The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States of America

Letter of Protest

The United States conducted its 19th underground sub-critical nuclear test in Nevada on September 26.

Even with the international community dreading the possibility of an American attack on Iraq and the potential use of nuclear weapons, the U.S. has followed up August’s sub-critical test with another this month. We are outraged by this affront to the atomic bomb survivors and all others around the world who seek the abolition of nuclear weapons. On behalf of the Mayors for Peace, which has a membership of 532 cities in 105 nations and regions, we vehemently protest these repeated acts of violence.

Members of the Mayors for Peace deeply fear that broad U.S. hinting at a military attack on Iraq that might even include nuclear weapons will only entrench the cycle of revenge that grips the world and further promulgate the logic of power. The National Security Strategy Report issued by the U.S. this month attempts to use self-defense to justify preemptive attacks and display its power and military might to force the world to accept a Pax Americana. We can only shudder at a U.S.-led headlong rush down the path toward human annihilation.

Just as the U.S. fears nuclear proliferation to other countries and terrorist organizations, the international community fears the vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons possessed by the U.S. and its continued development of new weapons. Preventing nuclear proliferation requires cooperation and mutual monitoring within the international community, best facilitated by prompt effectuation of the CTBT and conclusion of the Fissile Material Cut-Off Treaty. The U.S. must do its part by ratifying the CTBT as soon as possible and by ceasing all forms of nuclear testing. We further urge the U.S. to fulfill the “unequivocal undertaking” to eliminate its nuclear arsenal promised as a nuclear-weapon state in the final document adopted by the NPT Review Conference, and to do everything it its power to make the 21st a peaceful century free of nuclear weapons.

The Conference of Mayors for Peace