FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2003Contact: Kelly Miller (301) 565-4050, ext. 324
Kevin Martin (301) 565-4050, ext. 307
"We Found the Weapons of Mass Destruction. They're in the President's Budget"
Advertising campaign by nation's largest peace organization targets Bush push for new nuclear weapons programsThe Peace Action Education Fund announced today the initiation of an advertising campaign linking the Bush Administration's dubious pre-war claims of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction with plans for new U.S. nuclear weapons programs. Under the headline "We found the weapons of mass destruction. They're in the president's budget", the ads will run this Thursday, September 4 in three key states, Maine, Nebraska and Oregon. Senators from those states are considered pivotal swing voters on upcoming Senate amendments regarding Bush's plans for new, more "usable" nuclear weapons. (The ad can be viewed at www.peace-action.org.)
In addition to outlining objections to new U.S. nuclear weapons plans, the newspaper ads ask readers to call U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, both Republicans from Maine, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Ben Nelson (D) of Nebraska, and Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden of Oregon and urge them to reject funding for Bush's new nuclear weapons programs.
The ads, to run in the Portland Press Herald, Lincoln Journal Star and The Oregonian, are timed to coincide with upcoming senate votes on amendments to the Energy and Water Approriations Bill. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and others are expected to introduce amendments to cut funding for four programs - the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator or "bunker buster," advanced weapons concepts or so-called "mini-nukes," the Modern Pit Facility, intended to produce new plutonium pits for nuclear warheads, and Nevada test site readiness. Critics fear funding for increasing test site readiness indicates the Bush Administration will seek to resume nuclear testing. The U.S. has not conducted a nuclear weapons test explosion since 1992, and resumed testing would likely bring worldwide outrage, as was directed at France when it briefly resumed testing in the mid-1990s.
In a rare rebuke to the Bush Administration's national security agenda, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted earlier this summer to delete all funding for "mini-nukes" and reduced "bunker buster" funding from $15.5 million to $5 million. Peace and disarmament groups around the country are mobilizing for expected close votes on these and the other two nuclear issues in the Senate. The votes could be scheduled as early as next week.
"The hypocrisy of preaching non-proliferation to the rest of the world while pushing new nuclear weapons programs is breath-taking," said Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action Education Fund. "A 'do as we say, not as we do' policy won't persuade North Korea, Iran, India, Pakistan or anyone else to forego nuclear weapons development. It's a policy tailor-made to start a new nuclear arms race, recklessly and needlesly decreasing U.S. and world security. Since the Bush Administration clearly doesn't get this, the Senate needs to step up and protect the children of America by rejecting these steps toward re-igniting the arms race."
Similar ads will run later this month in the mass transit systems of Washington, DC, Chicago and San Francisco, with the potential for ads to run in other cities around the country.
The ad campaign is part of Peace Action Education Fund's Campaign for a New Foreign Policy. Upcoming ads will address the global arms trade, international cooperation, and voter registration efforts. The Campaign also includes voter registration and education, grassroots organizing, and a Candidate Pledge for a New Foreign Policy. More information about Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund's Campaign for a New Foreign Policy is available at www.peace-action.org.
View the copy
You can download a .pdf version of each of the ads here.Maine - to be published in the Portland Press Herald.
Nebraska - to be published in the Lincoln Journal Star.
Oregon - to be published in The Oregonian.Mass Transit Copy - to be published on mass transit in Washington, DC, Chicago and San Francisco.
Peace Action, (the merger of Sane and The Nuclear Freeze) is the nation's largest peace and disarmament organization.
