On Tuesday, October 31 at approximately 1 PM, a
delegation organized by Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility met in
Washington, D.C. with Justin Brower, Military Legislative Assistant to Rep. C.
A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, Second District of Maryland. Prior to the meeting, we
were informed that the Congressperson was blessed with a fifth grandchild named
Charles Albert.
Our four-person delegation presented six asks to
Brower. Max Obuszewski, of PSR, led the delegation and thanked Mr. Brower
for meeting with us. In response to Dr. Dick Humphrey informing him that
he is a retired Hopkins Hospital oncologist, Justin informed us that his father
is a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. As a constituent, Dr.
Humphrey, urged the aide to ask Rep. Ruppersberger to co-sponsor the Lieu
legislation, H.R. 669, which would prevent the First Use of Nuclear Weapons by
a President. Such authority should be with the Congress. Dick outlined the
horror of a nuclear attack and the need to eliminate nuclear weapons. He
explained little can be done medically after a nuclear attack, so the only
approach for the medical community is prevention.
He also spoke about the Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear
Weapons (ICAN), and indicated that PSR is an ICAN member group. He added that
the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize for 1985 to the International Physicians for the Prevention
of Nuclear War. PSR is also an IPPNW member organization..
The aide did recognize that Trump is
terrifying, but added what happens if there is a president “we” like. Of
course, the delegation wanted to place the First Strike decision in the hands
of Congress, regardless if the re-incarnation of Abraham Lincoln is elected
president. Justin did recognize that there are 65 co-sponsors to the
Lieu legislation.
Dick then urged his representative to support the Iran
agreement. We were informed that Dutch agrees with our position. Max
expressed his belief that the invasion of Iraq is probably the worst foreign
policy decision in U.S. history. Justin added, “yes, it was a foreign
policy disaster of epic proportions.”
We asked Brower to urge his boss to co-sponsor H.R. 4140,
designed to prohibit a president from going to war with North Korea without a
Congressional declaration of war, and to co-sponsor H. Con Res 81, which
would remove U.S. forces from the Saudi war on Yemen. The aide pledged
that he would take these asks to the congressperson. He added that the
congressperson did not believe that there would be a war with North Korea, as
the only option is diplomacy.
Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a Roman Catholic woman priest,
voiced her displeasure with the trillion dollar upgrade of the nuclear
arsenal. This is money desperately needed in Baltimore for repair of the
infrastructure and to provide for the other needs in a city with some 25 percent
of the people living in poverty. She offered an impassioned plea about
the dangers of possessing nuclear weapons. One of the issues raised was the
B61, a nuclear weapon which can be dialed up or down to increase or decrease
its payload. The Military Legislative Assistant talked about the wars in
Vietnam and Korea where the use of nuclear weapons was contemplated. He
added there was talk of a nuclear bazooka, and claimed that the U.S. does not
have tactical nuclear weapons, while Russia does. This must be re-visited
as it seems the B61 has been deployed. He also indicated that the
president gives the order to use nuclear weapons, and that the commanders in
the field have the discretion of how to use these bombs.
The aide claimed that Ruppersberger is not in favor of the
use of nuclear weapons. However, one could sense that the representative
believes in mutually assured destruction.
Janice also asked for Ruppersberger’s support of the United
Nations nuclear weapons ban. She also emphasized that military spending
is out of control to the detriment of social programs. Max added that the
Pentagon is contributing heavily to climate chaos. Brower said yes, as
the top threat for the Department of Defense [sic] is climate change. He
added that the Pentagon has never been audited. The size and ferocity of the
recent storms makes it very difficult to be prepared. If FEMA can’t
handle the situation after a major disaster, it can ask the DOD to send in
troops, which happened in Houston and Puerto Rico. He explained that this
is a protocol.
Justin informed us that the surge of troops that Trump sent
to Afghanistan was delayed because of climate chaos. I interpreted that
to mean that storms in the area delayed the troops. Dick instead
interpreted what the aide said was that the Pentagon had to use the troops, at
least temporarily, to deal with the crises in Houston and Puerto Rico. The
aide will be asked for a clarification.
Justin received a request from Janice about the amount of
tax dollars Loyola University-Baltimore receives to host a ROTC program. His
response was that he would do his best to gather such information, but that
there may not be a specific amount per school. Instead it may be a lump sum for
all collegiate ROTC programs. He emphasized that the spam filters in Congress
are jacked up. So if he doesn’t respond to an email, call him.
We agreed to stay in touch with him about our issues. Bernard
Brown, with the group Healthcare is a Human Right – Maryland, expressed concern
that the Republicans were getting vicious against the poor, especially
regarding healthcare. Brower explained his boss would be fighting to
protect and strengthen healthcare, and then quoted Tip O’Neill, former Speaker
of the House, talking about President Reagan: "He
has no concern, no regard, no care for the little man [sic] of America." .
Max indicated that Sr. Megan Rice of the Transform Now
Plowshares was unable to be with us as she was traveling. However, he showed
Justin a copy of ALMIGHTY, Dan Zak’s book, which tells the story of the
development of nuclear weapons and how the Transform Now Plowshares engaged in
a disarmament action at the Y-12 plant at Oak Ridge, TN.
One part of the book deals with her Uncle Walter, a Marine
who was sent to Nagasaki, whose life was changed by seeing the awful
destruction of that city. Through the rest of his long life, he was active with
groups such as Atomic Veterans and Radiation Survivors.
Dick quoted from page 73 of ALMIGHTY the answer Daniel
Ellsberg received from the Joint Chiefs of Staff when he asked how many global
fatalities would occur from a nuclear first strike against Russia and China: “TOP
SECRET Six hundred million.” He also showed Brower the book RAVEN ROCK by
Garrett M. Graff, which is about the inner
workings of this compound just miles from Camp David, where government
officials would be taken during a nuclear war. Presumably, those who started a
nuclear war would be saved, while those of us protesters would be dead or taken
into custody.
After a photo-op with Justin Brower, Max asked the
receptionist about her college experience. She graduated from the
University of Maryland in May 2017. Because her parents paid for her
college education, she was able to accept an unpaid internship with the office
of Representative Ruppersberger. Unfortunately, many students are
carrying some serious college debt, and others can’t afford to go to
college. But our government is willing to waste at least a trillion
dollars on refurbishing a nuclear arsenal which can’t ever be used. When
will the elected members of Congress come to their senses and fund what needs
to be funded, and de-fund military appropriations?
The notes were compiled by Max Obuszewski.
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"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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