Veterans offer nuclear peace plan to president

To President Joe Biden: We, members of Veterans For Peace who are concerned about the growing possibility of nuclear war, have researched and written our own Nuclear Posture Review, with the goal of reducing the risk of nuclear war and ultimately eliminating all nuclear weapons. Because your own Nuclear Posture Review has not been released, we strongly encourage you to put it on hold while you review ours.

The war in Ukraine — with its relentless escalation toward a possible nuclear confrontation — is of great concern to the American public, including those in uniform and veterans who have experienced the chaos and trauma of war; we are also eager to see your Nuclear Posture Review, Mr. President. We deserve a full accounting of your nuclear planning. We want to know what you and your advisers consider reasonable during this time of confrontation between the U.S. and Russia, which hold the lion’s share of the world’s 15,000 nuclear weapons.

We need to know if you will be keeping nuclear weapons on a hair-trigger alert. Will you foreswear the first use of nuclear weapons?

We need to know if you will rejoin the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, unilaterally abandoned by former President George W. Bush, and the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty, unilaterally abandoned by former President Donald Trump.

Will you contribute to an era of peaceful relations, or will you pursue antagonistic policies toward China and Russia? Will you continue investing billions of dollars on new nuclear weapons?

Are you willing to risk a civilization-ending apocalypse by playing nuclear chicken with other nuclear-armed nations ? Or will you lead us toward a planet that is free of nuclear weapons? We urge you to acknowledge and sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

The Veterans for Peace Nuclear Posture Review is available at tinyurl.com/VFP-NPR2. The product of many months of research and writing, our Nuclear Posture Review is a blueprint for a world of peace and cooperation, a world that uses its precious resources for global uplift rather than mutual annihilation. These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas but rather well-developed proposals from nuclear disarmament experts. It is our deep hope you will take our approach to heart for the benefit of our country and of all humanity worldwide.

We request you issue a statement that your Nuclear Posture Review is on hold while you review the Nuclear Posture Review developed by concerned U.S. veterans. We look forward to seeing your own Nuclear Posture Review before long, Mr. President. It is important that all humanity will be able to see: Is the President of the United States working to reduce the risk of nuclear war? Or is U.S. nuclear policy being dictated by those who profit from war? We deserve an answer.

We hope that your Nuclear Posture Review will reflect ours.