Ilhan Omar Urges U.S. To Enter Treaty To Stop All Nuclear Weapon Production

Forbes Breaking News

In House floor remarks on Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (R-MN) spoke about nuclear proliferation.

Transcript

00:00Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota, Ms. Omar.

00:06Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

00:08I rise today to once again call on the United States to join the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons

00:15and for all of the world's nuclear-armed powers to adopt policies of mutual disarmament and abolition.

00:22In a few short weeks, we will mark the 80th anniversary of the only time nuclear weapons have been used in combat

00:32by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.

00:37The fact is, in 80 years since, we have only avoided nuclear war by sheer luck.

00:44As long as countries possess massive arsenals of world-destroying weapons,

00:49the risk of miscalculation and the risk of escalation is eternal.

00:54In the last few years, we have seen multiple situations that remind us of the extent of the fragility and of the danger.

01:03Nuclear-armed India exchanged fire with nuclear-armed Pakistan just this year.

01:09Cooler heads prevailed this time.

01:12Nuclear-armed Israel conducted unilateral strikes on facilities in Iran.

01:17That war didn't go nuclear this time.

01:21Nuclear-armed Russia continues its brutal war of conquest in Ukraine.

01:26We are avoiding escalations that increase the threats of nuclear threat war between Russia and the West so far.

01:36The truth is, the era of nuclear weapons will only end in one of two ways.

01:42Either we will abolish these horrific weapons from the face of the Earth,

01:48or we will use them and abolish humanity instead.

01:52The only sane position, the only legitimate position for anyone who values human life is abolition.

02:01And more than half the countries in the world have now formally agreed,

02:06signing on to the TPNW.

02:08We should join them.

02:11Because just as we have gotten terrifyingly close to nuclear war in these past 80 years,

02:17we have gotten close to disarmament.

02:21It is not a pipe dream.

02:23Reagan, Gorbachev also did it.

02:28South Africa unilaterally dismantled their arsenal.

02:32Other countries have stopped developing nuclear weapons before they got the bomb.

02:36It is possible to disarm.

02:39It is possible to abolish nuclear weapons.

02:42We only need the political will.

02:45And we need the urgency.

02:47Finally, Mr. Speaker, you will note that I said the bomb dropped in Hiroshima and Nikasaki

02:53were the only nuclear weapons used in combat.

02:57But they were not.

02:59We must be absolutely clear the only times nuclear weapons have been used.

03:04In fact, nuclear weapons have been used thousands of times,

03:09and their primary targets have been Americans.

03:12We also mark this month the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test in New Mexico.

03:18And so we should remember that entire communities have been poisoned by these weapons right here in the United States.

03:25Entire generations have seen their families, their friends, their classmates dying of rare cancers caused by the radiation exposure.

03:35They have been forced to drink poisoned water and breathe poisoned air.

03:40The effect of the communities known as the downwinders have been catastrophic.

03:46And their suffering is still, sadly, mostly unknown in this country.

03:51We have made some small steps towards providing overdue compensation to these Americans,

03:58the first and the most consistent victims of our nuclear weapons program.

04:04But we still have a long way from justice.

04:09So, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Mr. McGovern for hosting this special hour tonight

04:15and for his years of principled leadership on this issue.

04:20And I yield back.

Category

Transcript

Recommended