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(Continued
from page 1)
growth of doomsday
capability demands extraordinary actions of ordinary citizens;
-
there is catastrophic potential for harm
if nuclear weapons are used and almost certainly cause a retaliatory attack
;
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Mutual Assured Destruction
is the centerpiece of US nuclear weapons policy; nonviolent resistance
is a proven tool to bring about change in the face of intractable governmental
policy.
From John Burroughs, attorney
for the Western States Legal Foundation a group that monitors and challenges
US nuclear weapons programs, former NGO legal coordinator at the 1995 hearings
concerning the legality of the threat of use of nuclear weapons at the
International Court of Law in the Hague and author of The Legality of
Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons: A Guide to the Historic Opinion of the
International Court of Justice:
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the International Court of Justice (ICJ)
is the judicial branch of the United Nations of which the US is a charter
member;
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treaty-based and custom-based law are
part of US law under Article VI, section 2 of the US Constitution;
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the Hague and Geneva Conventions are treaties
to which the US is a party;
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the ICJ opinion on use of nuclear weapons
states a fundamental rule that States must "never use weapons that...
are incapable of distinguishing between military and civilian targets";
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W-76 warheads have
a yield of 100 kilotons, seven times the yield of Hiroshima bomb;
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the Nurenberg principle, established in
1946 at the Nurenberg trial of Nazi war criminals, state that "...all individuals
have international duties which transcend national obligations imposed
by an individual state," and that under this principle, all citizens, military
or civilian, are obligated to terminate their commission of, or complicity
with, acts connected to the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons in
violation of humanitarian and international law proscribing international
crimes.
From Bernie Meyer, defendant:
-
the work of Ernest Becker and others give
insight into "human nature" and the way violence (war and nuclear weapons)
fits into self-preservation and leaves the future of the human race in
a precarious position;
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retired military leaders and others state
nuclear weapons do not offer security;
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the American people have not faced the
implications of Hiroshima and are "numbed" by the devastating reality of
the destruction that was, and can be wrought again.
From Daniel Lichty, Ph.D, D.Min.,
ACSW:
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The mutual threat/violence interaction
entraps the participants in a vicious cycle of action and reaction driven
by the emotional perception of "enemy" as evil, in order to justify,
rationalize and perhaps even deny, the horrific acts of violence;
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threats of violence are self-fulfilling
prophecies;
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the cycle of threat/counter threat and
violence/counter violence to be broken, one party must accept a position
of perceived vulnerability;
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the US is a Super Power in search of an
enemy;
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the window of opportunity for breaking
the cycle of threat/ counter threat and violence/counter violence is now;
the only thing standing in the way is fear and inertia.
It is reasonable, therefore, to
assume a sense of urgency, to bring this information to the public
and in the process, perhaps end the escalation of threat to actual nuclear
war.
If you would like a copy of the
complete statements of the preceding, please send $3.00 in a self-addressed
envelope to GZ at 16159 Clear Creek Rd., Poulsbo,WA 98370.
Ì
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