Thinking Forward to Hiroshima

Thinking Forward to Hiroshima As the 60th anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki make their way into history, we have seen the American press cover pundits who continue to justify the use of atomic weapons by the U.S. on civilians in August 1945.  We are told once again--as we were in our high school history courses--that dropping the bombs brought an abrupt conclusion to World War II and saved countless American lives.   Reasonable counter-arguments exist:  That Japan, after having had its cities firebombed to cinders, was on the brink of collapse in August 1945.  Or, after $2 billion in funding, the use of the bomb was required to justify its existence and expense.  Or, that the U.S. was determined to show the former Soviet Union and the world the extent of its new power in a post-war world.   However, this kind of debate obscures a greater concern on these particular anniversaries, which is the irrational nationalism and "might makes right" mentality that currently governs our country's thinking--a kind of thinking which so easily leads to the justification of death and suffering of the innocent.  What is the risk in stepping beyond our borders and considering a larger view?   The truth, obscured by the jingoism of a corporate-driven government and media, is that our shared humanity is more fundamental than the patriotic "us versus them" thinking created by those in power in nation states.  I have met survivors from Hiroshima and listened to their stories and been humbled by their grace and forgiveness, and energized by their determination to eradicate all nuclear weapons.  My brothers and and sisters are the people who live in my neighborhood and around the world, be they in Tehran, Hiroshima or Concord--not the power elite in Washington subsidizing U.S. defense contractors and the nuclear labs at Los Alamos and Livermore. The anniversaries of Hiroshima and Nagasaki provide us with an opportunity to examine our shared  humanity and to think about the kind of world we want to live in and leave to our children. We face the possibility of annihilation without representation on any given day:  In fifteen minutes, one man--President George Bush--can initiate a nuclear holocaust with the 10,000 nuclear weapons at his disposal.  What could be less democratic than putting the fate of the world in one person's hands?   We know that the Bush administration is enamored of nuclear weapons, and that they are a stated cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy.  In the last few years, U.S. nuclear policy has shifted to include the option of preemptive nuclear strikes on other nations, even non-nuclear states. Senators Sununu and Gregg recently voted for funding that could result in a new nuclear "bunker buster" weapon that could be used on targets in Iran or North Korea. Will we have pundits and politicians in the future saying that a tactical nuclear strike on Iran's suspected nuclear facilities was justified?  Will we in the U.S. breath a sickened sigh of relief that our children are not the ones dying from burns, starvation, and radiation sickness? Will we keep our fingers crossed that the fallout doesn't spin its way around the globe to our communities?  What is our responsibility, as citizens of the world and citizens of the most militarily dominant power in the world, to make the world safe for all human beings? These questions seem to me to be the real questions worth pondering on August 6th and 9th. Anne Miller is director of New Hampshire Peace Action.

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