Obama at Hiroshima: Courage in Words, But
Not in Action
Posted
By Rick Wayman On June 3, 2016 @ 1:55 am In articles
2015 |
It takes
courage, in the cynical world of U.S. politics, to visit Hiroshima. Nearly 71
years after the United States used a nuclear weapon on that city, killing at
least 140,000 people, President Obama has become the first sitting U.S.
President to visit Hiroshima.
The White
House vociferously proclaimed that this was not going to be an apology for
President Truman’s decision in 1945 to use a nuclear weapon against a largely
civilian population. That decision aside, President Obama has plenty of his own
actions that he could have apologized for.
President
Obama had the opportunity to actually do something about eliminating nuclear
weapons. He not only did not take action, but he took us in the opposite
direction. Under plans designed and implemented by his administration, the U.S.
is creating new nuclear weapons and delivery systems that – if the Obama
administration gets its way – will still be in use in the 2080s.
This
“modernization” program is projected to cost $1 trillion over the next 30
years. The cost will likely be much higher in the end, as so many weapons
programs go wildly over budget. More concerning to me, though, is the message
that this sends to the rest of the world and the all-but-inevitable new nuclear
arms race that will follow.
The Obama
administration’s “modernization” program proposes a full overhaul of every
nuclear warhead in the stockpile. In many cases, the new warheads will have new
military capabilities, in direct violation of U.S. official policy. The B61-12
Life Extension Program, for example, will endow the B61 nuclear gravity bomb
with a variable explosive yield and will include a guided tailfin kit, making
it the world’s first “smart” nuclear gravity bomb.
The Obama
administration is pursuing a new generation of nuclear-armed submarines, new
nuclear bomber aircraft and new land-based Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles.
John McCain, the Republican Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
recently questioned the need for the U.S. to continue with this nuclear triad.
He said that it is “very, very, very expensive.” That’s three “verys” from a
person who for decades has been at the center of the political machine that
feeds the insatiable appetite of the military-industrial complex. So, we have
the Republican defense hawk and Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee
questioning the need for the nuclear triad, and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning
President fully on board with the trillion dollar trainwreck.
This
administration is also fully funding construction of a Uranium Processing
Facility in Tennessee, which will produce the highly-enriched uranium
secondaries that put the “H” in h-bomb. They also continue to seek ways to fund
a plan to produce up to 80 plutonium pits per year at Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico. At this time, there is no demonstrated need (even
under the wildly over-ambitious “modernization” programs) for either of these
capabilities. The nation’s two premier nuclear weapons laboratories, Los Alamos
as well as Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, are run by
for-profit entities that seek to maximize shareholder profit.
This is
the reality of U.S. nuclear weapons policy under President Obama.
The U.S.
Department of Justice is actively seeking to maneuver its way out of a lawsuit
filed by the Republic of the Marshall Islands, which seeks to enforce Article
VI of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Article VI calls for parties to
“pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation
of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament.”
It is
plain to see that the U.S. (and the world’s other eight nuclear-armed nations,
for that matter) is in breach of these obligations. Instead of arguing the case
on the merits, the U.S. is seeking dismissal of the lawsuit on technicalities.
Because the U.S. does not accept the jurisdiction of the International Court of
Justice, U.S. courts were the only option available for the Marshall Islands to
hold the U.S. accountable for its broken promises.
It is
tragic that President Obama squandered his visit to Hiroshima, and his entire
two terms as President, by failing to take any meaningful action to eliminate
nuclear weapons. There are significant efforts happening around the world led
by courageous non-nuclear nations and civil society organizations that will
undoubtedly bring the world closer to nuclear zero. The President had an
opportunity to create a legacy unlike any other in history. Instead, he has
continued the legacy like all the others.
Article
printed from www.counterpunch.org: http://www.counterpunch.org
URL
to article: http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/06/03/obama-at-hiroshima-courage-in-words-but-not-in-action/
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"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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