Give Us a Plan for a Nuclear Weapon-Free World!
- by: Ploughshares Fund
- recipient: 2008 Presidential Candidates
As the presidential candidates strive to stake out positions of strength on national security, one thing must be crystal clear: The willingness to use nuclear weapons is not a measure of toughness or pragmatism; it’s immoral and reckless.
Using or threatening to use such weapons would only erode our security, not enhance it.
Debates between the candidates about when and under what circumstances they would consider using nuclear weapons ignore the critical reality of the twenty-first century: Nuclear weapons must never be used again!
Tell the 2008 presidential candidates that we need a President who will make a nuclear weapon-free world a top priority of the next administration!
Dear [Presidential Hopeful],
As we approach the end of a presidential administration whose policies and actions have weakened international norms and controls on the spread of nuclear weapons, we need a leader who understands that the time for nuclear threats and leaving the nuclear option "on the table" is long past. It's time for a dramatic change in U.S. nuclear policy.
I am hoping that you, as a candidate for President in 2008, will propose a creative plan to change U.S. nuclear policy, and put us on a path to a safer, more peaceful future.
You have a rare opportunity to take advantage of the new political opening for nuclear disarmament, set in motion earlier this year in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal by Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn, William Perry and George Schultz, calling for a world free of nuclear weapons.
It was bold action by world leaders forty years ago that produced the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), under which the U.S. is committed to pursue and achieve nuclear disarmament, and non-nuclear weapons states have promised to forswear the pursuit of nuclear weapons of their own. Although the treaty has kept proliferation at bay, U.S. proposals to build new nuclear weapons, along with nuclear developments by Iran and North Korea, have put the NPT system under severe stress. Strong U.S. leadership is urgently needed to restore the global consensus against the reliance on nuclear weapons, to prevent their acquisition by terrorists, and ultimately, to eliminate them as a threat to the world.
[Your comment here]
We cannot wait any longer to reduce these risks. Thank you for making the reduction and ultimate elimination of nuclear weapons a priority in your presidential campaign.
Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]
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