'Stop
the Insanity': Demand Grows to Strip Trump of
Nuclear Authority
On anniversary of Nagasaki bombing, calls to end
"saber-rattling" and de-escalate tensions with
North Korea
By Jake Johnson
August
09, 2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- The morning following his "fire
and fury" remarks on Tuesday—which promised
retaliation if the North Korean regime continues
to threaten the United States—President Donald
Trump
took to Twitter to
praise America's "powerful" nuclear arsenal,
comments that intensified the groundswell of
calls to
end the pro-war rhetoric and strip Trump of his
nuclear-strike authority.
Trump's
threat against North Korea came on the heels of
a
report by the Washington Post
indicating that Pyongyang had "successfully
produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can
fit inside its missiles."
The Kim Jong-un regime responded just hours
after Trump's remarks, promising to hasten "the
tragic end of the American empire" and
announcing it would review
plans to "strike areas around the U.S.
territory of Guam," where the U.S. maintains
large military bases, "with medium-to-long-range
strategic ballistic missiles."
Reacting to Trump's "crazy"
comments and to the growing fear that the U.S.
is inching closer to nuclear war, activists and
lawmakers urged Congress to revive legislation
that would strip the executive branch of the
power to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike.
"No U.S. President, certainly not Trump,
should have sole authority to initiate an
unprovoked nuclear war," wrote Sen. Ed Markey
(D-Mass.).
In an interview with MSNBC's Chris
Hayes Tuesday night, Markey said Trump's
comments "bring us back to August of 1945, when
nuclear weapons were dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki."
Watch the interview:
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In May, as Common Dreams
reported, more than 500,000 people signed a
petition expressing support for the Restricting
First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017, a bill
introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) that, if
passed, would bar the president from launching a
nuclear strike without congressional
authorization.
"This
saber-rattling from the president is dangerous,"
concluded Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). "We need
to de-escalate tensions so that diplomacy can
work."
Adding to the calls for de-escalation is a
newly drafted petition
by MoveOn.org, which is set to be delivered to
the White House.
The
petition, which already has over 57,000
signatures, reads: "Stop the insanity. Don't
provoke a war with North Korea."
"Donald
Trump is making us all more unsafe with every
war-mongering comment, tweet, and threat. His
rhetoric threatening North Korea with 'fire and
fury' is exacerbating a dangerous situation,
putting the people of Guam—and everyone around
the world—in grave danger," the petition adds.
"While a nuclear North Korea is a real concern,
the answer must be diplomacy-first, not a rush
to a potentially devastating nuclear war."
The
growing threat of nuclear war comes as Wednesday
marks the 72nd anniversary of the atomic bombing
of Nagasaki, Japan by the U.S.
Carol Turner, vice chair of the Campaign for
Nuclear Disarmament, said in a
statement: "It
beggars belief that the US president has chosen
the 72nd anniversary to threaten North Korea
with 'fire and fury like the world has never
seen.' These words mark the real possibility of
a nuclear confrontation."
Speaking at a
memorial event
on Wednesday, Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of
Nagasaki, highlighted the "increasingly tense"
international situation and argued that all
nations should do away with nuclear weapons.
"A
strong sense of anxiety is spreading across the
globe that in the not too distant future these
weapons could actually be used again," Taue
said. "The nuclear threat will not end as long
as nations continue to claim that nuclear
weapons are essential for their national
security."
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