Nuclear Free Olympia

author : Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace topic : Nuclear Free Zone | Olympia City Council

Project of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace

The U.S. victory in the cold war never ended the threat of nuclear holocaust. Our nuclear arsenal still includes 2,000 warheads on hair-trigger alert - ready to launch on 15 minutes notice -- each warhead has the power of 20 Hiroshimas. Russia has a similar number of trip-wire warheads aimed at us -- only their early warning system is deteriorating. Both nations register alarms daily, triggered by wildfires, satellite launchings and solar reflections off clouds or oceans.

The Olympia City Council is considering a proposal to declare Olympia a Nuclear Free Zone - in order to take a stand against the march toward nuclear war. This is not merely a symbolic measure; the proposal considered would outlaw all use of city money for such purposes -- including doing business with private contractors involved in nuclear weapons development or production. This would follow the cities unanimous endorsement of the Mayors for Peace campaign in February 2005, seeking total elimination of all nuclear weapons by the year 2020. Please contact the Olympia City Council to thank them for endorsing the Mayors for Peace resolution and considering the proposal to declare Olympia a Nuclear Free Zone. Please ask them to pass the "Nuke Free Olympia" proposal into law, and to adopt a version with teeth.

Olympia City Council, PO Box 1967, Olympia, WA 98507-1967

citycouncil@ci.olympia.wa.us

"I would characterize current U.S. nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous. The risk of an accidental or inadvertent nuclear launch is unacceptably high. Far from reducing these risks, the Bush administration has signaled that it is committed to keeping the U.S. Nuclear arsenal as a mainstay of its military power -- a commitment that is simultaneously eroding the international norms that have limited the spread of nuclear weapons and fissile materials for 50 years." - Robert McNamara, Apocalypse Soon, Foreign Affair May/June 2005

"The nuclear weapons labs, Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos, are currently designing, building and testing new nuclear weapons -- violating the letter and the law of the Complete Test Ban Treaty . . . " Dr. Helen Caldicott, Founder of Physicians For Social Responsibility. "I propose that we agree that outer space should be used only for peaceful purposes. We face a decisive moment in history in relation to this matter. . . . Should not outer space be dedicated to the peaceful uses of mankind and denied to the purposes of war?" President Eisenhower -- 1958

" . . . I would think that eventually we're going to have to have capabilities to take

things out in orbit,'' Gen. Michael Ryan -- August 2001

" . . . Every medium - air, land and sea -- has seen conflict. Space will be no different . . . this virtual certainty . . . will require superior space capabilities . . . " Report of the Commission to Assess United States National Security Space Management and Organization -- Donald Rumsfeld, Chairman, January 11, 2001

"Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny. Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future." Air Force General Lance Lord

Air force doctrine defines superiority as "freedom to attack as well as freedom from attack' in space.

For info contact Olympia Movement For Justice and Peace at http://www.omjp.org