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| 2002/02/15 |
| Protest against subcritical
nuclear tests conducted by America and the UK |
His Excellency George W. Bush
The President
The United States of America
On February 14, the United States collaborated with
the United Kingdom to conduct its 16th subcritical
nuclear test at the underground test site in Nevada.
With the rest of the world working hard to prevent
the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to abolish
all such weapons as soon as possible, your subcritical
nuclear testing and your apparent determination to
cling to nuclear weapons on into the 21st century
amount to a betrayal of the atomic bomb survivors
and the vast majority around the world who want nothing
more than the elimination of such weapons. Your unilateral
abrogation of the ABM treaty and your failure to attend
the Conference on Facilitating the Entry into Force
of the CTBT show your disdain for these important
international efforts, and we are outraged by these
and the many other ways in which the US has obstructed
nuclear disarmament.
We had hoped that the cruel tragedies wrought by the
dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
had taught the human race a valuable lesson. However,
confronted by the fact that the United States and
the United Kingdom have chosen at this delicate time
to conduct a joint subcritical nuclear test, we cannot
escape the feeling that we are doomed to repeat the
horrors of the nuclear explosion that took place nearly
60 years ago. Your actions are profoundly harmful
to the worldwide system for controlling nuclear weapons
and to the process of nuclear disarmament. We are
gravely concerned that you are provoking nuclear proliferation
and, on behalf of the 514 cities in 103 countries
and regions belonging to the Mayors for Peace, We
vehemently protest.
The United States claims that its subcritical tests
are required to ensure the reliability and safety
of nuclear weapons and do not violate the CTBT because
they involve no nuclear explosions. However, we have
reason to believe that the tests are linked to the
development of new nuclear weapons, and they certainly
violate the spirit of the CTBT. The United States
must begin listening conscientiously to the international
community calling desperately for the abolition of
nuclear weapons. You are obligated to work in good
faith to implement your promise of an “unequivocal
undertaking by the nuclear weapon states to accomplish
the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals”,
adopted at the NPT Review Conference. On these
grounds, we demand that you immediately halt all nuclear
testing, including subcritical testing, and begin
working sincerely to build a new world order free
from nuclear weapons.
February 15, 2002
Mayors for Peace
| Tadatoshi Akiba |
President |
Mayor of Hiroshima |
| Iccho Itoh |
Vice President |
Mayor of Nagasaki |
| Alberto Botta |
Vice President |
Mayor of Como |
| Herbert Schmalstieg |
Vice President |
Mayor of Hannover |
| Catherine Margate |
Vice President |
Mayor of Malakoff |
| Roy Walters |
Vice President |
Mayor of Manchester |
| Jaime R. Fresnedi |
Vice President |
Mayor of Muntinlupa |
| Yuri Chekhov |
Vice President |
Mayor of Volgograd |
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The Right Honorable
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair
Prime Minister
The United Kingdom
On February 14, the United Kingdom collaborated with the United
States to carry out a subcritical nuclear test at the American
underground test site in Nevada.
We are extremely disappointed to learn that the UK participated
in this nuclear test, disregarding efforts by the rest of
the world to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons
and abolish all such weapons as soon as possible, and despite
the visit of the president of the Mayors for Peace,
our organization, to the UK last fall during which he requested
directly, on behalf of it, that you work toward nuclear abolition.
Your subcritical nuclear testing and your apparent determination
to continue possessing nuclear weapons on into the 21st century
amount to a betrayal of the atomic bomb survivors and people
around the world who want nothing more than the elimination
of such weapons.
We had hoped that the cruel tragedies wrought by the dropping
of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had taught the human
race a valuable lesson. However, confronted by the fact that
the United States and the United Kingdom have chosen at this
delicate time to conduct a joint subcritical nuclear test,
We cannot escape the feeling that we are doomed to repeat
the horrors of the nuclear explosions that took place nearly
60 years ago. Your actions are profoundly harmful to the worldwide
system for controlling nuclear weapons and to the process
of nuclear disarmament. We are gravely concerned that you
are provoking nuclear proliferation and, on behalf of the
514 cities in 103 countries and regions belonging to the Mayors
for Peace, We vehemently protest.
We have reason to believe that the subcritical tests are linked
to the development of new nuclear weapons, and they certainly
violate the spirit of the CTBT. The United Kingdom must begin
listening conscientiously to the international community calling
desperately for the abolition of nuclear weapons. You are
obligated to work in good faith to implement your promise
of an “unequivocal undertaking by the nuclear weapon
states to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear
arsenals,” adopted at the NPT Review Conference. On these
grounds, we demand that you immediately halt all nuclear testing,
including subcritical testing, and begin working sincerely
to build a new world order free from nuclear weapons.
February 15, 2002
Mayors for Peace
| Tadatoshi Akiba |
President |
Mayor of Hiroshima |
| Iccho Itoh |
President |
Mayor of Nagasaki |
| Alberto Botta |
Vice President |
Mayor of Como |
| Herbert Schmalstieg |
Vice President |
Mayor of Hannover |
| Catherine Margate |
Vice President |
Mayor of Malakoff |
| Roy Walters |
Vice President |
Mayor of Manchester |
| Jaime R. Fresnedi |
Vice President |
Mayor of Muntinlupa |
| Yuri Chekhov |
Vice President |
Mayor of Volgograd |
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