Albuquerque Activists Respond to Richardson's Call for Disarmament

From Stop the War Machine:
On Thursday, Feb. 8, 2007, Bill Richardson is quoted as saying the United States must lead the way by reducing its nuclear weapons. Disarmament activists in Albuquerque, home to the largest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world, were surprised to hear this.

“Governor Richardson could lead the way himself by calling for nuclear disarmament right here at home in New Mexico,” said Jeanne Pahls of Stop the War Machine/Nukes Out of Duke City. “We met with Governor Richardson last year on this topic and gave him a petition signed by 7,000 people that called for the dismantlement of the nuclear weapons at Kirtland. We asked the governor to call for their dismantlement as well, but we still have not received a response from him on this issue.”

Bob Anderson of Stop the War Machine/Nukes Out of Duke City said, “Governor Richardson’s choosing to address this issue of non-proliferation is due to the tremendous grassroots effort around the world for no more wars and nuclear weapons. Richardson has recognized, since last November, the electoral superpower of the peace movement. It is time for action now, not sometime in the future!”

Governor Richardson could act on his call for disarmament by supporting a memorial written by State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s office this past week, a memorial calling for the dismantlement of the Kirtland nuclear weapons. As home to 2,000 nuclear weapons, which constitutes roughly one-fifth of the US nuclear arsenal, Albuquerque has a unique role to play in disarmament.

On Friday morning, February 9th, at 7:30 AM Albuquerque citizens will gather at the Albuquerque Peace Center (202 Harvard SE). They will depart for the Roundhouse together in order to spend the day lobbying their senators and representatives on the issue of dismantling the nuclear weapons at Kirtland. They will be taking the petition to have the Kirtland nuclear weapons dismantled, which has 8,000 signatures at this point in time.

It would be nice if the governor would sign on to a local disarmament effort!

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Editor's Note: Check out our previous post on Gov. Richardson's call for a halt in U.S. nuclear weapons production as well as an earlier post on the memorial to dismantle the nuclear weapons at Kirtland Air Force Base.