June 25, 2001
U.S. Mayors Ask Bush to Commit to Eliminating Nuclear Weapons
DETROIT: As President Bush addressed the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Detroit today, a statement from mayors of major cities in the U. S. and abroad was released, calling on him to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons “with all deliberate speed,” and “to declare your firm commitment to the task of eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.”
In addition, minutes before the President’s arrival to address them today, the plenary meeting of the U. S. Mayor’s Conference reaffirmed from the floor its policy in favor of eliminating nuclear weapons.
The mayors’ interest in nuclear policy is significant in light of the Bush administration considering a proposal for deep cuts in U.S. arsenals down to 1000 warheads, the upcoming nuclear posture review, and the White House’s interest in framing a new post-Cold War nuclear policy.
The mayors are concerned about the fact that the two most plausible nuclear threats against the U. S. today, a terrorist attack or an accidental launch of Russian nuclear missiles, would be targeted to U. S. cities.
The possibility of a terrorist strike via boat or truck bomb or other form would not be mitigated by the Bush administration’s proposed national missile defense. An accidental launch in which Russia’s deteriorating early warning systems mistake a weather rocket or meteor for a ballistic missile, triggering a mistaken retaliatory strike, cannot be deterred by maintaining U. S. nuclear arsenals. In fact, they can only be prevented by nuclear disarmament and elimination of fissile material that might fall into terrorist hands.
According to such nuclear security experts as Ambassador Richard Butler, the former chief arms inspector in Iraq, the global, verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons is the only safeguard we have against the nuclear threat to U. S. cities. Russian command and control systems have deteriorated further and the danger of accidental launches has grown accordingly since the last documented close brush with a mistaken nuclear strike by Russia against the U.S. in 1995. Meanwhile, nuclear states’ continued production of fissile material increases the likelihood of terrorist groups obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Many cities represented by mayors at the U. S. Conference today are specifically targeted by nuclear weapons,” said Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. “No matter what the likelihood of the weapons actually falling on our cities, the catastrophic consequences of even one nuclear mishap are unacceptable and unnecessary.”
“We believe it is our responsibility to speak out,” says the mayors’ statement released today, “for if nuclear weapons are ever again used, it is virtually certain that one or more of our cities will be the target and the people we represent will be the victims.”
“What the mayors are essentially saying,” said Tyler Stevenson of the Global Security Institute, “is that we have a fundamental choice before us. We can choose to maintain and modernize our arsenals, endlessly managing the dangers of nuclear deterrence, which perpetuates the targeting of our own cities. Or we can choose to get rid of the weapons, taking U.S. cities and their residents out of nuclear harm’s way.”
The new statement was spearheaded by the Global Security Institute (GSI) and its founder, the late Senator Alan Cranston, who died on December 31, 2000. The full text and list of signatories is available on the GSI website, www.gsinstitute.org.
Among the signers of statement are past and present mayors from 37 major
U. S. cities, including:
Albuquerque, Mayor Jim Baca
Ann Arbor, Mayor Ingrid Sheldon
Atlanta, Mayor Bill Campbell
Baltimore, Mayor Martin O’;Malley
Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke
Boston, Mayor Thomas Menino
Chapel Hill, Rosemary Waldorf
Chicago, Mayor Richard M. Daley
Cincinnati, Mayor Charlie Luken
Cleveland, Mayor Michael White
Dallas, Mayor Ronald Kirk
Denver, Mayor Wellington Webb, chair of the 2001 U.S. Mayors’ Conference International Affairs Committee
Des Moines, Mayor Preston Daniels
Detroit, Mayor Dennis Archer, host of the 2001 U.S. Conference of Mayors
Hartford, Mayor Mike Peters
Honolulu, Mayor Jeremy Harris
Little Rock, Mayor Jim Dailey
Louisville, Mayor David Armstrong
Madison, Mayor Susan J. M. Bauman
Newark, Mayor Sharpe James
New Orleans, Mayor Marc Morial, incoming president of the U.S.
Conference of Mayors
Oakland, Mayor Jerry Brown
Former Mayor Elihu Harris
Philadelphia, Former Mayor Edward Rendell
Pittsburgh, Mayor Tom Murphy
Portland (ME), Former Mayor Thomas Kane
Portland (OR), Mayor Vera Katz
Providence, Mayor Vincent Cianci
Sacramento, Mayor Jimmie Yee
Former Mayor Joe Serna, Jr.
Salem (OR), Mayor Mike Swaim
San Francisco, Mayor Willie Brown
San Jose, Mayor Ron Gonzales
Former Mayor Susan Hammer
San Juan, P.R., Alcadesa Sila Maria Calderon
Santa Cruz, Mayor Keith Sugar
Seattle, Mayor Paul Schell
Saint Louis, Mayor Calrence Harmon
Salt Lake City, Mayor Rocky Anderson
Former Mayor Deedee Corradini
Tucson, Mayor George Miller
Washington, DC, Mayor Anthony Williams
Several of these mayors are available to the media for comment on today’s statement on eliminating nuclear weapons. In addition, others who can speak to the statement, including Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Detroit Archdiocese, several officials of the Global Security Institute and nationally recognized nuclear policy experts are also available for interviews. For more information and interviews, please call Stephen Kent in Detroit today at the U.S. Conference of Mayors at 914-589-5988. Thereafter, please call 845-424-8382.
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June 24, 2001
Anderson Anti-Nuke Resolution Challenges Bush, Putin
SALT LAKE CITY: Mayor Rocky Anderson — known as a political maverick — Stepped up to the international soapbox Saturday when he challenged President Bush and his Russian counterpart to lead the world in eliminating nuclear weapons.
Home battling stomach flu, Anderson was unable to personally present his resolution, “The Elimination of Nuclear Weapons” to about 500 mayors from around the nation gathered in Detroit.
But Anderson’s resolution was introduced to the U. S. Conference of Mayors, and will be voted on by the group Monday, the same day Bush is scheduled to address the meeting.
The president’s support for an anti-missile defense initiative, designed to protect cities from nuclear attack, was a major issue when Bush held a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this month.
“If nuclear weapons are ever used, it is virtually certain that one or more of our cities will be the target . . . We ask the American and Russian presidents to declare their firm commitment to the task of eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the earth,” reads the resolution, which resembles one recently passed by a group of 94 international mayors.
“This is an important issue for cities globally,” said Josh Ewing, communications director for Anderson. “One of our own local political leaders is making a call for global action.”
About 80 resolutions are passed every year at the mayor’ conference. A statement read to the conference in Anderson’s behalf said: “We must speak out about the need to eliminate nuclear weapons from our world. This is an achievable goal. As mayors, we can help lead the way.”
Anderson’s illness also prevented him from personally accepting an award from his peers recognizing a program designed to make city streets safer for pedestrians.
The mayors’ conference selected Salt Lake City as one of the 10 most livable cities in the country, calling attention to Anderson’s “Reclaiming the Streets” initiative.
The program includes bright orange flags for pedestrians to carry while crossing streets, new signals at heavily traveled downtown crosswalks, and a pace car program designed to slow traffic.
“Rocky was disappointed because he wanted to accept the award in person, [but] it is great to be recognized as a leader in pedestrian safety,” Ewing said. “Salt Lake is a place where you can have a good time walking around.”
kcantera@sltrib.com
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Statement By International Mayors
Nuclear Weapons: Threat to Cities
We, who have been chosen as their leaders by the people who live in many of the great cities of the world, hereby join in the calls made by many past and present presidents, prime ministers, generals, admirals, and others for steps to reduce swiftly and to eliminate as soon as possible the grave dangers posed by nuclear weapons.
These experienced and respected leaders, many of whom led powerful nations and their military forces during the Cold War, warn that as long as nuclear weapons exist we will all face the same threat that we faced during those dark days: that they will be used inadvertently or deliberately by nations possessing them. They warn that another danger is rising: that they will be acquired and used by terrorists,
rogue rulers or criminals who will not share the inhibitions that have prevented use of these weapons for half a century.
We believe it is our responsibility to speak out, for if nuclear weapons are ever again used, it is virtually certain that one or more of our cities will be the target and the people we represent will be the victims.
We know that during the Cold War, U.S. and Soviet cities were the main targets of the nuclear forces of the two countries. The U.S. and Russia no longer target each other, but we understand that the cities remain in the memory banks of thousands of missiles standing on high alert in both countries, and that the cities can be retargeted in a few seconds by a few strokes on computer key boards. So the same
cities are still threatened, and so are cities everywhere, in part because vital military installations and command and communication centers are in and around so many of them, and in part because the destruction of any one of them would be such a shattering blow to the morale and the economy of an entire nation.
The world’s cities, teeming with life, are home for much of humankind. They are the birthplace of dreams, the workshops of commerce, learning and government, the cradles of social harmony and progress and the repositories of the irreplaceable gifts of creative genius. All this is threatened with total destruction.
Two of us, the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, speak from experience. For the rest of us, the fate of those cities is an indelible reminder of the infinite dangers all face.
It is intolerable that the family of man, delivered from the nightmare of the Cold War, still faces this menace. It is unacceptable that while so many human needs are neglected and while poverty afflicts so many, particularly in cities, vast resources that could be put to wiser use are spent on nuclear weapons that no responsible nation wants to use and that, if nonetheless used, could not only destroy
cities and nations and their peoples, but could conceivably exterminate humanity.
It is most of all the responsibility of the U.S. and Russia to abandon outmoded policies and postures developed in the Cold War which have no rightful place in today’s world.
And so to the American and Russian Presidents we say this:
We thank you for what you have done to advance treaties intended to prevent proliferation, to ban test explosions, and to control, limit and reduce nuclear weapons.
We ask you now to declare your firm commitment to the task of eliminating nuclear weapons from the face of the earth.
We ask you to launch the process by leading the world in steps designed to achieve that goal with all deliberate speed.
There is no greater legacy you can leave in your time for all time, for our generation and for all generations to come.
Signatories as of June 24, 2001
ARMENIA
Yerevan * Mayor Albert Bazieian
AUSTRALIA
Sydney Lord Mayor Frank Sartor
Melbourne Lord Mayor Ivan Devenson
AUSTRIA
Vienna * Mayor Michael Häupl
BELARUS
Minsk * Mayor Vladimir Yermoshin
BRAZIL
Brasilia * Governor Joaquim Roriz
Rio de Janeiro Mayor Luiz Paulo Conde
São Paulo Mayor Celso Pitta
CANADA
Calgary Mayor Al Duerr
Lakefield Reeve Robert Helsing
Montreal Mayor Pierre Borque
Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman
CHILE
Santiago * Mayor Jaime Ravinet
COSTA RICA
San Jose * Mayor Johnny Araya M.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Prague * Mayor Jan Kasl
EGYPT
Cairo * Governor Abdel Reheem Shehata
FINLAND
Helsinki * Lord Mayor Eva-Ritta Siitonen
GERMANY
Darmstadt Mayor Peter Benz
ICELAND
Reykjavik * Mayor Ingbjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
REPUBLIC of IRELAND
Dublin * Mayor Joe Doyle
JAPAN
Tokyo * Governor Yukio Aoshima
Hiroshima Mayor Tadatoshi Akiba; Mayor Takashi Hiraoka (-1998)
Kyoto Mayor Yorikane Masumoto
Nagasaki Mayor Iccho Itoh
Yokohama Mayor Hidenobu Takahide
MEXICO
Mexico City * Mayor Cuauhtemoc Cardenas
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland Mayor Les Mills
Wellington * Mayor Mark Blumsky
THE NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam * Mayor Schelto Patijn
The Hague Mayor W.J. Deetman
PERU
Lima * Mayor Alberto Andrade
PORTUGAL
Lisbon * Mayor João Soares
SOUTH AFRICA
Johannesburg Councillor Isaac Mogase
Cape Town Alderman Rev. William D Bantom
SPAIN
Barcelona Mayor Joan Clos
Madrid * Deputy Mayor Mercedes de la Merced Monge
SWITZERLAND
Geneva Mayor Alain Vaissade; Jean Erhardt, Secretary General, Executive Council
UKRAINE
Kharkov Mayor Michail D. Pilipchuk
Odessa Mayor Ruslan Bodelan
Kiev * Mayor Alexander Omelchenko
UNITED KINGDOM
Belfast Lord Mayor David Alderdice
Birmingham Lord Mayor, Councillor Theresa Stewart
Caernarfon Mayor Ioan Thomas
Cardiff Lord Mayor Russell Goodway
Edinburgh Right Honorable Eric Milligan, Lord Provost
Glasgow Lord Provost, Councillor Alex Mosson
Leeds Lord Mayor, Councillor Keith Parker
London * Mayor Ken Livingstone
Manchester Lord Mayor Gordon Conquest
Oxford Lord Mayor Maureen Christian
UNITED STATES of AMERICA
Albuquerque Mayor Jim Baca
Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon (-2000)
Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell
Baltimore Mayor Martin OMalley; Mayor Kurt Schmoke (1981-1999)
Boston Mayor Thomas Menino
Chapel Hill Mayor Rosemary Waldorf
Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley
Cincinnati Mayor Charlie Luken
Cleveland Mayor Michael White
Dallas Mayor Ronald Kirk
Denver Mayor Wellington E. Webb
Des Moines Mayor Preston Daniels
Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer
Hartford Mayor Mike Peters
Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris
Houston Mayor Lee Brown
Little Rock Mayor Jim Dailey
Louisville Mayor David Armstrong
Madison Mayor Susan J.M. Bauman
Newark Mayor Sharpe James
New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial
Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown; Mayor Elihu Harris (1991-1999)
Philadelphia Mayor Edward G. Rendell (1992-1999)
Pittsburgh Mayor Tom Murphy
Portland (ME) Mayor Thomas Kane (-1998)
Portland (OR) Mayor Vera Katz
Providence Mayor Vincent Cianci
Sacramento Mayor Jimmie Yee (1999-2000); Mayor Joe Serna, Jr. (-1999)
Salem (OR) Mayor Mike Swaim
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown
San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales; Mayor Susan Hammer (1991-1999)
San Juan, P.R. Alcaldesa Sila María Calderon (-2000)
Santa Cruz Mayor Keith Sugar (-2000)
Seattle Mayor Paul Schell
Saint Louis Mayor Clarence Harmon (-2001)
Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson; Mayor Deedee Corradini (1991-1999)
Tucson Mayor George Miller (-2001)
Washington, DC * Mayor Anthony Williams
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June 15, 2001
Activism Gets Results in Washington, D.C.
WASHINGTON, D.C.–From June 10-13, 2001, Project Abolition, a coalition of non-profit organizations promoting security through nuclear disarmament, worked with the Nuclear Disarmament Partnership to organize a press conference, Congressional education program, and rally attended by several hundred activists from across the nation. The Project Abolition coalition includes the Fourth Freedom Forum, Global Security Institute, The Nation Institute, Peace Action, Peace Links, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and Women’s Action for New Directions, and is a project of the Global Security Institute.
Project Abolition’s Tuesday press conference highlighted seven prominent Members of Congress, and GSI Advisor Frank Von Hippel, who blasted the Bush Administration’s plans to deploy a Star Wars national missile defense system. They charged President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with wanting to “build first [and] figure out later” a system that has failed repeated tests, will cost more than $60 billion, and threatens to destabilize the international system.
Members of the House of Representatives who spoke included: TOM ALLEN (D-ME); BOB FILNER (D-CA); BARNEY FRANK(D-MA); RUSH HOLT (D-NJ); JOHN TIERNEY (D-MA); JAN SCHAKOWSKY (D-IL); AND EARL BLUMENAUER (D-OR).
Following an energizing Sunday rally across from the White House, hundreds of activsts took to the halls of Congress for face-to-face meetings with elected representatives and their staffers, bringing the message that Star Wars national missile defense will lead to a new arms race, and possibly the weaponization of space.
These events generated extensive media coverage, which is still unfolding. In addition to the articles below, Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute, was interviewed by Voice of America and Agence France Presse, and had a 90 minute interview with Asahi Shimbun, the leading Japanese news agency.
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June 12, 2001
As Bush Woos Europe, Democrats Blast Missile Plans Bush In Spain For Start Of European Trip
WASHINGTON (Reuters): As President Bush opened his first trip to Europe with missile defense high on the agenda, congressional Democrats on Tuesday renewed their opposition to deploying a national missile defense before it is proven ready.
At a rally outside the Capitol with an array of arms control groups, Democrats said Bush’s missile defense proposals would destabilize the world and alienate allies.
“It would be billions of dollars down the drain,” said Rep. Rush Holt (news – bio – voting record), a New Jersey Democrat, adding the system was “worse than a waste of money” because it could damage existing arms control accords and lead to a new arms race.
Bush, who began his visit to Europe on Tuesday in Spain, is trying to sell his missile defense plans to European allies who have expressed profound skepticism at his proposals.
At his first stop in Madrid, Bush said the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with the former Soviet Union was a “relic of the past” and must be set aside to allow research on a system that would shoot down incoming missiles from states such as North Korea (news – web sites) or Iran.
But congressional Democrats said a costly arms race would be the ultimate result. They questioned why the United States was rushing to deploy a defense system before testing had shown it to work.
“It would greatly destabilize the world,” Democratic Rep. Barney Frank (news – bio – voting record) of Massachusetts said of the missile system. ”China would undoubtedly respond by increasing their missile capacity. So then will the Indians and so then will the Pakistanis.”
The Democratic rally concluded two days of meetings in Washington among arms control activists and citizens’ groups who lobbied lawmakers to oppose Bush’s missile defense plans and sponsored an e-mail campaign against the proposals.
Democrats have made it clear Bush will have a tough time getting his missile defense plans through Congress, and the task was made tougher by the recent switch of Senate power to Democrats.
The switch elevated Democratic Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and Joseph Biden of Delaware, both skeptics of Bush’s plans, to control of the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, respectively.
Levin’s panel will receive a closed-door briefing on Wednesday on the Pentagon (news – web sites)’s ongoing strategic review and its impact on missile defense plans, and Biden has promised exploratory hearings on missile defense proposals.
Rep. Tom Allen, a Maine Democrat, said the expected cost of $60 billion or more for a missile defense system would rob funds for other priorities.
He said he will introduce a bill soon to require the administration to seek monetary contributions for the cost of a missile system from those allies protected by it.
-Reuters
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Democrats Criticize Missile Defense
WASHINGTON: Democrats on Capitol Hill condemned as unneeded and unworkable the national missile defense system that President Bush is trying to promote to U.S. allies during his current tour of Europe.
While lawmakers often mute their criticisms of a president when he is abroad, Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, said Tuesday the issue was too important to ignore, “particularly when the attention of the country and the attention of the world is focused.”
Allen joined six other House Democrats and several anti-missile defense activist groups at a news conference to oppose Bush’s proposal as ineffective, too expensive and a threat to national security. “It’s based on the idea of build first, figure it out later,” said Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., a physicist.
Building a limited anti-missile system to defend the nation against future threats from nations such as North Korea and Iran was one of Bush’s main campaign promises, and the idea has an aggressive advocate in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. They argue that those countries within five years may have missiles capable of hitting U.S. territory.
But the plan, which effectively scraps the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, is strongly opposed by China and Russia and faces a hard sell in Europe.
The Clinton administration approved funding for research into missile defense but put off a decision on putting a system into operation. Bush is committed to building the system and the $310 billion defense budget for fiscal 2002 includes $3.8 billion for various national missile defense projects.
That figure could grow when Rumsfeld submits a revised budget later this year reflecting an administration review of the nation’s defense needs. Rumsfeld is also reportedly considering a small-scale defense system that would be based in Alaska and ready for deployment by the end of 2004.
Even if Bush persuades European leaders of the benefits of the system, he faces an uphill battle in Congress, particularly after the Democratic takeover of the Senate. New Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph Biden, D-Del., is a skeptic, as is new Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D.
Daschle said last week he was “mystified” by the concept of spending up to $100 billion on a program that may not even work. “There is such a rush to deploy that I think it’s going to be an embarrassment to them, to the country.”
In the House as well, Democrats, and some Republicans, argue against spending billions on unproven technology when the country has more pressing needs. NMD, the acronym for national missile defense, “means no more dollars” for health care, education, prescription drug benefits and other needs, said Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif.
© Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
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