Iain Mann's excellent letter (October 5) prompted a thought I would like to address to those who support CND Scotland: Thank you for all that you do. However, if you really want WMD out of Scotland, you must first help remove Britain's ability to force British WMD on Scotland.
I say "British" WMD because the majority of Scots certainly don't want them and I think the majority of English don't want them, either. So it must be those who think of themselves primarily as British, rather than Scottish or English, who want them. The British government in London, even when led by British people from Scotland such as Gordon Brown, will probably never give up these weapons.
A London government led by those who see themselves as British first, can't thole the idea of France being the only European nuclear power. Nor can they imagine Britain not able to play with the big boys in the Nato Security Council. The Scots - and maybe the English - could do without that, but the "British first" are the problem. They have bigger plans.
You may not be for Scotland's independence but without this first step, I do not see how you will ever attain your stated goal. Help free Scotland and later you can vote for whatever party you wish. A Scotland no longer controlled by a British-led government in London will not have WMD - nor will it fight wars not sanctioned by the United Nations.
People of Scottish CND, if you really want this country nuclear-free, the course is clear.
Harry McAlister, 3221 Kromer Avenue, Everett WA 98201, Seattle.
Iain Mann, in discussing the Faslane protest, makes an illogical claim. He describes people he has never met, nor can know much about, as "right-thinking people". If we replace that phrase with "those who agree with Iain Mann", I can follow his circular argument. In thinking about atomic bombs, I am, as others are, prejudiced. My prejudice is based on experience.
I am one of a dwindling band of people who saw service against the Japanese. I heard of the Hiroshima bomb within a few hours of it being dropped, but was the only person in the regiment who had studied university physics. I explained to our soldiers what the bomb was and what damage it could do. Their immediate reaction was that it would shorten the war, and so it did. I never met any soldier out there who had any qualms about dropping the bombs.
Shortly afterwards I met a captain who had recently been released by the 14th Army and was now fit enough to travel home. I asked him if the horrific stories we had heard were true. They were and he gave me examples.
I have no doubt that the two bombs of August 1945 saved many lives. The immediate effect was our PoWs had a good chance of surviving. Had victory been obtained with conventional weapons, many would have been killed, as would far more Japanese civilians, whose cities had been protected by remoteness.
I thought at the time the bombs did more good than harm. It is estimated that between 40 and 50 million deaths were caused by the Second World War. Atom-bomb casualties were only a tiny fraction of that. Had the bombs been available earlier, many more might have lived.
I do not expect that many of our PoWs from the east took part in the Faslane protest, but if Iain Mann can assure me that many of the protesters were families of PoWs, I will rethink my position.
Chris Parton, 40 Bellshill Road, Uddingston.
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