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Sixty
years ago this August, the U.S. dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. It is imperative that we never forget what this meant, and that
we do everything we can to make sure it never happens again.
WAND invites
you to participate in marking this anniversary. Please review the resources
listed here, and get in touch with questions. Thank you.
Never
forget
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Hiroshima:
What was a city, flattened for miles. |
On
August 6, 1945, at 8:15am, Japanese time, a B-29 bomber flying at
high altitude dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
More than 4 square miles of the city were
instantly and completely devastated. 66,000 people were killed,
and 69,000 injured.
On August 9, at 11:02am, another B-29 dropped a bomb on
the industrial section of Nagasaki,
totally destroying 1-1/2 square miles of the city, killing
39,000 persons, and injuring 25,000 more. |
On
Nov. 7, 1995, the mayor of Nagasaki recalled his memory of
the attack in testimony to the International Court of Justice:
Nagasaki
became a city of death where not even the sound of insects
could be heard. After a while, countless men, women and children
began to gather for a drink of water at the banks of nearby
Urakami River, their hair and clothing scorched and their
burnt skin hanging off in sheets like rags. Begging for help
they died one after another in the water or in heaps on the
banks... Four months after the atomic bombing, 74,000 people
were dead, and 75,000 had suffered injuries, that is, two-thirds
of the city population had fallen victim to this calamity
that came upon Nagasaki like a preview of the Apocalypse. |
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The
Shadow Project
The Shadow Project is political art,
by the people, for the world. People all over the
world will make chalk shadows on the streets of our cities,
remembering the human shadows burnt into the streets of Hiroshima by nuclear bombs. |
We do this on the eve of Hiroshima
Day, August 6th, with the hope of preventing nuclear shadows from
ever being cast again.
The Shadow Project began in 1982 and was organized as an International
Shadow Project from Portland
in 1985 in 426 cities worldwide.
For the 60th Hiroshima Day commemoration in 2005, we want to again
go global with the International Shadow Project.
Create a Shadow Project in your city to raise public consciousness
and generate pressure for our leaders to examine nuclear dangers again.
Learn how at: www.ShadowProjectHome.org or by calling
Oregon PSR at 503-274-2720.
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New
Resource
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Anniversay Issue of Arms
Control Today
Arms
Control Association's editors and staff have assembled a special
issue of Arms Control Today. The 48-page issue includes:
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Six essays on the question "Is There a Role for Nuclear Weapons
Today?" from Mikhail Gorbachev; C. G. Weeranmantry, a former
vice president of the International Court of Justice, and others.
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A stirring article by Arjun Makhijani on the "Health Effects
of Nuclear Weapons Complexes."
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A photo essay on the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
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Plus news and analysis on the latest nuclear weapons developments.
Some
the articles listed above are available online at armscontrol.org.
For
orders of 25 or more, ACA is offering WAND members a reduced rate
of $1 each, plus shipping costs. (Standard cost per issue is $7.00.)
Orders of 60 or more include a one-year subscription. (That's a
$60.00 value.)
To
place your order, please contact Tiffany Bergin at 202-463-8270
x111 or send an email to tbergin@armscontrol.org
as soon as possible (supplies are limited). Along with a shipping
address and telephone number, please indicate how and to whom you
plan to distribute your copies of Arms Control Today. You will be
billed after you place your order. |
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A
comprehensive resource on the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Click here. This
report describes the effects of the atomic bombs which were dropped
on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It summarizes all the authentic information
that is available on damage to structures, injuries to personnel,
morale effect, etc., which can be released at this time without
prejudicing the security of the U.S.
This
report has been compiled by the Manhattan Engineer District of the
United States Army under the direction of Major General Leslie R.
Groves.
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Apocalypse
Soon
The Risk of inadvertent nuclear launch is unacceptably
high
by Robert S. McNamara | From Foreign Policy, May/June 2005
For
the full article, click
here.
Robert
McNamara is worried. He knows how close we’ve come. His counsel
helped the Kennedy administration avert nuclear catastrophe during
the Cuban Missile Crisis. Today, he believes the United States must
no longer rely on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy tool. To do
so is immoral, illegal, and dreadfully dangerous.
It
is time—well past time, in my view—for the United States
to cease its Cold War-style reliance on nuclear weapons as a foreign-policy
tool. At the risk of appearing simplistic and provocative, I would
characterize current U.S. nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal,
militarily unnecessary, and dreadfully dangerous.
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