Delegate to World Conference denounces U.S. political use of Sep. 11 victims

Before the 2002 World Conference against A and H Bombs International Meeting opens on August 2, a few delegates from abroad had a meeting with some 50 citizens of Kyoto City on July 31.

Adam Davis of the American Friends Service Committee said that most Americans are not informed of what harm the U.S. government is doing in other countries. He said that he wants to convey to Americans the real knowledge of what the nuclear weapon had done in Hiroshima, which he would get in Hiroshima.

Tony Nguyen of the AFSC said that ordinary American citizens are taking part in movements opposing war, and that he believes in the strength of action by ordinary people.

Rita Lasar, whose younger brother was killed in the World Trade Center building in the 2001 September 11 terrorist attack, criticized the U.S. government for using his death as propaganda for killing innocent Afghan people in the retaliatory war.

She added that she went to Afghanistan with other bereaved families of the terror victims and shared the grief with Afghan people who lost their family members in the U.S. attacks against Afghanistan. She said that hearing from Hibakusha (A-bomb survivors) made her think that any massacre is intolerable and that she has made up her mind not to stop opposing militarism until peace is created. (end)