David Kreiger / Nuclear Age Peace Foundation & Iam Bloom / The Las Vegas Guardian Express – 2013-09-29 10:38:10
http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6357/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15351
US Plans Nuclear Missile Tests
Around International Day of Peace and
UN High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament
(September 16, 2013) — Two dates this month have special significance to those who want to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons: the International Day of Peace (September 21) and the UN High-Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament (September 26).
Instead of honoring the significance of these dates and working in good faith to achieve nuclear disarmament, the United States has chosen to schedule two tests of its Minuteman III Intercontinental Ballistic Missile on September 22 and September 26.
Just hours after the International Day of Peace ends, the US plans to launch a Minuteman III — the missile that delivers US land-based nuclear weapons — from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
Then, on the same day that most countries will send their head of state or foreign minister to New York for the UN’s first-ever High-Level Meeting on nuclear disarmament, the US plans to send another Minuteman III missile from California to the Marshall Islands.
These missiles are designed to carry nuclear warheads capable of killing thousands of times more people than the chemical weapons used in Syria.
Your actions have helped stop Minuteman III tests before: in 2011 on the International Day of Peace, and in 2012 on the anniversary of the largest-ever nuclear weapon test conducted by the US (Castle Bravo in the Marshall Islands).
We need your support to stop these two tests as well. Click here to send a message to President Obama, telling him to cancel these two provocative nuclear missile tests and to attend the UN High-Level Meeting on September 26.
The Letter:
Cancel Upcoming Nuclear Missile Tests
September 21 is the International Day of Peace. Just hours after the International Day of Peace ends, the US plans to launch a Minuteman III — the missile that delivers US land-based nuclear weapons — from Vandenberg Air Force Base to the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.
September 26 is the UN High Level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament. On that day, the US plans to test-launch another Minuteman III missile.
It is unacceptable for the United States to conduct these tests, particularly on dates of such significance. Instead of allowing the military to conduct provocative nuclear missile tests, I encourage you to attend the UN High Level Meeting on September 26 and engage in good-faith dialogue with other nations’ leaders about how to go about creating a world free of nuclear weapons. Continued testing of nuclear weapon delivery systems is certainly not the way forward.
What Kind of Message is US Send to the World?
Laura Lynch / Coalition Against Nukes
(September 22, 2013) — US flexing its so-called muscle … unbelievable! A nuclear weapons test on International Day of Peace? You’ve got to be kidding ….
Who’s idea was this? … and another one scheduled for September 26!? — the same day scheduled for high-level talks in the UN for nuclear disarmament in New York.
What kind of posturing for PEACE is this!? All the while we are participating in high-level talks with world leaders about nuclear disarmament we’re going to test an ICBM capable of deploying any one of our 7,700 nuclear warheads to anywhere in the world? This nuclear weapons test from Vandenberg Air Force Base by the US is unconscionable! … not in my name! How dare they! …
Nuclear Weapons Test from Vandenberg Air Force Base
Iam Bloom / The Las Vegas Guardian Express
CALIFORNIA (September 16, 2013) — Vandenberg Air Force Base launched a Minuteman III rocket this morning, September 22, at 3:01 AM PST. The target of this morning’s test was Kwajalein Atoll, an island in the Pacific Ocean some 4,200 miles away from the launch site. This is the first of two tests of a nuclear weapons delivery system scheduled this week from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
A LGM-30 Minuteman rocket, or the Minuteman III, completed a test this morning from the California Air Base located some 140 miles north of Los Angeles. The letter “L”, in “LGM”, stands for a silo-launched missile; the “G” stands for ground attack; the “M” stands for guided missile.
The “Minuteman” designation refers to the Minuteman Militia during the revolutionary war, a group ready to respond at a minutes notice to engage the English. In the same way, the Minuteman III can be prepared and launched in a few minutes with proper code authorization.
The test itself is not as concerning as what day it follows and the day the next test is scheduled for. September 21, 2013 was the International Day of Peace and it could be taken as a slap in the face of the world community, and the larger world peace process, that the US decided to test an InterContinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) capable of nuclear warhead deployment mere hours after its end.
As reported by allvoices.com, Rick Wayman of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation spoke of the ill timing of the US missile tests. Not more than three hours after the end of the “Day of Peace” the US tests a Minuteman III ICBM. Not only that, but it seems that the US is planning another test, later this week, on September 26, 2013.
September 26 of this next week is significant because it is the day scheduled for high-level talks in the UN for nuclear disarmament in New York. It seems a bit incongruous that we would participate in high-level talks with many world leaders about nuclear disarmament when we plan on testing an ICBM capable of deploying any one of our 7,700 nuclear warheads to anywhere in the world. (This number of warheads is according to Global Zero a group promoting the elimination of all nuclear weapons in the world.) This nuclear weapons test from Vandenberg Air Force Base seems a bit ill timed.
While both the US and Russia like to talk about how they are reducing the number of nuclear weapons they have, there has been no significant moves to actually get rid of them. A fact that has not been lost on the rest of the world.
It is not only a resistance to eliminating their nuclear weapons stockpiles that is a slap in the face to the rest of the world community, it is the fact that both countries continue to improve the delivery method as well as modernizing their arsenal.
Whether this is a calculated test politically or not, who can say for sure. Yet, the implications of these actions, on the day after the Day of Peace and the day of nuclear disarmament talks, seems to speak volumes.
There was a point in time when America was the noble country of morals. We would take the hard steps first to address freedom and cooperation. Yet, we seem to be terrified that if we actually get rid of our nuclear stockpile that we will be at the mercy of other countries.
Posted in accordance with Title 17, Section 107, US Code, for noncommercial, educational purposes.
