Aug. 6 is a date that reminds us of a horrible chapter in human history. On that day 60 years ago, the U.S. launched atomic warfare when we dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima, Japan almost immediately killing an estimated 80,000 civilians and tens of thousands more who died horrible deaths within a few years due to the radiation poisoning they experienced. On Aug. 9, 1945, we dropped a second nuclear bomb, this time on Nagasaki, killing tens of thousands more.

Reflecting on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I wonder, have we learned the right lessons? We learned that nuclear weapons kill large numbers of innocent civilians, but so do so-called conventional weapons. Perhaps what we should have learned is that war is not the answer and that the world needs alternatives for solving crises.

Unfortunately, the lesson the U.S. and a few other countries took away from Hiroshima and Nagasaki was that more nuclear weapons were needed. Once the atomic genie was unleashed, nuclear proliferation became the name of the game. Talk about your overkill — the United States eventually manufactured and deployed more than 70,000 nuclear weapons! Might, not diplomacy, was "in."

By the early 1960s, five nations had nuclear weapons, with the Soviet Union and the U.S. armed to the teeth and following the policy of mutual assured destruction — or MAD. The leaders of these countries were indeed mad! Commenting on this situation, Army General Omar Bradley, the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about killing than we know about living."

Stephen Schwartz of The Brookings Institute reported the U.S. spent more than $5.5 trillion (in 1996 dollars) on nuclear weapons, a large portion of the $18.7 trillion spent on the military between 1940 and 1996. And add in a few trillion dollars more since then. Contrast these amounts with the paltry sums for preventing violence and supporting agencies working on international cooperation. Moreover, in 1953 President Eisenhower reminded us of the other cost of these huge weapons expenditures when he said: "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

Has all this money spent on nuclear weapons and the military brought us peace and security? Or has it simply improved the killing capability of our military and enriched the merchants of death, the Congressional-military-industrial complex, at the expense of our people and worldwide peace and security? A look at the past 60 years shows that our huge and bloated nuclear-armed military has brought neither security here at home nor peace throughout the world. In fact, it appears that the U.S., by having such a powerful military, tends to turn to it first instead of trying to solve problems diplomatically.

Our illegal attack on Iraq is the latest horrible example of our reliance on military might instead of diplomacy. The evidence is now overwhelming that the Bush administration was intent on removing Saddam Hussein and would not countenance any diplomatic resolution.

And who again has paid the price for our resorting to our military? Innocent Iraqis who have been killed, wounded, or tortured and who have had their homes destroyed and the quality of their lives reduced even further are the major casualties. The U.S. military and family members have also paid a horrendous price.

The image of the United States has further been damaged by this wanton and illegal violence against an essentially defenseless nation. And people around the world wonder why the American people remain silent and allow the U.S. occupation of Iraq to continue. Our complicity in this illegal and immoral action is appalling. Unfortunately, a quote from Seneca the Younger from almost 2000 years ago still seems to apply: We are mad not only individually but nationally. We check manslaughter and isolated murders, but what of war and the much-vaunted crime of slaughtering whole peoples?

Ron Forthofer, a Longmont resident, is a former Green Party candidate for Colorado governor.

© 2005 The Daily Camera

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