Nuclear War and Weapons As A War Crime and Genocide!

Very few people seem to realize why the use of nuclear weapons raise such serious questions about morality and war. Perhaps now, with the very real threat of the nuclear annihilation of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people, the issue will get the attention it deserves before it's too late. We can go back to Ronald Reagan noting that nuclear war should never be fought or nuclear weapons used, ever. We can revisit the reality of the US's use of the A-Bomb in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We can review articles and papers by scientists, religious leaders, generals. If we don't do that, we are as guilty as those who would use these weapons. We have to understand the issues now more than ever.

Obviously, it is also incumbent on leaders who have access to these weapons to study and understand these arsenals and the consequences of their use. It is not important who these leaders are - they can be from the US, North Korea, China, Russia or any other country with access. It doesn't matter if you consider one good and the other bad. It doesn't matter if one is reasonable and the other is unbalanced. What matters, is that more and more people begin to understand the consequences of these weapons of mass destruction and leaders understand what these people think.

It may seem like an elementary exercise but we should all review the fact that nuclear weapons, like many others, do not discriminate between combatants and noncombatants. They don't discriminate at all between men, women or children, the wealthy or the poor, the healthy or the sick, or the young or the elderly. The critical difference, is that nuclear weapons can kill as stated above, hundreds of thousands to millions of people, all at once, in an instant. Whole countries and potentially an entire world can be destroyed in minutes.

You have to let this sink in - every person in a country, the good and the bad, the ones you agree with and those you don't, all destroyed.

I believe such an attack by anyone would rise to the level of a war crime that would make Hitler look like an amateur. The definition of genocide is the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular ethnic group or nation. Therefore, in my mind, the annihilation of a country would most likely fit the definition of genocide.

As usual, our tribalism, patriotism or nationalism tend to get in the way of our moral compass every now and then. We can't, we just can't let that happen in the discussion about the use of nuclear weapons. Yes, it's always the other guy who we can't trust. It's always their president or prime minister who is crazy or who is wrong. But honestly, we can't spend time worrying about who's right and who's wrong. We, all of us, have to have an understanding of what is so wrong and evil about nuclear war. Yes, the genie is out of the bottle and that's why we need to understand the consequences, work at negotiations and continue efforts at nonproliferation. In addition, it's critical that we educate ourselves and others about the reality of nuclear war, for all of our sakes.

Finally, nuclear weapons and their use, should not be joked about by any world leader. They are very serious business. They are instruments of war crimes and genocide.