear destruction. That is why
In 2017 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Peace Prize to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons for its work on a new global treaty to prohibit nuclear arms. That is why In his message to the UN Conference on
the Treaty for Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons_in March 2017 Pope Francis offered wisdom when he said, “The principle
threats to peace and security with their many dimensions in the multi-polar war of the 215 century [are]. . . . Terrorism,
asymmetrical conflicts, cyber security, environmental problems, poverty.” He concluded, “Not a few doubts arise regarding
the inadequacy of nuclear deterrence as an effective response.” The UN has endorsed this campaign, asking its members to
ratify the treaty and destroy their nuclear weapons. Obviously, the United States has not signed on to this Campaign. On
August 6 each year the Christian liturgical year celebrates Jesus transfigured by the light of love: “This is my beloved son.”
On August 6 since 1945 the world remembers the bomb that transfigured the whole world into the Nuclear Age’s darkness.
[caption id="attachment_7256" align="alignnone" width="600"]
And the world changed,
artwork by Karen Kerney, tie dye & stencil on fabric , Poster from Syracuse Cultural Workers.
Inspired by Einstein's quote on the world's entry into the atomic age with U.S. bombing of Hiroshima, Japan on August 6,
1945 .[/caption] Is it possible for humanity to go from the Nuclear Age’s darkness of nuclear-deterrence to the transfiguring
light of de-nuclearization and nuclear disarmament, not just in the United States, Russia, Iran and North Korea, but
across the earth? Only if all nations agree to destroy all nuclear weapons. [caption id="attachment_11738"
align="alignnone" width="600"]
FROM A CULTURE OF VIOLENCE TO A CULTURE OF PEACE parent hecekened
i can sal be dell
through undersanding. ”
—Ralph Walle Emerson
: . 8 Antinuclear Exhibition-From
a Culture of Violence to a Culture of Peace-Toward a World Free From Nuclear Weapons[/caption]
