Bases Fuera
Overcoming Empire and the Bomb
World Conference against A & H-Bombs
Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Japan August 3, 2007
Dr. Joseph Gerson*
I want to thank Gensuikyo for the opportunity to rejoin the World Conference.
It is an irreplaceable forum for deepening our understandings of what nuclear
weapons have done to human beings and the increasing danger that the U.S. or other
nations will initiate genocidal nuclear war. Here we can learn, be revitalized
by the Japanese peace movement, and find ways to deepen collaborations.
This is a dangerous but nonetheless hopeful time. The nuclear powers still possess
nearly 30,000 genocidal and omnicidal nuclear weapons.1 Nuclear
weapons proliferation poses a growing threat, reinforced by the nuclear powers’ hypocritical
insistence that they can maintain and develop arsenals of annihilation but ignore
Article VI of the NPT while insisting that others must remain nuclear free. A
second force driving proliferation is the U.S. practice of threatening to initiate
nuclear war. President Bush has joined every U.S. President since Truman who,
on more during more than thirty crises and wars, prepared and threatened to initiate
nuclear war. 2 Bush and leading Republican and
Democratic presidential candidates have threatened that “all options must
be on the table” in confronting Iran, and nuclear-capable aircraft carrier
fleets have been sent to the Persian Gulf.
North Korea and possibly Iran have concluded that they need deterrent nuclear
forces. This could spur proliferation to Arab countries. And, Prime Minister Abe’s
and Foreign Minister Aso’s visions of a nuclear armed Japan must be taken
seriously. Meanwhile the U.S. is building military and alliance structures to
contain China.
This is best understood in the context of the U.S. Empire in decline. The invasion
of Iraq was the greatest strategic blunder in U.S. history. The President of the
elite Council on Foreign Relations is hardly alone in believing that Bush’s
war will result in “the end of the American era” in the Middle East.
The U.S. is also suffering imperial overreach. Its power is jeopardized by the
twin towers of debt: the war-related deficit and the nation’s unsustainable
trade imbalance. China will soon replace the U.S. as the world’s top manufacturing
nation, and the dollar has plummeted to record lows against the Euro and British
pound.3
U.S. NUCLEAR TERRORISM
The destruction of Hiroshima in nine seconds is “understandable” only
in the context of empire. The A-bombings were fundamentally evil, and U.S. leaders
knew it.4 Today the U.S. strategic arsenal consists
of thousands of weapons which, on average, are 20 times more powerful than the
Hiroshima A-bomb. Each can murder more people than Hitler did at Auschwitz.
For reasons that differ from ours, a sector of the U.S. elite now understands
that nuclear weapons no longer serve U.S. interests. The Wall Street Journal article
by Henry Kissinger, George Schultz and others indicates they now understand that
nuclear hypocrisy is a losing strategy.5 Unfortunately,
Bush and most who seek to succeed him remain infatuated with nuclear weapons or
are subservient to military and other vested interests that depend on them.
The Bush-Cheney nuclear agenda includes:
- The first-strike nuclear policy
- Building and deploying “missile defenses” -- shields
to reinforce U.S. first-strike nuclear swords
- Developing more “usable” nuclear weapons
- $150 billion expansion of the nuclear weapons production infrastructure
- Unilateral enforcement of non-proliferation, while undermining the
NPT
- Discriminatory nuclear weapons proliferation: rewarding India, turning
a blind eye to Israel, and threatening North Korea, Iran, and Iraq
- Letting START I expire with nothing to replace it
- Refusing to ratify the CTBT or to negotiate a verifiable Fissile
Material Cut Off Treaty
The problem is not limited to Bush and his extremists. When President Clinton
said nuclear weapons are “the cornerstone of our policies”, he meant
that the foundation of U.S. policies is preparation and threats to inflict nuclear
genocide. Hillary Clinton spoke for leading Democrats. When asked if by saying
that “all options should be on the table” with Tehran she meant that
the U.S. should be threatening all of Iran’s women and children with genocide,
she answered: “I meant what I said.”
ARMITAGE-NYE
For a century and a half, U.S. leaders have believed that if the U.S. is to
be the world’s dominant power it must control Asia. Eight years ago, faced
by growing Chinese economic and military power, the Armitage-Nye report urged
deepening the U.S.-Japan alliance, the central axis of the U.S. hub and spokes
system for Asia-Pacific dominance. Written by senior Republican and Democratic
mandarins, it reflected a bipartisan Washington consensus. At its core is the
understanding that twice in the 20th century the world’s dominant powers
failed to integrate rising powers into their systems, resulting in catastrophic
world wars. Thus Armitage and Nye urged integrating China into the U.S.-Japanese
dominated system.
Economic growth is China’s priority. It seeks a “peaceful rise” built
on deep and stable relations with its neighbors. This has not, however, stilled
U.S. fears that in time China’s increased power and influence in Asia will
displace that of the U.S..
On the eve of the 2008 Presidential election, Armitage and Nye have drafted a
new blueprint for continued U.S. dominance of Asia. The region remains important
to the U.S. because it has “half the world’s population, one-third
of the global economy, and growing economic, financial, technological, and political
weight in the international system.” Armitage and Nye are concerned that “China’s
growing comprehensive national power” is “aimed at shaping the strategic
environment around its borders.” Their greatest fear is that China will
become the center of a new regional system, with economic, diplomatic, and military
alliances and structures that isolate the U.S. from Asia’s wealth and power.
Armitage and Nye urge the U.S. to work to insure that China becomes a “responsible
stakeholder” in U.S.-Japanese dominated systems. They understand that a “bi-polar” U.S.-Chinese
confrontation would alienate most Asians, so they stress the importance of U.S.
Asian alliances to add an illusion of legitimacy.
Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Singapore are to constitute a new Pacific
wall, and Washington’s “greatest strategic asset in the region” is
described as “the close U.S.-Japan alliance” which remains “at
the core of the United States’ Asia strategy.” To reinforce the alliance,
Armitage and Nye advocate a U.S.-Japanese Free Trade Agreement to more deeply
integrate the two nations and to serve as the foundation of a web of FTAs that
will prevent China from becoming Asia’s economic hub.
The expanding U.S.-Japanese alliance is to be cemented by reaffirmation of the
U.S. commitment to “defend Japan” with nuclear weapons. Before Nakagawa
Shoichi has his “debate over whether to go nuclear [is] necessary”,
Japan will deepen its nuclear collaboration with the U.S. Tokyo is already deeply
complicit in preparations for first-strike nuclear war fighting as it hosts nuclear-capable
U.S. warships, provides sites for C4I bases, and helps to build and deploy “missile
defenses.”
Armitage and Nye know that the Japanese elite expect a bigger slice of the melon
if the alliance is to be sustained. They write that “[W]hat is necessary
is…a recasting of Japan’s role and self perception... Japan is a
country with global influence.” They want Japan’s military to be more “proactive.” They
celebrate “[t]he ongoing debate in Japan on the Constitution”, and
in code language urge the trashing of Article 9. They also bless Japanese “legislation
that would allow for the overseas deployment of Japanese forces” to provide “greater
flexibility to deploy on short notice.”
Japan is among the world’s top five military spenders, but Nye and Armitage
want more and attempt to embarrass Japanese militarists with news that Tokyo ranks “134
in the world in terms of defense budget as a percentage of GDP.” They insist
that “Japan’s growing regional and global responsibilities will necessitate
new capabilities…” which will be paid for by tax increases and loss
of essential social services.
Armitage and Nye also respect India’s rising power and predict it “will
rival that of China.” They urge that, like the U.S. which has agreed to
provide India nuclear fuel and whose warships now call at Indian Ports, Japan
develop a tacit alliance with India. This, along with the restructured presence
in South Korea and Australia’s new role as Washington’s South Pacific
sheriff, they believe will complete China’s encirclement.
Armitage and Nye do not see China as Washington’s inevitable enemy. Ultimately,
through economic and diplomatic engagement -- reinforced by military containment--
they want a U.S.-Japanese-Chinese East Asian condominium, led by Washington. They
are, however, clear that the quality of U.S.-Chinese relations should never exceed
those with its junior partner: Japan.
Beyond Empire and Nuclear Terrorism
Fortunately, the law of cause and effect and people’s commitments to creating
a better world remain powerful forces. 78 % of Japanese remain committed to Article
9, and Defense Minister Kyuma no longer holds office. Around the world, the U.S.
Empire is in decline.
The struggle in the U.S. over Iraq consumes nearly all the country’s political
oxygen. The debate is no longer if the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq, but when
and how. Despite their differences, most in Congress agree that the U.S. has lost
the Iraq war, and that if the U.S. Army is not to be shattered as an institution,
phased withdrawals must begin by April. This is the beginning of the end, but
not the end, of the U.S. occupation. Most in Congress favor keeping 50,000 to
80,000 troops and despite Barbara Lee’s recent successful amendment, permanent
military bases in Iraq. But, on October 27, with massive regional demonstrations
in cities across the United States, we will send a powerful message demanding “All
U.S. Troops Out Now!”
Another somewhat encouraging sign are the calls by Al Gore and Zbigniew Brzezinski
for greater use of “soft power,” multilateralism, and for U.S. “preeminence” instead
of dominance as ways to relegitimate U.S. global power. This is not enough, but
the repudiation of Bush, Cheney in last November’s election may signal that
we are past most dangerous period of U.S. fascist imperialism.
On the nuclear front, so far we have blocked funding for development of new
nuclear weapons and expansion of the nuclear weapons production complex. And,
as Niihara-sensei has observed, Washington’s growing international isolation
and growing pressure from popular and elite U.S. forces led the Bush Administration
to change its rhetoric at the NPT Prep Com– acknowledging the “ultimate” goal
of nuclear weapons abolition, even if U.S. policy has not fundamentally changed.
Peace groups across the U.S. are now organizing Hiroshima and Nagasaki commemorations.
In New Hampshire and Iowa, where the first presidential caucuses and primary will
be held, activists are chasing down presidential candidates, and pressing them
to fully implement all of the NPT. They are teaching politicians and the public
that the steps needed to abolish nuclear weapons are well known. With draft abolition
treaties like this6, they are calling attention
to model abolition conventions.
Here in Japan, with the Declaration for a Nuclear Free Japan, politicians working
to take Japan back to the bad old days, this time with nuclear weapons, are being
contained. You are also working hard to protect Article 9, and Gensuikyo’s
Call for the Swift Abolition of Nuclear Weapons provides a vehicle to encourage
activists and governments to finally free humanity from the threat of nuclear
annihilation.
At the dawn of the Cold War, Albert Camus wrote “All I ask is that, in
the midst of a murderous world, we agree to reflect on murder and to make a choice.”7 We
can, as Martin Luther King, Jr. said, bend the arc of history toward freedom and
peace through our actions, large and small. Having made our choices about murder,
we must rededicate our life’s energies to fulfilling that choice.
No More Hiroshima’s. No More Nagasaki’s! No More Hibakusha! No More
War!
* Dr. Joseph Gerson is Director
of Programs of the American Friends Service Committee in New England and author
of Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World.
Contact information: E-mail: JGerson@afsc.org,
Phone: 617-661-6130, Fax: 617-354-2832. Web: www.afsc.org/pes
[1] “Nuclear Stockpiles” The
Independent, July 1, 2007
[2] Joseph Gerson. Empire
and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the
World, London: Pluto Press, 2006, pp.27-38.
[3] Peter Marsh. US to lose role as world’s
top manufacturer by 2020, Financial Times, May 24, 2007.
[4] Secretary of war Henry L. Stimson informed
President Truman that the combination of fire bombings and nuclear
attacks against Japanese cities could lead the U.S. to “get the reputation of outdoing
Hitler in atrocities.” The physicist Leo Szlizard, who drafted
the letter to President Truman that launched the Manhattan Project
later stated that had the U.S. lost the war, those responsible for
the atomic bombings would have been hung as war criminals. See Joseph
Gerson. Empire and the Bomb: How the U.S. Uses
Nuclear Weapons to Dominate the World, London: The Pluto Press, 2007 (or the Japanese
edition published by Shinnihon Press.)
[5] George P. Schultz, William J. Perry,
Henry A. Kissinger, Sam Nunn. “A World Free of Nuclear Weapons”,
Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2007.
[6] Securing our Survival
(SOS), prepared by the International Association
of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, International Network of Engineers
and Scientists Against Proliferation, International Physicians for
the Prevention of Nuclear War, Cambridge, Ma., 2007
[7] Albert Camus. Neither
Victims Nor Executioners, Chicago: World
Without War, 1972. p. 61.
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