Japan Mayors Condemn U.S. Nuke Test

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

There does appear to be some hypocrisy, as stated in the article... 
Judge for yourself.

Wednesday February 10 3:57 AM ET 

Japan Mayors Condemn U.S. Nuke Test

TOKYO (AP) - The mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only 
cities ever to suffer atomic bombings, today condemned a U.S. 
test to gauge the reliability of its nuclear stockpile.  

Hiroshima Mayor Takashi Hiraoka expressed ``strong indignation'' 
over the subcritical nuclear test conducted Tuesday at an 
underground site in Nevada.  

It was the sixth such test by the United States since a 1992 global 
ban on test explosions of nuclear weapons.  

The United States says the tests do not violate the nuclear 
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, but Hiraoka said in a protest letter 
that they clearly ``run counter the sprit'' of the treaty.  

Hiraoka urged the United States to immediately call off further 
nuclear tests. The message was sent to U.S. Ambassador
Thomas Foley and to President Clinton, city officials said.

Itcho Ito, the mayor of Nagasaki, issued a similar protest letter 
addressed to Clinton, said Shigeru Kakimoto of Nagasaki city's 
peace promotion office.  

U.S. officials say the subcritical tests don't violate the ban because 
they are too weak to produce the chain reaction necessary for a full-
fledged nuclear blast. Critics call the tests a way of skirting the 
moratorium.  

The U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945 killed 
140,000 people, and the bombing of Nagasaki three days later  
killed 70,000

Sandy Perle
E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 
Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/1205

"The object of opening the mind, as of opening 
the mouth, is to close it again on something solid"
              - G. K. Chesterton -
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