US intelligence chief issues rare call for nuclear weapons to be abolished
US National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard has called for nuclear weapons to be abolished after paying a visit to Hiroshima. It is rare for an active US cabinet member to express opposition to nuclear weapons.
Gabbard made the statement in a video message that she posted on social media on Tuesday. She said that she had recently visited the atomic-bombed Japanese city of Hiroshima.
She explained that she learned about the devastation caused by the atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In the video she said: "It's hard for me to find the words to express what I saw, the stories that I heard, the haunting sadness that still remains. This is an experience that will stay with me forever."
Gabbard spoke about some paintings created by survivors of the bombings. She said the suffering, pain and sense of loss that the paintings convey are "almost more powerful than the photos themselves."
The director said the destructive power of today's nuclear weapons surpasses that of the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities during World War Two.
She said: "This is the reality of what's at stake, what we are facing now, because, as we stand here today, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, political elite warmongers are carelessly fomenting fear and tensions between nuclear powers."
Gabbard concluded: "So it's up to us, people, to speak up and demand an end to this madness. We must reject this path to a nuclear war, and work toward a world where no one has to live in fear of a nuclear holocaust."
US President Donald Trump has indicated that he wants to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss cutting back on nuclear weapons.
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