U.S. House Speaker Pelosi Makes Historic Visit To Hiroshima
by greenz.jp, Tokyo, Japan on 09. 4.08
Speakers of Parliament, including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, from G8 countries visited Hiroshima, Japan and laid flowers Tuesday at a memorial to the Hiroshima atomic bomb victims in 1945. It is difficult to discuss the horrific effects of the atomic bombs, inclusing the environmental terror that they inflict, but Japanese victims of the attack are glad that the elected leaders paid respect to the site. Akihiro Takahashi, who has served as the chief of the museum in Hiroshima, said he wanted to know what the G8 speakers, particularly Pelosi, thought about his presentation:
"She is the number three person in line to press the nuclear button," he later told reporters."For us atomic bombing victims, all nuclear weapons are evil. I really wanted to know how much they understood after seeing the museum and hearing my story," he said.
More than 140,000 people were killed in the attack on Hiroshima, either instantly or in the days and weeks ahead from radiation or horrific burns.
Morningstar - Dow Jones & Co: US House Speaker Pelosi Makes Historic Hiroshima Visit
Japan's Lower House Speaker Yohei Kono also called for more international efforts to abolish nuclear arms. Over here at greenz.jp we are impressed by these efforts, especially of the people in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, who continue to work hard to tell the real story of nuclear weapons.
We hope the Speakers of Parliament and other elected politicians will do everything they can to make every effort to make sure that this seriously un-treehugging weapon is never used again...
MSNBC: Pelosi visits Hiroshima atomic bomb memorial
NHK World: Parliament speakers lay flowers at A-bomb memorial
Treehugger: Looking at War and the Environment on the Anniversary of the Hiroshima Bombing
Who has the most nukes? Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has the details.
Who made the most nuclear tests? Brookings Institution: Graph from Atomic Audit: The Costs and Consequences of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Since 1940 edited by Stephen I. Schwartz
Written by Martin Frid at greenz.jp
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You know former Senator Mike Gravel was the first elected official from the US to visit Hiroshima? And that was in the 1970s!
www.mikegravel.us
www.ni4d.us
visit those for more information on Gravel
Thanks Ross, that's great. Thanks for adding that information.
Interesting to note that five of the G8 countries have most of the world's nuclear weapons (US, Russia, China, France, UK). Are ANY of them moving to do away with their own nuclear weapons? (no)
Also note that six of the G8 are among the world's top ten polluting countries.
So much for measuring "progress" in economic terms.