World News
USCCB joins in petition asking US to change 'outdated' nuclear policy
Published: May 15, 2012
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops joined about four dozen other national organizations in amassing more than 50,000 signatures on a petition asking for a change in the United States' "outdated" nuclear arms policy. "You must act now to reduce the nuclear danger and the role of nuclear weapons," said the petition, addressed to President Barack Obama. The petition urges Obama to "end outdated U.S. nuclear war-fighting strategy, dramatically reduce the number of U.S. nuclear weapons and the number of submarines, missiles and bombers that carry those weapons, and take U.S. nuclear weapons off high alert. Maintaining large numbers of nuclear forces on alert increases the risk of accident or miscalculation." A May 15 announcement from the groups involved said the petition was delivered to the White House May 7. Stephen Colecchi, director of the bishops' Office of International Justice and Peace, represented the USCCB. "This is just one of the many expressions of support for overdue changes in the United States' nuclear weapons strategy which is still burdened by Cold War thinking," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which spearheaded the petition drive and assembled the coalition of organizations that signaled their support. The United States, Kimball told Catholic News Service in a May 15 telephone interview, possesses about 1,700 strategically positioned nuclear warheads. Russia has about 1,500. Each has more strategically deployed warheads than the rest of the "nuclear club" -- China, France, Great Britain, India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea -- has warheads of all kinds combined. "Just one U.S. nuclear-armed submarine can destroy several cities," Kimball said. "We today possess 12 submarines with nuclear weapons."
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