Nuclear reductions make world safer

On every Aug. 6 and 9, we remember the terrible destruction of the first two atomic bombs detonated at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. Now, 68 years later, it is crucial that we make the world safer by reducing the world's nuclear arsenal.

A massive nuclear arsenal does little to enhance our security. On the contrary, other nations feel increasing pressure to develop their own nuclear bombs. And the more nuclear material available, the more likely it will fall into the wrong hands.

The Pentagon and the U.S. State Department already have recognized that cutting the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons makes strategic sense. With their support, President Barack Obama has proposed cutting the number of tactical nuclear weapons by another one-third and reducing the stockpile of weapons by up to half. He had planned to discuss this with the Russian leader in September (Obama has since canceled).

Now it is time for Sen. Chuck Grassley and Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa to support the president's proposal and provide him the leverage he needs to convince Putin to agree to these reductions. As Ronald Reagan declared, “Our moral imperative is to work with all our powers for that day when the children of the world grow up without the fear of nuclear war.”

John Gruber-Miller

Mount Vernon