President Obama is scheduled to visit Hiroshima on Friday. See upcoming events at accuracy.org/calendar.
HIROSHI TAKA, taka at antiatom.org, @
RIEKO ASATO, rieko at antiatom.org, [13 hours ahead of U.S. ET]
Hiroshi Taka and Rieko Asato are with the the Japan Council against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs (Gensuikyo), which recently released a statement: “It is significant that President Obama will visit the A-bombed city of Hiroshima as the first U.S. President, which many Hibakusha, the A-bomb survivors, have long called for.
“Now that he is set to visit Hiroshima, he should look with his own eyes at the inhuman consequences of the use of the A-bomb by visiting the Peace Memorial Museum, listen to the voices of the Hibakusha, and meet their wishes without delay.
“Changing his past position to turn his back on the total prohibition of nuclear weapons on the ground of the ‘need for nuclear deterrence,’ he should take concrete steps for the start of negotiations on a treaty banning nuclear weapons.”
JOSEPH GERSON, JGerson at afsc.org
Director of programs for the American Friends Service Committee in New England, Gerson’s books include With Hiroshima Eyes: Atomic War, Nuclear Extortion and Moral Imagination and Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World.
He is an initiator of “Over 70 Prominent Activists and Scholars Urge Action by Obama in Hiroshima,” which urges Obama to meet “with all Hibakusha who are able to attend,” and announce “the end of U.S. plans to spend $1 trillion for the new generation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.” Gerson was recently featured on the Institute for Public Accuracy news release “‘Orwellian’ Visit to Hiroshima as Obama Modernizes U.S. Nuclear Weapons.”
