Prominent U.S. Physicists Ask Congress to Forbid Use of Nuclear Weapons Against Non-Nuclear States

[struggle4progress]

Prominent U.S. Physicists Ask Congress
to Forbid Use of Nuclear Weapons Against
Non-Nuclear States

February 1, 2007

By Kim McDonald

Twenty-two of the nation's most prominent physicists asked Congress today to restrict the authority of President Bush to order nuclear strikes against non-nuclear-weapon states.

The physicists include twelve Nobel laureates, the current and three past presidents of the American Physical Society, the nation's preeminent professional society for physicists, and the chair of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

The physicists said their letter was prompted by “the rising tensions with Iran and the potential for military confrontation, as well as the public statement by President Bush on April 18, 2006 , that a nuclear strike against Iran is an option ‘on the table’.”

It was initiated by Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the University of California , San Diego , who last year put together a petition signed by more than 2,000 physicists that repudiated new U.S. nuclear weapons policies that include preemptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear adversaries ( http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/ ) ....

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/science/22physicists07.asp

[ribrepin]

1. This is scary

What do they know that we don't?