Creating a World Free of Nuclear Weapons: A Speech for President Obama

This is a speech that President Obama might give to educate and
encourage American citizens to support him in seeking a world free of
nuclear weapons and to alert the world to America's new proactive
stance on nuclear disarmament.

My Fellow Citizens,

I want to talk with you about an issue of the utmost importance for
our common future and that of our children, grandchildren and
generations to follow us on our planet.

The issue is nuclear weapons and the threat they pose to all
humanity. As we learned more than six decades ago at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, a single nuclear weapon can destroy a city, and the nuclear
weapons today are far more powerful than those used in 1945. By
implication, a few nuclear weapons could destroy a country and a
nuclear war could end civilization as we know it.

We cannot rest comfortably or be complacent because nuclear weapons
have not been used in warfare for over 60 years. There have been far
too many accidents and miscalculations. We have come too close, too
often, to nuclear devastation.

The threat that these weapons will be used is ever present. Today
nine countries possess nuclear weapons. This number could grow
dramatically should we continue with business as usual. There is also
the threat of nuclear weapons falling into the hands of non-state
extremist groups, a threat that increases as nuclear weapons
proliferate.

Many countries today believe that the nuclear weapons states have
imposed a double standard on the world, and they are not content with
this. Some of these countries refer to the current global situation as
"nuclear apartheid." We all know that double standards promote
privilege for some, while creating resentment for many. Double
standards cannot hold.

It is for this reason, compounded by the extreme dangers inherent in
nuclear weapons, that the United States must lead the way to a world
free of nuclear weapons. There are three important reasons that I now
seek to assert this leadership. First, as long as nuclear weapons
exist, they will threaten the security of our country. Second, unless
we act now to control nuclear weapons and the material to create them,
nuclear weapons may end up in the hands of terrorists with dire
consequences. Third, we are the country that led the way into the
Nuclear Age, and - due to our economic and military power - we are also
the country that must lead the way out. In doing so, we would also be
asserting moral leadership.

Creating a nuclear weapons-free world will not be an easy task, but
it is a necessary one. I assure you that we will not disarm
unilaterally, nor without the ability to verify the disarmament of
other countries. We will proceed cautiously, but resolutely.

We have already begun negotiations with the Russians. Together our
two countries possess over 95 percent of the nuclear weapons on the
planet. Together we must take the lead in reductions. Our
negotiations have three goals. First, to remove our arsenals from
hair-trigger alert, making accidental launches far less likely.
Second, to extend the 1991 START I agreement, so as to maintain its
provisions for verification of reductions. Third, to reduce the number
of nuclear weapons that each side possesses to 1,000 or less over the
next two years.

These three steps will show the world that our two countries are
serious about achieving the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world, a
goal that all states party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty are
committed to under Article VI of the treaty.

Some of you will ask about the threats from nuclear-armed countries
such as North Korea, India, Pakistan and Israel. Others will ask about
the dangers of potential nuclear weapons states such as Iran and
Syria. My response to these concerns is that our country must lead the
way, and we must assure by persuasion and positive incentives that
these countries will follow our lead. In this, I believe that
President Reagan had it right when he said, "Trust, but verify." But
first, we must begin negotiations.

At the level of approximately 1,000 nuclear weapons each in the
arsenals of the United States and Russia, we would still have nuclear
forces that would not be challenged by any rational leader, and no
greater number would deter an irrational leader. When we reach 1,000
nuclear weapons each, it will be necessary to bring the other nuclear
weapons states into the process to initiate negotiations on a Nuclear
Weapons Convention, a treaty outlawing the possession of nuclear
weapons and providing for the phased, verifiable, irreversible and
transparent elimination of all nuclear weapons from the planet.

We are embarked on a great venture, one more critical and difficult
than putting a man on the moon. But we should take heart in the
capacity for greatness in the human spirit. If we are capable of
putting a man on the moon, as we did, we are also capable of
controlling and eliminating a technology capable of ending our human
presence on Earth. This is a problem that we must deal with now, and
not pass it on to future generations, while running the risk of
devastation in the interim.

My fellow citizens, this is an undertaking on which rests the future
of our country and our planet. We are embarked upon a path that will
free humanity from what President Kennedy called the "Sword of
Damocles" hanging over our heads. To do so is a shared responsibility
to each other and to the future generations that will follow us on
Earth. It is a task from which we cannot shirk if we are to be
responsible citizens of our country and our planet.

If we can succeed in eliminating nuclear weapons from our planet, we
just may be inspired by our achievement to do even more: to build a
future that is humane for all, in which poverty is eliminated, resource
use is sustainable, human rights are upheld and war is no longer a
means of settling disputes. Let us be bold and set our sights on what
has never before been achieved in the firm conviction that we can
create change on the fantastic journey of our lives that links us with
the past and stretches to the future. The elimination of nuclear
weapons will put aside one towering obstacle to assuring that there is
a future.