| "I believe that as soon as people want peace in | | | | my only wish is that these horrible weapons |
| the world they can have it. The only trouble is | | | | never be used again. To insure that these awful |
| they are not aware they can get it. It's all down | | | | weapons are never used again ALL of the Nuclear |
| to you, mate …All we are saying is give | | | | Weapons States must live up to the Nuclear |
| peace a chance…All you need is | | | | Non-Proliferation Treaty which requires that all |
| love…Imagine all the people living life in | | | | nuclear stockpiles be dismantled. |
| peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not | | | | I would ask that you, with the tremendous |
| the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, and | | | | authority that the Office of the President of the |
| the world will be as one."-John Lennon | | | | United States possesses, take the first step in |
| In a country that possesses 11,000 nuclear | | | | fulfilling your Treaty obligations by coming to |
| weapons with many in excess of 20,000,000 tons | | | | Hiroshima to see for yourself firsthand what |
| of TNT [the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and | | | | these weapons have wrought and to talk with |
| Nagasaki were 12,000 tons] yet claims to be | | | | some of the people who have lived through the |
| based on the Judeo-Christian ethics, which includes | | | | blast. |
| the commandment that thou shall not kill, is | | | | I would also ask that you use your international |
| staggering in it's hypocrisy. | | | | influence to invite the other leaders of the Nuclear |
| In March 2008, President Bush announced his plan | | | | Weapon States - Great Britain, France, Russia, |
| to build a new multi-billion dollar plan to rebuild the | | | | China, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea - to |
| nation's nuclear weapons capabilities through the | | | | join you in Hiroshima so they too can see and |
| Department of Energy's Complex Transformation | | | | hear for themselves the destructive nature of |
| proposal. [1] | | | | these nuclear weapons that do not discriminate |
| The centerpiece is a new nuclear weapons plant | | | | between soldier and civilian. In point of fact, |
| for the production of plutonium pits, the primary | | | | nuclear bombs kill mothers and fathers, sisters |
| detonators in modern nuclear weapons and the | | | | and brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, the |
| Los Alamos National Laboratory, is the site slated | | | | old and the young. |
| for the new bomb plant. | | | | Thank you for reading my invitation and listening |
| America signed the NPT and thus is legally and | | | | to my plea about helping to remove the 30,000+ |
| morally obliged to reduce its nuclear weapons | | | | nuclear weapons around the world today. I look |
| arsenal. | | | | forward to meeting you and the other leaders in |
| Mankind is the only species that has the choice of | | | | July in Hiroshima. |
| annihilating itself. "Since the end of the Cold War, | | | | Sincerely, |
| the world has spent more than $10 trillion on | | | | Ms. Emiko Okada |
| armaments. The Untied States alone spends | | | | 11-6 Nakayama Kagamigaoka |
| approximately $100 million every day to keep its | | | | Higashi-ku, Hiroshima 732-0022 |
| nuclear arsenal at the ready." [2] | | | | Japan |
| American money proclaims "In God We Trust" | | | | "You must give birth to your dreams; they are |
| but the facts on the ground are that we have | | | | the future waiting to happen."-Rilke |
| become an empire of blasphemers, for what we | | | | One dream can change everything and change |
| trust in are weapons of destruction. | | | | only occurs from the bottom up. It is up to each |
| Cesar Chavez said the key to peace is: "Public | | | | one of us individually to do something to bring the |
| Action! Public action! Public action!" | | | | dream of a nonviolent world into reality. The way |
| In the '60's Eldridge Cleaver reminded us that if | | | | to wake up in a new world begins with a spiritual |
| we are not a part of the solution, we are a part | | | | evolution that sees all others as equal human and |
| of the problem. | | | | sacred beings. |
| Filmmaker and peace activist, Bud Ryan recently | | | | "Man must evolve for all human conflict a method |
| went to Japan to shoot a film about the Hiroshima | | | | which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. |
| Peace Museum. He met Emiko Okada, a survivor | | | | The foundation of such a method is love."~ Martin |
| of the Hiroshima atomic bomb who sent this | | | | Luther King Jr |
| invitation: | | | | Love is a choice and so is nonviolence. Hearts that |
| Dear President Bush, | | | | are stuck in the past turn to stone and fear |
| As a hibakusha, a survivor of the Hiroshima | | | | numbs the imagination. |
| Atomic Bomb, I would like to invite you to come | | | | The way to peace is not brain surgery and only |
| and visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum | | | | justice will reap it. The day that the gold standard |
| while you are in Japan for the G8 Summit (in July). | | | | of law is implemented as outlined in International |
| All of my friends, many of whom are fellow | | | | Law and the Declaration of Human Rights and |
| bomb survivors, are waiting to be your guides | | | | when Governments meet their obligations under |
| around the Peace Memorial Museum and Peace | | | | these Laws, peace will be reality. |
| Memorial Park. We are the people who can give | | | | Treaties, legislation, resolutions and promises are |
| you the best perspective of the horrors of | | | | irrelevant, until we as individuals evolve and are |
| nuclear weapons as we have lived through it and | | | | transformed into one human family, and that will |
| many of us have suffered numerous physical | | | | lead to an enlightened and humane way of living |
| ailments over the last 62+ years and lost loved | | | | together and nonviolently solving conflicts so that |
| ones in the blast. | | | | we will share, nurture and love the one world we |
| I myself suffer from aplastic anemia and I lost | | | | all inhabit. |
| my 12 year old sister whose last words were "I | | | | Send a letters or email: |
| go now" as she left our house that fateful August | | | | President George W. Bush |
| morning in 1945. | | | | The White House |
| Our world is now full of worries like global | | | | 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW |
| warming, environmental issues, regional conflicts, | | | | Washington, DC 20500 |
| poverty and a questionable world economy, so | | | | 1. Learn more about Complex Transformation: |
| none of us need the specter of nuclear weapons | | | | 2. |
| to add to those concerns. As a bomb survivor | | | | |