Re: “Washington stopped planning for a nuclear war in 1984. Should we start now?” [April 3, Local News]:
Nuclear weapons make us safe. That’s what they say. Just try to tell that to the Ukrainians.
The truth is that nuclear weapons let nuclear nations get away with murder. We saw it in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. But it’s so much easier to see now when we are watching from the outside.
No wonder 86 nations signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which has made them illegal. No wonder the nine nuclear nations have completely ignored the treaty.
Pope Francis was right to declare that the very possession of nuclear weapons is morally untenable. Their possession entails an implicit threat of use. Human beings have never made a weapon they haven’t used. This includes nuclear weapons. In his ruthless, horrific, completely unjustifiable march through the Ukraine, Putin has simply made that threat explicit.
Do you wonder why other nations try to get nuclear weapons? You don’t even have to use them. You only need to have them to get away with murder. And, if you don’t have them, you may be the next Ukraine.
The message is clear: We must do away with nuclear weapons before they do away with us.
Patrick Henry, Walla Walla