Congratulations to Ground Zero and all the other peace groups who make up ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, on having just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. There is some hope in this crazy world!
I originally wrote the following article on May 11, 2008. Not much has changed since then — except the military has requested many billions more dollars to “upgrade” those old bombs stored just down the road with even more deadly new ones. Oh, and President Trump in his recent risky rhetoric to the UN has brought us one step closer to the unimaginable.
What can one do? Wake Up! Stand with Ground Zero and like-minded organizations. Its critical to speak out now!
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On May 10th I stood vigil in front of Bangor Gate with the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action. The Sunday before I stood up in Cedars Unitarian Universalist Church and asked for support for my action. The dialog which unfolded during the coffee hour which followed amazed me.
First a man stepped up and suggested that the weapons would never be used and that it was “just a game which countries with nuclear weapons play.” I responded: “That’s a cruel and horrible game to play when we need those funds to provide health care, education and food for children.”
Next a man who works at Bangor strode over and in an angry voice chided me for what I was doing. Then he said “It’s a total waste of time and only makes people late for work.” I said: “I understand your anger but I have to stand on the opposite side of the fence from you on this issue.”
Next a couple new to our area came over to talk. They were appalled at what I had said: They didn’t know anything about the nuclear weapons stored just fifteen miles down the road.
I explained that the many subs at Bangor Submarine Base — how many I’m not quite sure — each carry 24 Trident D-5 missiles. And each of those 24 missiles can carry up to 3,640 kilotons of nuclear explosives. The Natural Resources Defense Council declared in November 2006 that the 2,364 nuclear warheads stored at Bangor are about 24 percent of the entire U.S. arsenal – the single largest stockpile of nuclear warheads in the U.S.
I admitted that I did not know what a kiloton was but I did know that the bombs which were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only 15 kilotons each. In Hiroshima 40,000 persons died instantly and by the end of 1945 another 100,000 had died of related causes.
It’s estimated that the total dead now stands at 242,437 from just that one 15-kiloton bomb — approximately the same number of souls that live here in Kitsap County! That comparison haunts me. How about you?
Obviously there are wildly diverse points of view about this contentious subject — even in my own church which many consider very liberal. If you are reading this letter I hope you will ask yourself why do we need all those nuclear weapons? We have to find better ways to settle our disagreements. A nuclear war will destroy us all!
Donna J. Moore moved to Bainbridge Island in 1976. She is a retired federal employee having worked for various agencies including the U.S. Department of State where she served as personnel officer at several embassies. She is presently writing a memoir about her 85 years on earth and hopes to have time to finish it.
