America: 65 Years After Hiroshima

Robert Hune-Kalter - Talk Radio News Service

Today marks the 65th Anniversary the United States dropped “Little Boy” over Hiroshima.  The resulting blast killed an estimated 70,000 people instantly, while another 70,000 were injured. Talk Radio News Service asked John Steinbach, a longtime nuclear weapons activist how far America has since the bomb’s debut.

“The bomb was exploded in 1945, it was estimated it would take many, many years before anyone else built the bomb, it took the Russians about three and a half years,” said Steinbach. “Now, we’re back down to about 20,000 nuclear weapons and 90% of them are possessed by our country and Russia.”

The U.S. has been reducing its nuclear arsenal since the end of the Cold War, but still plans on spending an estimated $180 billion over the next ten years. Steinbach described this as a “Faustian bargain,” referring to the deal the German legend Faust makes with the devil.

“In order to move toward a position of nuclear disarmament, we have to do that through a position of strength,” he said. “Six major nuclear bomb factories are going to be completely rebuilt and, at the same time, we need to modernize our delivery systems.”

He said that the steps to disarmament are very modest and believes greater strides can be made during the Obama administration.

“In order for President Obama to equal his rhetoric, we really need to keep the lines of communication open, we need to keep talking, because I think that much larger reductions in the nuclear arsenals are very possible over the next six years of the Obama administration,” Steinbach said.