End United States Use of Chemical, Incendiary, and Nuclear Weapons

"Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us
the determination to make the right things happen." - Horace Mann


As educators we seek to provide young people with the knowledge and skills that will help guide them to happiness and success in the future. Through our work, we seek to help lay the foundations for a healthy community. The commitment we have to the young people and communities that we serve locally, is matched by a concern for the well being of young people and their communities globally. For this reason, we are moved to speak out against the US use of chemical, incendiary, and nuclear weapons.

The horrifying effects of chemical weapons such as Chlorine and Mustard Gases in World War I lead to international condemnation and the 1925 Geneva Protocol banning the use of chemical weapons. In more recent times, the much of international community has agreed to the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 which bans the use of chemical weapons.

We are appalled by the Pentagon's recent acknowledgement that the US military uses the chemical weapon, White Phosphorus, and a Napalm like incendiary weapon called Mark-77. White Phosphorus is an extremely reactive material that, if inhaled, can burn the inner linings of the lungs. Once it lands on a person's skin, it can burn the flesh down to the bone. It can burn the out a person's eyes, and if it does not lead to immediate fatality, it can cause organ damage due to its toxicity. Since it is deployed as an airborne dust, it affects, indiscriminately, all men, women, and children in the areas the wind carries the dust. Mark-77 is a fuel-gel that is used to set people on fire. It sticks to the flesh as it burns and it is manufactured to be extremely difficult to extinguish once ignited.

The use of these types of weapons is in addition to the US military's widespread use of depleted uranium munitions. While depleted uranium is largely made up of the slightly radioactive uranium-238 isotope, being the by-product of the refinement of natural uranium, it contains a soup of various radioactive isotopes and their decay products. The use of this material, commonly referred to as dirty bombs, will continue to affect men, women, and children for years to come due to the fact that the toxic and radioactive materials remain in the area in the form of dust.

On top of the use of these horrendous weapons comes that revelation that the Pentagon has adopted a new position regarding the use of nuclear bombs. This new policy asserts the military's right to launch nuclear bombs preemptively, even against adversaries that possess no nuclear weapons, solely for the goal of ending conflict quickly on US terms. Nuclear bombs are the ultimate weapon of mass destruction, killing all men, women, and children in the area of their usage, and continuing to kill and infirm for years to come.

As educators, we refuse to be lulled into consenting to the use of weapons which are presently having devastating affects on all people, adults as well as children, in Iraq and Afghanistan. We reject the US government's misuse of language to justify the use of these weapons. We call on the United States government to immediately and permanently end the use of all chemical, incendiary, and nuclear weapons including White Phosphorous, Mark-77, and depleted uranium. We also call on the United States government to adopt policy asserting that nuclear bombs will not be used either preemptively or against adversaries that do not possess nuclear bombs. Furthermore, we call on those US officials with primary responsibility for the use of chemical, incendiary, and depleted uranium weapons, to be brought to trial for crimes against humanity.