- The City of Hiroshima)
- Letter of Protest
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- His Excellency George W. Bush
- The President
- The White House
- The United States of America
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- I have received a report that your administration has
submitted to Congress a 2004 Defense Authorization Bill that requests funds
for the development of small nuclear weapons with a yield of five kilotons
or less, which development has been prohibited since 1993, and that would
repeal the Furse-Spratt prohibition on the development of such weapons.
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- This clear indication that the United States intends
to develop small nuclear weapons raises the horrifying spectre that nuclear
weapons will actually be used. As mayor of the A-bombed city Hiroshima
I am outraged by the barbarism that has led you not only to attack Iraq,
killing or injuring thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens, but also to develop
new nuclear weapons. You are trampling viciously on the hopes of the vast
majority of people around the world who seek peace and, on behalf of the
residents of Hiroshima, I vehemently protest.
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- Coming as it does on the eve of the UN NPT Review Conference
Preparatory Committee, this announcement, together with statements regarding
the necessity of resuming underground testing and rapidly developing new
tactical nuclear weapons, represents an extremely regrettable frontal attack
on the process of nuclear disarmament.
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- I demand that you immediately begin demonstrating a willingness
to implement the "unequivocal undertaking" to eliminate your
nuclear arsenal promised at the previous NPT Review Conference, take a
clear decision to terminate all nuclear testing, and devote the full strength
of your great country to achieving a genuinely peaceful 21st century free
from nuclear weapons.
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- Tadatoshi Akiba
- Mayor of Hiroshima
- April 21, 2003
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- http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3185.htm
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