Letter: Nuclear war would dwarf Helene

Graphic by Lori Deaton

We in Western North Carolina have just experienced being without cellphone coverage, without water, without power, without gasoline and without internet and TV, some of these for a long time. Remember how awful it was!

We received a massive inflow of help from throughout North Carolina and the rest of the nation — from government, from charities, from churches, from international groups and many others.

In the case of nuclear war, in addition to being without cellphone coverage, without water, without power, without gasoline and without internet and TV forever, survivors will be without law and order, without medical care, without food, and suffering from radiation sickness. There will be no help.

A good first step toward making the world safer from this specter would be to eliminate our land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles, saving the $141 billion we plan to spend replacing them. These sitting-duck weapons are destabilizing because they must be fired quickly in uncertain situations. Our 14 nuclear submarines each carrying seven times the firepower of World War II are sufficient deterrence.

Thanks for your consideration of this serious issue. Wondering what you can do to help? So are we!

Join us: WNC Physicians for Social Responsibility, aka WNCPSR.

— Dot Sulock
Asheville

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