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From The Militant, Vol. X No. 24, 15 June 1946, p. 8.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
In the first part of July the Truman Administration will drag the United States a few steps closer to the Thirds World War. The occasion will be the explosion of another atomic bomb. The place – a small atoll in th Pacific, Bikini. The excuse – a “scientific experiment.”
The bomb will be exploded despite protests voiced in Congress, and despite the warning of scientists that no scientific value whatsoever will accrue. The demonstration is nothing but a brutal display of American militarist power. It is a demonstration designed to terrorize the entire world.
The cost to the public of this calculated maneuver in Wall Street’s power politics is staggering. $400,000,000 worth of ships will be anchored within the atoll as targets. All types are included, from small craft to the largest battleships and aircraft carriers. Brand new freighters and 139 airplanes are earmarked to be blown skyhigh.
But not even this is the total cost. The prodigal militarists in charge of the “experiment” will spend another $100,000,000 in preparations. Included in this figure is the cost of the bomb itself and the wages of the 42,000 men needed to organize this vast job of peacetime destruction of public property.
Officially the demonstration of Wall Street’s military might is designated as a “scientific experiment.” But this excuse has been punctured by leading atomic physicists.
Dr. L.A. DuBridge, who directed the Radiation Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, points out in the current Review of Scientific Instruments that none of the major scientists who participated in the New Mexico tests will be present. “No military or scientific value” will result from the Bikini maneuvers, this scientific authority flatly declares.
The Council of the Federation of American Scientists has confirmed Dr. DuBridge’s opinion. In a statement issued June 3, the Council declared:
“Whether or not these tests, involving the expenditure of millions of dollars and tens of thousands of man hours, are justified is not a question which scientists are qualified to decide ... Scientists expect nothing of scientific value, and little of technical value to peacetime uses of atomic energy as a result of these tests.”
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