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| | | published Tuesday, April 06, 2010 | 3599 Views :: 0 Comments | |  |
For immediate release April 6, 2010
Contacts: Ann Suellentrop,
913-271-7925, and Henry Stoever, 913-375-0045
Peace Advocates in
KC Blast Nuclear Posture Review as 'Lukewarm Compromise'
The
Obama administration today unveiled its Nuclear Posture Review (NPR),
which evaluates the role of nuclear weapons in U.S. defense and foreign
policy. PeaceWorks/Physicians for Social Responsibility-KC (PW/PSR-KC)
regrets that Obama’s NPR reinforces the nation's first-strike policy and
neglects the issue of removing our tactical nukes based in Europe. In
addition, for nations in defiance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT), Obama's NPR unfortunately
keeps the option of nuclear
strike in retaliation for aggression with a chemical or biological
weapon; a nuclear strike would kill manyinnocent noncombatants.
"PeaceWorks/PSR-KC
denounces the NPR as a lukewarm compromise with
Bush administration
appointees, including the National Nuclear Security Administration
(NNSA) Administrator and Under Secretary for Nuclear Security Tom
D’Agostino; Air Force General Kevin Chilton, commander of the U.S.
Strategic Command; and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates," says Ann
Suellentrop, a member of PSR-KC and a PeaceWorks, Kansas City, Board
member. "The Obama administration has clearly taken cues from its
predecessors."
"This nuclear posture review is nearsighted to a
fault, failing to acknowledge that the world demands drastic reductions
of nuclear weapons and their eventual elimination," says Henry Stoever,
Board Chair of PeaceWorks, Kansas City. "The NPR curries favor with
conservatives in the Senate to try to obtain a two-thirds vote for
ratification of the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START)."
PW/PSR-KC
believes Obama is forsaking the opportunity to chart a course for the
next five to ten years for real non-proliferation, namely, taking our
nuclear weapons down from alert status (de-alerting), encouraging
verifiable dismantlement, and phasing out Life Extension Programs
(LEPs), which have allowed for nuclear weapons with new military
capabilities, fueling a new arms race contrary to the NPT's original
intent. PW/PSR-KC is committed to the vision of a nuclear-weapons-free
world and opposes the recently approved plan for
a new Kansas City
Plant, an NNSA facility that procures and makes parts for nuclear
weapons. PW/PSR-KC believes that if Obama wants leadership, he should
look to the people who found new hope in his speech last April in
Prague, and in the international community that in December bestowed on
him the honor of a Nobel Peace Prize.
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